Follow Cheeky's and Chill on Amazon Music. Just head to Amazon dot com slash Cheeky's and check out even more podcasts by Michaultura throughout Hispanic Heritage month. Listen to my latest episode of Cheekys and Chill on Amazon Music. At Amazon dot com slash Cheeky's and listen to Cheeky's and Chill on Amazon Music, or ask Alexa to play Cheeky's and Chill on Amazon Music. I'm actually getting my first mamogram tomorrow.
When they first told me that they had found something, I was like, oh, not for me. It's not cancer, It's probably a cyst. It's probably something else. Doesn't run in my family. I am thankful that all I had to lose was my right breast and not my life. I mean, that is a gift.
Hello everyone, Happy October. Today marks the first Monday of October, which is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Women tell this something we talk about a lot here on Cheeky's and Chill because it is something that is very important to me. And today we're going to be hearing from a breast cancer survivor. I've said this before, but I think we learned by listening to other people's experiences. So I'm hoping you all take something away from today's conversation. This is
Cheeky's and Chill. Today's guest is Christina Guerrero. She's a storyteller, pop culture expert, and a television host. You may have seen her on E Entertainment, where she was the very first Latina correspondent. So welcome Christina, Welcome to the podcast. Thank you so much, No, thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on, taking the time and also being so open about your story. I'm going through a
few things and we'll talk about that later. As I was reading about you and your story, one thing that that caught my attention was that, and I totally understand as well as far as like how being a Latina wasn't like a cool thing, it wasn't celebrated.
It is so interesting because you know, I grew up in the eighties and nineties and I grew up in a really small cow town in Washington State where it wasn't celebrated. It wasn't anything that people were wanting to throw around or like be proud of it. And I just feel like, you know, I had a lot of mixed messages. Be proud of who you are, but don't be too proud of who you are. You know, be proud of where you come from, but don't speak Spanish. You know those kinds of things. Now it brings me
so much joy. It gives me a depth in ways that other people just can't understand. It connects me to my ancestors, it connects me to my people. It's a beautiful thing. I love my culture.
That's awesome. Yeah, I totally get that. That's how I felt before. It was like, oh, don't speak Spanish. The more English you can speak, the better, especially when I was like going to school and stuff. My first language was Spanish because my grandparents they raised me, so then having to go to school and learn English, and then after I learned English, it's like, Okay, don't speak Spanish. I kind of forgot how to speak the correct you know, Spanish, I guess the proper way.
So I totally get that. Now we're on top.
Now it's like everyone wants to be a Latina, which is cool.
I'll take it. And we've made it so cool. It's like, come on the other side, we're we're having a good time over here.
Yes we are. There's a lot of flavor over here.
So when did this, like I want to become a television host happen? Or did it just happen by accident or you always knew? You know.
It's so interesting because I get asked that question a lot. And I was just back home in Washington, in my small little cowtown, and I was amazed to myself. I'm like, how did a little girl who was dark and grenuda and you know, dirty and running around poor? My dad was an alcoholic and in jail. My mom was on welfare and food stamps. And I look at that time and I'm like, how did I believe the I was meant to do something beyond the small town that I was raised in. And I just have to give it
to God. I just have to give it to God. It was a divine purpose for me to I don't believe God was like, we want you to be an entertainment host. I believe that God gave me a voice and a purpose to reach people. And I believed it. I thought somebody has to do it, why can't it be me? And I never wavered from that, and I just I went to school. I hustled. I worked hard. I did jobs for free, and I just worked my way all the way up the ladder until I realized
my dreams. And then when I realized my dreams, I.
Was like, oh, it happened.
I did it. No, I'm here now.
What that so awesome?
Was?
You work so hard?
Yeah? But I've always loved talking to people. My mom would always tell me you talk too much. Stop talking to strangers. I love talking to people, and so I had an innate sensibility for performance, and then I was such a curious little girl. So I just put the two together, and being a TV host was the perfect job for me.
That's awesome. I think you're amazing at it. And yeah, you're a storyteller. You're a storyteller, and that's People always ask me, like, how do you get people to talk to you? Or sometimes like I can go somewhere random, they don't know who I am or anything. We just start talking and they tell me their whole life, and there I am giving them advice and then I tell them my whole life, and I'm.
Like, I just love talking to people.
I feel like it's part of like what I meant to do is just inform people you know what I mean?
