Determined Society with Shawn French | Adversity & Mindset - The Power of Community in Battling Cancer with Jace Yawnick

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

Jace Yawnick, a cancer survivor, shares his journey of battling cancer and how he is inspiring others through his platform. He talks about the emotional experience of writing his will with his father and the realization that material possessions don't matter compared to spending time with loved ones. Jace emphasizes the importance of community and the support he receives from family, friends, and strangers. He discusses the power of determination and how surrounding himself with positive energy helps him stay motivated. Jace's story serves as a reminder that everyone has the ability to bring positivity and make a difference in the lives of others. Key Conversation Points: Material possessions pale in comparison to spending time with loved ones. The support of family, friends, and a community can make a significant difference in one's journey. Surrounding oneself with positive energy and inspiration can fuel determination. Everyone has the ability to bring positivity and make a difference in the lives of others. Connect with Jace: Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/jacebeatscancer/ Website- https://www.jacebeatscancer.org Connect with Shawn: LinkMe- https://link.me/theshawnfrench Watch on YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/@thedeterminedsociety       Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shy French, what up? This one luck I let the pain inspire me. I'm from all and everything I'm doing. Up until it's done, I'm me for the entirety. I'll put it in no for time. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time.

I confirmed it. A whole society determined. What if you woke up as a 25-year-old, completely shredded, healthy, doing all the right things in your life. Successful businessman, multiple businesses, just really crushing your life and inspiring others. Then one day you wake up and you feel a little pain. You go to the doctor because you think it's a high little hernia. Then you're slapped with a cancer diagnosis. It's earth-shattering, isn't it?

How would you react to that? What if that happened to you? Well, this next guest, that's his reality. And he awoke to a cancer diagnosis only to about a week and a half later to be sitting down with his father writing his will. Now, come with me on this journey as I take you through a cancer survivor journey on how this young man, Jace Yonik, is kicking cancer's ass. Come check it out.

This one luck I let the pain inspire me. Jace, my man, dude, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming in. It's been so long since I've seen you, and we clearly have so many things to talk about, but I'm just so happy to be looking at you right now, man. So what's been going on, man? How you feeling? How you doing?

I feel good. Yeah? Taking it one day at a time. You know, it's been a while since I've been out. Okay. In public. So being here is kind of a big step for me. How's I feel?

It's interesting. You don't think about being out in public as a strange thing when you've been doing it your whole life. But when you're in a hospital and secluded for six months, you forget. It's a little different, right? you know you expect to go back to to being normal but it takes a few more steps so audience we're gonna get to this right now we're gonna give you a little bit of a background of my man here so for the audience right we're starting to touch

on some things that they don't really understand so walk the audience through what you're going through right now and about your journey and just kind of you know put it all in a bow for them sure I'll do I'll do my best I am 26 years old just recently turned 26 and I'm your average guy I feel like you know I graduated from college and I have an amazing girlfriend and amazing friends and amazing family and in January of of this year I got hit with cancer diagnosis out of nowhere. Not Hodgkin's lymphoma which is blood cancer. And it changed everything.

Changed the way I think. Change the way I do things. Change the way I interact with people around me. And I'm on a mission to not just beat my cancer, but to help others beat cancer wherever and whenever I can. Man, I got to tell you, you know, we were connected before your diagnosis and your acquaintances.

Now I feel like we're becoming, we're friends now, right? We're friends. And, dude, I'm going to tell you, when I saw that, it floored me. You know, I felt it because I'm like, here's this young man, 25 years old at the time, healthy as all can be, you know, lean, athletic, and here you are with a cancer diagnosis. And one of the things that really floored me was you wrote your will with your father.

How, dude, I don't even know how to ask you how that feels, because I can only imagine. What was that experience like? Yeah, it was, it was really intense. You know, my dad is my best friend and my biggest role model in life. And the worst thing as a parent, I can only assume is hearing that your kid is in any way. sort of trouble, let alone have cancer. I'm his only son. And he's taught me to be responsible my whole life. He taught me how to make a budget sheet and taught me how to have manners and everything that, you know, my amazing father would do. And when I was diagnosed, he came over one day and said,

we have some paperwork to do. I said, okay. And we sat down in my living room, and he said we need to go through some standard hospital guidelines and procedures. So the first question he asks is, if you're unresponsive, what do you want to do?

What do you want us to do? What is your wish? Sobering. When it comes to what your family eats and drinks, you know your choices matter. You're the expert because you know what fits your life. And getting it right starts with good information. That's why America's beverage companies are sharing more information about our ingredients at good to know facts.org.

