Darrin Godin: Hello, and welcome to Talking Hope. I'm your host, Darrin Godin. Today I am so excited to be talking to Ray Hartjen. Ray is a musician, he's an author, he's a patient advocate and an ally. He's also a grateful patient of City of Hope Orange County. In 2019, Ray was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, multiple myeloma. Today we're going to be talking about how he has taken control of his life and how he's encouraging others to do the same. Well, Ray, thank you so much for being a part of the Talking Hope Podcast today. We're really glad to have you as our guest.
Ray Hartjen: And I'm thrilled to be here. Thank you for the opportunity, Darrin. Appreciate it.
Darrin Godin: So take me back to the start of living with multiple myeloma. How did it happen? How did you navigate it? How have you been navigating it?
Ray Hartjen: Yeah. One of the things I really like to tell people is that no matter how healthy you think you are, you need to go see your doctor at least once a year and make sure you have a complete blood work done, because that's how my story really started. I had a routine CBC blood test that came back just slightly anemic, Darrin. And so we went to confirm that finding and sure enough, it was confirmed that I was slightly anemic, and then we went down the road to see what was the root cause of my anemia. All along, I felt great through the process. At the time, I was a road cyclist and my performance metrics on my bicycle were every bit as good as they had been the previous five years. So I felt strong. In hindsight, perhaps I was a bit fatigued, maybe, but at the time I was 54 years old, full-time job, married, two children in pretty expensive private universities. Give me a break, Darrin. I think I earned the right to be a little tired, right?
Darrin Godin: Absolutely.
Ray Hartjen: But once we went through all these more and more sophisticated blood tests, finally a bone marrow biopsy, it was determined that 90% of my bone marrow was cancerous. So what I like to tell people when I go out and speak at fundraisers and things like that is that you owe it to yourself to go to the doctor. It's not super convenient and nobody likes to get a needle stick. Most people don't like to get a needle stick, but it's an investment in yourself and it's the best investment that you can possibly make 'cause I think I'm living proof of it. Here's a guy who felt perfectly fine and 90% of my bone marrow was cancerous.
I consider myself to have been diagnosed early because my multiple myeloma had not resulted in bone lesions and things like that. A lot of multiple bone myeloma patients get diagnosed because they have unexplainable bone fractures. And so when they start looking at why did you wake up from bed, wake up, get out of bed one morning, take a couple of steps and suffer compression fractures in the vertebrae, oh, the multiple myeloma had weakened the bones. I was lucky. 90% of my bone marrow was cancerous, and I consider that to be an early diagnosis, an early intervention. And an early intervention of anything is way better than a late intervention of anything, right?
Darrin Godin: Wow. So how have you been navigating it since your diagnosis? I know you've had multiple lines of treatment, so talk to us a little bit about that.
Ray Hartjen: Yeah, I think my induction therapy was pretty standard. It was the RVD treatment, Revlimid, Velcade and Dexamethasone, and I was told that going into it's like, "Yeah, we'll probably do three to six months of induction therapy. And then at that point in time, maybe a stem cell transplant." And for me, I was being a classic overachiever, was like "Three to six months induction therapy? We'll do it in three months, and we'll get this stem cell transplant." And I'm all gung-ho about that until I saw a specialist. When I was diagnosed, I was living in the Bay Area and my doctors were at Stanford. And so I went to go see a Stanford specialist, Dr. Michaela Liedtke, and she's like, "Why are you in a hurry to get a stem cell transplant?" I'm like, "'Cause what I do, man. If it's three to six months of induction therapy, I'm going to do three months and we're going to do it."
And she's like, "You might not even need a stem cell transplant. Why don't we let the first line of treatments, see what happens? Maybe you won't even need it." I'm like, "Oh." That's when I first started realizing it's that we're in a marathon, not a sprint here with a chronic incurable disease, yet treatable disease. So I did go through that induction therapy and I did improve. The amount of cancerous material in my bone marrow went from 90% to about 10%, but I still had it in there, so I still needed to go through a stem cell transplant. So March of 2019, I was diagnosed, in October, November of 2019, I went through a stem cell transplant.
