[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: My name is Nancy Farrow, also known as Mama Lu and I'm the founder of Epic Experience.
Epic Experience mission is to empower adult cancer survivors and thrivers to live beyond cancer.
I hope that as you listen to campfires of hope you living beyond cancer you find hope, healing and empowerment.
Through stories and education. We aim to guide those impacted by cancer and more importantly, offer love and support to anyone out there who needs it.
This is beyond cancer.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: So. All right, our next guest is here.
I am going to ask him to come on down. This is Derek.
Derek has is here for. Very well, I'm not going to say it yet.
Hello, Derek.
[00:01:27] Speaker D: I'm going to switch water so I don't actually drink the wrong one because I know I will.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: Yes, that is an extra but we don't want people actually drinking out of it.
[00:01:38] Speaker D: How are you?
[00:01:38] Speaker C: Thank you so much for joining us. So.
[00:01:41] Speaker D: My pleasure.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: Derek, if you can tell people who are listening who you are, just give us a little background and then also one fun fact.
[00:01:48] Speaker D: Okay. Who I am, I'm gosh, just a guy who lives in a place where I get to meet campers and just happened to.
Yeah. Through some mutual friends who own 7W became friends with Colin and the Epic Experience and Mama Lou and Fuzzy and Mr. Wild has taught one of my sons.
[00:02:15] Speaker C: Oh really? Yeah, we've been in the area. That's a fact. I didn't know been in the area
[00:02:19] Speaker D: for a long time and so yeah. Derek Wiemer, neighbor to the Sweetwater community. I guess I live up in Sweetwater.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: I love it.
And one thing that Derek didn't mention so I'm going to mention it is he is here tonight because he's being honored. Every year we honor one volunteer who has really made an impression. And this is years in the coming because I have gone. I went to camp 10 years ago and I've been to volunteering at several camps and Derek's been there all the time.
So he has been helping with activities and his time and so it is a much deserved award. So that's the reason Derek's here.
[00:02:57] Speaker D: It's certainly an uplifting and I mean spiritual strengthening experience for me every time I get to participate. But so you asked a fun fact. A fun fact is thank you. I think a lot of people maybe if married their high school sweetheart. Well, I married my middle school best friend and high school sweetheart.
[00:03:19] Speaker C: Okay, you win.
[00:03:21] Speaker D: We've been together for 33 plus years.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:03:25] Speaker D: We have two amazing daughters and three granddaughters and one grandson now and that's my most rewarding part of my life right there.
[00:03:35] Speaker C: I love it. I love it. So you've already alluded to a little bit how you met the epic experience family. It was because you're neighbors, literally.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: Can you.
[00:03:44] Speaker C: Over the years. So I don't know. How many years have you been volunteering? Actually, in different ways?
[00:03:48] Speaker D: Just over six years.
[00:03:49] Speaker C: Six years.
[00:03:50] Speaker D: Yeah. That I've been engaged with them.
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Okay. What would you say is one lesson you've learned from interacting with? I mean, that's a lot of survivors that you've interacted with. Is there one takeaway you've watched from them play.
[00:04:02] Speaker D: So there's. There's actually many. Well, go for it. Many. But there's. There's a certain one experience that, you know, you're. You spend time fishing when you. Okay, I got this. I was. This is what hooked them. This is what did it.
We were. It was a winter camp, and we had been up doing some snowshoeing. The snow was deep, and it was challenging for many people, and there were a couple people that it was extremely challenging for. And, you know, so we had to make some alternative plans on and building confidence and getting people there. And then we had the opportunity to go sledding. And, you know, there was an individual who said, there's no way I'm doing this. It's not happening.
And I've never seen snow before. I've never done anything like this. And I just said, I promise you, we'll take care of you. We're going to do everything. Well and everything. And I'm. I'm skeptical then. Right. Because sledding goes kind of quick sometimes.
I was.
I was waiting at the bottom for this individual to come down on the sled. And as she came down, she.
She didn't seem to catch my signal of stop.
[00:05:19] Speaker C: Oh, gosh.
[00:05:20] Speaker D: And I went into panic mode, like, oh, my goodness. Because you know how far.
[00:05:25] Speaker C: Yeah, you can go very far.
[00:05:27] Speaker D: And so I started running, and I was like, oh, my gosh. I'm screaming.
[00:05:31] Speaker C: Oh, my gosh, stop.