No spin, no judgments, just the facts straight from the experts for more than 140 beverage ingredients. Visit good to know facts.org. Yeah, and at this point, I'm in tears because you know, I'm facing my mortality. And he was reading really strong for me in that moment as my dad. He was being strong. He was being strong, you know, when I'm sure he was feeling the same emotions. Oh, yeah.

So we get through all of that. Who do you want to be your decision maker if you're unresponsive, all of that? And that was hard. And then he starts tearing up. And. And I didn't know why. I mean, I knew the conversation was heavy, but he then transitioned and said, we now need to talk about what you want to do with your stuff if you were to die. Oh, my God, man.

And we sat there just crying in tears. And I was talking to my dad about what I wanted him to have. and in that moment you realize that none of the shit you have matters. Oh my God. None of the stuff you have matters. And I would trade all of the money and the stuff, you know, just to have some more time with my dad. So it was heavy. But we finished the conversation and said, we're not going to need this will.

Yeah. And we marched forward. But it was a really tough. tough part of going through it. You know, man, I remember that when you put that video out and, you know, you finally came out and said, I'm not going to have to use this thing. And for somebody who knows you, that was not news to me, right? I knew.

I was like, he ain't using this thing. You can write whatever you want. But I think it's to your point, man. It's a sobering experience because as a parent, I have three children. When my kids get the flu, it's hard. Yeah. And you just want to keep your kids safe as much as you possibly can. And one day you'll know that.

Yeah. And then to hear that your child has a cancer diagnosis, I can only imagine the things that your father and your mother are going through. And dude, just, but you've been this pillar of strength, brother. Like, I'm going to tell you the things that you've created in your life and in bringing awareness. And this is something that I want the audience to really understand is, Even in your darkest moments in your own life, you can bring awareness to something that can matter to somebody else. And brother, you built an amazing platform.

Like, it, honestly, it happened overnight. And I looked at it and I'm like, I came across it obviously. I'm like, oh, my guy. Obviously, follow. And then the next day, I'm like, there's like 100,000 people here. I'm like, what's this guy do? I mean, it shows you how amazing people can really still be, man. And you've got so many people rallying in behind you.

How has that helped you? It's everything. Yeah. It's been everything. And I didn't start making videos with the intention of gaining a following. I actually started making videos because when I was diagnosed, I posted on my personal social pages and said I was just diagnosed with cancer and I'm struggling. and I need support. And I fortunately have so many people in my life that care about me,

and they rushed to help me. And every day I would get between 10 to 30 calls and texts, and I'd be repeating a lot of the same information over and over, and I was happy to share it, but it was getting a little overwhelming. So I opted to make that page for my friends and family, because I wanted them to get updates just without having to, you know, reach me. And out of nowhere, all these other people started to catch onto the videos. And it's become my biggest support system, my biggest reason for strength.

There are people in this community that has been built that are offering so much of their time, love and energy to a complete stranger. and not just to meet to other people in the comments that are going through struggles. It really shows me that there's good in the world and people that want to help other people. I love that, man. And it's good to see the community and the comments supporting each other. You know, we're going to head for a quick commercial break, guys. You're hearing the most amazing journey on Man Jace, dude. We're going to come back here and talk about more things that you've created here in a second.

Cool. Share in French, what else? And we are back with my man, Jase, who has clues you guys in a little bit about his journey and the platform that he has created to bring awareness to his journey, but then also inspire others. And something amazing has come out of it just from the outside looking in. You know, it's a story of sheer determination, obviously. This is the determination of the determined society. So we're going to talk about it.

But man, you're building something so special. and it's turned into this amazing foundation that you're building. So walk me through first and foremost, what does determination in this sense mean to you? Determination means, that's a good question. I don't know if I've ever thought of that, but if I had to give it an answer, determination is community. I've gotten so much of my determination and ability to be, determined from the people that are giving me strength and energy every day to fight.

And that's my family and friends and my loved ones and it's the amazing community that are showing support and love. When I see that, it's hard not to be convinced that I got this and that we got this. You know, we're in this together. There's a team. I'm not fighting alone. So determination is community to me. I'm going to tell you, man, I've never heard it describe like that. I've heard it talk about a thousand different ways. And that to me, for this specific case, is amazing because I can literally see everybody clapping behind you. I can literally see people coming from all sides of the world rallying, not just for you, but for their family members, their friends, you know, the ones that they've lost. Like, this has turned into something so big. And I think what we found in,

cases like this is like society and people are inherently still freaking good. Yeah. And but, but, but, you know, nowadays we'd like to focus on all the bad shit. But what have you learned about the good in people? Everybody is, uh, is capable of being good. Yeah. And maybe you could call me an optimist, but I will call you an optimist. You are there, there's just, there's just, there's just, so much an inherent good in everybody. It's just a matter of how much they choose to bring it out of them. And your environment dictates a lot of that. And in this environment that I've been placed in, I've been fortunate to have a lot of these people show goodness and show support and show love. And through that, I'm sure they're doing it in every aspect of their life.

