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And I thought I was living a pretty healthy life, but when I really looked into the, the corners and the crevices of my life, there was a lot to clean up and a lot of it was mental health and dealing with, with that and doing a lot of forgiving, forgiving of myself and forgiving of others and, and just much a happier person now. I'm just, I'm one of those people that, you know, now people look at me and they're like, you're so laid back. Nothing upsets you. My mom gets upset. I drive her to church and she's road raging on the way to church. I'm like, oh, who cares if they cut me off? I don't care, you know? So, yeah, just abandoning, you know, resentment is a big one.
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You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization, the number one network of holistic cancer support groups in the world. Each week we bring you stories of hope, real stories that will encourage you as you navigate your way on your own journey to health. Now here's your host, stage four cancer thriver, Jim Mann.
C
Yes, I took a little break from the podcast in case you were wondering where I've been. It's something about going through cancer, coming out the other end and then talking to people every week for a couple years about cancer that you're like, man, I just need to take a break from talking about cancer. So that's what I did. I didn't know how long it was going to be, but, hey, it lasted a year. And now I'm back, ready to share more stories about people who are facing cancer and the hope that they found and their stories and most of them coming out the other end cancer free, others still on the journey. But I'm back. I missed you. I know, I know. But I wanted to give you time to go back to the other episodes that you maybe have missed or caught up on. So hopefully you've done that by now. And let's continue on. Right now we're going to talk with Tracy Goldheart all the way up in Ohio. Here's her story. I've been to Cleveland for a meeting and I went in February. That's not the smartest time to. For your first visit to Cleveland, is it?
A
No. And I'm about 30 miles from Cleveland, so we're, we're in what they call the snow belt, the lake effect. Storms come off and we'll, we'll go to bed with no snow and wake up with, you know, two feet.
C
I love That I grew up in Baltimore. I love a lot of snow. We don't get as much as Cleveland area, but still we had. I remember getting three feet one time when I was a little kid. I wasn't much more than three feet myself. It was amazing. But then I moved to Florida and didn't get a lot of snow.
A
I would move to Florida.
C
Well, I ran out of sweat so I had to move back up to South Carolina. Just kind of in between. Okay, yeah, you have a, you have a, a story. But first of all, I want to find out what your life was like up until that point. Because it's back in 22, I believe it was. You got your diagnosis.
A
Yes.
C
So what was happening in your life at that time before you got the wonderful news?
A
I was kind of living the dream. I had hit a point. My husband's self employed so I was kind of doing work for him. But it was on my time and my schedule, which freed me up to spend a lot of time with my. We had a new grandson at the time, Brantley. And I was being granny and living the granny life and having lots of fun. Just loved natural health and was always interested in it. I'd worked for natural health doctor chiropractor for a number of years and learned a lot under him. So I really thought I was taking great care of myself and went to the doctor for some acupuncture and he suggested I do a calcium score test to check out my cardiovascular health because of some family history. Not of any concern that he had over me. But he's like, you're at the age we should get a baseline and not somebody who does a lot of extra tests but went for the test. And he called me three days later and said my calcium score was perfect but there was something very, very ugly in my lung that we needed to look at further.
C
That didn't make you nervous at all? Right?
A
Right. I had had Covid. So I'm just like, eh, it's probably some sort of weird Covid scarring or something. You know, I kind of tried to poo poo it until the. The doctor called to set up the biopsy. And he had a very different, different outlook on what he thought he was looking at, which was what he was looking at.
C
So yeah, when you finally realize what it was, how did that affect you mentally and emotionally? How'd that hit you?