[00:05:33] Speaker D: And finally she stops, and I get to her, and she was just crying, and I thought, oh, my goodness, this camper's hurt. What happened? I didn't see anything bad happen, and I was able to help her up, and we just embraced, and she just. She cried and she hugged me. So it's the most fun thing I've ever done in my life, and I love it. I was bawling like a baby, I'm sure. And I went home. That. And I I told my wife, said I have to be there because I can help people have fun. If there's one thing I'm good at in life, it's helping people have fun. Yeah, sometimes it's a little risky, but
[00:06:18] Speaker C: I. I love how you know how to. You know how to put the. The safety.
[00:06:21] Speaker D: Well.
[00:06:21] Speaker C: And those of you don't know his nickname. Everybody at camp gets a nickname. His nickname is toy box, which goes along with the let's have fun theme.
Is this your first gala?
[00:06:34] Speaker D: This is my first gala. And super excited. The last couple years, we've been traveling, and this year we said, you know what? We're not traveling this month. We were actually supposed to travel on Monday.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: Oh, gosh.
[00:06:44] Speaker D: And we canceled that because my wife broke her foot. So we're not traveling on Monday. But it is. And, you know, we're excited to be here. I brought my mother. My daughters have come, and their husbands. And the part, you know, you ask about, like, you know, a connection to cancer. So in 2019, when I met the Epic family in September that year, I lost my father to cancer.
And so I bought my property in September.
[00:07:19] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:20] Speaker D: And our plan was to have my dad up there with us in hospice, and that didn't happen because his battle, after almost 10 years, just kind of was done.
[00:07:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:31] Speaker D: And.
And so it was. It has been a release and a point of just great importance for me.
[00:07:39] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:07:39] Speaker D: And my wife says that she's like, I know this helps you, and interesting. And then.
[00:07:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:46] Speaker D: Last year, my mother battled some cancer as well, breast cancer. And right now, she's on the survivor list.
[00:07:53] Speaker C: Good for her.
[00:07:54] Speaker D: And so just, it's. You know, it's a part of life for many people. And I'm. I'm just grateful. Grateful that I can be there with people.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:04] Speaker C: If there's someone listening who, I don't know, has heard about Epic experience or might be thinking about going to camp, but maybe they have some reservations. Is there anything that you might say to them?
[00:08:16] Speaker D: I would say, man, just bring yourself and.
And be willing to try things. Be willing to step out and.
And trust yourself to do things that maybe you've never done before.
You know, I. I always get excited about the people from. I'll just call them flatlanders in the south or wherever it is they show up on the mountain and they feel the spirit of the mountain. They feel the spirit of the location, and it's special.
[00:08:43] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:08:43] Speaker D: And then the interaction of, you know, I'll call it a tribe.
You know, the crews, the people become A tribe of just strengthening, and it's super powerful. I see it. I see the relationships that are built, and it's. It's just amazing. And. And your families are always there for you, but it's. It's neat to have peers and people that have something else in common with you that can help you and help maybe understand things that others who don't deal with that can't understand.
[00:09:14] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:15] Speaker D: You know, I'm type 1 diabetic, and I know when I talk with other type ones, we have different things in common.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:09:21] Speaker D: Even different than what our doctors talk to us about. They have great knowledge, but there's certain things that we just know that, you know. You know, like two days before you get a cold and all of a sudden, crap just goes out of crazy. We know those types of things about our disease.
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:09:34] Speaker D: And it's. I think that tribe that gets created by campers together and their cohorts is really powerful.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: It's true. I have heard that. I found that out myself. I've heard it from everybody who's a attended camp. Even if you don't have the same kind of cancer, there is some. There is a connection, absolutely.
Well, thank you so much for being here. I have one question that I always end the podcast with. Very serious marshmallows over a campfire. Slow and steady or flaming crispy?
[00:10:01] Speaker D: Oh, absolute slow and steady for me. I mean, there's no doubt. But the truth is, my wife, for as long as we've been doing campfires, and we do a lot of them, we have another cabin that's up between Vail and Aspen in the high country, off grid, and she's a master marshmallower, and she can get them just perfect just before they can't even hold on to anything anymore. And get them on the cracker with Reese's or Hershey's and melted and wrapped in the middle and so. But I like to slow and steady.
That's just my way.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: That's what's winning so far. We have a score of 3 to 0 actually right now for slow and steady. So thank you so much, Derek, and congratulations. We appreciate you so much and all you do for Epic.
[00:10:44] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: All right.
[00:10:46] Speaker D: Did I just hand this?
[00:10:48] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay, let's see. What else can I tell you guys about myself?
I have been fighting cancer for 26 years now. No, 27. I was first diagnosed in May of 99, and then I had my first surgery in February of 2000, and I'm still here. So come on down.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: We have Our next.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: We have our next guest.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: Hello, Sarah. I will also call you Nooch, which half the time I can't remember people's real name versus their camp name, so that's very fair.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: I can't either.