Yes, absolutely, yeah, it's the human connection, right, relating to people on the same level. Right, you're this like huge superstar and have had this extraordinary life. But like if we get back down to just the human experience, my story and your story and the story of the person who just got on the city bus, or the story of the person who is standing in the welfare line, or where all of our stories are kind of intertwined, and that's the human connection, I believe.
Absolutely, I completely agree with you. Absolutely, I love that because that's what it is. At the end of the day, we're all equal. It's just you know, we're doing different things in the world, but we're all equal. So yes, I love that and I completely agree. And now talking about storytelling, you were telling your story. I saw that about a month ago. Was it a little bit over a month that you were talking about what you were going through? How did that feel? Did you feel the
need to share it? Did you think about I'm going to keep this to myself ever or did you always know I want to talk about this and be open about it.
I've always been a very open book. The nature of our business is to connect to people and to relate to people, and then a lot of people just kind of know who we are. So I've always felt like I had a platform to be able to share my story. But before I shared my story, I needed to process everything that was happening. I could not do it in real time. And so I always knew that this was going to be a great opportunity for me to connect
to people, to hopefully inspire people, to educate people. But while I was going through it, I kind of talk about in my documentary, I was just walking through molasses. So I was just walking in this really kind of out of body experience. I had to still go to work. I have two little boys. I have to get to school. I have to get to soccer practice. I have to pay bills, I have, you know, to get dinner on
the table. Oh, and then I'm going through cancer and then my life is completely changing, and then I might die, and then I might not be here for my boys, and then I'm going to lose a part of my body. So I was just I was on autopilot for a very long time. And I know a lot of people process not like on Instagram and publicly in real time. I just I couldn't. I couldn't do it.
Yeah, because you were documenting everything? Was it first and foremost for yourself? And then you decided to say I'm going to share this, or because it was your husband, right who was recording everything for you?
I was recording some stuff. He's the one who produced it, but he recorded some stuff as well. Okay, he's a filmmaker and I'm a storyteller. I'm a journalist, and Sour even though we were processing on this like really crazy level, we are both storytellers, and so, you know, we knew that we wanted to document it. I didn't know at that point what I would do with it. Maybe it was just going to be meet for me one day to you know, kind of look back and see all
the craziness that was happening. But the way he sees life as a filmmaker and the way I see life as a journalist, everything is in story form. So we kind of we just kind of proceeded that way.
Does breast cancer run in your family?
Okay, let me tell you this. It was a huge shock. I go get my mammogram every year when I turned forty, because that's just like what you're supposed to do right. I've been in this business a long time. I report on breast cancer awareness every October. I do an interview on somebody. I never think it's for me. It's for somebody else because it doesn't run in my family. But I still, you know, my due diligence. I go get my mammograms so I can tell people I do it,
you should do it too, right. And so when they first told me that they had found something, I was like, oh, not for me. It's not cancer. It's probably a cyst. It's probably something else. Doesn't run in my family. And they said, yeah, we don't think that it's anything either, and they did some more tests. It should take two days to get the results. It took six weeks to get the results. Because it's such a rare form of breast cancer, they didn't know what it was. So when
I got that information, I was shook. Doesn't run in my family. I'm forty three years old, I'm very healthy. This is not happening to me. This is not in the cards, This was not in the plan. To get that news turned my world upside down. Getting that news, finding out it was an aggressive form of breast cancer that it was a rare form of breast cancer. Had I not gone to go get my mammogram, I would have died.
Oh my goodness.
I say that dramatically because I can't even stress to you how important early detection is. Again, I wasn't doing it because I was like earlier detection. I was doing because I'm like I tell other people to do it, I should do it too. Also, I need my medication refilled, so I'll just do it all at the same time. My doctor tells me, if we don't get this out of you, it will kill you. Wow. I've got two little boys at home. I've got my whole life ahead
of me. We run our lives moving at a pace that is fast and quick, and we're not taking care of ourselves. We're not thinking. And when we run our lives like that, we miss right. Things fall through the cracks, We miss things. Had I missed this, I would have died.
How did your voice take it? Did you take a while to let them know?
I have little boys. So my little boys, I have a ten year old and a three and a half year old, and they just knew that mommy needed to get better, that there was something going on, and the doctor needed to take care of me so that I could be around for a really long time. And so I've been really grateful to shield them from kind of
everything that's happening with my documentary. Though. My husband and I said, you know, when they're of age, we can break this to them and show them what I was going through, you know, for them to kind of see how it all unfolded. But for now, for now, I mean, had I had to go through chemo or have blast my hair or some of the other side effects that happened, then we probably would have told them, but we were able to shield them from that thankfully.