Then I was on a maintenance therapy of Reflumid and Velcade for a little over four years until last year. About this time, April, March, April, my blood values were going to show that the treatment was being less than effective and I needed something new. So that was about the time that my wife and I relocated to Orange County and I transferred care to City of Hope and working with Dr. Borogovac. We started up a second line of treatment that we aborted because of some nerve issues that I had that we didn't know if it was because of the drug or because of an old back injury. So to be safe, we went on treatment line 2.5, and so that's what I've been doing for the last 10 months or so.
Darrin Godin: How are you feeling today, Ray?
Ray Hartjen: Feeling great. How do I look, Darrin?
Darrin Godin: You look great.
Ray Hartjen: Oh, good. So looking good, feeling good. Yeah.
Darrin Godin: So Ray, I know you wrote a book. I know that you've said before at the beginning you didn't want to know too much about your diagnosis. You wanted to take one day at a time.
Ray Hartjen: Yeah.
Darrin Godin: What was that approach about?
Ray Hartjen: Well, part of it was that lesson learned from talking to my specialist, Dr. Liedtke, it's like, "Hey, why are you rushing into something? Focus on what you can do." At a parallel time period, once I got diagnosed, I was like, "Okay, what can I control? What are the things that I control, the variables that I control? I can control going to see my doctor and I can take my meds. I might be going through this stem cell transplant, so I'm going to be in good physical condition and all that. I'm going to eat nutritiously." And Darrin, after a couple of weeks, I remember the moment very vividly, I'm sitting with our son and my wife at a PF Chang's restaurant, and I'm too tired to lift the menu and read it. I'm just beat. I'm exhausted. It's a little less than two weeks, it's like 12 days of being a cancer patient.
And everything I'd done in my life, there's always been some sort of milestone type of event. So if it was academically that was a test or an exam or a paper, if it's professionally, it was a deliverable. If it was as a musician, it was a gig or a performance or an athlete, it was a contest, a race or what have you. So I approached everything in the mentality. And after 12 days or so, I began to realize I'm exhausted. I was physically exhausted, but because of the mental weight that I was carrying around with me and I started recognizing and approaching my diagnosis with a growth mindset of I am more than just my physical being. My whole being, I think, is my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual selves. And each one of those variables, considerations can lift some of those others that are maybe lagging behind.
But at the same time, maybe I could have a source of strength somewhere, but others could drag it down. And that's where I was. Mentally and emotionally, it had dragged the rest of me down and I was exhausted. So that's one story. The other story is talking to Dr. Liedtke about what are the things I can do? And I began to just compartmentalize of where I'm at right now. I think it's perhaps a danger sometimes to get caught up with anything in the internet, but certainly health concerns were you just go down this rabbit hole and you start talking about what ifs, what ifs, what ifs, it's like, "You know what? What can I do today?" I don't know what my next line of treatment is, Darrin.
I'll speak with Dr. Azra Borogovac next week, and maybe we'll be talking about the next line of treatment. But what I do know is the line of treatment I have today and what can I do today to prepare my body to receive treatments; my mind, my mental state of being, my spiritual being, what can I do today to control the variables that I can control to make today the best day I can? We'll worry about it next week and Dr. Borogovac next week. And we'll worry about next month, if I'm lucky enough to get next month, we'll worry about next month then. So that's the approach that I took, and it's the approach I still try to take, what can I focus on today and then we'll talk about what I need to do when I need to talk about what I need to do.
Darrin Godin: So let's talk about a little bit further that growth mindset. I totally hear what you're saying, and I agree with that, and I wonder if other people that are listening say, "But how do I do that?" What are the things that you do daily to affect that growth mindset? I feel like a mindset is something we need to reinforce every day. It's some of those small steps we take, those small habits we make, maybe those small habits we have to break to make new ones. What are the practical things you do to get your mindset in the right place?
Ray Hartjen: I think there's two things. One, I think it's important to choose your attitude, and I think you can choose your attitude. And I do know that cancer patients sometimes is pretty difficult to choose a positive mental attitude, and I get that, right? So having the blues is okay. But as I think somebody City of Hope told me, "It's okay to visit there from time to time, just don't move in there permanently." Right?
Darrin Godin: Mm-hmm.
Ray Hartjen: So you recognize the fact that you are who you are and how you feel is very valid in how you feel. But I think it's important to choose your attitude. And then as a racer of growth mindset, I like to harken back to when we were children. We had a growth mindset because we didn't know anything, right? We had a beginner's attitude about everything. We'd just go outside and without trying, we would learn because everything was a new experience for us. And then we eventually grew up to be teenagers and we knew it all. So if you're listening out there, folks, I'm doing little air quotes. We knew it all as a teenager, and then you forget about this growth mindset.