A
Yeah, I remember we went. My biopsy was on August 1st of 22. Went kayaking, my husband and I the night before and we were kayaking down the river. And a buck came down in the river and stood there and we just kind of stopped paddling and we just coasted. And I remember the thought coming was like, what if this is our last normal night? What if this is the last night before? And tried to, tried to get that out of my head and thought, you know, this is the enemy playing tricks with me. And, you know, just let that go. And sure enough, on, on August 1st went in and the doctor told me what he thought he was looking at. And when I woke up from the biopsy, he said, it's. It's definitely cancer. He says, we don't know. He thought it was in the lymph nodes as well. And he said, so he took some lymph nodes with the biopsy of the actual tumor that they found in my airway. And they basically said, you know, now we wait about a week or so to get the results back and we'll know type and stage and all of that kind of stuff. So it, it was rough initially. You know, we were driving home and my husband went into like auto mode because the doctor was really sugarcoating it as much as he could. And my husband kind of didn't grasp it. So he called my mom and he said, it's. It's really good news. And I was like, well, no, it's not. So he, you know, I told him, I said, you do know. He said, I have cancer. And he said, no. Is that what he said? And I'm like, that's exactly what he said. And I was like, I'm the one that's sedated. And I, like, got the clear, you know. But I'll tell you what, I have been somebody who's struggled with panic attacks and anxiety disorder from when I was a child. And I always had this worst case scenario thinking like, you know, it was. Wasn't a headache, it was a brain tumor. You know, it was always the worst, you know, jump to the worst case scenario. And when, when the worst case scenario showed up, I, I said to myself that night, my husband and I were talking and I said, you know, now comes the time to find out if I really believe what I've said. I believed all these years, if I trust in God and I can rely on his innate intelligence within us, that if I do the things that I need to do, this body will heal like it's supposed to. And I really had a peace. Not to say the only time I would get really upset or within the fear was my grandson was just over two at the time. And I was like, he won't remember me if this goes wrong, he won't remember me. And everybody's like, of course he will. You're so. And I'm like, no, he's two. He won't. And that's okay. But that was the only time I got emotional about the cancer was leaving him. Everybody else, I was like, they'll be okay. But leaving him, it got me.
C
So, yeah, those grandkids mess up everything. I noticed you were like a Bible study leader and a kids church leader. Were you doing all that at that time?
A
At that point, I was not. I'd counseled camp and I was a youth leader at our church for a period of time. And I was kind of. We were just joining a new church. We had been visiting there. So I hadn't really gotten involved at that church yet. Coming off of some church hurts. A lot of people do. And we were found ourselves in between places for a while and we found this church that we really were comfortable and we, we felt it was, it was going to be our church home. And then the cancer diagnosis came through and I'll tell you, that church rallied around my husband and I. They covered us in prayer, they sent meals to our house. They really brought us in and took care of us. And as soon as I healed, I was like, I want to get back on serving. And yeah, so I've got a ladies Bible study. We just had a meeting yesterday. I've got 25, 28 women meeting every Tuesday morning together and studying the word of God and wow, it's a good time.
C
And kids church leader.
A
Yeah, yeah, I've been doing that for a number of years. I was actually a camp counselor and we did what was called senior high extreme camp, which was exactly what it sounds like, a very extreme senior high camp experience. So we did things like jumping off of 30 foot telephone poles and who does it, you know, scaling. I know, right? It's just use your average Wednesday activity.
C
I'm doing that this afternoon, I think so.
A
And we, we came together as a community of adults ministering to these kids over the course of the years. And I've got, I've got students that, you know, I've gone to Colorado to go to a wedding for one of my campers. And you know, so many of these kids became like my kids and I stay in touch with so many of them. But yeah, after the camping experience ended, it hit a certain age and it was like, okay, it's time to let the younger people take over. So A number of us stepped back and let some new ones come up, but then it was, you know, teaching kids church, you know, at church. And I was a youth leader at a church that we belonged to for a number of years as well. And just have a real heart for middle school teenage kids. They got it rough, you know, and we can lead them to Jesus and just let them know that there are people out there, you know, that love them and care for them. And sometimes they need those people not to be mom and dad, because of course they know mom and dads know nothing.
C
Oh, yeah.
A
Find that, you know, we could say the same thing mom and dad would say, but for whatever reason, they would listen to us, not mom and dad.
C
Yeah.
A
So. Yeah. So still have. Have a heart for those kids. But not currently involved with the student ministry at the church at this point. But I do help out for special events and stuff. Vacation Bible schools and things like that.
C
Yeah. I was asking that just because I was a children's pastor for 10 years. Okay. I can't handle youth, even though they really need it. But mentally, I can only do elementary age.
