 Sister Power, I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. This Sister Power episode is dedicated to my beloved mother, the late great Alice Collins Thomas and my aunts and to all the men and women who are battling cancer, survivors of cancer, the caretakers and cheerleaders. This is for you today. Our special guest, Kitty, CEO of Compact. And Kitty, you know, before I go on, pronounce that last name for me. I don't want to butcher your name there. My last name used to be Lageretta, but when I got divorced about five, six years ago, I went back to my maiden name, which is Yanoni. Well, all right. Well, Kitty Yanoni has 30 years of experience in public relations, issues management and crisis communications. A well-known and respected Hawaii communicator, entrepreneur and community leader, Kitty was selected as the first businesswoman of the year by Pacific Business Noons. Kitty, welcome to Sister Power. Thank you. I'm honored to be here if I can be helpful to anybody else struggling with cancer. Thank you, Sharon. Yeah, you know, that C word is always, and I've got something here and I'm gonna bring us right back to it. That C word is just, you know, it is a scary word. And I'm gonna start with why were you diagnosed? When were you diagnosed with cancer and what was your initial reaction? You know, I was, it was very, very busy. It was 2020. I was volunteering on Rick Blangiardi's mayoral campaign. I was working full-time. I was volunteering, serving as the chair of two boards. I was a very busy time. And I started feeling very fatigued around late November, December, early November actually. And then I kept, something was wrong. And the problem with the pandemic was most of the doctors were seeing you only by emergency only. And I initially didn't think I had an emergency, but then I did. I was having trouble. I was getting very bloated over about a week. And I insisted on getting in to see my doctor and immediately he diagnosed me. This was on November 25th, 2020. Diagnosed me instantly after doing an ultrasound and some other things and said what I'm looking at is ovarian cancer. And it was, I have to admit, I was stunned and I was kind of in shock. And he immediately set up an appointment with an oncologist, I think for the next day, set up an appointment to go get a CAT scan just to see how much that was. Fortunately, I had a very dear friend who drove me to that appointment, but well, and she ran an errand while I was in there. And my sons and my family, but particularly my sons, adult sons, knew that I was going to the doctor that day. They grew up here, but they're on the mainland. So I barely walked out of the doctor's office and my oldest son called me. And he said, mom, what is it? Are you okay? And I said, honey, they think I have ovarian cancer. They're pretty sure. And he was just shocked. And I started, that was, I think that was the only time I really sobbed. I sat there and sobbed on a bench in front of POB one at Queens Cancer Queen's Hospital and I had a hard time getting control. And that's when I realized the hardest part of this right then was going to be telling my mother, who's 85 and telling my other son. And that for me was just extremely difficult. You know, I met your lovely mother. What was her reaction? I mean, you know, I was so concerned because she was stealing, she, I was getting ready to go see her before this came up because she was going to have heart surgery. So I was terrified. I called my brother, my younger brother. He drove straight up to my mom's house which is a couple of hour drive from where he was. And he barely got out of the car and my mom came out and thought, oh, a surprise visit from my son. And he started sobbing and she immediately said, it's kitty, isn't it? Something's wrong with kitty. And they both started crying. And then when I heard that, I just, it just killed me to have my family worry like this and be so, you know, my mother's a breast cancer survivor. She had cancer 25 years ago. And I know the day that I got that call, I felt like I was going to collapse right then and there. I was so, it just hit me so hard. So I kind of knew what they were feeling. Yeah. So kitty, what are some of the biggest cancer challenges you've dealt with since you were diagnosed? Yeah. I think fairly early on, and I talk about this a lot. My father passed away in 2015, love him dearly. And from a very young age, my dad, when something bad would happen and we'd complain or say, oh, this happened to us, he'd say, it is what it is. And somehow, shortly within a couple of days, a few days after being diagnosed, I kept hearing my dad's voice saying it is what it is. And that means, that doesn't mean, you know, you're helpless, what it means to me. I always meant in our family was, so what are you going to do about it? How do you want to handle it? And that guided me into thinking that way very, very quickly. And it was good because I had my first chemo coming up and I was a little nervous, all I could picture. I didn't know a lot about chemotherapy and I had a feeling I was going to be having a lot. And I was very nervous about how, how was I going to be throwing? All I could think is I'm going to be throwing up all the time. And I can honestly say, knock on wood, they do so many, they have so many procedures and innovations that now they give you a whole host of drugs before the chemo. And I've never once, I've never once thrown up in chemo. It's amazing to me. I've been nauseous afterwards sometimes, but a pill usually solves that. But that was one thing, is just getting over my fears. Well, you know, I love the picture of you with those colorful wigs. You know, that's the style now. Well, let's talk about this picture. Then we'll go to the, I love the colorful wigs. Yeah, I decided I would go into, I