I used to, years ago, facilitate a time management course as part of my professional career. And an exercise that I facilitated for hundreds of people was a timeline exercise. And as I was going through my learning journey with being diagnosed with multiple myeloma, I revisited this timeline exercise. And for those of you listening or watching, you can just follow along in your head. You don't really need a piece of paper. If you do, great. So just mentally or on a piece of paper, draw horizontal line from left to right. At the far left, make a little vertical tick mark, and the far right, make another vertical tick mark. At the far left, put B. That represents your birth.
And since you guys are all smart, you all are one step ahead of me where I'm going, the far right-hand side, put a D, that's your death. That's your time period. So Darrin, when I was facilitating this exercise, I used to just haphazardly just throw my... as an example to the participants, I'd just throw a little hash mark in the middle, 'cause I was going to live forever. But if you're playing along at home, just take a moment to introspectively think and what do you feel and where do you believe you are on your timeline? And for me, Darrin, approaching my diagnosis with a new growth mindset, I realized that I was much further to the right than I probably admitted earlier, right?
Darrin Godin: Mm-hmm.
Ray Hartjen: So I looked at that and I thought, "What does this mean to me?" And I instantly recognized that what it means to me is that I, for way too long, had taken time for granted. And I think that's maybe endemic of our human condition. And I took all tomorrows for granted, next weeks, next months, and sometimes next year and next decades. Depending on the topic at hand, I would take just time for granted. And the more I thought about that, the more I tried to grow from that, I realized that how did that present itself to me? It presented itself to me in taking people and relationships for granted as well. And so I realized going to that timeline exercise, what are the things that are most important to me? What do I want to do and who do I want to do it with?
And with that, being a musician, I'm always looking for little pithy sayings to put on the back of the T-shirts so we can make more money at gigs. And it started off with a, "If not, now, when?" Looking at the timeline, if not now, when?" And then it morphed into, "Punch today in the face." I want to make the most of today. I want today to know that I was here. I want to accomplish what's most important to me with the people I love the most and that mean the most to me. And I think that's part of that journey of choosing your positive mindset. Today is a gift, Darrin. It truly is a gift, and not everyone received today as a gift. So how do we honor those people? How do we honor the day? And more importantly, how do we honor ourselves by making the most of the day? And so I try to look at every day as if not now, when? Let's do it.
Darrin Godin: Wow. You said a lot there, and you have my mind going multiple directions, but I'll try not to follow the squirrel and stay with this.
Ray Hartjen: I love to talk, Darrin. I'm sorry if I'm-
Darrin Godin: No, it's great. It's great. You hit on a couple of things that I think are important. With that growth mindset, you talked about the people that are around you. So talk to us a little about the support that you have in your wife, Lori, your kids, Olivia and Raymond, I believe are their names, right?
Ray Hartjen: It is.
Darrin Godin: Talk to us about some of that support and then also talk to me about the role that music plays. I see the things behind you. I know you're in a band, so talk to us about those things. How did those play into your mindset and your support?
Ray Hartjen: Yeah, I'm blessed. I'm going through my fight with multiple myeloma with a team, a tribe right alongside me, and it's my family. And Lori has been with me all through the diagnosis process. She went to all my doctor's appointments. She still goes to the City of Hope with me for my infusions. So I have her lending support, and it's super important. I can't even imagine going through any type of serious health concern alone. So I opened up this episode by talking about one thing I always like to speak to people about is going to see your doctor. One of the other things I like to speak to people about is that if you know anybody going through a serious health issue alone, reach out to them because I know they need help. Just navigating our health system in the United States is a gigantic daunting proposition, right?
Just snail mail alone, Lori and I, we get something in the mail almost every day. And keeping up with things like insurance and stuff like that, it's super, super complicated. So I'm blessed to have that strong family structure around me that I can depend upon, and I'm blessed to have this network of friends and associates that support me. And it's super important for me, as a patient, I can concentrate on being the best patient I can be. And it's also, metaphorically in my head. It's one thing to know that you're stepping into a battle, a conflict with some people behind you, something else different, to know that they're right alongside you, right? It's an even a greater sense of camaraderie and collaboration and synergy and all sorts of great words that come into mind. So I'm blessed with that. And then you mentioned music. It's important, I think, to have outlets too, right?
