The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast - A Katie Thurston Update

Episode Date: March 26, 2025

Ben and Ashley share the latest news about Katie Thurston’s recent health update, and we break down the exciting details from her surprise wedding!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hi, my name is Enya Eumanzor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble.

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Today, we wanted to talk about Katie Thurston's wedding over the weekend. We're so happy for her and Jeff. This was quite a surprise, but we do want to acknowledge before we go. go into the wedding details that Katie did post something the yesterday that is disappointing news for sure. She says that she has, that her cancer may have progressed from stage three to stage four because there are some spots on her liver. She had them biopsied yesterday, um, Tuesday. And she found them on the scan last week. This, all happen in the midst of them doing a last minute wedding.

Obviously, we just had an interview with Katie last week. I would recommend you go back and listen to that. Katie shares a lot of wisdom and insight and thoughts about this whole process so far and also really celebrates her fiancé, no husband, that we're going to talk about in just a second. Jeff, when it comes to Katie's current situation, though, the results are not in yet. In fact, there is a message that Katie put out there that People Magazine shared about. And it's a text message that Katie has or a direct message. It's on the booby broadcast.

The booby broadcast, I follow it. It's on Instagram. If you go to her what profile, you'll be able to figure out how to subscribe to it. It's got 55,000 members, and basically she texts you every day about how she's feeling or any tests or procedures that she's had done. The message isn't long, so I'm just going to read through it. It says, my biopsy is scheduled Friday, which would have been my treatment day. We now wait. She, and I think Katie's probably referring to her doctor, she seemed to be leaning more on the cancer and the liver verse optimistic

it was nothing. This would put me at stage four, Katie says. I'd love to hear from my sisters who are in stage four in terms of quality of life, motherhood, et cetera. This is the message that Katie shared. The results are not back yet. So we are waiting with Katie and this. This did change her treatment plan that Katie went into with us last week

and kind of what her ideal treatment plan was going to look like. Obviously, this is now changed. This is just news that isn't just heavy. It's life-stopping for Katie, but also for us who are following along in this journey with her, who are familiar with this journey. It's life-stopping, and it makes everybody take a step back. And we're taking a step back to be in support of Katie as she waits for the results.

And I also just want to share a quick message and say it's very, and Katie talked about this as well, but it is very kind of Katie to be so vulnerable and open with all of us during this experience. She could, this is one of those. We say often, you know, hey, you went on a rally television show. You should be talking about your relationships and breakups and all that. This is a moment where she could easily stay quiet, but instead she's building a community of others who are going through this and herself in support.

And I just want to say thank you to Katie for allowing us in. And now we wait with Katie for the results. This is what Katie said last week about her people saying that she's brave. A lot of people say, like, you're so brave for sharing your story. And I do appreciate that gesture. But for me, it's also, it's been such a help for me to share my story and to have people that share theirs. And so there's a lot of people who, for their own personal reasons, choose to battle in silence and private, and, you know, that's their own choice.

But I do find something so supportive of being part of a group, being part of a chat, anything you can find to talk to other survivors. It's probably been like the biggest medicine for me since officially coming out with the public and sharing my story. actually that people article is a little bit outdated because yesterday katie was able to go get her port placement in and they were able to do the liver biopsy at the same time since the radiologist could get a good read she said with um an ultrasound instead of a CT scan she said she's tired she's nauseous she's in pain she's home and resting she's anticipating the results next week and but she's feeling optimistic she said My boyfriend's professor is way too friendly, and now I'm seriously suspicious. Oh, wait a minute, Sam. Maybe her boyfriend's just looking for extra credit.

Well, Dakota, it's back to school week on the OK Storytime podcast, so we'll find out soon. This person writes, my boyfriend has been hanging out with his young professor a lot. He doesn't think it's a problem, but I don't trust her. Now, he's insisting we get to know each other, but I just want her gone. Now, hold up. Isn't that against school policy? That sounds totally inappropriate. Well, according to this person, this is her boyfriend's former professor and they're the same age.

And it's even more likely that they're cheating. He insists there's nothing between them. I mean, do you believe him? Well, he's certainly trying to get this person to believe him because he now wants them both to meet. So, do we find out if this person's boyfriend really cheated with his professor or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hello, it's Daniel Fischel. writer strong and wilfridel from pod meets world and we're bringing you viva las content that's right we are back in las vegas the city of sin and giving the people what they want a full week of y2k content wait we're back in vegas tell me why

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podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth. Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York State number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short-term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs.

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to a condescending finance bro. Tell you how to manage your money again. Welcome to Brown Ambition. This is the hard part when you pay down those credit cards. If you haven't gotten to the bottom of why you were racking up credit or turning to credit cards, you may just recreate the same problem a year from now. When you do feel like you are bleeding from these high interest rates, I would start shopping for a debt consolidation loan,

starting with your local credit union, shopping around online, looking for some online lenders because they tend to have fewer fees and be more affordable. Listen, I am not here to judge. It is so expensive in these streets. I 100% can see how in just a few months you can have this much credit card debt when it weighs on you. It's really easy to just like stick your head in the sand.

