Loriana Hernandez-Aldama - Beating Cancer With the Power of Prehab

Emmy award-winning journalist, international speaker, 2x cancer survivor, and author of Becoming the Story: The Power of PREhab, Loriana Hernández-Aldama is a powerhouse motivational speaker and a gifted storyteller who inspires audiences on how to overcome adversity, the power of prioritizing their own well-being and the urgent need to transform healthcare. She shares her harrowing story of being diagnosed with late-stage AML Leukemia when her son was a toddler. She was told in October to go home, put up her Christmas tree, and make memories with her baby because she might not make it to Christmas. She is not only still here twelve years later, but still teaching others how to be a total badass.

Loriana's Website

Armor Up For Life

Book Becoming the Story: The Power of PREhab

Podcast Stage-Free

https://wellelephant.com/ ACE40 discount code for ACE Plant-based Eating Class

Transcript

Our guest today is truly a badass. She's an Emmy award winning journalist, international speaker, two time cancer survivor, and author of Becoming the Story, the Power of Prehab. Laureana Hernandez Aldama is a powerhouse motivational speaker and a gifted storyteller who inspires her audiences to overcome adversity by sharing her personal story.

She shines a light on the importance of being healthy no matter what and the urgency to drive transformative change in healthcare. She's an incredible mom, wife and friend. Loriana's mission is to teach us to live well now. Welcome, Loriana.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:34.617)
Oh, well, thank you. I'm so excited. I get emotional. We'll have to eventually get to our story, Lisa, but I get emotional just seeing you and I'm so happy to be here on the podcast and share the insight I've learned.

Lisa (01:44.586)
Well, and yeah, and I really had to censor myself from like saying so much more. I'm like, that's what the podcast is for, but like that just like cracks the surface. So we are just so just honored and excited to have you here.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (02:00.393)
Thank you, Lisa and Lauren. I'm so excited to be here.

Lauren Bernick (02:02.527)
Yeah, really to meet you after reading your book. It was incredible. Should we just like start it, you wanna just like start it with your story a little?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (02:11.153)
We can, I can just tell you, we can start with my story, but I would say before I became the story with a diagnosis of AML leukemia, Lisa was my bad-ass friend. She still is my bad-ass friend, but I learned everything about clean eating through Lisa. Like making, I was a newscaster, a news anchor, network medical reporter, and Lisa's house in Austin, Texas was not far from my studio. And so,

Lauren Bernick (02:25.035)
Yes, she is.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (02:39.621)
I was like a sponge when I met Lisa. I was like driving her crazy. Like, what else can I learn? Because I always, in my whole career, I've been, I was a news anchor and medical reporter for more than 25 years. And so I continued to evolve throughout my career about eating what the definition of clean eating, because some people say they eat clean. You're like, what? Well, you tell me what you define as clean. Lisa really taught me to redefine clean. And she was like, yeah, that's not clean. And then,

Lisa (03:07.202)
Well, I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (03:09.129)
I remember being in her house when, so she became my go-to person for every story. And I was like, oh, I really should like have other guests on, but I just love having Lisa because she teaches me so much. And you know, Austin, Texas, Lauren, you live there and everybody is, we're also granola. And that's why I hated having to leave there. And you just learn so much about eating right, where your food sources come from. And so when I was diagnosed with AML leukemia,

I was like, you've got the wrong person. I'm the clean eating, green drinking. I got my green drink here with you guys today. This is my...

Lisa (03:43.89)
physically fit. I think you're the reason why I did my one and only 5k.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (03:51.121)
Well, thank you. And yeah, physically fit. So, you know, a lot of times when people get diagnosed with cancer, maybe, you know, there's different decisions we could have made in life. I mean, 75% in some cases is what you put in your body and what's around your body. 10 to 25% could be family history. I had a little bit of both and I was eating clean. A lot of times people stop me and say, well, have you changed your diet since you were diagnosed with cancer twice? And I'm like,

Let me take a step back and breathe calmly before I answer this one.

Lisa (04:23.702)
You know, that's a really important thing that you bring up there. And it's something I would like to get into as we talk about this, but the shame of I did something wrong. Cause you didn't do anything wrong. But that's probably like a thought that goes through people's minds when they get something like that. What did I do or what didn't I do right? And you were doing everything right.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (04:36.498)
Yes.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (04:47.129)
Well, I will say at the time when I wrote my book that you both read, I was thinking that I did everything right. But since I've been unleashed and they said, look, let's get you to live because you have 25% chance of survival. And then you can worry about what landed you here. So I look back and I thought I was invincible. And many of us tend to think we are invincible. And I was doing something wrong. And what I was doing wrong is I was not listening to the warning signs, literally dying to tell the story, not sleeping.

Lisa (05:14.015)
Mm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (05:17.181)
working at a deficit of sleep. And...

Lisa (05:17.294)
Mm.

Lauren Bernick (05:19.487)
What were the warning signs?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (05:22.245)
My body was tired. I was so tired and I had bone pain and that's not normal, but it was a lot of things going on. I was trying to have a second baby. I was in the midst of fertility treatment. I was anchoring a morning show, waking up at 1 45 in the morning for work. I would do these clean eating shows and segments that I would have Lisa on as a guest, but we would stay from till one o'clock in the afternoon. And at that time I had a newborn and my husband was holding down a job in another state, his dream media job. And we're like,

we're invincible, we're going to have a kid across the country through fertility, like immaculate conception and hold down our dream jobs and not sleep. So I literally thought if you check off the diet and you check off the exercise that because we all drink the Kool-Aid that I'm good, that everybody else has problems. Like it's all of them. We need to fix their diet. We need to fix their lifestyle. But now in hindsight, I really had to take a look deep into my soul and realize I laid the groundwork. I was.

not checking off the sleep. And when you don't sleep, you don't restore your natural killer cells. Christ stress.

Lisa (06:25.398)
Yeah. High stress too. In your book, you talked about the stress and the lack of sleep. So it's like a perfect storm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (06:32.677)
It was, yes, in fact, now I've been going out and giving, and I know I'm working in such, I'm going backwards on you guys. I know you're thinking, this is totally out of order of what we planned. This is what you get with a music. You don't have anything planned. But so I remember, and we'll have to back up to how I got into the hospital and that whole trauma because it is something worth sharing about mental health and going through cancer treatment. But when I got out, I thought I have got to figure out,

Lauren Bernick (06:32.855)
The stress inflames your body.

Lauren Bernick (06:43.968)
We didn't plan. We don't plan. We have no plan.

Lisa (06:44.995)
We just want to chat. We're good.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (07:02.089)
How the hell did I land here? What happened? And I started using my access, and we know access in healthcare is a problem, saying I have access to these oncologists, the Yale, Harvard, Dana-Farber, Johns Hopkins, and I'm gonna leverage every contact I have to figure out how I got here, because I don't wanna be here again. And so I started, in fact, last night I gave a speech at Rice University about understanding cancer, and I've been working with researchers to find out,

what I'm uncovering is how deadly it can be not to sleep. Like we can all pay people to do Uber Eats and we can get Amazon. You can't pay someone to rest and recharge for you. You can't. So one thing you can't pay someone to do, sleep for you. And now that I'm learning the research, I like run, not walk to my bed because I'm literally terrified because I've had it twice. But.