I like to post a lot this phrase, people helping people. and I like to ask the community, how are you going to make somebody else smile today? How are you going to smile today? Like focusing on this positivity. And when you can do that, you just promote this energy that it's contagious. It sure is.

I can tell you, you are always so vulnerable and open about how you're feeling emotionally and physically. And what I love about that is it draws people to you because you're seeing the man for who he is. But then at the end of it, you come in with this amazing message every single time. And it's like a lot of times you wonder how people get so many amazing things across in a manner that makes sense. Well, for me, I can look at you, like, it's because he's living it.

You're literally living an experience right now and you're bringing it to everybody else. And it's profound. There's times, dude, we're all watch one of your videos. And I'm like, okay, like, if he can feel this way right now, then I sure shit can feel a certain way about the problems that I'm going through. Because let's face it, like I'm not going through something like this. Right. Like this is, you have every reason to be upset.

And I'm sure there's been moments where you've questioned and like, hey, what the fuck's going on here? But then on the backside, man, you just show your true heart and who you are. And you're inspiring almost a million people every day. Have you thought about that? It blows my mind. I sometimes still don't know how to feel about the following. But again, it just feels so much like community. I don't feel like it's all eyes on me.

I feel like it's a big group hug. Because in the comments, somebody will write, thank you for this video today. It helped me. I'm going through my cancer. And then somebody in the comments below says, we're here with you too. And so many else go through that. And there are people that aren't facing cancer that are just going through depression or anxiety or substance addiction problems.

And the community is just so there for each other. So it's just I feel a part of something. But dude, even your message, right, even though maybe someone who's addicted to a drug or something going on that's completely unrelated to cancer, they can be looking at your story. Like, he's beating this. I can beat this. Yeah. That's, dude, that's God's work, bro.

It's amazing. I'm just glad that the videos are, are encouraging people to believe in themselves. Because if I didn't believe in myself, I wouldn't be able to go through this or have these outlooks. And I have really bad days. I mean, I've had nights where I think about,

is this the last time I have on? earth I'm 26 but I'm able to adapt and say I'm in the moment right now I'm beating cancer it's a loving community let's just take another step forward is that how you get through those moments is to reflect on the people that are behind you the community and then you just make that decision like I'm winning it's a mindset that I constantly have to remind myself of and sometimes it can start to drift away and I have to grab it and pull it back. How did you grab it and pull that back? It's it could be done in a lot of ways. It could be

you know, hug from my dad or holding hands with my girlfriend or going on my DMs and talking to somebody else who's going through cancer and just helping them because they're helping me at the same time and that that's how I bring it back. It's amazing. I The reason I ask a question like that is because it's not like you're in a baseball slump, you know? It's not like you're throwing interception after interception. Like you're literally battling right now.

And if you can bring that back and have that energy, anytime you can't, like, we can all do some amazing things. Like I want everybody to understand that we all have the ability to harness this energy and to be grateful for where we are and help other people despite what we're going through. And I think that's what makes the world so great. We're going to head to a quick commercial break, but dude, this is amazing. And I'm absolutely loving every bit of this.

So we'll be back in a couple minutes. And we are back with my boy, Jason, this amazing journey to kicking the shit out of cancer. I hope you guys are getting fired up because this guy fires me up. And I'm just, again, once again, I'm just grateful to be here with you, man. This is something that I've been, like, low-key. Like, I need to be with my guy. I need to be with my guy. So when I called you and I was telling you about everything, like, well, I'm,

Is there an invite in here? I'm like, dude, it's done. Yes, there's an invite. So thank you again. But dude, in everything that you're doing in your journey, the cancer, but even before that, to me, there was always something special about you, right? You could see it. Just the first conversation we had on Zoom for completely unrelated topics.

I just felt this energy from you. But dude, so if you had to put a finger on it, what's your secret sauce? What makes you special? I don't mean to repeat myself over and over and give the same answer, but my fire comes from the people around me. They helped inspire me. They help them motivate me. And, you know, their logs on the fire, keeping it on fire for me. It's like that coal, go it in that train and just keep it going on that trail.

And when you can stay inspired by your environment, and it's not just people. It's, you know, what you're consuming. It's, you know, could be a book you're reading. I actually got a lot of my fire from my initial diagnosis. I was terrified, and I didn't know what was about to happen. So I went online, and I typed in primary media-steinal B-cell, non-Hodchkins lymphoma, which is my full diagnosis. Okay.