Darrin Godin: Mm-hm.
Ray Hartjen: And music has long been an outlet for mine, whether it's writing music, recording music or performing. What's the old saying? Music soothes the savage beast, right? My apologies for the dogs.
Darrin Godin: All good. I've got dogs as well. That's another thing, right? Your pets are important, right?
Ray Hartjen: Absolutely. And Quinn, we have a little Goldendoodle that'll just come up and hang out with me. And whether it's your Goldendoodle, whether it's your family or what have you, those things are important. And for patient caregivers out there, for allies who might be listening, watching, go visit the people that are going through it. If you know somebody particularly that's going through something alone, you don't even need to talk, just sit with them on the couch and watch the game or whatever. It's just that strength in numbers, we all get something. We're all in this together, and together we're so much stronger than we know.
Darrin Godin: That is very, very true. I want to bring attention on something that I've noticed you've said a few times. You've referred to your diagnosis and treatment as a fight, not a journey. And I know that you have some strong feelings about journey or fight. So talk to us a little bit about that and why putting those words around it is important to you.
Ray Hartjen: To each their own, right? And some patients go through a fight. Some patients go through a journey, and I get it. And journey, or excuse me, fight is on its way out. The Nixon administration gave us the war on cancer, and that put everything in that fight metaphor. And there's good reason for it too, because nothing raises money much like a war, and we needed to invest back then in fighting the war against cancer. And I understand why people are now using the terminology journey because when you think about a fight, sometimes you think of a winner and a loser.
And I can tell you, you go up to the fifth floor over at the cancer center at City of Hope, and there's not a single loser sitting in a chair up there. Those are the toughest, strongest cancer fighting warriors that I've ever met and a great deal of respect for them. I use the fight because it's a metaphor that motivates me and inspires me. Maybe it's my combative personality, I don't know. But for me, it helps me get out of bed in the morning.
Multiple myeloma is a chronic, at this point in time, incurable disease. It doesn't take a day off, and so therefore, I feel as though I can't take a day off either. It brought the fight to my doorstep, but the good news is, I got home court advantage. I got to play by neighborhood rules, and I'm committed to my family, to my friends, to myself, and I'm going to bring my best to this every day. So for me, it's a motivational thing. I tell patients to each their own. Whatever floats your boat, man, is right for you and embrace it and move forward.
Darrin Godin: Well, thank you for sharing that. Tell us a little bit about your book and what inspired you to share about this fight in your book.
Ray Hartjen: Yeah, I'm a writer and as part of my, if not now, when aspect of it, I wrote my first book. It's called Immaculate: How the Steelers Saved Pittsburgh. And when I was working on that was early in my fight against cancer, and I felt as though I owed a lot to my community. Soon after my diagnosis, I went to a group, first group session of anything I've ever gone to, Darrin. It was a general cancer patient group, and there were a couple of spouses in there as well and caregivers. And in my time of need, they helped me. I was like eight days into my diagnosis when I went to this meeting and having these people, over a very short period of time, they taught me everything I knew about cancer. And they taught me how to be a cancer patient. And the likes. And I, soon thereafter, committed myself.
It's like I want to be one of those people. I want to be a resource for others, that the people ahead of me pulled me forward when I needed to be pulled forward. For people that follow me, if they need a helping hand, I want to be that guy to lend out a helping hand, to extend it to them and pull them forward in their time of need. And if I'm feeling strong and I'm feeling powerful and I'm feeling as though I can contribute to the community, I want to be able to do that. And I figured what's the best way to maybe doing that? And I thought, "Well, maybe it's sharing my story in the book." So I wrote a book called Me, Myself & My Multiple Myeloma. It's available wherever fine books are sold, I've been told to say. And it's important for me as well, I wanted this book to be for patients, for caregivers, for allies.