Lisa (07:54.038)
Have you had to work hard to create good sleep? Do you have, have you had to create a sleep hygiene routine? And do you have devices that help you like, you know, watches and things?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (08:08.317)
I have a little diffuser that I put some different essential oils. Sometimes I would not say it's the healthiest because sometimes my son can't fall asleep. He has anxiety with being away from me even at the age of 11. So I sit in his room until he falls asleep because we were separated for a year. I know I'm saying I run to my bed, but I first fall asleep on his floor on this little beanbag and then I get up and go to my bed.

Lisa (08:25.576)
Yeah.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (08:36.689)
But I am like, I am very militant about getting enough sleep. I'm scared. Like I actually have anxiety if I don't get enough sleep because I know how important. In fact, I was talking to one of the researchers and saying, hey, I have another presentation to give to some other researchers at the NIH about what I've discovered about sleep. What do you want me to put about the lack of sleep? What picture on my slide? And they said, put a rocket. Because lack of sleep is like rocket fuel for tumor growth.

Lauren Bernick (09:05.451)
Wow.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (09:05.521)
And that's that right there. So backing up and then we can go in the right chronological order. I did play a role and sometimes we do play a role. We're an equal partner in our own success and we can also play an equal partner in our own demise in many ways. And so I played a role in laying the foundation. I was the clean eating person. I did have all, I was helping everyone. I did, I do look back and feel good about all the lives I feel like I've transformed by educating them and empowering them. But at the same time I was

Lisa (09:05.616)
Hmm

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (09:34.778)
I was slowly killing myself.

Lisa (09:37.003)
Mm.

Lauren Bernick (09:37.271)
How many hours of sleep were you getting if you got up at 1.45 in the morning?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (09:41.778)
Maybe for. Maybe.

Lauren Bernick (09:43.423)
Wow, and how many do you get now?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (09:46.405)
at least seven or eight. And I will clock it. I mean, I will wear my watch to bed and I take my melatonin. Some people say it works. Some people say it doesn't. I do my meditation. So it's not like a consistent in certain order routine, but I do not wanna go for the trifecta. I've had two cancers. I know for us it's genetics, but I set it ablaze. And so...

even if you have it in your genetic markers, your actions can really light it on fire. And that's what I did.

Lisa (10:20.65)
Yeah, there's an expression we use in the whole food plant based world is genetics loads the gun and lifestyle pulls the trigger. And that's another great example of that. And you know, when I worked at the Medical Wellness Center at Whole Foods with Dr. Letterman and Dr. Polde, we were very focused on diet. But they launched their new model, WeHeal, because of all the things that you're saying right now.

they saw the deficit in sleep, the amounts of stress, the lack of connection, all the things that you describe in your book. And Lauren and I, you know, our mission also is very similar to yours and to, you know, helping people to live well now. So I just can't tell you how exciting it is to have you here because everything you're doing is so in alignment with what we believe and what we do and we wanna spread the word. So your story is like hugely impactful because...

most of us don't approach it from that perspective. Like, you know, your experience and seeing it from the flip side like that is very moving and very powerful. So please keep.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (11:23.553)
say when you go to the hospital and we can share my story, when they take your son away and I get emotional, it doesn't matter how many years, when they take your son away for an entire year, you will do anything to live. So when people say, I need a workout partner, no, I put my feet on the ground and I can't wait to breathe, work out, lift weights, to live my life because I don't want to die. Because I saw too many people die and I don't want to end up where I was separated from my son because

having a FaceTime call with your son when eventually he doesn't remember you is hell. And I never wanna go back there. So that living motivates me.

Lisa (11:58.187)
What's it?

Lisa (12:03.827)
Yeah, and I think what you're...

Lauren Bernick (12:03.977)
Yeah. Yeah, tell us that story of when you ended up in the hospital or how you ended up in the hospital.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (12:10.761)
So I was in the midst of a fertility treatment to have a second baby. I was holding down my dream job. And again, as a news anchor and then network medical reporter, that was my franchise. And I wasn't feeling right. And I was doing fertility treatments like I did for my son, Gabriel, I have now, my one and only and my true angel. And

something didn't feel right. I woke up in my sleep one night. I mean, I was tired, but who wouldn't be tired waking up at 1.45 in the morning for work? So you start to normalize when you don't feel right and you start to rationalize like, oh, I just worked out too hard and I don't need to go to the doctor. And this is what we all tend to do. You're like, there's nothing wrong with me. You push away your scans, your screenings. But my gynecologist had said, something doesn't seem right. I think, I don't wanna say the cancer word, but I think something's wrong with you and you need to go. So he...

to adopt to an oncologist. I went to an oncologist and they, the oncologist, I said, look, so they think I might have cancer. And he was like, you don't have cancer. You're just tired and a new mom trying to have it all. And I'm like, well, I am a new mom trying to have it all. Like I want a second baby. I'm doing this fertility. We have a due date, but I'm tired and overworked. Yes, absolutely. But he absolutely denied that I had cancer. Went to another expert and Lisa was alongside this journey with me.

And finally, my fertility doctor said, listen, I think they're all wrong. Not my oncologist, a fertility doctor. I want you to go get a bone marrow biopsy. And I'm thinking, you know, when you go through this, I had raised money and been on stage so many times for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. But when you might have leukemia, I forgot. I didn't even know what it was. Your brain just, you lose all your memory. And so Lisa actually watched my son, Gabriel.

drove me to the hospital in Austin where they did a bone marrow biopsy. And then I was home like a day later or two days later. And I'm thinking like, you know what? This is my fertility doctor. I just wanna make sure I'm gonna have this baby. It can't, like you're a fertility doctor. You stay in your lane and let them stay in their lane. And who wants a second opinion when you like the first? But that's been my new rule. Always get a second opinion even when you like the first. So the fertility doctor came to my door and said,

Lisa (14:18.455)
Mmm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (14:30.353)
in tears and I thought, oh gosh, he lost the baby, something's wrong with the embryos. He said, you have AML leukemia. I fell to the floor and I said, you have the wrong person and I cried and told him off. I said, I'm the clean eating, green drinking yoga enthusiast. Again, this was like my saying, my mantra. I do yoga, I drink my green drinks, I'm no gluten, no dairy, no sugar, no caffeine, no corn, mostly no meat. I'm not 100 percent vegan.

Lisa (14:41.196)
Yes.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (14:56.437)
I fall off the wagon here and there just because I'm tired of cooking three different meals at home. I said, you're crazy. Then I became violently ill between all of that. After being misdiagnosed twice, I said, that's it. I have to leverage my contacts. I have to humble myself and go on social media. I went on social media and I asked for help. People, they call with all sorts, oh, my aunt had this cancer. I'm like, what does that have to do with leukemia? Everyone has an opinion.

people came through and I had a world renowned oncologist from Johns Hopkins call me and say, get on a plane, say goodbye to your son, we have a bed waiting for you. You cannot, you are dying. And I cry when I say that because how do you go from, you're just a new mom trying to have it all to you're dying. And I was really, I thought I was invincible and it just, nothing seemed real. And then I thought, well, how do I redeem myself with all these viewers? And I told, eat these.