would go in for appointments and everything and all of us were bald and all of us had no eyelashes and you know, and we all looked kind of scared. And I don't know, somewhere in there, I said, I'm tired of looking like that. I'm going to have fun with this. And I, after that, every Saturday when I went to keep every week that I had chemo, I would wear these colorful wigs and these outfits. And it was funny. People started when I show up to go, I wore this bright shirt today and people getting chemo and it was kind of fun to have fun with that. And so it just kind of brightened my spirit. And then I found out it kind of brightened some other folks spirit as well. Well, wearing the colorful wigs, that just adds some color to what you, your ladies were going through. Let's see that picture of you and your girlfriends and with the colorful wig there. When I finished, because I wore wigs, in fact, those are all my wigs and my friends wore them. My, this is my support squad. These are the people that immediately jumped in before I even had to ask. And dear friends, they did my grocery shopping. I had a chemo buddy. I had people that helped me with errands and things in those early days because COVID was out. And even though I might've wanted to get out, COVID was raging, I was immune compromised. And those ladies showed up to celebrate me completing 21 chemos. And the one in the middle was my mom who was here. And the one in the blue wig, in the middle, the blue green wig. And I'm right behind her with the silver wig and the rest are dear friends. And she came over to be with me the last several weeks of chemo. That was a very hard time. The drugs are very harsh. By then I had pretty much, could not draw blood or do an IV. I did have a port put in. I still have it to get the chemo and to draw blood. I have terrible, I haven't been able to feel my feet for about 15 months. It's neuropathy. Caxol, one of the drugs I get, completely makes my feet numb. And I've actually stepped on glass one time and had no idea I had stepped on glass. My mouth was burning. There were just a lot of things that your body's different. And a lot of things are not comfortable. And you have to figure out how you're gonna deal with that, which is pretty much what I did. So that was my question. My next question to you, how has your daily life been affected by cancer? You just answered it for us. Yeah, if you, the people who know me, it's second nature now, but I have a lot of little hacks I call them. One of them was sucking on popsicles when I was in chemo. Didn't make my mouth burn. I learned that CBD, SAV, makes my feet feel better somehow. It doesn't cure the neuropathy, but somehow it makes them feel more comfortable because I don't get the shooting pains. And I get that, it's just a little can of SAV. I've been buying it from Lonnie Kei Bed and Bath for the last two years. And I get frantic if I ever run out of it because it helps so much. I have little routines of knowing when I need rest, knowing when I need to pace myself, knowing when something isn't feeling right and I need to call my doctor, not wait. And I just, I try to, most of all, I try to live, my best decision was I'm gonna try to live as normally as I can, even though I've got this thing. I work every single day. I volunteer in the community. The chair of the Asset School Board. I, you know, see my friends. I talk to my family on the phone regularly. I, even just sometimes watching a TV show that I wanna watch and acting like it's a normal day, you know, that it's just, I can honestly say I don't wake up in the morning and say, oh my God, I've had cancer and I never fall asleep at night thinking, oh my God, I have cancer. I think about what a great day I had. I honestly do because I really work hard to make every day a great day right now. That was, you know, you just motivated and empowered so many people out there who are battling cancer. And so you gave them the things to do to make life the best it can be despite cancer. Elaborate more about that. You know, one of the things that's been hugely important to me. I, for the last, since I was in my forties. So for the last 22 years, I just thought I needed to get healthy. I'd raised two kids. I was starting to have grandkids. I was not in good health and I was starting to go down a wrong trail. So 22 years ago, I decided I've put kids through school. I'm gonna invest in a personal trainer and I'm gonna work out as much as I can. And I have worked out consistently three to four days a week for 22 years and weightlifting and all kinds of things. That was during my first nine chemo's. This was after, I think this was after 21 chemo's and I still do it. And the reason is that it just makes me feel happy. It makes me feel normal. It makes me feel like there's still a part of me that I can identify with and it feels strong. And I'll be working out Monday morning at seven. I'll be working out next Thursday morning at seven and I haven't given up the things I haven't had to give up. Good. You know, we had a conversation early right before we came on the show about Johnson's and Johnson's baby powder products. Tell us about that. You know, when I was first diagnosed, you know, well, a number of women in my family had had breast cancer for generations. And we never, we never were identified with a direct genetic, you know, bractine or anything. And my doctor asked me to go through genetic testing, which I did through the NCI. And I, it turns out, I don't have any bractine. I don't have any, but I had ovarian cancer. No one in my family did. And my mother, who's sharp as can be and she immediately started saying it's that Johnson's baby powder. Every time I see one of their ads about causing ovarian cancer and other type, other cancers, she said, it upsets me because