I wanted it to be by somebody who was in that community, and I wanted to benefit the community. And very importantly, to me, all the net writers proceeds are donated to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. So hopefully as a community, maybe we can get to more advanced treatments, maybe even a cure one day for this. So I guess the shorter answer to this entire thing is so many people helped me. I wanted to be one of those types of people and help anybody that follows. Many times I think patients look at a cancer diagnosis with a sense of loss because they lose so much or aspects of their individuality, the person, their lives and so forth. I'll give you an example of maybe a bit of a loss for me. I'm at the infusion center three weeks out of four; three weeks on, one week off. So my ability to travel is somewhat limited, but I like to urge patients to also think about if you approach this with a growth mindset a little bit, what are some of the things that maybe been added to your life? So Darrin, on March 10, 2019, day before my diagnosis, I had a lot of roles in my life. I was a husband, a father, a teammate, a bandmate, a boss, an employee, all sorts of roles. In each of those roles, I had accountabilities, responsibilities, and I had objectives and goals that I was trying to achieve with those associated with that. March 11th, boom, I'm diagnosed with multiple myeloma. And you know what? I still have each and every one of those same roles. And soon thereafter, I had some additional roles. In addition to a cancer patient, I had a cancer patient advocate, a cancer fundraiser and the like. So these are new roles that had added to my life.
Last month March was Myeloma Action Month, and through the book, I've connected with patients all around the world. And last month in particular, even more, communicating with patients from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, Egypt, Iran of all places, it's been some of the most rewarding experiences in my life; getting married, having children be born, and the ability to listen and hear other patients' stories and see what type of a resource I can be with them. A woman the other day asked me through my TikTok channel, she's frustrated. She felt as though she needed a patient advocate. Just so happens, I know a person who talks about patient advocacy in Nebraska, so I introduced them via TikTok and just making that introduction, super rewarding experience for me, helping people grow, helping people further, helping people live their best lives, helping people find that sense of inner peace that we all are looking for.
Darrin Godin: Wow. Ray, you're really inspiring and you're reminding me of other conversations I've had with a few of our other multiple myeloma patients, and the multiple myeloma community is pretty incredible. I'm sure here in Orange County, we have a great support group as well that's very active, that is advocating on behalf of patients, advocating for new treatments, new research for the cures and so forth. So are you a part of that group, and what is your message to others who maybe are starting this new diagnosis with multiple myeloma? What are the things they should do to get plugged in with other people like you who can be a support and help?
Ray Hartjen: You don't need to do this alone to be a patient. There are other people out there and those are people who have felt like you felt, experiences the things that you have experienced and so forth. Like I said before, we all get something and we're all this together, and together we are stronger than we know. If you're a patient out there, like I said, I had never been to a group of anything before, and the group really helped me out a lot. It's a group that I still participate in via Zoom. They're up in the Bay Area. I still participate from time to time in the group. I've also, because of the book been in a group in North Carolina of myeloma patients.
Other people can be resources and you might find strength and solace in speaking with others. So definitely consider groups, counselors. City of Hope has a variety of services available and so experiment. You're going to find different things. It's all part of that growth mindset and experiment and see if you like it, see if it works for you. If it doesn't, maybe modify it a little bit, maybe try something else or what have you. But there's so many things that you can try. Don't be afraid to try them. I think as patients we find out that we don't need to do it all ourselves and other people have been there before. They understand and can lend an empathetic ear. If you just want to talk and have somebody listen, a fellow patient's a good place to start.
Darrin Godin: So let's shift gears a little bit about your experience here with City of Hope Orange County. Let's talk about some of the expertise, some of the science. Let's talk about your doctor. What are the things that have been making a difference for you? And speaking of, you've mentioned a few times that there's not a current cure, but there are treatments, what are you hopeful for in the near future and even beyond?
Ray Hartjen: You know what? I think the City of Hope has a reputation, a well-deserved reputation that precedes itself, right?
Darrin Godin: Mm-hmm.
Ray Hartjen: Cancer experts and highly rated. You can do a lot worse as a cancer patient, a myeloma patient, to be stuck someplace where there's not a City of Hope facility. So one thing that impresses me so much about the City of Hope is its people. And I think that's indicative of a lot of cancer centers, the ones that I've been exposed to at Stanford University and here at City of Hope. I think as medical providers, nurse practitioners, nurses and the like, you have choices. And I would think wherever babies are born, that might be the great place to, it's like, "Woo!" It is filled with joy and stuff. It takes a special type of person to deal with cancer and to deal with it in a way that is productive and healthy for the patient.