This is where I came with understanding about eating clean. I told my oncologist, what do I say to viewers? I feel like I'm a fraud. Like I've been telling them to years, eat this and you're not gonna get cancer. Cut the gluten, cut the dairy, go vegan, go plant-based. And now I have cancer. So what do I say to people? And he said, you know what you tell them? You tell them you prepared for this fight. You prehabbed, you prehabilitated. You know, one in two people will get cancer in his or her lifetime.

And they need to start preparing. And because you showed up fit for the fight, you presented well, you prepared for this fight. So you presented well to your medical team and you were better positioned to prevail. You have 25% chance of survival at best because they didn't have statistics on how Cubans would do. He said, but I got people on my hall who should have 25 and they have 10 and eight and 12 because...

Lisa (16:43.259)
So they were able to aggressively treat your cancer because your body in their estimation was strong enough to be able to withstand the treatment that you were getting ready to undergo basically. And like in the book, Lauren and I were talking about it this morning, like your description of like the chemo bags. Can you just tell?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (16:56.009)
Absolutely.

Lauren Bernick (17:05.919)
Yeah, the size, yeah, talk about the size of the chemo bags.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (17:08.641)
So, because I started to report, this was like my eureka moment. And I said, I've got, this is like the biggest breaking story of my career. And I'm not even employed at that point. And so I said, I need you to explain this to me because I need to go on the air and share this story. And he said, look around, I can't tell you because of HIPAA, but when you walk the halls because you need to walk, it boosts your chances of survival. Look at the size of the chemo bags hanging. You have the largest chemo bag because you don't all fight the same.

If your heart's not strong enough, your blood pressure's not good enough, your weight's not in check, we have to tiptoe around your illness and water down your dose. So your chemo bag size and the dose of your other drugs is directly correlated to how you showed up for this fight, how you present. And I was in awe. So I would walk around and I would just look, I just was like, oh my gosh, this person did not prepare. And I'm thinking, I had just run a triathlon and I was dragging myself, sometimes literally crawling on the floor.

And then the next day I would get up and I have to get back up. I walked some days eight miles in the hospital throughout the day. I'd walk a mile rest, walk a mile rest. I was not going to sit. And that's where the doctor.

Lisa (18:17.038)
That's an incredible part of your story, how Laureana, not only did she get up and walk the halls and she is sick from chemo, I mean, I couldn't imagine getting up, but not only that, she was going around the cancer unit, motivating everyone else to do it in her quest to help enlighten everyone about the importance of moving your body and fluids not building up and not getting pneumonia.

Lauren Bernick (18:26.615)
You've got a pew tray.

Lisa (18:44.222)
I love that part of the story. That is so who you are, Laurie, I'm gonna.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (18:48.233)
It was the reporter in me. I'm like, listen, I'm an unemployed reporter now. I got nothing but time, unless I'm gonna, they told me I was gonna die. But I said, for the time that I'm here, I'm gonna drive everybody crazy. So I started like knocking on doors and I'm like, Alejandro, you need to get up. If you take, this is gonna start a cycle. If you keep taking the pain meds, you need, how much did you walk? And they're like, the communications team would come up to me and they're like, you can't go in people's rooms. I'm like.

Lisa (19:07.534)
Thanks for watching!

Lauren Bernick (19:14.583)
Hahaha!

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (19:14.801)
Why can't I? I'm on a mission. Pain in the ass, yes. Prepare, prevent, prevail, pain in the ass. And I literally, I walked that hall and all the halls at Johns Hopkins, pushing this poll, advocating, interviewing people. And you would have thought that I had my own network show at the time, although I was unemployed. And I had everyone talking to me. I'm interviewing, educating. And I even went down to the administration office and I'm like,

Lisa (19:17.25)
Fourth P, that's the pain in the ass.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (19:43.929)
I went and found the head of like food services, like, listen, you have the best medical team, but we can't get fit with this smoothie that involves ice cream and strawberries. I literally brought my Vitamix in. Thank you, Lisa, who introduced me to Vitamix many years ago before it became popular, like 20 years ago. And I brought my Vitamix in and I started educating the nurses too, because they weren't eating healthy and they're working shifts. I'm like, listen, you could be next.

Lisa (19:54.667)
love that part of your book.

Lauren Bernick (19:55.423)
Yeah, that's crazy.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (20:12.377)
my story could be your story, let's all get fit. And they started to coin me as the walkie talkie patient. They're like, I'm like, yes, I'm gonna walk and talk because I'm a pain in the ass. I'm not gonna hit the button and wait for you to come. If you don't come in like two seconds, I'm gonna go get my own blanket. I'm gonna go get my own stuff. Why? Because I need to be here for my son. And so I realized that when you have purpose and you can motivate yourself and the purpose was, I was gonna get out and raise my son.

because my family was having trouble doing it. I'm like, clearly, nobody in my family can raise my son. They're stressed out, calling me panicked. So I had to live. I had no choice.

Lisa (20:51.926)
Yeah, Loriana, you know, you bring up so many things in the book, and Lauren and I talked about this, about, you know, I know that part of your mission is to transform the health care, which is huge. And I really want to support that because the things you point out in your book, you're talking about getting the patients up and moving. You're talking about the food they serve. Another big one was the lack of mental health support.

which what you're describing and what most of our listeners don't realize unless they've read a book by you or someone like you is the isolation of cancer treatment. So they told you were gonna be there for a year and you couldn't be around other people because your immune system was so compromised, it could kill you. And so you're isolated and now we know what isolation does to our health. So it's this like vicious cycle, right? But there was no mental health support for any of that, not to mention the other,

I'm going to call it a pillar right now, but the financial aspect of it. So can you can you talk a little bit about those things? Because these are this is like the rally cry for me about what you went through.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (21:57.361)
Yes. Yes, psycho-oncology is the most overlooked area in cancer care. Like it's the mental health side of treating a cancer patient. And for me, I couldn't believe I was at Johns Hopkins and I love them. So I'm not trying to say any bad things about them. This is everywhere. But what it showed to me is if they're lacking and they have a void at the top of the best of the best, what is happening in our community cancer centers where more than 80% of cancer patients get their care?

So I was having nervous breakdowns. I mean, you take away my son. I have less than 25% chance of survival. I don't have a match for my bone marrow transplant if at that time they didn't know if I needed it. And I'm staring at death. They have people come and bring me a will. People ask me who's gonna raise my son besides my husband. And it was so traumatic that the level of PTSD that I went through and I would say, I need somebody to come talk to me. Like, and they would say, well, we don't...

we can send a psychiatrist for like five minutes. I'm like, five minutes? I need hours. And so the person they would send only because they didn't have the staffing would say, oh, were you, the person would come into my room and they're like, what year is it? Who's the president? And I'm like, I have more than drawing on a piece of paper and asking what year is it, who's the president? I need some mental health help. You've taken my son away, told me I'm gonna die.

