Wisdom of Champions - Josh Ribeiro
Why Raise Awareness?
Josh Ribeiro: So what I really wanted to be about is spreading awareness towards different things and you hear everyday about these. Terrible things that are going on in the world and I would just love to shine a light on those things and try to try to get people to truly understand that we might not be in their shoes. We may not understand what they're going through, but they truly are going through a hard time.
Just like with cancer. I want to try and do my best to raise awareness towards it because there's only 4% funding going towards childhood cancer, but there's a lot more funding going towards adult cancer.
Is my kid going to be here to see another day? Is my kid going to be OK? Is everything going to be OK? How much is the treatment? Is this just your head spirals and there's so many questions being asked that you don't really get that chance to sit back and take a breather and relax.
At the simplest level of statistics, we could compare the 18 per 100,000 rate of childhood cancer in the US to the 442 per 100,000 rate of adult cancer and see that yes, 18 is 4% of 450.
Josh is pointing out that, for children and families dealing with pediatric cancer, the experience is overwhelming. Not a small percentage of their lives and their emotions.
If something serious happens to us, or to our loved ones, it happens 100%. But if something bad might happen to us, and the odds are small, we choose optimism, and most of the time we’ll be correct.
That’s why, to be honest, when I hear the phrase “raise awareness,” my initial reaction is “I don’t want to be aware of that terrifying thing. I don’t want my awareness raised.” That reaction has changed somewhat over the years, and I’ve found myself getting involved in more and more situations that require awareness of frightening possibilities, both for me and for those I care about.
Why would I do this? Why might you consider doing this? Maybe you’re far ahead of me, and have been diving much deeper into these emotions and situations than I have, for a longer time.
Let’s visit some of the moments in Josh Ribeiro’s Childhood Cancer Hall of Champions podcast episode, to find out how what words of wisdom he and his Mom have to offer in response to these questions.
Friendships for Life
Nerissa Ribeiro (Josh’s Mom): I'll be honest with you, it hasn't all been Peaches and cream the whole entire time. It takes a toll on the family, marriage, the whole thing, and together we are strong and we're doing so well. Childhood cancer is scary, and it's it's not fun at all. Staying in the hospital. Not knowing whether your child is going to be alive today or tomorrow, having moms that you met and have been so supportive to you and then you become friends with them and their kids die. It's very, very difficult. But I will tell you with all the foundations that are out there. It's so important that we have those foundations because. Everything that everything Josh attends. Whether it's a podcast today or it's a news interview or Jay Fund or Dreams come true. Leukemia, Lymphoma foundation. These foundations are keeping his head and other kids off of them going through treatment and the friendships that they do get it's friendships for life. And same with the moms. It's truly friendships for life.
Of course, supporting families who are going through cancer is not the same as going through it yourself. But the foundations, the support groups and even the podcasters who choose to engage with these serious issues do so because it’s meaningful. Because supporting people who are going through the most difficult times in their lives feels like you’re in the right place, doing what needs to be done. Even with what Josh is going through, the chance to connect with and help others keeps his focus positive and moving forwards.
First Contact
Josh: Then you can edge into like and then I feel like you should have that normal conversation. But I feel like when you're at a party or you're at any type of setting, you should ease into a normal conversation and then I kind of just open up and kind of just talk about it. I'm like, yeah, I have cancer, I'm 14. I'm a survivor and. I don't know, I feel that's the exact way to do it is just kind of have that normal conversation and don't look at somebody like they're an alien from another planet, just kind of talk to them normally. Then if they feel open you can talk about it. Or maybe if you see them like smiling and stuff you can kind of ease into it a little bit and be like, hey I was. I was seeing you're in a wheelchair or you're in crutches. What happened? And a lot of the times a lot of people will be open to talk about it because we feel reassured that people aren't scared of us because I remember going back to school and everyone was telling me or in starting rumors around school like hey don't go near Joshua. Don't touch him, you'll get cancer and I remember just telling everyone I'm like, no, it's not contagious. And then there was this girl who literally came up to me in front of this crowd of people and hugged me and goes. Am I going to get cancer? No, it's not contagious. It's nothing. I have two friends who go to the same school as me and they they both have the same had or still have the same exact cancer as me and. It's just it's kind of like we're we're a little family and once you get diagnosed with something, you are invited into the family and you are in that family forever.
Yes, some awkwardness is understandable. We don’t want to say or do the wrong thing. But Josh tells us to take it slow, watch for hints and let the other person open up if they choose to do so.