Episode 021: Laugh Your Way To A Better Life Despite Cancer
Jun 15, 2018•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Episode description
Cancer is crazy - every single day, you're dealing with physical symptoms and side effects of treatment and your own emotional state while still trying maintain a sense of normality in your everyday life. It’s so easy to overthink it and get swept up in the craziness of it all... That’s why I love talking to Khevin - he is a male breast cancer survivor who has a way of cutting through the noise of worries and stress and deal with cancer in a profound and honest way through humor and ingenuity, how to laugh despite cancer, at the world and at yourself. Here is what we cover:
The numbness of cancer diagnosis
Uncovering the myths about applying meditation and mindfulness
Laughter yoga - oddly therapeutic!
Using music for stress relief during cancer
Kevin top 5 lessons learned in dealing with cancer
How to laugh despite cancer
and much, much more!
Links
Khevin Barnes | Cure Today
MALE BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR
Khevin Barnes; Male Breast Cancer Survivor, Cancer Writer, Inspirational Keynote Speaker
Episode 018: Finding The Light Amidst The Darkness
Full Transcript
Joe: Khevin, the first thing I want to ask you is, how did you react when you first found out that you had cancer?
Khevin: Well, I was numb. The reason for that is, the way I found out was a little different. I was living in Hawaii at the time, with my wife. I had retired from being a magician for many years. We wanted to do something, something that was really different and something that we really wanted to do, which was to live in a zen centre and to study zen meditation. We actually lived in Hawaii as residents in zen centre for a year, and my diagnosis happened there in Hawaii. We went to see my primary care physician and I had a little bump on my breast and went to see a surgeon, who did a needle biopsy. She was going to get the results to me in a few days.
At that very same time, my mother who lived in the States, had fallen and broken her hip, he was 93 years old. I jumped on a plane, they said she wasn’t going to live very much longer. I flew to California to see mom, say goodbye to mom. On Mother’s Day, which was on May 11th of 2014, I got a phone call from this physician, she left a message. I’ll never forget the words. She said, “Khevin, I have a little bit of bad news.” That’s how I got my diagnosis, over the phone, on Mother’s Day, when I had gone to literally say goodbye to my mom.
She lived another couple of days, I flew back to Hawaii, but the thing that’s so unusual about this is that I was there for her, so my brothers and sisters were there, we were all saying goodbye. When this happened, and I found out I had cancer, I didn’t even have time to even process it. I just put it away. On the plane ride back to Hawaii, it’s when it first hit. That numbness that I had remained that way for a couple of days, until I was heading home, and then I started thinking about it. That’s when all the typical fears and thoughts of the future, worries about the heck this cancer even is, that’s when it all set it.
Joe: Yes, well, I guess it’s a real struggle to talk about cancer, as well, because when you’re going through it and asking for help and talking to your family, talking to your friends. How did you go about that?
Khevin: Well, my family was very supportive, but remember, they were 2,500 miles away. They were all back in the mainland. Fortunately, I was living in about the best place you can be to have a cancer diagnosis, which was a zen community, and a zen Buddhist temple. People there, of course, were totally supportive. I guess that proves that no matter what kind of lifestyle you live, you can be vegetarian and sit in meditation all day long, walk on the beach, and still get cancer. There’s no guarantees that where you are or what you do is going to keep that out of your life. They were totally supportive.