A
Yeah. The older ones with the bigger problems always had my heart. Yeah.
C
Well, let's go back to your journey after the diagnosis, and you. And you found out what it was, what was the path that your doctor wanted you to do?
A
So basically, they. They determined that it was neuroendocrine cancer, which is a rare cancer, but it can come up anywhere in the body. It's common in the lungs, pancreas, you know, had some really famous people. Steve Jobs, actually, everybody says he died of pancreatic cancer. He had neuroendocrine cancer. It just happened to be on his pancreas. But it was really hard to explain to people, like, I don't have lung cancer. I have cancer in my lung. So right away, they wanted to go in and take the tumor out. And I was like, can we watch this? Can I try to treat it naturally? The tumor had been there long enough. It had sealed off the lower chamber of my lung. So the bottom lobe of my lung was actually dead tissue. So I ran the risk of having sepsis or gangrene or all kinds of fun things they told me could happen if I didn't get that tissue out. So regardless of what I wanted to do with the cancer, I had to have that tissue taken out. So we decided to go ahead and let them remove the cancer at the same time that they were going to remove the lower portion of the lung. Went to sleep thinking that they were Taking the lower lobe of the lung, but gave them permission to do what they needed to do. And they actually had to take two thirds of my right lung, not just the lower third. And they came out and they'd said that there were several lymph nodes that looked very suspicious. They were concerned about. So we waited for the test results to come back. And I went in and found out it was just the one tumor. There was no lymph involvement at all. They then at that point said that with this type of cancer, it's very common protocol for to do, you know, four to eight rounds of chemotherapy as a preventative, they said, which I quickly was like, no, thank you. You're telling me I don't have cancer in my body anymore. Why would I take poison that we know causes cancer? Let's kill the rest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. And I'm like, preventative. Like you can't, you know, it's not like you can treat cancer before it's there. You can avoid it. But yeah, doing the chemotherapy seemed really a ridiculous offering. I was just like, thank you, but I'm. I'm good. So I actually started following Chris Wark. Chris beat cancer during all of this, and he led me to Healing Strong. So just started following all of that. Went to the Houston 10 Year Anniversary Gathering there. Found a group in my area, was an hour away and I was going there and I was like, somebody needs to start a group on the east side. And God said, it's going to be you, Trace. You're going to start a group on the east side.
C
So, yeah, I was at that 10 year thing. Did we cross paths at all?
A
We might have. We very well might have. Yeah.
C
Well, if you did, it would change your life, so.
A
Oh, gosh. The whole. The whole event changed my life. It was incredible.
C
Yeah, that was pretty much like my story when I've, you know, Chris work, of course. And then I found about healing Strong and then I found out they were having a convention there in Atlanta. You know, I'm just two hours from there. That was back in 2018. So I went and I knew. I knew nothing about it. I didn't know it was faith based. And I'm like there and there's so many people and like they kept talking about God and singing these scripture songs and different brace of a man. Does everyone else know this is faith based? I was excited about it, of course, but yeah, yeah, I just went in blindly.
A
So, yeah, I was excited to find a faith based holistic because a lot of times you get with the holistic. And it's, it's so opposite of a faith based community. And I really wanted a face faith based community. And I have to say I went to a neuroendocrine cancer seminar like two weeks before I went to the Healing Strong seminar. And I came home from that and I told my husband, I said, those are not my people. He was like, he said, what do you mean? And I said, they're, they're like this, you know, it's very common for this cancer to come back. And I'm like, they're up there saying, you know, it's not if it comes back, it's when it comes back. And I said they were very much embracing the cancer. I'm like, this is something like I, I had that. I'm never going to have that again. What can I do to avoid that? How can I take care of God's temple? And I, I, yeah, I was like, those aren't my people. And then I came home from Healing Strong. I'm like, I found my people.
C
That's true. I mean, when you, when you go to those things, everyone is just so excited as if they're in Disney World or something.
A
Yes.
C
Like, wait a minute, don't we all just have cancer or you know, battling something and why y' all so we're.
A
All such good looking people. I'm like, everybody's vibrant and taking care of themselves and that's amazing.