[00:11:23] Speaker C: So first, tell us about yourself and include one fun fact.
[00:11:26] Speaker A: Fun fact. Oh, gosh, I am so boring.
Well, my name is Sarah. Camp name is Nooch. Attended camp in 2019.
And so that fun fact, I suppose, is that nickname comes from a long family line on my husband's side where everybody is Newch, everybody. My husband is Nooch, my sister, everybody.
[00:11:50] Speaker C: So when you say Nooch, the whole room turns around.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: The whole room turns around.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: So we have family gatherings, and then it's. Well, there is Tiny Nooch, which is my daughter, who's four, nine, and a half. Gotta remember the half.
[00:12:02] Speaker C: You gotta remember the half.
[00:12:04] Speaker A: There is.
But I think that's gonna change as she, you know, grows into whatever she's gonna do with life. There's me. I'm Nurse Nooch in the house.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: I like that.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: And there's Nana Nooch. There's Grandpa Nooch for the grandparents. And your husband is Tech Nooch.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: Tech.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Because he does. He does it.
Although I think.
I think that kind of is a toss up between him and his brother, who's also in tears.
[00:12:27] Speaker C: Oh, Tech. Well, Tech one and Tech two, Newt.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: I mean, you know, and then what? What? His little brother, I think, is Queen Nooch.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: All right, I did not know this Lore.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Yeah. So there's.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: It's.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: I kept trying to figure out my camp name, and it's like it just kept coming back to Newt. Because family is just such an important part of my life.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: That makes sense. Well, you've already alluded to camp, so I'm going to take a step back.
[00:12:49] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:12:50] Speaker C: Your connection to cancer is you're a survivor.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: I am a survivor.
[00:12:53] Speaker C: Yes. So tell us your cancer journey in a nutshell.
[00:12:56] Speaker A: In a nutshell. So I had been aware of EPIC for a good three years prior to my own diagnosis, was volunteering through other survivorship events, and I was introduced to Colin and Epic. And then we spent a lot of time hanging out once these events were wrapping up, drinking, laughing, telling stories.
And then, you know, the fateful day comes when you get that phone call.
I. You know, it's like one of those things. It's like you remember very specific things in life.
[00:13:25] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, that's it.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: I remember the time, what I was wearing, and then everything after that's a blur.
[00:13:31] Speaker C: It's. I. Yep.
[00:13:33] Speaker A: It was May 4th of 2018.
[00:13:37] Speaker C: 2018.
[00:13:39] Speaker A: And so being May 4th and being a nerd, I'm wearing a Star wars shirt.
[00:13:43] Speaker C: Of course you are.
[00:13:44] Speaker A: I love it. And so. So from there, it's like my husband is the first person I tell. Yeah. It's like I walk out of our room and he sees the look on my face, and he knew.
[00:13:56] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: We've been together for a very long time, and he just knew.
[00:14:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: After telling my husband EPIC was the next people I told.
Really?
Yes.
[00:14:07] Speaker C: Because you knew. You had already heard and you already.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Because I knew what EPIC was. Wow. And so after telling my husband, I reached out to Epic, and no more than half an hour later, I had dozens of people reaching out, surrounding me.
And out of that day, that's one of the standout moments of that day, was I instantly had this group of people around me.
And even though I felt like I was in a free fall, I had this net below me, and that net was Epic.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: And this is before you went to camp? This is before anything.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: Before I went to camp, before anything. Because I knew what EPIC was and how it had helped other people, and EPIC caught me in a free fall.
[00:15:03] Speaker C: Wow. So then you obviously did treatment.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: I went through treatment. I did surgery, I did chemo, I did radiation.
I Backing up. I. It was breast cancer, stage three.
I did the hormone reducing pill for six years, and now I'm done with all of that.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: All right.
[00:15:26] Speaker A: Obviously, there's that. That cloud that never quite leads.
[00:15:28] Speaker C: It doesn't.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: But I mean, coming here to the gala, hanging out with my Epic family, because it really is a family, has made all the difference in the world. And it's like, you know what? Regardless of what the future might hold, I know I have this group around me that if I end up in a free fall again, that they're that
[00:15:48] Speaker C: nut they're gonna be.
[00:15:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: So how did you get to camp? So how did you end up going? And how did you get there? And then I. What is one takeaway from camp?
[00:15:59] Speaker A: Absolutely. So it was actually the gala of 2019, and that was my first gala. My hair is just coming back in. So I. I am, like, super fuzzy here.
And Mama Lu comes in and says, have you applied yet?
I'm like, well, I don't know if I'm well enough yet.
[00:16:18] Speaker D: I don't know.