And so what I ended up having to do was I had to reach out to news contributors, like psychiatrists I've used, like you were my go-to nutritionist and chef and everything else. I had go-to psychiatrists and psychologists and they helped me navigate my cancer treatment. And I thought, this is crazy. I'm building my own pit crew to survive. And so now I really try to push that we need to build pit crews for patients, like not someone with the same skill. We need all different kinds of services and build that pit crew.

And so I think it's so important. The problem is, again, when we go back to the numbers of 80% of cancer patients get their care at community cancer centers that are smaller, they don't even have that level of support. There, it's like a don't ask, don't tell. We're not gonna ask you, you don't tell us, and we don't have the services. So what happens, a lot of times when I start talking about mental health, I'm depressed, I have PTSD, and they would say, nobody is gonna ever listen to you in pharma or anybody else, because...

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (24:23.389)
That's not, they're not your shrink. They make drugs. And I'm like, well, guess what? They're going to listen when I connect the dots and show them that hospitalizations go up, compliance, people don't go to appointments if they're depressed, compliance goes down, outcomes, so your success rate goes down. And when they see there's a correlation of how long someone can take their drug to their level of depression, then they're gonna get involved. And now they're finally getting involved.

Lisa (24:49.014)
Well, and you also pointed out, I thought was interesting, is how the medications affect you mentally and how you were, I thought it was pretty badass, and I don't know if I could have done it, but saying no to the pain meds because of how they were affecting your mood and everything and your inability to walk the halls, which also is something that was helping your mental health. So I think that's really interesting, the side effects of all the medications.

Lauren Bernick (24:49.46)
And

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (25:16.793)
It was, yeah, you're suffering. When you go through AML leukemia, leukemia tends to be an area while there have been some new innovations. It's not for everybody. And it's such an area of, it's really an area that has so many unmet needs. So if you, you suffer, it is like barbaric treatment. I had two rounds of full body rate radiation, endless rounds of chemotherapy for the entire year. And you're in such pain that if I didn't have Gabriel, I was like, I'm done. This is so hard. I'm done. I just...

Lisa (25:24.078)
Okay.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (25:46.685)
It was exhausting to exist, but I had to, I had to make a conscious decision that if I accepted the pain medicine, I would not, I would be too groggy to get out of bed and then if I didn't get out of bed, I couldn't walk. And if it didn't walk, then it reduced my chances of survival. And then it would start a vicious cycle of then the next day. And my doctor told me, because every day, again, I'm a sponge for statistics as a journalist. He would say one day in bed sets you back four days in muscle strength. Four days of bed sets you back an entire month. You can.

you cannot afford not to move. But I would say, well, why are we not telling this to patients? Why do I have to extract it from you like this pain in the ass reporter? This needs to be on a megaphone, like get up and start moving. So it was the whole process for cancer care, even though it's been almost 10 years since my bone marrow transplant, we have not moved the needle far enough. They're starting to listen and lean in, but the level of support looking at the whole patient ecosystem.

Lisa (26:24.895)
Hmm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (26:45.005)
is ridiculous, is just beyond me that we have a lot of progress to make, but I'm glad people are finally listening.

Lauren Bernick (26:51.079)
Yeah. And you know, so your bone marrow transplant, you finally did get your sister's bone marrow, correct? And so do you, I'm sure that was just like such a traumatic experience all the way around, but do you have, so you said in your book, you don't have your own DNA now, you have your sister's DNA, which I was like, whoa, that's crazy. So do you have characteristics of your sister now, or like, like what?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (26:57.918)
Yes.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (27:09.737)
Don't.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (27:17.841)
Yes, actually she got thinner. She's now my size, I was, and I'm her size. So I'm like, listen, you gave me your marrow and your weight. No, the truth is, because now she's much thinner and I'm on these other drugs that made me gain weight. But that's the joke. But actually you do inherit some of their, and everything about them. And so on a funny note, when I got out of my transplant, we went and had crab legs and I broke out like in hives and I called my oncologist.

Lisa (27:24.759)
Ha!

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (27:45.021)
I'm like, what is happening? Like, what do I do? We just drove to Hilton and we tried to do something local. And he's like, is your sister allergic to crabs? I'm like, well, he's like, then you're allergic to crabs. He's like, you are your sister and every a hundred percent your sister. So, but here's the catch. So that may seem funny. And I was like, oh, okay. Now I can't have whatever she's allergic to. But I carry her genetic markers and her wrists. But you know what they told me with my insurance company?

Lisa (27:55.928)
Wow.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (28:14.505)
they would not tell me what I inherited. So they knew from a birth can't because they wouldn't cover two genetic tests. They only cover one. So this is where science has not caught up. I have two DNAs, but you're gonna give me new DNA and not tell me and not cover what's in her DNA that I'm inheriting. Yet it's going to be part of me and I'm gonna have to fight whatever it is the rest of my life. Turns out five years to the day after surviving my bone marrow transplant, we have this party, and I find out I had breast cancer.

during the pandemic. That's when my book came out. And I rushed to get my book out. That's why I said, I felt like there were some type of, there were a few things that I would have done differently with my book. But when I heard the words, the second time you have cancer, I said, that's it. I got to write my book. I'm not waiting for a publisher. I'm not waiting for, it's going to, I'm going to do the best I can to get it out there because if I die, this message of prehab, getting fit for the fight has to be out in public, has to be out there.

So I know I went all over the place on you on that, but it is crazy that I have her DNA and have.

Lisa (29:19.906)
But is the point of that, because your sister also got breast cancer.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (29:24.369)
Right, so thank you for.

Lisa (29:25.794)
So she had the gene and then you had the gene.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (29:28.809)
So through this, because of the lack of diversity in the clinical trials, there are no bone marrow, there was nobody who matched me except my sister. So I had to get her bone marrow.

Lisa (29:37.458)
I tried L'Orealna when you got diagnosed, I went and got tested as a donor. So I was like, Oh, she could have had mine.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (29:41.819)
Oh, thank you.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (29:45.497)
I could have had your, I would have loved your genetics. I mean, you said you're 60 on your other podcast. I'm like, she is not 60, she is still 40. She is still 40.

Lisa (29:55.382)
Well, God bless your sister because I know how close you guys are and you've now shared this journey together.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (30:02.825)
We share the journey. So after I got out of the hospital and I had breast cancer, what, two years later, we moved to Atlanta and she gets breast cancer. And it was so traumatizing, the PTSD of taking her to her appointments, hearing the beep, hearing clear the margins, advocate for her. I lost my mind, but I was so grateful to have her. I mean, other people, if you, I have a friend right now who has leukemia, she needs a bone marrow transplant. She's white, she has 14 matches.

I had no matches and they said, if your sister does not, this is where fitness comes in again, if your sister is not fit enough to be your donor because we can't kill her trying to save you, you will succumb to the disease and die. Thank God my sister was so fit and also did triathlons and worked out. And she showed up fit for the fight to save my life because I wouldn't be here without her. So there are so many reasons that I say that when people are listening, you don't have to be affected by cancer, you don't have to cheat death.

to appreciate life and get fit and prehab. You need to think about what you're doing today, what you eat, how much you sleep, the stress and toxicity in your life, around your life. All of that is like a wheel of success that determines how you are preparing for when you present to a situation, whether it's cancer or another life-threatening illness, and how you are positioned to prevail. And you should, you're all preparing, whether you like it or not. The question is, how well are you preparing?