Yeah, that's probably best for sure. And like you said, you guys have it in a documentary and well, from what it seems like, your husband was very supportive, and I think that makes a huge difference as well.
Yeah. Yeah, no, he it's hard. He's funny. It's not funny. Cancer runs in his family. And I had just told him a couple of weeks before, go get checked. Cancer runs in your family. You're gonna get cancer. Go get checked. And then I'm the one who gets cancer. So unfortunately, he's very familiar with it. He is a great caretaker and he took really good care of me, so I was very thankful for that.
To your husband, it's awesome.
Yeah, he's great. But I you know, it's interesting because and I hope, I hope people still are listening. It's not a sexy topic, right, It's not a sexy topic to talk about breast cancer. It's like, oh, one of those things then one of those things you have to do, or one of those things somebody else is going through, one of those things that will happen to somebody else. And I'm just here to say that it can happen
to anyone. And as I know who your audience is, breast cancer is the number one killer of Hispanic women. And that is because I believe we are not educated. We don't maybe value our health as much as we should. We are taking care of everybody else, and we're not thinking in those terms. You know. I talk to my sister who's older than me. She's like, Oh, I've been meaning to get a mammogram. I'm like, what are you waiting for? But like there's like something in our culture
that's like we get dit beaties and heart disease. Cancer doesn't happen to us, you know, and so it's happening to our people. It's happening to our women, our moms, our grandmas, our sisters, our cousins, and we need to we need to be aware of it.
We need to be aware and also responsible, you know, because I think as Latinos we feel like, oh we're fine, especially a lot of men and women as well. There it's like the last thing you do. You just have to feel completely sick in order to say, okay, now I'm really going to the doctor. But you felt complete, you felt fine, you know, and yeah, you were just doing your the routine of like okay, you got to
do this. Yeah, And that's exactly what happened with me because I'm actually getting my first mamogram tomorrow.
Yay, hear that?
Thank you?
Because before been was like okay, until you turn forty. Now they're saying to do it as early as thirty five. Yes, So I am thirty eight, and I've had breast surgery like breast augmentation and breast reductions and all that stuff. And my gynecologist has you know, they do the little you know, the check or whatnot, and I've had lumps and stuff and.
She's like, I think it's car tissue. And then I'm like, well, now it's growing.
So I went to the doctor last week and some other stuff came up, and like you said, it's not a sexy it's not a sexy conversation, but it's a conversation that we need to have. Like I'm very good with every February, I get my PAP smear and I get all that stuff checked, I get check for STDs, the whole thing. But I was kind of bleeding. I was spotting a little bit. I'm like, something doesn't feel right.
And I've had cys and my ovaries and stuff, and now I have pulyps or something like that and the lining of my uterus and I have to get it like surgically removed. And I have all these like stuff going on on my breast, and I'm just like, what's happening. I had a meltdown last week because I'm like, oh my gosh, like i feel fine, I'm working like this is you know, And I'm like, wait, if I'm not okay, if I'm not healthy, I can't do everything I do. I can't help the world. So I have to put
myself first. But it was definitely something that I was like, you know, I'm so glad we're having this conversation to be able to help other women and say, hey, if they've never gotten a mammogramm aror they don't go get their pap smear or just like the routine checks. It's so important, ladies, it really is.
Also, it's like, no, that can't possibly be anything. I'm fine, I feel fine putting things off, like when I get really sick, then I'll go take a look at it. So just something that i'll share with you and with your legions of fans. But I also had a breast reduction two years ago, and so when I first got when she was like, oh, there's something here, we're going to go look at it. I was like, you know what, it's scar tissue. I already know it. It's all good.
It's scar tissue. And they're like, you know what, You're probably right, that makes sense. It tracks now. I could have left it at that and just been like, yeah, that's what it is. I just know because I know better than everybody else. But I was like, she's like, I'm not going to let you leave until we do more tests. I was like, oh, okay, let's do more tests, and then I find out it's an aggressive form of breast cancer that had I not taken care of it
when I did, would have killed. I'm so happy to hear that you're going to go take care of yourself. This like brings me so much joy and really like putting this out there, my story and the way in which I'm doing it is like, I am not the person cancer is going to come and get That is what I told myself. So somebody out there right now is listening and they felt a lump or something's not right or whatever, and they're like, oh, it's fine. I'm here to tell you go get yourself checked out. Yes,
please get yourself checked out. It could save your life.