C
Yeah, I kind of like that. And I didn't realize before how much, you know, your mental attitude has to do with your healing. I thought that's totally separate and has.
A
To do with your illness as well.
C
Yeah.
A
I said I had panic and anxiety and neuroendocrine is, is a hormone driven cancer and all of those anxiety and panic attacks were just feeding it.
C
Yeah. And it's when the doctors tell you why, you know, like, like you said it's going to come back or they give you six months to live or whatever. When your mind grabs that, it pretty much tells the rest of your body. Which I thought that's crazy. But that's why it's usually accurate. That's why people will die at, at six months because their body starts shutting down. Y doctors are just thinking, hey, I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good.
A
Right? Right? Yeah.
C
They gave me a month or two to live.
A
Yep.
C
You know, a month or two. And it's been nine years so far for me, so look at you.
A
So that's amazing. Congratulations.
C
Thank you. I like that better than a Month or two, yeah, for sure. With Chris Ward, did you find him when you did research on, you know.
A
Yeah, just. Yeah, just out there on Google trying to find good, reputable. To me, it's like I was looking for certain things. I wanted somebody who had healed themselves and somebody that had actually healed others. You know, I didn't want the, you know, the snake oil, the, you know, oh, buy this product and, you know, take this weird stuff. I actually wanted somebody that could say, I've walked this walk. And Chris Work was right at the top of the list right there. So bought his books, started listening to his podcast, watching his YouTube videos, following on social media, and it didn't take very long to find Healing Strong once you find Chris Work. So. So then, you know, started following, you know, Susie Griswold and. And Courtney Campbell and, you know, getting their materials and. Yeah, so it was. It was really, really quickly that I found Chris and his methods. Bought the juicer, and then realized I needed to upgrade the juicer. And I tell everybody, I'm like, just start with the good juicer. Don't. Don't go for the. The deal. Go for the good juicer.
C
Yeah, it's. It's a little pricey, but it lasts much longer and it's so much easier.
A
Does a much better job.
C
Yeah, Chris Work kind of likes Healing Strong because it just about everybody I talked to, like, yeah, I found out about it through Chris Work. Yeah, there you go.
A
Yeah, he's a big promoter for. For Healing Strong, for sure.
C
Yeah. Okay, so back to that story. I rabbit trail a lot, but that's fine. That's what we need to know. Okay. They wanted to do chemo, and you said no, and you took it. You took the reins from there. And so what was your next step?
A
The day after the biopsy, I am actually friends, really good friends with a naturopathic doctor. And she was my first call. So I had the biopsy August 1st and August 2nd. After I slept off the anesthesia and kind of sat with it for a minute, I called her and she said, I'm clearing my afternoon. Get to my office right now. And she just. We dove right into healing protocol and just all kinds of different things she suggested. I came home and I kind of laid it out to my husband, and he said, get it all. Get everything that she's saying to do. We're going to. We're going full in, 100% on this. And I'm very blessed with a husband who loves me, that wants me around, and. And was willing to do whatever it took to, to get me healthy and well, um. So, yeah, so I started seeing. Seeing her on a regular basis. I was already, you know, every two weeks with my chiropractor, who is. She's actually also a naturopathic doctor as well. So, you know, meeting with her and continuing that, prioritizing hydration and sleep and, you know, worship and mental health and all of those things. Chris always says, radically change your life. And I thought I was living a pretty healthy life, but when I really looked into the. The corners and the crevices of my life, there was a lot to clean up and a lot of it was mental health and dealing with, with that and doing a lot of forgiving, forgiving of myself and forgiving of others and, and just much a happier person now. I'm just. I'm one of those people that, you know, now people look at me and they're like, you're so laid back. Nothing upsets you. My mom gets upset. I drive her to church and she's road raging on the way to church. I'm like, who cares if they cut me off? I don't care. So, you know, so, yeah, just abandoning, you know, resentment is a big one.
C
You think your diet was pretty good and you probably exercised or.