Lisa (31:28.438)
Another big one that you bring up in the book is purpose. So we know how much that Gabriel, your son, was your why, your reason, your purpose. But you also talk about your producer, Pam, giving you assignments. And I really want you to talk about that because this is a podcast about aging well. And one of the things that we know in the research is that

when people get older, particularly elderly, what one of the things they lose is their sense of purpose. And that is the beginning of the end. So can you talk about that a little bit?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (32:06.557)
Yes, so I think it's so important. I tell people, everyone not, it's the two P's. This is another time of the two P's. You need to prehab and you need to have purpose. And if you have anyone in your life that's going through any kind of life threatening illness or a tragic moment, whether it's a loss or divorce, giving them purpose can help save their life. And.

My dog is crying.

Lauren Bernick (32:30.463)
We can't hear him. Aww, poor puppy. What's the matter, puppy?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (32:32.861)
Sorry. Coco, come on. Okay, okay, sorry. Sorry about that. I didn't want the crying on the...

Lisa (32:35.882)
It's okay. Coco's fine. We can't hear Coco. We each have a dog in our room too. I've got Luna here and she's got Daisy in hers. So we're all in good company.

Lauren Bernick (32:41.451)
What's that thing?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (32:44.659)
Okay.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (32:48.665)
Okay, good. Okay, so you don't hear the dog crying. So it's so important getting back to the topic of purpose. You have to have purpose. And if that person that you love is going through something, you need to give them purpose. And so my producer, my news director, Pam, said, I'm gonna give you a story and every Wednesday I need you to report to us and we're gonna air it. So my purpose was I walked around the hospital like in my reporter mode, interviewing doctors, interviewing people. And I'm like, I have a report that's going to air on Wednesday.

Lisa (32:51.124)
No.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (33:18.149)
I have a deadline and I paced myself. I literally gave myself a survival schedule because we all thrive, or at least I do, off of schedules. And to have purpose and have that, and I think it's so important as we all age to have purpose to get through any of life's challenges. And I think if you have not found purpose by the time you're 50, to really step back and take a look at what matters to you and what's important and embrace that. I know I...

Lisa (33:44.576)
and who.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (33:45.517)
I talked a lot about my PTSD and depression, and I really advocate about that because it haunts me and affects so much of my life. But what's also given me purpose is what I say, PTG, the post-traumatic growth.

Lisa (33:57.31)
I love the PTG.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (33:59.725)
And at this point when we're, I'm 51, you were mentioning that you're 60 and Lauren, I can't remember what your age. 55, well, let's give it up for the 50s and 60s. That it is so important to have post-traumatic growth. We've all gone through some sort of disruption, some sort of hurdle, life crisis, and maybe it wasn't being separated from someone for an entire year, staring death in the face, but you don't have to cheat death to appreciate life and have post-traumatic growth from what you've gone through. I mean, for me,

Lauren Bernick (34:05.46)
55.

Lauren Bernick (34:09.759)
Yeah.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (34:29.165)
I often share when I'm on stage and I speak because I now travel globally to share this. I have a picture of me as a news anchor and I'm much thinner. I'm size eight instead of the 12 I am now. But I look polished and I'm like, I look at that person and I miss part of her, like some of the exciting events I went to and really, but I don't miss the decisions that she made. I don't miss not having boundaries. I don't miss not prioritizing my own wellbeing.

I'm grateful that person transformed lives and saved lives and helped people in many ways transform their diet. But I don't miss the decisions that the girl on the left before. I look at the person on the right having gone through what I've gone through and the post-traumatic growth that I've gone through that helped me become, as you say, the badass mother, because I would do anything for my son, is that I had to, the depression was gonna take me down if I didn't take a step back and look at where did I grow?

Lisa (35:17.122)
Yeah.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (35:27.077)
And how can I set boundaries? And who has access to my energy? Because after two cancers, my mom's had throat cancer, my sister's had breast cancer, my dad had melanoma, my dad has a blood disorder. It's in our family. I don't need to load the gun, as you say, Lisa, to get a third one. I'm not going for the trifecta. I have to set boundaries. And before I did not, I was so busy trying to climb the ladder, meet the demands of the news business that was so high pressure.

that I never prioritized myself. I love to help others, but I felt selfish to, I didn't give myself permission to pause. I never gave myself permission to rest. My work and worth were connected. And the new me, the bad-ass mom of like, I'm gonna be here for my son, makes different decisions. And I don't care who I offend on the way, right? Is that how you are after 50? You're like, this is it.

Lauren Bernick (36:19.755)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. And so, so what, so you kind of just touched on this, but like, you know, you're a different person now, you have different priorities now. You, so one, like, you kind of just touched on this, but what are some of like the lessons, like, okay, moving forward, these are the only things I'm gonna do, or these are the things that give me joy. And then also, you know, what, like, what's your day like now? Cause you said you have a podcast and you still seem busy.

Lisa (36:21.21)
Yeah, pretty much.

Lauren Bernick (36:48.843)
But like, what's your day like now? Do you factor in time for rest, et cetera?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (36:53.361)
Yes. I, in fact, and I have people do this when I speak, I have scheduled in my phone and blocked workout me time. And it says workout me time. And whether that's hot yoga, whether it's meditation, walking four miles, lifting weights, writing the Peloton. And I keep it, I lock it down. And if I once in a while, because it's a doctor, I have a lot of doctor appointments and probably 10 doctors I now have to see. I, if I see for any reason for.

friend to see a friend or do something that I end up canceling. And I say, I need to check myself because I've now canceled so many times that I'm not prioritizing myself. So my schedule is I wake up at five 30. I get ready for the day. And then I wake up my son at six, get him out the door to his school, come home, meditate, then go to my workout. And then I start doing podcast calls and everything between 11 and two. That's my window. If it can't get done between 11 and two.

either seeing an oncologist, seeing my cardio oncologist, infectious disease doctor, doing a podcast, writing a blog or being on a panel or advocating or writing a speech. That doesn't happen. Things that change is I've always been a neat freak, but my house is still neat. But I can go to, if the sink is completely full and piled up, like overflowing, I can kiss it goodbye and go to bed and look at it. And I've had people say, how can you go to bed with the sink full? I'm like...

No, when they told me I might die, I never said I should have cleaned another dish. Never. When they told me you might die, I never said I should have cleaned another dish. Never. Or cleaned another baseboard or cleaned another toilet or done one more thing with one more person. When they literally, when they came to the room and they said, we don't know if you're going to live, I, I had a mental breakdown and I had so many regrets run through my head.

Lisa (38:26.978)
Can you repeat that?

Lisa (38:33.57)
Thank you.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (38:50.313)
because I was a perfectionist. My house had to look perfect for people. I was a news anchor. Everything had to be perfect. My diet had to be perfect. This had to be perfect. I had to lead this perfect life, I thought. And I was so busy trying to please others and fit into this category that now I'm like, you know what, this is me. My house is clean, but I have no problem going to bed with a mess. I'll clean it in the morning when I have energy. I'm not going to deplete myself ever again. My regrets, I said to my husband, I was...