I'm so nervous, and I'm so scared, to be honest, to get a mamogram because I have a friend that said it really hurts because I have implantsed. So she said, okay, that it hurts. It's uncomfortable. I don't know, you tell me, but I know I have to do it.
But I'm a little scared.
I know, you know what. Honestly, I've heard that a lot. I've heard that from a lot of women who are like, oh, I don't want to do it because I hear it hurts. It doesn't hurt. It's a little uncomfortable, it's a little bit of pressure, it's a little awkward, you know, and the whole scheme of things. It really doesn't hurt. It's a little uncomfortable. But so is a pap smear. So is it is life? I promise it's nothing to be
scared of. I've done it every year since I turned forty, and one way that I kind of remember that it's time to get it, so I don't forget it as I always go on my birthday or like my birthday month. It's a gift to myself that I know that I'm okay. So I always go in October to get my mammogram and my paps mayor both of them are super important.
Yes, absolutely, Okay, that's good. It's like, hey, this is a gift. This is the gift for myself, peace of mind. You know what I mean.
I'm gonna they get it exactly.
Okay. I love that.
Okay, I'm gonna do it scared even if I am, it's like whatever, but now I feel better.
Now I feel better. Is it a long process?
It's not you're in there for fifteen minutes. It's easy, breezy. It's it's really not hard. You go in, they check one side and then they check the other side, and then they do some some pictures. Nothing like sexy. There's no like sexy cleavage pictures or anything like that. There's just no Instagram. And yeah, there's no filters.
I know, like shit, okay, okay, awesome, all right, so it's not too crazy long. I was like, oh am, I going to be in there for hours because pap smears are so uncomfortable, but they're super quick, and it's just like, oh my gosh, they are they gonna grab my freaking uterus. But it's important, it's it's okay. So many things in life, like you said, are are uncomfortable.
Yeah. I was gonna say it's in and out, but then that seems really inappropriate when we're talking about.
True You're right, And it also made me hungry now, like I want some in and out in and out sounds.
I'm always thinking about food. Oh my gosh.
Anyways, that's hysterical. And so how are you feeling.
I'm feeling. I'm feeling better.
There is a little like a little lump or bump that is kind of concerning me on my left breast. But the good thing is I'm going tomorrow, and I'm like, you know, what.
Did I think about it?
Well, because my grandmother she had cancer, I believe twice and now she's in remission. But I have to take care of that even more so. And my mom had a lump as well and it was benign, but they had to remove it.
So I have to. It's important.
It's important, I think just whether like you said, whether it runs in your family or not, to definitely go get tech.
But I'm feeling good. I'm feeling better.
I do have pain in like my ovaries and stuff, but I can't wait. I'm like, I just want to get that all situated and you know, and hopefully move on with my life, you know. And just now I caught it and that's a good thing that I went right.
And what a gift to yourself to be able to like, what if it's nothing, great, let's find out it's nothing. What if it's something, let's take care of it. You know. For me, it was an aggressive form of breast cancer. It was a rare form of breast cancer. I had a lumpectomy that didn't work because it still was spread. I had to have one of my right breasts removed. Was traumatizing. It was traumatizing, it was emotional. It's still gone. But on the other hand, I'm like, I am alive,
I am healthy, i am grounded, I'm blessed. I am thankful that all I had to lose was my right breast and not my life.
I mean, that is again, absolutely, and I love the way you see it.
See this is where I'm like, Okay, you know, hopefully it's nothing, but if it is something, then I can grab on from your strength. And you have really like made me feel like okay, because I I've been very emotional. You know, I'm just like, what's going to happen, but hey,
we'll cross that bridge when we get there. And speaking to people like you and listening to women that are so strong and like, okay, you're also in the entertainment industry and you're like, okay, God has given us this voice and this platform to share these stories and to hopefully help other people and not just women, if not men too, Like it's important for men, the guys that listen to Chigi's and Chill you guys go also get your checkups, and it's something that we need to prioritize
and we don't do that enough.
So absolutely, I hope men like they tuned in because they're like, oh, these two chicks are going to be talking about boobies and then yeah, we like school them with some go to see your doctor.
Yes, absolutely absolutely, I was going to ask you how long? So now you're you're good, You're fine, you feel good now.