when I was a mother, my mother was a very young mother. She said, they advertised it so strongly that you didn't feel like you were a good mother unless you were putting it on your baby every diaper change. And I said, but mom, how do you even prove it? I don't know. Well, I finally, with the help of my mom and my oldest son did decide to go ahead and explore that. And it turns out that between the genetic testing, they had to look at the specimens from when I had a full hysterectomy to take out all my female organs, which was in the middle of my chemo. They had to talk to, they had to know every doctor I've seen for the last 25 years, every pharmacy. And they came back and said, you are definitely a plaintiff in this case. Your cancer is caused by Johnson's baby powder. And I was kind of shocked. I really was. I'm shocked. So you, in the midst of cancer, then you had a hysterectomy. Yeah, I had nine chemos. And then I had a full hysterectomy. Then I had 10 more chemos. And then I had a little break. My numbers were my CA125, that's what they measure, ovarian cancer activity. They were really low and normal. So I had seven months when I felt like, okay, I think this is done. And the first thing I wanted to do was to get on a plane and go see my five grandchildren. And I spent quite a bit of time with them and my kids and my mom. And, but I got back right after the holidays. And in February of this year, there was cancer activity again. So I immediately started back in chemotherapy. This past Saturday, I had my 35th chemo just a few days ago. And it's something that you kind of prepare yourself. That may be the only time I felt like crying is when I realized it wasn't over. And it was still something I was gonna have to fight harder even. Well, you told me this interesting story about you were invited to the UH Cancer Research Center. Let's talk about that. Yeah, I participated at my doctor's request. I participated in a study for people 60 and over that were diagnosed with cancer. And every time I had chemo for the first nine chemos, somebody from the cancer center would call and ask me about 30, 40 questions. They were always the same. Can you walk 10 feet? Can you walk a block? And I kept saying, I just got off the treadmill. I did two miles and they, you know, and it was only because I was, my body was so used to doing that. So recently the cancer center had a specialist who named Dr. Mizrahi visiting Hawaii. And they asked me to come and to bring my trainer, Mike Sapp and Jensen on the other side. And they just were curious because of my age and because of how I was handling so much chemo. And he has a lot of evidence that if you can work out at all, even if you start today and you're going through cancer treatment, if you can do activity, you can improve your outcome with cancer treatment. And so they kind of invited me as an example of that. That's amazing. You have encouraged me. I've been talking about going to the Y because it's right across the street. I am going to start working out. And so that's one of your motivating factors to keep you smiling. Is your exercise every day? I'm very mobile every day. I actually go to the gym two or three days a week and work out for an hour. And mostly weightlifting because cancer is very hard on your bones and just doing even some light weights is helpful to keeping your bone density and your strength. So... Lifting weights. Lifting weights. And that's a good one. And just movement. I try to, I'm running around all day, whether it's in my house or doing stuff with work, I'm running around all the time. And I think just movement is good as well, just being mobile. How about diet? How about the foods that you eat? Well, I wish I could say it was better. I have dear friends and family and they help me have whatever I want if I get into a bad phase. And I, toward the end of my first 21 chemoes, my mouth was burning so badly and I just didn't feel good. And it was really hard to eat. And it got to the point where my doctor said, if all that tastes good is ice cream, eat as much ice cream as you want, you just have to get something in you. That was probably the best part of having cancer that moment. Cause for about three weeks, I think I largely ate Pagandas. Well, my favorite is Rocky Road. What's your favorite? I like coffee and Rocky Road's my second one, yeah. So, but then you can't go on like that. And in the meantime, my mom came over and she had a good technique. She'd just make little plates and set them by me. And while I was watching TV or working in the next thing I knew, I nibbled at them. And so my mom got me back into eating and my friends make special things they know I love. And I eat what, you know, I'm conscious of trying to get enough nutrition, particularly protein is important. Your body's working so hard with the chemo you're having. And so I work at it, but there are times I haven't worked at it at all. And I just ate what I could get down. You know, I had a luncheon not too long ago. Your vibe attracts your tribe. And this is so true. You had to have an amazing tribe around you, family and friends. I do, I, you know, every time I turn around, I just realize how much I have to be grateful for in my life, you know, I really am. I'm grateful all the time. And it would be easy to say, you know, I could go there if I needed, I mean, I've seen glimpses of it a couple of times. I got COVID in July. I eventually got it no matter how careful I was. And I was really sick. And I, at that moment, I kind of, I had moments during that going, oh my God, I don't know if I could do this. I was very immune compromised and then COVID came along. I had the worst sore throat, the worst headaches, the worst everything. And I said, this is like major insult to injury here. And I really got, that was a really