A
Yeah, yeah, it was actually at one point in, in my early 40s, I was a competitive amateur bodybuilding competitor, so. So, yeah, so I liked. I liked working out, and I had let that flip a little bit. I had been diagnosed in 2017 with Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. And I found out a lot of things that I was doing were too extreme with. With Hashimoto's and was working with my chiropractor, Dr. Sens. She was helping me readjust some of the. My lifestyle. So working out had kind of laxed a little bit because I. I kind of sabotaged myself with that because it was like, well, I can't compete. And this was all wrong. So I kind of went into a. I don't know what to do. I'm just going to do nothing for a little while.
C
So.
A
So getting back to being physically active again and doing different things, doing the rebounder and doing walking and doing. I'm a Pilates person now. I'm like, I'm. If. If I'm not at home or with my grandson, I'm at Pilates. So. So finding things that I really enjoy doing was really key for, for getting the physical movement going again. But. But yeah, the diet was Pretty good. It was just a matter of, you know, portions and eating at the right time and eating enough food, that kind of stuff. So being in the bodybuilding thing, they sometimes not enough food is, is a, is a real thing.
C
Yeah, I mean, I, I asked that because my mentality was, you know, you just gotta exercise and eat right. And that was all that really mattered.
A
Much more to it.
C
Yeah, yeah. And I thought, well, you know, I'm not. They told me about stress. I was like, I'm not stressed at all. Which kind of. Not until I'm in traffic and then I realize, oh my gosh, I'm very stressed and I'm always in a hurry to get somewhere and I don't know why. Yep. Because like, once I get there, I'm always early.
A
Yeah.
C
Okay, now I'm here. Now I gotta wait. Why was I upset? And why, why do we always act surprised when someone cuts you off or someone rushes up on your tail to, you know, once you get out of the way? You know, I'm surprised every day that that happens.
A
Again tomorrow. Yeah.
C
I've just recently, I would like to say this as a young person, but it's too late for that. But I'm like just recently thinking I'm going to start driving in the right lane on the highway, which drives me crazy because I'm always in the fast lane. But I'm like, you know, it's just, it's so much calmer until you get to someone that's doing 40. That's a different story.
A
Yeah. Then you have to go around.
C
Yeah, but I'm like, yeah, I've kind.
A
Of started a new thing very similar to that where I'm like, you know, I'm always rushing. What if I went the speed limit not four miles over or six miles over. What if I just set the cruise and went the speed limit, left on time and went the speed limit. And I'll tell you, there's something about, you know, not, not feeling rushed because it's like, oh, I gotta get there, I gotta get there. And you know. Yeah. So I, it doesn't work all the time, but I've been trying to just go to speed limit and, and just be chill with going at the right pace.
C
So, yeah, I might, I might take that to the extreme and get me an old Oldsmobile and keep the blinker on and just drive really slow. You know, I got the gray hair. Maybe not. I don't think I can handle that. Okay, so now you are cancer free, right?
A
Yes, I am. Three years. I Just had my three year scans in September and I am three years cancer free now.
C
Yeah. Do you juice every day or a couple times a week or probably three.
A
Or four days a week now. I was doing it where, you know, I did the Chris work, you know, 90 days and out of the gate right away and stuff. But now I do it and then we have a wonderful shop not far from us that you can walk in and build your own juice or do one of their creations and stuff. So I'll go in there. It's a little more expensive. So maybe once a week I'll treat myself to something, you know, in there if I'm out running errands and it's like, oh, I'm gonna grab a juice and. But yeah, love, love the juicing still. My Nama J2 is fired up all the time.
C
Yeah, that's the one I've got. Of course, because, because of Chris.
A
Yeah, absolutely.
C
In fact, I got it on one of his special discount times.
A
I did as well.
C
Yeah.
A
That was when it was time to upgrade. I'm like cleaning this other thing is just a nightmare.
C
Yeah, it is. And I love his salad because first of all, I'm a high energy person. But lately I've been like, I guess it's because of my age. I don't know. I don't want to say that I'm. I feel like the energy is not there anymore. But when I eat his salad at least three times a week, I've got energy coming out the yin yang, wherever that is.
A
Right.
C
It's just, it's a lot of work, but you got to be dedicated to it. And yeah, you can't like get a month's worth of. Of salad stuff.
A
Wouldn't it be nice?