[00:16:19] Speaker A: And she's like, sign up. Yeah, just. Just do it.
And we'll make sure you're healthy enough. We'll get you in, and trust me, it's going to make a difference. And it did. It absolutely did.
When you're coming down the rapids and you see that first dip, there's this moment of, well, terror. Right.
But then you just think, oh, I can do this. And then there was a sense of absolute exhilaration. Absolutely. And. And then you look back on it, it's like, well, I did harder things than that.
[00:16:59] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:00] Speaker A: So, you know, getting through camp and finding myself again.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:06] Speaker A: I decided that it was right for me to take another path with my career, with my life, really.
[00:17:11] Speaker C: From.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: From camp. Yeah.
It took a little while because it's like I was. I was. You know, we all get comfy in our little holes and our little safety blankets, but.
But part of EPIC was what gave me the confidence to change careers.
[00:17:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:27] Speaker A: To become an oncology nurse. Wow. And now I'm sitting here on the brink of becoming a nurse practitioner, looking at continuing that type of care for patients.
Wow. And it really all stems back to my experience with EPIC and what EPIC did for me in those moments where I didn't feel like I had anywhere else to go.
[00:17:52] Speaker C: So is it kind of like you felt like now you have this. You're in a position to do that for others?
[00:17:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:17:58] Speaker C: Mentally and emotionally, but practically as a nurse, I mean, you can help them.
[00:18:02] Speaker A: Yes. So my story very much has come from being kind of the outskirts of the EPIC to using EPIC as guardrails and that safety space, going through treatment, to camp, which gave me the confidence to move forward, to be able to be what I am now for my patients, and hopefully what I can continue to be for my patients. And it all comes back to epic.
[00:18:28] Speaker C: And now are you.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: You're here.
[00:18:30] Speaker C: I mean, you've been coming to every one of that gala since 2009 and doing volunteer work of various sorts, would you say? Yes. What kind of volunteer things are you
[00:18:41] Speaker A: doing so specifically with epic? The gala is just such a meaningful experience, and so we're very active with trying to make sure that the gala goes smoothly.
I, past couple years, have been gathering in donations from various sources, and then little things here and there with epic. Where I can. Where I can.
[00:19:04] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: You know, hopefully make a difference in that way for EPIC as well.
[00:19:08] Speaker C: Definitely.
If you were to share with someone listening, one thing you've learned.
I know it's hard to distill it down, but one thing you've learned through your own personal cancer journey, you're not alone.
[00:19:22] Speaker A: There's moments where it feels so desperately lonely, but if you can find the right group of people, it's something That I would always say it's like there's so much of the world that doesn't get it, you know, Capital I. Capital T, right?
[00:19:39] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: It's a big. But if you can find that community even in those dark hours, that is cancer.
You can get through it.
Even if it's just a hug, even if it's just a smile, even if it's just a knowing sigh.
And that's something that has made a difference for me. And then I try to utilize that to make a difference for others.
[00:20:06] Speaker C: I love it.
Okay. Marshmallows over a campfire.
Slow and steady or flamin Crispy?
[00:20:14] Speaker A: So I would say it kind of depends on my mood. Oh, wow. So I do enjoy this slow and steady because you get that perfect, you know, golden brown.
[00:20:23] Speaker C: Right.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: And then you get that inside that is just melted to perfection. But sometimes you just want to light something on fire.
[00:20:28] Speaker C: So there you go. So now we have, what, 3.5 to 0.5, I think, on our floor setting.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: That seems fair.
[00:20:34] Speaker C: Sarah Nooch. Nurse Nooch. Thank you so much for joining us.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: I think my. My nickname's gotten an upgrade.
[00:20:40] Speaker C: Huh? I think it's gonna be Nurse Niche, and I'm gonna start calling your husband Tech Niche also.
[00:20:44] Speaker A: I think we're both okay with that.
[00:20:46] Speaker C: That's all right. Well, thank you so much for joining us.
[00:20:48] Speaker A: Well, thank you.
[00:20:49] Speaker D: Appreciate it.
[00:20:49] Speaker C: Enjoy the night.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: I always do.
[00:20:51] Speaker C: All right, take care.
[00:21:00] Speaker E: Thank you for listening to this episode of Campfires of Hope Living Beyond Cancer. For more information about Epic Experience and our programs or to donate, please visit our
[email protected] Music for this podcast is provided by Moonshiner Collective. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review us so we can share our story with more people. Also, be sure to subscribe wherever you get podcasts so you'll know when new episodes are released. We hope you come back and join us for our next episode,
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Please.
[00:21:37] Speaker C: Still, I mean, bright and woke, we will rise once again.