Lauren Bernick (39:12.235)
Same. Yeah.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (39:19.173)
really pissed off and I said, why did we never take a proper vacation? Like every vacation we took was to go see family. And I'm a family person and I'm Cuban, he's Cuban, we love our family, but we never took time for us. It was like, we had this guilt. We needed to spend every ounce of vacation we had at work to go see everybody. But they took their other vacations at other times. So I just stepped back and I had regrets. And I said, I never, if they come to me ever again, God forbid and say those words, you might die.

I don't want to have any regrets like that, because that was the sickest feeling in my stomach.

Lisa (39:54.711)
You know, you were in constant fight or flight pre-cancer. Your body was constantly thinking you were under attack because of the way you overscheduled yourself and this drive for perfection. But then you literally were in survival mode. And what I find really...

fascinating is how you were able to take this actually really productive functional part of yourself, this L'Orealner who checks the boxes, creates schedules, and apply that in a way that actually served you better. And you're doing it now. You're scheduling me time. So if you're the kind of person, the listeners, who's type A, trying to get it all done, fit it in, use that skill.

Right? Because that's what you're doing. Like what you're describing, I'm like, this is fantastic. And your purpose is so clear. Like you were put on this earth to have this experience to share with the rest of us. It's so powerful, your before and after. And I just had to say that because, you know, I think we all can, I know for me personally, I have trouble, we all need structure, but I have sometimes more...

the challenge creating that and you're someone who's so good at it.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (41:24.853)
I did create a survival schedule because that is my wheelhouse of being very regimented. And while that regimented lifestyle, like you said, may have landed me there, it helped also save my life. I had to backpedal and say, okay, I'm gonna walk, then the doctors will do rounds, and then I'm going to do scrapbooks in case I die. So my son has scrapbooks. So I just worked, I wrote my son letters. I created an email account, so I wrote him letters in case I died. So I planned.

Lisa (41:35.99)
Mm-hmm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (41:53.725)
for my death in many ways, but I also planned for living. And so I kept saying, like, do I make a resume in case I live to pay these bills or memories in case I die when I get out? Like, and they didn't know for years and I'm still, you know, I can't even get life insurance, but it was so traumatizing. I can't even, every time I go through a blood test, when you're a survivor and they don't have enough tools to help survivors, you're constantly in and out of scans.

And my new book that I'm working on is the working title is Finding Joy Between Fence Posts. Because every fence post is like a trauma for all of us. But my posts are like, boom, boom. They're like one after the other. I had a brain scan, because if you have a headache, they'll say, oh, maybe you're dehydrated. For me, they're like, maybe you have a brain tumor. If you have back pain, you worked out too hard. For me, maybe you have back, maybe your cancer spread to your back. So I'm constantly in a machine. And if I don't find joy in the straightaways,

I would lose my mind. And another thing, just to get back, because I don't know how much time we have left, but being this is talking about badass mothers is having to look at ourselves and feel good about who we are and who we're helping and our purpose in life. I can't tell you how hard it is after losing so much, going through leukemia, not just my hair, but my career, my identity, literally my DNA. And then you go through breast cancer treatment.

during a pandemic, I was prepared for the isolation. Like, I got this down pat, I have a million N95s, I have the yellow gowns, I'm ready. But what I wasn't ready for is going through a double mastectomy and more loss. So not only do you lose your breasts, but you lose your nipples, and they tell you if you keep them with your history, you could die. So what do you do? The breasts that fed your son, you have to get rid of them to live for your son. Sorry.

That trauma is something that you have to cope with every day. And so when you go through, you medically induced into menopause. Sorry, I get so emotional, but I'm so passionate. I was medically introduced into menopause. I didn't have a peri-menopause. It's like, boom, here's your menopause cause you're going to die. And we have to stop your period. It was overnight. So you go 41, 41. And so it was overnight.

Lauren Bernick (44:09.079)
How old were you?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (44:15.761)
And then between the leukemia and the breast cancer, and I say this not for someone who feels sorry for me, but to know that there are a lot of bad ass moms out there walking around who've lost their sense of self because you look in the mirror and you're in a mind and body you don't recognize, but you need to find purpose to keep going. Like what is your purpose? What is your why in life? Like, what do you wanna do? Where do you wanna go? And what do you need to do to get there? Because if I didn't have that, I had moments where I went from.

living the life as this high profile news anchor, going around, going to galas, fancy events, fighting for my life and so lost in survivorship when I would struggle to find my purpose that I wanted to take my own life. And I said, this, my son needs me. And then I had to say, you know what? The world needs me because I'm gonna change the way things are done in healthcare. That's my why, but it doesn't have to be someone else's why. But it's hard for, there's a lot of women struggling and women also making decisions.

Lisa (45:04.971)
Amen.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (45:13.105)
As they go through perimetopause and the numbers start to go up for breast cancer, even making decisions not to lose their breasts, to not let their husbands down, that are putting their lives at risk. So I say this, that you have to worry about your kids, your family, and you may have to take these hard steps, but finding your why and your purpose and knowing your worth is gonna get you through it.

Lauren Bernick (45:36.563)
Yeah, that's really powerful. And you act, speaking of your breast cancer and making decisions, you, I know that you were being led. This is your, your fourth, what are the three P's? Your fourth P is a pain in the ass. What are the other three? What?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (45:50.589)
See, we can't ever forget that one, PDA, PDA. It's prepare, present, prevail. And that really message applies. Prepare yourself for illness or for anything. So you present well to your medical team and you're better positioned to prevail. Not that you're gonna live, they told me, you have all 25%. I had 25, you have all 25, you're better positioned. So when you prepare for anything, whether it's a job interview, a career change, a pivot in life, whatever it is,

Lisa (45:50.722)
Hahaha!

Lauren Bernick (45:55.798)
And then.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (46:18.213)
You present better to the situation and you're better positioned to prevail. It's my 3P protocol. It's nothing magical, but I can tell you, you can change your life. Yeah.

Lisa (46:26.226)
I'm really good at the pain in the ass part because I'm the patient that doctors don't like because I'm always prodding them with the questions. So I think the pain in the ass is a big part of it.

Lauren Bernick (46:27.93)
Right. But we want to get to the point. You're all good at this.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (46:33.237)
Thank you.

That's me.

Lauren Bernick (46:39.539)
It's important, but that brings me to when you got diagnosed with breast cancer, the oncologist I think was just trying to have you have a lumpectomy and you're like, no, you were your own advocate and that is so important. You have to be your own advocate because you couldn't have just had a lumpectomy. So can you talk about that a little bit?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (46:48.157)
Yes.

Lisa (46:52.727)
Yes.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (46:59.973)
So when I was diagnosed, first of all, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I knew that my risk of a secondary cancer, because I had full body rounds of radiation, I'm at risk of every cancer. So something in my mind didn't feel right, maybe my paranoia. And it was six months after a mammogram. And I said, I want a mammogram. And like, oh, we can't schedule you for that because you've just had one unless you're in pain. I'm like, okay, I'm in pain. I made it up. I lied to the healthcare system. Not only did I get a mammogram, but I insisted on an ultrasound.