C
Yeah. Yeah. Would I? Every year I say I'm gonna start my garden so I can just go out and take it from there. But yeah, every year I don't do it. So we're getting near the end here. There are people listening that are just being diagnosed and they're where you were several years ago. You're like, oh my gosh, where is this going to go? What do I need to do? Because there's so much information out there now and it could be very overwhelming. And what you really have to do is find out where your life is out of balance, whether it is a diet. Maybe you're just eating garbage all the time, which is pretty common. I ate a lot of sugar.
A
Yeah.
C
Because I was skinny. People thought, yeah, you could eat anything.
A
Yeah.
C
And I did. But as soon as I cut out sugar, you know, I lost a skinny guy. I lost 25 pounds in 30 days, which is weird, which people thought it was the cancer, but actually it was unhealthy weight that came off. And I'm still cut way back on sugar. Every once in a while, I'll have something, you know, birthday cake for my kids or whatever. But what would you tell somebody that is in that mode right now where they're scared and they're looking to us to find out stories on what direction they should go? How would you advise them?
A
The first thing I would say is take it to God in prayer and really try to surrender to him and then find your scriptures for me. The top one I went through over and over, it was everywhere in my house. It was in my car. Was. Was Mark 5:34. And he says, daughter, And I put my name in there. I wrote it out, and I put, tracy, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering. I. I was in 2nd Kings 20, verse 5, Jeremiah 17:14. You know, Lord, heal me, and I'm. I shall be healed. So find those. Find those verses and. And lean into them. Make them yours. And, you know, I always say, remind God. God, you said, and you don't lie. So I know, you know, that. That you're going to heal me. You know, get. Get the support around you. I was very careful with who I told I had cancer because a lot of times you put it out there, and people are like, oh, oh, it's so. Oh, this is so bad. And, you know, so I was very selective with who knew that I had cancer all the way through my surgery. A lot of people didn't know I was going in for surgery. So I kept that community to people that I knew would support the decisions that I was gonna make. And then be your own health advocate. It's really, really important for you to be pushy with your doctors. Know that they work for you, and you don't have to do anything that you don't want to do or you don't feel comfortable with doing. And you can integrate anything and be honest with them. I worked with my oncologist. He knew what I was doing and where I was going. I didn't hide anything from him because it was important that he knew what. What I was doing. But, yeah, I got to make my own decisions and just really relying heavily on faith. If. If you don't have that basis, I really strongly encourage you to, you know, find. Find a church and. And find somewhere that you're comfortable, that can kind of bring you in and then radical lifestyle change. You know, look at all those places. For me, my biggest thing was my mental health and addressing sleep issues. I dealt with sleep issues for years and years and years which just drove a cortisol release which fed the cancer. So for me, it was like, okay, get your sleep in a line and get your. Your mental health, you know, taken care of. And, and those were biggies for me. But you said it best. Everybody's different. So looking really deeply at what do I need to clean up? Is it my diet, is it my exercise? And not to say, you know, you need to strap on your shoes tomorrow morning and go for a five mile run if you haven't, you know, walked a half a mile in a day. But, you know, start out with what you can do and what's manageable and, and I always say, you know, if you made an appointment with a friend, you wouldn't cancel. Don't cancel on yourself. Show up. When you say you're going to do something, show up for yourself. It's really, really important. Be a little bit selfish through, you know, through your healing journey.
C
Oh, yeah.
A
And that's okay.
C
It's hard to do sometimes. Most of us don't like to work on ourselves because it seems like it's very selfish. And I'm one of those. I'm like, again, my mental state is I'm always in a hurry for no reason at all. And I'm like, I just need to calm down and work on my own health. You know, I should have done that years ago, but, mm. Well, now, now I'm perfect. So I got everything in order.