low point for me. And I, through my friends and family and, you know, I pulled myself out of it with their help. But that was, that was the lowest point I think I've had during this whole thing. Well, gosh, yeah, that COVID, we had COVID too in June, as a matter of fact, it was horrible. Is there anything that has been particularly helpful to you as you have lived with cancer for nearly two years? You know, I will say that maybe because I'm in the communications business and maybe because I lived in Hawaii for 46 years and I've been around a long time, I just knew that, you know, I'm gonna look different. I'm gonna feel different. And I felt like I don't want to have people speculating what's wrong with Kitty. Oh, she's got, you know. And so very early on in the process, I made the decision to just be open about it. I'm a pretty transparent person. And I came out and just said, the first post I made on social media was that, hey, my friends and I'm going on a health journey here and I appreciate any thoughts and prayers. And I didn't say exactly what it was. I was still determining exactly how bad it was. But as you have seen, it's one of my friends here and I've been pretty open about it all, the good, the bad and the ugly. And I think that's been really helpful to me because I've had so much support. Just yesterday I got this beautiful little video from a friend, just somebody I know on Facebook and a little bit offline. It was her beautiful daughter made a video. She's on the other side of her canceled battle, but she really struggled. And she said, I sent your daughter my post and she asked me to send you this little video, which it was a great little video of her looking healthy. She's a young woman with her family, you know, and she just, it just made my day. So being able to talk about it rather than keeping it a secret and being able to share, you know, it just, that's made a massive difference for me. I have so much, so many wonderful people that have reached out to me. You know, my organization Sisters in Parang, Hawaii, this is what my husband and I were doing before COVID. People who did not grow up here, they don't have any family here, they would call us and we would take them, we would be their transportation because it's hard here when you have not been here for a long period of time. So I would like for you at this time, I think that people right now have to know and feel comfortable, reach out, let someone know if you need help. It is, this is not a curse, it's nothing that you did wrong. Asks called Sisters in Parang, Hawaii, this is a video that each viewer should send to someone. So I want you right now, Kitty, to reach out and look in the camera and speak to the men and women who are battling cancer and the survivors because isn't there, is there some kind of fear that you think you may get it again? Well, I have got it again. And yeah, I think that's everybody's fear is it's gonna come back and mine did. And I just jumped into it again, but I would tell people, you hit on something that was really hard for me. I was always an independent little girl. I've always been independent person and I got divorced back in 2017 after being separated for several years and I only became more independent. And it was very, very hard for me to think of asking people to do things for me. It just isn't in my nature and I think that's true with a lot of us. And I didn't even know what I needed. And I was so fortunate because I have these incredible friends, my chemo buddy, Powell, she had been through the journey. She said, I'm gonna be your chemo buddy. I'm gonna go to every chemo with you. And she did for 27 of them a couple of times she had to miss, but she was there for 27 of them. My friend Willow, whose husband had gone through a long battle and he's a 17 year survivor. He's hugely inspiring to me. He had stage four throat cancer. And she said, she's been my friend for 46 years. She said, I'm doing this for you and we need to organize this for you and we're doing that for you. And I didn't even have to ask and the people that she asked that were also close with me said, thank God we didn't even know what do we wanna do something? And it got easier to ask because I knew how willing people were, but it sure wasn't easy in the beginning for me to think of asking people, even my own family sometimes to, can you guys jump in and take care of this and do that? And I never did have to ask my family, they were there, they were right there. So... That's such a blessing. And I think that when we're so independent it is hard for us to ask for help but there is nothing wrong with it. I've had to learn that this is why I came up with the lunch in your vibe to track your tribe. My husband, as I told you suffering, I'm his caretaker and he has dementia and Parkinson's and we both came down with COVID and I said, well, what am I going to do? Well, I asked and then my tribe showed up and showed out. I love that. Yeah, I do too. Well, you know, Kitty, thank you. Thank you, thank you for sharing your wisdom. In 10 seconds or less, is there something else you would like to share with us? Well, I was recently asked if I had a superpower, what do I wish it was? And I said, if I had a superpower, I wish I could make cancer, leave everybody's life, who has it? I wish it's a pain in the butt disease and I wish nobody had it. I'm with you. Well, on behalf of Think Tech Hawaii and Sister Power, thank you, Kitty, for sharing your courage and sharing your journey with us. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And thank you to our viewers. Thank you, everybody. I hope that's... Our hearts are so full now because of your willingness to share with us. Well, everyone, I'm Sharon Thomas Yarbrough. Aloha. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.