It was the ultrasound, not the mammogram, because I have dense breasts that found the breast cancer. And then when they found the breast cancer, the doctor says, you just need a lumpectomy. It's small, you caught it early, because I did catch it early. We can just cut around it and clear the margins. And I was like, wait, wait. I've had chemo, full body rounds of radiation, which puts your whole body at risk, causes scar tissue.

And here I am schooling the oncologist at a high level institution. And I had to connect the doctors through an email, like an email, like you meet him, you meet him. And I told my leukemia doctor, I said, he saved my life. He's gonna make the decision. And he had to call the doctor and say, absolutely not. She's not having a lumpectomy. She's had so much baggage, comorbidities. She probably has more cancer because of the radiation.

she can't have more radiance. She's had enough for her lifetime. You need to remove her breasts. Cause if you do a double mastectomy, you don't need radiation cause there's nothing to radiate. So he insisted, I will not sign off on this procedure unless you remove her breast. So he had to tell the breast oncologist and they weren't happy his decision. And thank God he did because they found another one, another, it was small. So I say, you have to be a pain in the ass. I...

Lisa (48:31.682)
Mm-hmm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (48:50.181)
And then they also want me to spit in a tube for my genetic markers. And I'm like, wait a minute, that's my sister. I can't spit in a tube. I need you to do a skin punch because my skin is me. My blood is my sister. And my, like, I am my sister unless you take a piece of skin from me. So here I am trying to educate about my DNAs and my history. So it's so important that as, you know, as we age, well, even when you're younger, but educate other people about.

Know your not just your family history, but know your medical history and advocate for yourself. That's what we try to do on my podcast.

Lauren Bernick (49:22.315)
Yeah, advocate. I think that people are so afraid to say no to their doctor or to have a different opinion or go up against their doctor. Yeah, question them because the doctor's the doctor. The doctor went to medical school, but you have to listen to yourself as you did, and you have to advocate for yourself, and you have to say when something doesn't sound right because you know, and so I love, you know, that's just such a strong.

Lisa (49:30.858)
question them.

Lauren Bernick (49:50.919)
a message that I hope people will take away.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (49:53.429)
I can imagine if I would have taken the doctor's words in Austin, Texas, nothing against Austin, it's one of my favorite cities ever, who said, you're just tired, overworked, and a new mom trying to have it all. I would have died. So I had to go with my fertility doctor. And I, again, so to anybody out there, always get a second opinion, even when you like the first, don't listen to people when they say, oh, well, you might be fishing for something like, be careful what you're looking for. Yeah. Go get a second opinion. And when both of them sign off that you're good, then maybe you're good. But I,

Lisa (50:04.082)
Yes.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (50:23.121)
double check, triple check everybody. And I roll out my labels. I don't care what I have to leverage to get my answers to be here for my son. My goal with my podcast and my advocating is that not everyone has access that you, Lauren or Lisa, we all have some very high level contacts in the health and wellness industry. We can really like pull on some high powerful names to save our lives. Not everyone has that access. So I feel that we collectively.

Lisa (50:46.134)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (50:50.397)
just to do the world good, we need to come together and we have a moral obligation to help connect other people to and give them access to healthcare, that answers that they need.

Lauren Bernick (51:00.939)
Yes. And what's the name of your podcast?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (51:03.197)
The podcast is called Stage Free and I'm so excited. So I invite everyone to listen to it, to learn more about being your own health hero and advocating for yourself.

Lauren Bernick (51:06.583)
Love that.

Lisa (51:14.226)
and the book is called Becoming the Story, The Power of Prehab, and then Armor Up for Life is your brand, right?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (51:22.649)
is my brand, it's my nonprofit. And I do, we're launching a number of different programs this year to help underserved patients, to help other, just really to educate and empower patients, all about mastering survival. Because you're a survivor from the day of diagnosis, and we wanna give people the tools they need for success.

Lisa (51:40.958)
Yeah, I mean, we're going to have to get you on again when your new book comes out especially, and then also to get more into the weeds of the underserved community and what the financial picture looks like for people facing this kind of thing for sure. David, did you want to ask something?

Lisa (52:33.782)
Well, it was hard for us, Loreana, because you moved away, you know? I mean, Loreana was moving across the country while she was going through this. I'll never forget that. Oh my God, she's not here, you know? And that was hard.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (52:42.089)
Yeah.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (52:48.84)
It was so-

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (52:58.725)
I had no support. I had no, I really had to do it with no support. Like I was staring at four walls and had to build a new community in a hospital of people dying around me. Like every day somebody died. So I made friends with a guy named Paul, he died. Everybody I made friends with, the name card would disappear. And so the trauma I have was that people keep disappearing on me. So I have this fear of, I don't wanna go back there.

And so my blood count, if it's a little off, I freak out because I'm like, I am not going back there. Like, what do I need to do? But it was so hard because we didn't have like Uber Eats then. We didn't have, I mean, I had nurses shopping for me. I would give them money to go to Whole Foods down the street to bring me just avocados I can eat with a spoon. I had nurses who would, who washes your clothes when you're there for a year. I had no support.

Lisa (53:47.07)
I read that. David, I'm getting the book in the mail, the hard copy in the mail today. I read the PDF. All of that in there, just like how the nurses were washing your clothes for you and bringing food from Whole Foods. You were there in a brand new city with no family and no friends and on this just unthinkable cancer journey. And Caesar was traveling, right? He was like at a...

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (53:52.137)
from.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (54:09.737)
The easier was holding it down a job in Bethesda, Maryland, which he eventually lost after I survived my transplant. And the doctor said, they did cuts at his job and he lost his job and had to move to Philly. And so I was moving into the house we bought in Virginia because we needed somewhere to go. And my doctor said, you can't move again. We don't even know if you're going to live. Like you have two years for this transplant to like seal. So there I was in a new city surrounded by new neighbors who didn't know me.

while I was literally having nervous breakdowns. Like we were in like a carriage home with shared walls. I'm like beating on the wall, crying. Like I didn't know what to do with myself. Here I was a successful anchor. I had no job. I couldn't go back to work. I didn't know what to do with myself. My son didn't recognize me. He walked past me every day like we never met. And I'm like, wait a minute, I nursed you. It was, ah.

Lisa (54:58.915)
Yeah. Read the book. The book is powerful. It's a powerful book.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (56:05.969)
And I'm not sure what that, but I will think of that answer.

Lauren Bernick (56:10.167)
It's a tough one.

Lisa (56:12.438)
Well, I mean, I think the thing is the foundation that everything Lorianne is doing with Arm Rup is geared toward helping figure that out for the underserved community, you know, so.

Lauren, you're up. Armageddon.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (56:25.343)
Oh, Lauren, go ahead.

Lauren Bernick (56:27.243)
So, Loreana, I know that you understand it's a luxury to be able to confine your workday to 11 to two. And there are a lot of women who don't have that luxury, who are sick or not even sick yet, trying to armor up or get prehab to have the good lifestyle. What would you say? What are some tools those women can use?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (56:54.361)
Well, I would say, well, for right now, the reason why I can't, I try to limit that to 11 to 2 is that's my window and I don't want to deplete myself. When I do, there are times that I'll stay up and write, like if my mind is going because I am working on my book and when the light goes on to write, you write. And it's very cathartic for me and it's helpful for me to work with my therapist. But for those people, not everyone does have that luxury. My doctors don't want me to work because I am at that tipping point that...

All it could take is one little thing to send me into the trifecta of another cancer. So I have to manage it because I want to live for my son. But for those, not everyone can do that. They're maybe busy working at a coffee shop or working at, you know, Dunkin' Donuts or working at Whole Foods, working on a daily hourly wage. And those people, really, I would encourage if there's another, I'm not saying leave that job, but try to find maybe there's so many other opportunities now since the pandemic, if there's

One good thing that came from the pandemic, there's a lot of hybrid jobs or jobs that you can do from home. And if you can manage that where you can lower your stress levels and reduce your stress level, see what you can do from home, where you can improve your quality of life because you have to take an assessment and realize the risk benefit ratio. And I never, people would say, oh, you're working too many hours, you need to leave TV. And I'm like, I am not leaving. I love, I'm a journalist, I'm not leaving. And I was really stubborn about it,

crisis forced me into it, I had no choice. So I say, if you are burning the candle at both ends and you feel like you're at this point of depletion and it's affecting your health and your mental wellbeing, you are gonna have to make a decision. Like what job can you do from home? There are so many new opportunities because you don't wanna get to a point where the decision is made for you, where a crisis forced you into it and now your job is fighting for your life.

So it's a lot easier to step back and maybe take a pay cut or do something different in that scenario. Now, I understand, I advocate big for the underserved communities and not everyone can either, I can't, they can't say, oh, I'm gonna take a pay cut. Some of them are working three jobs, but find moments where you can, even breathing in and out for five minutes or three minutes in your car, like breathing in for five seconds, breathing out for two seconds.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (59:11.177)
There's voice text on your phone. Sometimes it's good just to get stuff off your chest, create a little note section. That's how I write a lot of my book and then I go in and clean up the grammar. But I hit the voice button and it just types what's on my mind. I'm like, that's something else I want to talk about. There's ways where you can decompress and find some peace. Also, one of the biggest things is protect your energy. If you are working two and three jobs,

it's even more important than ever that you have to protect your energy because you don't have any more energy to give. And you have to protect who has access to your energy. And that's the time when you're stressed is also to eat clean. I know a lot of times that I know both of you will agree. I remember I went to a cancer conference and I sat with all these researchers at the front table because I was a speaker and everybody else ordered a plant-based meal like I did. And I thought, well, that's strange. Like all nine people at my table.

are plant-based. And then I looked and I said to the guy, okay, I'm a nosy reporter. I can't help. I can't help but ask, why are you all plant-based? And he's like, well, we're not really all plant-based, but we're working a million hours right now. And we know we're adding inflammation to our diet. So we have to reduce inflammation in other areas of our life. So those are the times where we really, you know, nail it down and eat clean. So I thought, you know, maybe you can't be plant-based every day, but the times of stress.

Lisa (01:00:10.228)
I was so happy, I wanted to ask you about...

Lisa (01:00:33.111)
Hmm.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:00:37.809)
When you're increasing the level of inflammation in other areas of your life, that's when you really need to work on your diet.

Lisa (01:00:44.482)
Can I clarify, eat clean, L'Oreal on a means, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and whole unprocessed foods. And I also wanna remind the listeners of what you said before, if you're the mom working three jobs and you don't have a lot of time, leave the dirty dishes and get the extra sleep.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:00:51.358)
Yes.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:01:04.223)
Leave them.

Lauren Bernick (01:01:05.297)
And did you take that vacation? Have you gone on a vacation?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:01:07.741)
I'm taking a vacation in a week. We're going to Punta Cana. But we've taken some vacations, and I've had to keep working on that with my husband, because he still thinks that 48 hours is a vacation. I'm like, listen, I have fought too hard for that. 48 hours is enough time to get there and realize now I have to come back. So he's still in the medium mode. That's the problem. He still works in TV. But I take the vacation, and I set the boundaries. So I'm still working on him. He's a work in progress.

Lauren Bernick (01:01:12.051)
All right.

Lisa (01:01:20.014)
Thanks for watching!

Lauren Bernick (01:01:32.672)
Good.

Lauren Bernick (01:01:35.895)
Good. Wow. Thank you so much. What a pleasure to talk to you.

Lisa (01:01:38.216)
L'Orealna, thank you for everything you do. You're such an inspiration. You're such a badass. And your book is fantastic. Your podcast is fantastic. We are excited to support Armour Up for life. And we'll put all that information in the show notes for our listeners.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:01:59.422)
Thank you.

Lauren Bernick (01:02:01.483)
Thank you.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:02:04.16)
Oh, I love you guys. Oh, I mean, I... Oh, go ahead.

Lauren Bernick (01:02:12.711)
Oh, and don't, but also don't forget to tell her about leaving her, what is it, you have to leave your browser open or?

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:02:30.477)
Yeah, that's fine. Well, I love you guys. I'm so emotional because Lauren, Lisa and David have makes me cry, have been through, they were there for me and taught me so much. So it was.

Lisa (01:02:43.562)
You know what, you were there for me. I was a note body and you had me on your show all the time. I was like, so honored. And then we became friends and you inspired me too. Like I said, I wouldn't have ever done a 5K if it weren't for you.

Lauren Bernick (01:02:43.827)
You.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:02:48.929)
Thank you.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:02:57.829)
Well, thank you. I just I love you guys and I hate that I'm not in the same city as you. And then I didn't realize that you left Austin. So now one reason I don't need to worry about going back. But I would love to, I would love to. So grateful for you guys. And I might be reaching out to you because I think we should use the switch to this platform for our own podcast. But that's

Lauren Bernick (01:02:58.891)
You really are.

Lisa (01:03:09.205)
Come to San Francisco. Oh my gosh, it's amazing here.

Lisa (01:03:19.315)
Okay, yeah, let's connect a lot of things. Cause you know, Lauren and I were so passionate about the eating well and the plant-based and Lauren's story is very powerful too. Cause you know, they.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:03:28.485)
I wanna, yes, I would love to interview, I don't know if I should do separately or both of you at the same time.

Lisa (01:03:33.522)
Yeah, but her story is very impactful too, because she was told she was gonna have a heart attack in her forties and she was gonna have to go on statins. And guess what? She changed her diet and she didn't. So you guys need to connect too.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:03:43.801)
We will, we will. And I would love to, I have Lisa's schedule already. So Lauren, I'll get you scheduled too. Thanks.

Lauren Bernick (01:03:44.927)
Yeah, we could do that.

Yeah, I'd love that. I'm so glad to have met you.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:03:52.117)
Bye!

Lisa (01:03:52.642)
Give Gabriel and Smitha a hug from us.

Lauren Bernick (01:03:55.199)
He's gorgeous. What a gorgeous baby. Bye.

Loriana Hernandez-Aldama (01:03:55.581)
Okay, I will, I will. Bye.