A
Right. I know, yeah. Yeah. People would reach out to me all the time and, and they knew I was an anxious person, so they'd reach out to me. And, you know, my, my sister in particular, she would call me and before she could say anything, she'd start crying and I would console her and she's like, how is this possible? Like, how are you consoling me? But I really, when I surrendered it to God and really committed to it, it was. I had just had this peace and I was consoling other people and I. They called to check on me. I'm like, please check on Scott, my husband. Like, he's taking this way harder than I am. Check on him. I'm okay. And, you know, yeah, I remember that when I went in to see, I was saying, my girlfriend's a naturopathic doctor. And I showed up at her Office. And she was. She was expecting this mass of anxiety and crying. And I walked in, and I'm like, hi. And she's like, hi, are you okay? And I'm like, yeah, what are we gonna do? I'm. I'm excited to get started. I want to do this. And I left there. And she goes, I. I don't even know who you were. It was such a. She goes, it was. It was so bizarre to see you so chill.
C
Yeah. You definitely had an advantage there with a friend like that.
A
Yes.
C
We. We have trouble finding a doctor.
A
Yeah. Yeah.
C
So now, obviously, people can get a hold of you by going to healingstrong.org and look you up for the Ohio area.
A
Yes.
C
Right.
A
Northeast Ohio. Yep.
C
Where it's nice and cold. Getting colder anyway.
A
Right.
C
But it is beautiful country up there.
A
It is beautiful. The trees are gorgeous right now.
C
So, yeah, it'll be a while yet for us at this recording, of course.
A
Yes.
C
By the time you listen, it might be a spring. I don't know. I've enjoyed listening to you. You have my wife's name, Tracy, spelled the same so nice.
A
She spells it the correct way.
C
Exactly. That's what she says now.
A
I just defended half the Tracy's out there.
C
Right. Yeah. Come back to us. And it seems so dumb to say, but isn't life better now after cancer?
A
Absolutely. Absolutely. There's an element of not taking it for granted that things can change. You know, things can change overnight with one phone call. Yeah. So.
C
Mm.
A
Absolutely. It is. It's. It's much more beautiful now.
C
Yeah. There's so many parts of your life that have just come alive that just kind of sat around, you know, like you said, you take everything. You were taking things for granted. You don't do that anymore. You like. I remember checking in on my kids that were still living at home. When I got up in the morning, they're all asleep. I'm like, oh, man, they're perfect kids, thanks to me.
A
Yeah. Right.
C
Well, Tracy.
A
Well, thank you with your Tracy.
C
No, no, no, no. I said, tracy, I'll handle the kids. You go do what you do. Well, it was great meeting you, and hopefully I can. We'll cross paths at another convention or whatever.
A
Absolutely. I'll be at the next one, no doubt.
C
All right, well, thank you very much.
A
Thank you.
C
Jim.
B
You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization. We hope you found encouragement in this episode, as well as the confidence to take control of your healing journey, knowing that God will guide you on this path. Healing Strong is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect, support and educate individuals facing cancer and other diseases through strategies that help to rebuild the body, renew the soul and refresh the spirit. It costs nothing to be a part of a local or online group. You can do that by going to our website@healingstrong.org and finding a group near you or an online group or start your own. Your choice. While you're there, take a look around at all the free resources. Though the resources and groups are free free, we encourage you to join our membership program at 25 or $75 a month. This helps us to be able to reach more people with hope and encouragement and that also comes with some extra perks as well. So check it out. If you enjoyed this podcast please give us a five star rating. Leave an encouraging comment and help us spread the word. We'll see you next week. We with another story on the I Am Healing Strong podcast.
Host: Jim Mann
Guest: Tracy Goldhardt
Date: January 16, 2026
In this heartfelt episode, stage 4 cancer survivor and HealingStrong group leader Jim Mann sits down with Tracy Goldhardt of Ohio to discuss her journey through a rare neuroendocrine cancer diagnosis. Tracy shares how her faith, holistic healing methods, and supportive community led her from fear to freedom—ultimately embracing a happier, healthier post-cancer life. The conversation is candid and uplifting, providing practical advice and spiritual encouragement for those walking similar challenging paths.
Tracy Goldhardt’s journey illustrates the transformative power of faith, community, personal responsibility, and holistic healing practices when facing the challenges of cancer. Her story provides hope, practical strategies, and reassurance that it’s possible not only to survive, but to thrive—and find greater happiness and peace on the other side.
Find Tracy’s HealingStrong group in Northeast Ohio at HealingStrong.org and discover resources and support for your own journey.