Yeah. So after I had my mystectomy, I had to go through six weeks of radiation and I did that, and for right now, I am clear. I do have to continue to go have checkups and do cet scans and just make sure that this little bugger doesn't try to come back.
Yeah.
But yeah, I'll eventually have reconstruction. I lost my breast, but you know it's I can have reconstruction and I can have a brand new boob that is going to be like brand new. I'm going to look like a hot twenty two year old.
Yeah.
So, I mean, when win, I don't recommend going about getting boobs by getting cancer, but hey, if I have to go through cancer, I might as well get a new boob in a.
See I love your attitude.
Yes, we have to find levity and really hard, hard things like that's kind of one of those things that got me through is laughing and finding joy and finding humor in life, because what's the point otherwise.
Right, Absolutely, I agree.
So after going through everything and now, thank goodness, you are good, what did you learn? Basically, like, how did this make you a better person? You know, is there something that you thought you needed to learn or you have learned or yes?
No, absolutely. People have been so gracious and kind and have sent words of encouragement, and you know, a lot of times they say, I'm so sorry that you had to go through this, and I appreciate that. I'm so grateful that I went through this. I'm also grateful that I lived right Like it would be a bummer if it was not good news. But I'm so grateful that I went through this because I think for me, this
was an opportunity to realize what's important in life. Right any of us are chasing after something that is not going to fulfill us, whether it's a job or a career, or money or a car or like what this showed me is the most important thing in my life is My today is my babies, my kids, my family, and like those are real, real things and the jobs they will come and go and the opportunities they will come and go. And for me, it grounded me in a
way that I've never been grounded. It put me in today, put me in the moment because I was like always thinking like what's next, what's next, what's next? Well, what if there's no what's next? Because I didn't take care of myself. So right now is all I have. And for me, that is like the biggest gift that I could have been given.
Yes, because we get so caught up, like you said, especially being in the entertainment industry or just in anything. You don't even have to be in an entertainment industry, like you are caught in the rat race of life and not really focused on what's in front of you, you know. And I always say this, I'm like, stop and smell the roses. I'm like literally stop and be like, oh wow, what a nice bush of roses. Smell them, like appreciate these things, you know what I mean, Like
I totally, I totally get what you're saying. And I think that that that's awesome that you feel completely grounded and and yeah, I mean, I'm happy to know that you're good and you're you're gonna be here for many, many, many many years with your boys and hopefully see their children and everything. So I am I'm happy. I'm glad that I was able to talk to you and that you are so open to share this, and that you share this on your social media because it is becoming
more and more common, especially now even in girls. A friend of mine got breast cancer at thirty two, you know, and breast cancer didn't run any family. Yeah, so young, and she's think goodness, she's good, but still like she's another another woman that it's like, Okay, hey, we got to remind each other and ourselves that we have to do this and put ourselves and our health as a priority in our life.
Share your social media with us, please, okay.
And my Instagram is at Christina Guerrero. You can watch my entire mini documentary. I mean, it's so weird because it's fifteen minutes long, which in Instagram time might as well be like a thousand years, and its entirety is on my Instagram and it'll make you cry. I'm just gonna say it it's going to make you cry, but I also hope that it brings you some joy and some inspiration at the same time and some hope. So that is that is my hope for anybody who happens to watch it.
Awesome.
Thank you, Thank you again, thank you so much for taking the time. I feel like my heart needed needed to speak to you. So everything happens for a reason. I'm a true and firm believer in that. I'm like, you know what, God, you are in control, you know why, and I trust your plans better than mine. So I'm speaking to you, and it just so happened to be that. Yes, it is cancer Awareness month and I'm going through something and I feel better now. To be honest, I'm not
even joking. I feel like, Okay, everything's gonna be okay no matter what.
SA men, I love it. I love it.
And here you guys know that I always leave you with a quote, a motivational quote.
Every week.
So the quote for the week is, I refuse to let this world crumble my character. I am the author, I am the story, I am the hero. I will write myself. So that is a quote, you guys for today's episode. Please please please even if you don't do it for yourself, do it for me. Go get yourself checked, be responsible. Please you guys, Thank you so Muchristina, thank you so much again. Do you need advice on love, relationships,
health emails? I'm so excited to share with you that my Cheeky's and Chill podcast will have an extra episode drop each week. I'll be answering all your questions. Just leave me a voice message.
All you have to do is go.
To speak Pipe Slash Cheeky's and Chill Podcasts and record your questions.
I can't wait to hear from you.
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