And there was this post, this forum. And so I go into this forum and I'm reading from all these other people who are going through or have gone through when I'm about to go through, outlining every detail. And it's scary. Yeah. And I remember this one post I read, the gentleman at the bottom left a link to a YouTube channel. And so I clicked on it. And it wasn't a lot of views. It wasn't polished.

It was a six video series of this guy. going through his cancer journey. And each video is about 30 minutes and covers a couple weeks out of time. And I watched this gentleman look like a normal guy to going into the depths of cancer treatment, kind of like how I look right now. You lose all your hair. You lose a lot of weight. And then the last video was him with a full head of hair, a beard, and his belly was back.

Great. And I watched this guy beat cancer. And I remember in that moment, I said to myself, I just watched this guy beat cancer. I can beat it too. Community. Yeah. And he lit my fire. Hell yeah.

And everybody in the community, in the comments that DM me, my family and my friends, they keep that fire lit. But if I could meet that guy one day and just give him a hug for showing me that cancer can be beat, I would give him a big hug. What's his name? I have to look again. He had a username of some sort, but I'll find him one day. Yeah, I think you should, man.

Yeah. Because what you're talking about, and to the audience that's watching and listening, you talked about community fuels his fire. You've always been excited about things you're doing out there with community, whether it's a speaking event, just being there with all these high-level individuals. You've always been that guy that has soaked in his surroundings and that inner So someone who's known him, I can say, like, I'm not surprised by that answer. Because truly, you do take that energy and you're just like that conduct.

You just absorb it. And I think that's a very special thing. There's a lot of people that don't have that gift. That gift can also be, right? It could flip over, right? Have you ever had any instances where, you know, the negative energy impacts you from just individuals. You know, my wife's an impact. right and you know she's very susceptible to that energy she will absorb something and exhaust

her do you have those things too or you just you flew off the positive yeah um i wasn't this positive person my whole life okay um i was what some of my friends would describe as a realist for a while okay um i was a bit jaded from you know just what i thought the world was and it wasn't until i was diagnosed and going through cancer that that all changed. See, I didn't read that from you before. Yeah, I mean, it just depends on kind of what mood I was in at the time. But, yeah, I mean, I would feed off negative energy. It's easy to do it.

Same things that I was describing where you could be inspired by a book or a video. It can take you down a bad path too. You can get angry at a video you're seeing and then take that energy, become it, and then shove it out, you know, in other areas. our emotions are infectious. And if I can be positive and I can smile, not only will it make me feel better, but maybe it'll make somebody else feel better. I want this to be an encouragement for the audience because emotions can sway so many different people.

And we have to be careful of who we're talking to when we're in a certain emotion or energy. Because have you ever been in a great mood and then you call a friend or you talk to somebody and they are just on the opposite end of the spectrum. And then all of a sudden, you now find yourself in that fight, you have that anxiety because your energy was just completely infiltrated. It's just crazy. You can ask one of my best friends and business partners, Jamie, there are times where, you know, I wake up in a bad mood.

And, you know, first thing I do is him and I have to get on the phone. and I just like hit him with this just like angry energy that's not even from him. Yeah. And, you know, we get off the phone and then I'll call him a minute later. I'm like, hey, I'm really sorry for, you know, dumping that on you. And you can ask him, that's happened a bunch. Unfortunately, he tolerates it still for me sometimes. Well, Jamie's an amazing individual, right?

And we know that. And that's the nature of your relationship, right? He's going to, those that are closest to you like that, we'll take that. We'll absorb that and it'll all be okay. But I'm sure it's just nice to always come back around. It's like, hey, man, I'm sorry. He keeps me in check too. We keep each other in check.

You know, the people that you love and you care about, you know, you check in with them. And you go, hey, you know, I know you're angry right now. Are you angry with me or is there something going on? And, you know, if you have people in your life that you can sit down with them have those conversations, you can get to the root of a lot of problems. And I fortunately have a lot of those people in my life. So it's helped me to, again, maintain this, the smiles and the optimism. And then when it's tears and anger, they're there for that too.

Well, dude, you're doing amazing things. You're kicking cancer's ass. I'm super proud of you. And can't wait until it's all over. You know, we could celebrate. But until then, man, you keep inspiring everybody. And I want you guys all to know that, again, no matter what you're going through, you can, too, be positive and help other people's lives.

And dude, thank you for coming on to the show. Thanks for having me. This is where the story is a determination lie, and you are that story. Thank you, buddy. Thank you. Thank you. Shire French, what up? This one luck, I let the pain inspire me.

I put my all and everything I'm doing. Up until it's done, I meet for the entirety. I'm putting an over time. I'll be working. Just know I'm a go for mine because I earned it. They watch and I know it's time. I confirmed it. A whole society determined.