And I've been so very impressed in my 10, 11 months or so as a patient at City Hope with the people: the people from the lobby when I get in, to the lab services, when I get my blood drawn and my IV started, to floor three where Dr. Borogovac and her staff, she's been out on maternity leave. And so I've visited a few doctors and several nurse practitioners and medical assistants, PAs as well, and then the fifth floor and the angels that set me up with my chemo all the time. So super impressed with the facility. And then I can hardly wait to maybe check out the new building too, 'cause I've been there through a lot of construction of it. So it's like, "Hey, what's going to be in the new building?" So City of Hope's great. I do also like the research component.
Right now, the big hope for multiple myeloma and some other blood cancers is CAR T-cell therapies. Maybe one day down the road that is something for me. Who knows? Currently, for those not up on the science, that's where they take T-cells from the patient's body, send them to the lab, genetically modify them, then re-inject them into the body. The next step is hopefully doing that just within the body, in vivo where you don't have to take the T-cells away. Instead, you just give your T-cells the tools through an injection and fusion to do all that re-engineering in your body. There's a lot of promise for that technology. And like I said, I think in the myeloma community, there's like this thought is if you haven't had `CAR T-cell therapy yet, you will. And so that's I think the best current hope for me in a future line of treatment to keep me strong, keep me healthy and extend my life.
Darrin Godin: Thank you for sharing that. I think of other interviews I've had the opportunity to do with some of our physicians and other patients, we have so much research going on here at City of Hope. But specifically in this area of multiple myeloma, there's a lot of promise. And there are a lot of new things happening and it's moving along, and that's super exciting. To be a part of, as someone who works at City of Hope and is able to engage with someone like you as a patient, it's exciting to me to know what's in the... waiting in the wings perhaps.
Ray Hartjen: Yeah, what's in the pipeline, hopefully. It can be a long arduous process while you wait, but like you said, the advancements have been coming. It wasn't that long ago, just a couple of decades ago, there wasn't a whole lot of options for multiple myeloma patients. Things have just come online. Awareness has come about. It's still, when it comes to blood cancers, it's like the somewhat forgotten one. People are much more familiar with leukemia, lymphoma and the like, but we were getting there. Awareness has been raised, and myeloma organizations now don't think of March as Myeloma Awareness Month anymore as the International Myeloma Foundation reached out to me via social channels in March and said, "Dude, don't call it Myeloma Awareness Month. It's Myeloma Action Month 'cause awareness, it's not enough. We need to take action." And I'm like, "Amen, brothers and sisters. Let's change the way I speak to action."
Darrin Godin: Well, I have a few more questions for you, Ray, and let's go back to one thing you just mentioned about the new building. So as our listeners may or may not know, City of Hope is about to open Orange County's only cancer specialty hospital in our county. We're very excited about that. That's opening later in 2025. Now, you've had a transplant that required you to be in the hospital inpatient through your treatment. What do you think having that full continuum of care right here in Orange County will mean for patients who need those services? What does that mean to have that care close to home?
Ray Hartjen: It means a lot. I'll tell you why. My stem cell transplant started outpatient. I ended up being hospitalized for four days as I got a bit of a fever and was just completely exhausted, for good reason. I didn't have any red blood cells, platelets, white blood cells and the like. So having a facility close by, I don't know what the processes are for some other lines of treatment, but I can tell you for a stem cell transplant, you need to be seen every single day and you need to also be close to the center. In the Bay Area, when I was going through it in 2019, you had to be within an hour of the cancer center in case something happens like you pop a fever, you need to get in and have people take a look at you. You're extraordinarily vulnerable in a stem cell transplant.
You get these massive doses of radiation that basically it kills off all the myeloma it can touch, that the side effects or the collateral damage is your bone marrow. It wipes out your bone marrow completely. No bone marrow means you have no ability to generate red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells. So you're completely cleaned out. They reintroduce the stem cells to you. They find these empty places to go set up shop, that's inside your bones. Then they can start working on creating bone marrow. And then 11, 12 days after the reintroduction of your stem cells, you're in graft, hopefully, and then you begin the road to recovery. It's a very vulnerable time. Having a facility close by where you can be tended to by professionals through the stem cell process is a couple of weeks, three weeks maybe, for the second phase of it after the first phase, which is collections, stem cells and the like.