It's nice and dark in the sand. Even if it's scary, it's not going to go away just because you're avoiding it. And in fact, it may get even worse. For more judgment-free money advice, listen to Brown Ambition on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. We'll take a left turn here to talk about what happened before all this, which is this weekend, Katie got married.

We want to celebrate that here. This is a big deal, a very exciting time. She looked absolutely gorgeous. There are pictures, if you go back through and look at her social media, they will make you smile because of the joy that is expressed on both of their faces. This was not talked about during our interview with Katie. she kept in a secret to everybody, which is fine. But I'm a little sad that she didn't talk about it here. I like to pretend that she actually just did it so spur of the moment that she planned it after our last Wednesday interview with her.

It's been one week today since she talked to us. And she did an interview with Katie with Sarah Herron of Us Weekly, not our Sarah Harron, but Sarah Harron, the reporter from Us Weekly. She sat down with her just around the... the same time that we talked to her, and she told her that they had just last minute said, hey, parents, come fly in. We're going to do a little backyard ceremony. Jeff and Katie, obviously, we're talked about a lot during our time with her. And what I picked up from that interview with her, Ashley, is that Jeff has been not only an incredible support system, he did stop his tour. That was a global tour to be with her during

this time after she first heard of her diagnosis and found out about her diagnosis. He is, you know, I'm sure plans are up in the air at this point. He was planning on going back on tour, starting, I think it was next week here within the States. And she was very supportive of that and excited about that. But this huge announcement that the two of them got married in this ceremony is, just a beautiful moment to celebrate the two of them. As I said earlier, this recent news from Katie makes us all kind of have this life-stopping moment where we take a step back. This is also a

life-stopping moment and one to celebrate because Katie Thurston is married. That is awesome. Yes, we're so happy for her in this part of her life. She said that they are still going to have the big wedding that they have been imagining over the past few months. you and I talk to her about her wedding plans. And this is what she said last Wednesday. Funny enough, I was dragging my feet on wedding planning. You know, I was more wanting to alone. And now, given the diagnosis, it feels like there's something really special about being

able to celebrate the love that Jeff and I have and then to be celebrating that with friends and family on a big grand scale. And so my outlook on just even like wedding planning has shifted because, you know, life it's so precious and you just never know what kind of surprises are going to come your way. So like I said, she's still planning on having that big party blowout later this year. So here's where we stand now. We're waiting for the biopsy results to come back. We are in support here at the Almost Famous Podcast to continue to share the news of Katie's journey's journey with all of you because she has also been so open and vulnerable during her experience.

and we will relay the messaging without any assumptions and guesses and wild ideas and thoughts. We will just relay the messages and the information that she shares with us publicly on social media with you, the listener here at the Almost Famous podcast, and we will wait for that as kind of the week continues. But we're also sharing this podcast because our original intention and still our intention is to say congratulations to Jeff and Katie on a beautiful wedding of a beautiful wedding of beautiful relationship, a relationship that is built on a firm foundation, and we wish you

many, many, many, many years of love and laughter and life and experiences because the two of you bring all those things to so many. That was so perfectly said, Ben. Katie, we're thinking about you and praying for you always, you got this, sending you all our love. Till next time, I've been Ben. I've been Ashley. Follow the Ben and Ashley I, almost famous podcasts on IHeartRadio

or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Hi, my name is Enya Yumanzoor. And I'm Drew Phillips. And we run a podcast called Emergency Intercom. If you're a crime junkie and you love crimes, we're not the podcast for you. But if you have unmedicated ADHD... Oh my God, perfect. And want to hear people with mental illness, psychobabble.

Yes, yes. Then Emergency Intercom is the podcast for you. Open your free IHeartRadio app. Search Emergency Intercom and listen now. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA. Right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. On the new podcast, America's Crime Lab, every case has a story to tell. And the DNA holds the truth.

He never thought he was going to get caught. And I just looked at my computer screen. and I was just like, ah, gotcha. This technology's already solving so many cases. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison

or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York state number, We own you. Listen to shock incarceration on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Jennifer Lopez, and in the new season of the Overcomfit Podcast, I'm even more honest, more vulnerable, and more real than ever. Am I ready to enter this new part of my life? Like, am I ready to be in a relationship?

Am I ready to have kids and to really just devote myself and my time? Join me for conversations about healing and growth, all from one of my favorite spaces, The Kitchen. Listen to the new season of the Overcombered podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Do we really need another podcast with a condescending finance brof trying to tell us how to spend our own money? No thank you. Instead, check out Brown Ambition. Each week, I, your host, Mandy Money, gives you real talk, real advice with a heavy dose of I, feel you, sis, like on Fridays when I take your questions for the BAQA.

Whether you're trying to invest for your future, navigate a toxic workplace, I got you. Listen to Brown Ambition on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast.