Voices for Voices®

Cancer, Challenges, and Championing Those Who Can't Speak Up | Ep 274

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 274

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Cancer, Challenges, and Championing Those Who Can't Speak Up | Ep 274

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What does it truly mean to support those who face discrimination because of disabilities or serious illness? This powerful episode dives deep into the reality of how society often treats its most vulnerable members.

Justin Alan Hayes, founder of Voices for Voices, delivers a heartfelt exploration of the exploitation and discrimination faced by people with disabilities, challenges, and serious illnesses like cancer. Drawing from personal experiences with family members battling advanced cancer, he examines the painful reality that some individuals and organizations actually target vulnerable people rather than supporting them. The parallels between disaster exploitation and taking advantage of those with disabilities reveal a disturbing pattern in human behavior that demands our attention and action.

This episode serves as both a call to awareness and a promise of support. Voices for VoicesⓇ stands firmly against any discrimination, creating a platform where everyone's story deserves to be heard, regardless of ability or circumstance. Whether you're personally affected by disability or illness, or supporting someone who is, you'll find validation, understanding, and community here. As Justin eloquently states, "We're all in humanity together, doesn't matter how we look, our abilities, our challenges."

Ready to be part of a movement that celebrates human dignity in all its forms? Join us at Voices for VoicesⓇ, where we're committed to being "a light where there is none." Reach out to share your story or that of a loved one – together, we can create a world where everyone feels valued, supported, and truly heard.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Welcome to Voices for VoicesⓇ

3:41 Supporting Those with Disabilities

9:26 Confronting Discrimination and Exploitation

13:44 Understanding Cancer and Its Challenges

21:55 Being a Light in Difficult Times

32:28 Call to Share Your Story

#CancerAwareness #FightCancer #CancerSupport #ChampionTheVoiceless #HealthAdvocacy #EndCancerStigma #SurvivorStories #SpeakUpForOthers #EmpowermentThroughAdversity #MentalHealthInCancer #CommunitySupportSystem #HopeAndHealing #ResilienceInChallenge #NonprofitAdvocacy #TogetherAgainstCancer #TikTok #Instagram #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion

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Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Hey everyone and welcome to another episode of the Voices for Voices TV Show and Podcast. I'm your host. Founder of Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you so much for joining us on this and each and every episode that you have helped made us a worldwide phenomenon, worldwide success, and we can't thank you enough. Whether you're watching, whether you're listening, whether you're here in the United States or whether you are at another point across the world, thank you for joining us. Thank you for being a part of Voices for Voices, no matter how big or how small.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

We do not take lightly any advocate, any support, because we're all in this together. We're all in life together. We're all in humanity together, doesn't matter how we look, our abilities, our challenges, we are. We're one. We're the human race, humanity, and that's the beauty of Voices, for Voices is whether you're able to share your voice in your story or you're able to share that voice and story of somebody who is not able to at the current time. This is a safe place. This is a place for everyone, and we are beyond grateful to have you with us, whether this is your first show or whether you've been with us from the beginning. You can find us again on YouTube, on Rumble and over 16 audio platforms like Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart, odyssey, you name it. You can find Voices for Voices there. Find Voices for Voices there. If you're able to do us a big favor and give us a thumbs up, a subscribe, a like, a share, that would be greatly helpful to us. And those are all things that are free to do, and thank you again.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

And we're going to transition into the key area of this particular episode, that is, individuals like myself who have I mean, they call it a disability, whatever the correct legal term is. That's what we're talking about, and we we, not only we not only support, we vehemently support. So that means we really support and really want to be a voice and a platform for anyone who is being treated like an outcast, not being listened to, not being treated fairly humanely, who are being potentially discriminated against Because maybe, well, you don't look like us, you don't walk like us, you don't talk like us, and we are. We're just. We're just appalled by humanity that there would even be a thought of a person or more who's treating people like that, and so we do not condone any of that and we urge anybody who knows of an individual or an organization for that matter, to do your research on that individual or individuals or organization, because you have a voice, you have a choice, you have a choice over the organization, organization you and your loved ones and friends and significant others belong to, who those that you volunteer with, that maybe you donate money to or have in the past. And we just think that doing your own due diligence.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Again, we're sharing information because again, unfortunately, this seems to be occurring. Where people are being people are being taken advantage of, there's no, there's no easy way of really saying that. There's no easy way of really saying that and we do not like that. I think our fellow human, anybody who thinks like that or has had thought like that or is part of an organization like that, to think of things on, you know, if the shoe is on the other foot, basically meaning what if it was you or somebody you know who are being mistreated, uh, talked down on, uh, maybe taken advantage of, like, oh well, you know, hypothetically, well, well, their mind might not be all there, so we, we could take advantage of. Themetically well, their mind might not be all there, so we could take advantage of them and to our benefit, whatever that may be, again, we find that just it's not good to be kind about it.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

And so, along with, you know, disabilities, you know whether we're talking mental health-wise, whether we're talking about physical disabilities or challenges or cognitive challenges, it doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't matter what the challenge is, it doesn't matter if the person is able to hear correctly, to see correctly, to walk correctly, to talk, just in the sense of we don't notice a I mean I'm speaking from my experience here and we've done over 270 shows and I say more than my fair share of the word like, which is not supposedly a frown upon the eye, contact with the camera and with guests and there are certain things that that's just who I am and I'm okay with that, because nobody here on earth is perfect, nobody here on earth is sinless, and we all have here on Earth is endless, and we all have a flaw, whether it's thought of as big or small. We all do, we all do. And then, if we look at taking that a step further, this disability conversation, this thought that there could be fellow human beings that treat, break down as less than we find, just as a human being, and then morals and ethics and and all that really brought into it. I find that there there's a lot to be desired, ought to be desired, if that, that is a train of thought that is roaming around in a person or organization's mind, and so we extend that into diseases and other things that a person may not have, and even we talk about disability and challenges. A lot of those and I'm speaking from my experience I didn't ask to have them and I don't think a whole lot of people did and do ask to have that, and so there was really no point where there was this decision that had to be made. Yes, I agree, I want a disability, I want a disability, I want a challenge, or I don't. The same goes for diseases curable, incurable, and we're going to talk about cancer.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

So, it's my understanding, there's quite a few, quite a few types of cancer. In the hundreds or even the thousands of the different, the different types of cancer. There are, I guess, brackets we want to maybe put that into or stages where maybe we have heard somebody has been diagnosed, maybe we have heard somebody has been diagnosed with a particular type of cancer and at stage one or stage two or three or four, whatever that stage may be in my understanding and I'm not. Whatever that stage may be In my understanding and I'm not, I don't have a medical background. I have a background with family that had and has had cancer. So I come with that lived experience of the higher the number.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

So the higher the stage, the more advanced the cancer is and more likely than not there's fewer ways to treat that particular cancer and to heal or have that cancer go into remission. You know, whether through chemotherapy, whether through surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, a combination trial, there's a host of ways to really think about it. And as a person who has had family members be diagnosed with cancer, and quite advanced cancer, meaning that stage was pretty high. And you can kind of look at that in two parts and we'll have a show in the future on the first part of why is it that it seems that so many people since the pandemic have been diagnosed with such advanced stage cancer, meaning not stage one, not stage two, but maybe stage three or four and the options to treat or have that go into remission are really close to zero. And so that's what we'll cover on a different show because and it may even be a couple of shows because it's serious and I think some people are already starting to wake up to that, like, hey, what's the deal here? And then the second part is individuals that are going through treatment, regardless of how high the probability is that their cancer can be taken out through a surgery and chemotherapy and trials and radiation, or how low the probability is of well, this particular cancer, hypothetically yeah, it's with a low likelihood of making it alive past the year.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

And so, as a family member, as a friend, as a colleague, as a loved one, as a loved one, that's hard to. That's hard to, it's hard to accept. You know, we know that we know life's not fair, we know that there's ups and there's downs and it's God's will to be done on ours and, yeah, we can't take possessions with us. When we pass away, the money that we have and the things we have, we can't take with us, we can't take with us. And so you have, let's say, a group of people that are battling all forms of cancer, all stages of cancer, and not just cancer but other diseases. I'm just giving cancer as a just as an example, because I had that lived experience with family members with that and I've had that and unfortunately I've passed on from that, and so when we kicked off this show, this particular show, this episode, and we talked about individuals having disabilities, having challenges, and how not everybody can and are being supportive to those groups of people, that they actually look to take advantage of them.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

You know, here in a parallel topic, a natural disaster happens, let's say, a hurricane goes through an area, and so there's a lot of people that need help in insurance claims, and political red tape tends to sometimes be a lot thicker than what it should be, and so outside organizations, churches, they'll try to come beyond the ground, try to help as best they can with water, with food, with temporary housing, blankets and bedding and those types of things where there are some people who either have a company or they started a company for this very reason to take advantage of people telling them oh, we can get you I don't know if it's an insurance policy or we can get you a new house or a new condo or apartment, I don't know. All I know is there seems to be a lot of fraud and a lot of abuse that comes whenever there is a natural disaster, and so these would be some of the types of people that would also probably be in the camp of, well, somebody can't take care of themselves. Uh, again, they have this challenge, or just disability, or whatever, whatever you want to call it, or battling cancer or disease, and uh, their immune systems down and uh, and. And so you know we don't live in a perfect world. You know, in a perfect world there would be nobody who would talk down, take advantage of any of these individuals. But, as we know, we don't live in a perfect world and us, as humans, are not perfect. None of us are in a perfect world. And that us, as humans are not perfect, none of us are. And so, whether it's a person's choice or not, or peer pressure or not, to take advantage of people, to take advantage of people, we think there's a lot to be desired with individuals who are taking advantage of people like that or like this. And so, whether you have cancer, you're're battling it.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

You just got diagnosed today, yesterday, recently, whether it's an advanced stage of well, I went and got all my health checkups. Over the years, I did everything. The doctors told me uh, you know, I got these shots and you know exercise, and you know all the telltale signs of you know what should help a person be healthy or healthier, and yet they show up to the ER or to primary care doctor or visit with some type of symptoms, only to find out that they're at stage four and they have, if they're lucky, a year to live, regardless of what type of treatments are available that you can treat but we can't cure. And so for anybody who's in that position, who knows anybody that's in that position, who has gone through anything that we have talked about on our show, please reach out to us. We would love to learn more.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

We would love to have you on our show, we would love to have you a loved one, a relative, a significant other to talk about these very important areas and topics and how important it is that, as a human being and some of us being leaders of organizations, how we can better love on these individuals and their families that are going through these hard times, and how to have an extra megaphone in front of our voice so we can let as many people know we can help as many people say you know what? You're not alone, you're a family member, you're a teammate, you're a colleague, you're whomever it is, and if they have passed away, you know God. Rest their soul, but their life was not in vain that we can and we will continue to use this platform to, and we will continue to use this platform to talk, to teach, to share our voices, voices of others who may not be with us on Earth any longer or have a challenge to make it difficult, more difficult to communicate. Reach out to us, let us know this is a big issue, big topic that unfortunately, we're finding out that, for whatever reason and we're really past kind of trying to understand the human mind, because I've tried for the life of me to try to understand what could cause a person or organization to take advantage of, to talk down on individuals who have disabilities, challenges going through chemotherapy, radiation, cancer or other autoimmune diseases. It doesn't matter what the name of that is. What matters is we can do better as human beings and Voices for Voices is one of those avenues where we can do better, where we can be there for one another, that we can share how loved everyone is, whether they're here on earth or whether they've passed on to heaven, whether they've been given close to 100% remission rate possibility with a particular form of cancer diagnosis, or whether they're given a year at best, maybe six months at best, maybe six months.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

And then to find out that well, could we have caught this before? Only to have a doctor say, well, you know, even a year ago, you know, this probably wouldn't have even shown up on a scan. And for people like me and family members who've been in my position to hear that news from a doctor to our loved one, say that basically nothing, nothing you could have done that you could have. You could have came with the, maybe the same symptom, go through the scans, go through the tests and not even have the cancer show up at all, to about a year after that, to have the cancer to be so advanced that the survival rate, the longevity, the side effects are just so severe, it's so life-shortening. And it's always hard enough to go through that as a family member, a friend. But there's again just some individuals, some organizations, that that's their MO, that that's their MO to go after, to talk down upon, to pray in a way on. Well, you know they're not going to be able to defend themselves.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

Well, voices of Her Voices is here self. Well, voices of Our Voices is here. It's not just here for me, it's not just here for a select few people. It's here for everybody and I invite you to reach out to us, share your story, share your family member's story, celebrate them, celebrate you, celebrate our lives because, as we know, none of us are getting out of here alive. And I'll do the best I can for as long as I can, for as long as I'm here on earth, to have us have our organization, have myself, be a light where there is none to inspire, where there's no inspiration available, to help when others are talking down, when others are talking down, and to be a human being as caring as I can be, for as long as I can be.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

We're here for you. We're not just here for me, we're not just here for the organization. We're here for the world. We're here for you. We're here for your loved ones. We're here to celebrate life, talk about family and friends and what they love to do and what they like to do, and let us spend more of our time celebrating and uplifting others than the opposite.

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes:

And so, yeah, voices for Voices is different in that respect, because we're not going to talk down on anybody who's going through rough time, rough challenges, because we all are. I'm going through rough time, rough challenges, because we all are. I'm going through rough time, rough challenges. We all are. So why don't we go through these together, why don't we join our fellow humans, to the right and to the left, and let's together be a light, let's together inspire, let's together uplift, let's together help. Let's together help and let's together be a voice for you, for somebody in need. Thank you for joining us and we'll catch you on our next episode. Check out our catalog of over 270 other episodes. Thank you for your love and support. We'll see you next time. Goodbye.

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