So super important to have trained professionals in a facility close by because if not, you have to move to a facility to make yourself close by to a facility. For us in the Bay Area, nothing is within an hour of anywhere. There's a lot of people between where you are and where you need to be. My wife and I had to relocate, and again, kudos to our friends, they took that burden off of us. They arranged everything for us to be able to be put up in an extended stay hotel just three miles away from Stanford University, which was a big bonus. But yeah, having a dedicated cancer facility close by, it's a Godsend. Thanks for building the building.
Darrin Godin: Well, tell me this, we ask this question of everybody, what does the concept of hope mean to you?
Ray Hartjen: The concept of hope is foundational. When I talk with patients from around the world, particularly those who might be struggling a little bit, I'm like, "First things first, maintain hope. We can build off of hope, but you need to have a sense of hope about you." It's like what my daddy told me a long time ago, and he said, "When you find yourself in a deep hole, first thing you need to do is put down the shovel. Don't make it worse," and so an offshoot of that, maintain hope. A concept for me is, with hope, you're able to choose your attitude.
With hope, you're able to look at today as a gift and to make the most of today. With hope, you can start thinking about the things that you want to do that are most important to you. And with hope, you can think about those people who mean the most to you, connecting with them and bringing them along with you for your journey for the day and hopefully for the journey that we get tomorrow. So I think it all sets with hope. Without hope, the other stuff you can't really get to. There's no foundation for it. You're just floating around in the ether. But hope is your foundation, then you can start concreting things in there and building going forward. Does that make sense?
Darrin Godin: Thank you.
Ray Hartjen: It makes sense my head.
Darrin Godin: Absolutely, Ray. Thank you. Thank you so much. Last question, I'm going to put it in your music terms. Let's go back to some of these one-liners that you've had, which are so powerful. I usually say, what is your rooftop message for people? But what's your merch message, the message across the front or the back of the T-shirt that you want people to walk away today thinking, if they find themselves with a diagnosis of multiple myeloma or any cancer diagnosis, what's that message you want them to walk away with?
Ray Hartjen: First of all, you're not alone. Second of all, you can do it. You can get through this. You are strong. You haven't even been tested yet. But when you do get tested from your health concern, you have the ability inside you to face it. It's not too tough for you. That's one message that I want to give people. I always tell people to maintain their hope. And then the message that I preach on a daily basis, punch day in the face, make the most of it. Now, a good friend of mine says, "Well, punch today in the face? Can't you just hug today?" Yeah, whatever. But the point that we have talked about already, for me, if it was personified, I want today to know that I had been here, that my footprints are around today.
And for me, if anybody out there listening or watching, if you've ever been punched in the face, that gets your attention right away. "Oh, whoa!" Same type of thing, I want to get today's attention. I am here. I'm going to make some noise. I'm going to concentrate on the things that mean most to me with the people that mean most to me. And when I lay down at bed at night, if I have seized the day and made the day as much as I could have, I can sit there with a sense of satisfaction, that sense of inner peace. And as I'm dozing off, I can look over toward tomorrow and say, "I'm coming for you next." Right? When you show up tomorrow, then it's another gift and I hope to be able to receive it. So yeah, you folks, if you've been recently diagnosed, know somebody, you're strong. There's hope. You can do it. It is a test, it is a challenge, but you are so much stronger than you know, and you can certainly rise to the occasion.
Darrin Godin: Well, thank you so much, Ray. You are a gift to be sharing all of this.
Ray Hartjen: Thank you.
Darrin Godin: Thank you for sharing your fight. Thank you for sharing about your mindset. Thank you for being an encouragement, inspiration to those that are listening. Thank you just for your overall spirit about the way that you are taking on multiple myeloma. I do believe your message today will resonate with many people who are listening and-
Ray Hartjen: I hope so, Darrin. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I do want to let anybody out there who ever wants to get ahold of me, I'm pretty easy to get ahold of. On all the social platforms, it's just my name, Ray Hartjen, rayhartjen@gmail is my email address. And I'm sincere in telling if there's anything that I can do for you and your team, please let me know. My phone number is in the book, and it's there for a reason. Like I said before, being a resource for the community is biggest honor, biggest privilege I've had in my life. And thank you so much, Darrin, for everything that you and your group does at City of Hope, not only for patients, but for their caregivers, their allies, and for our community as a whole, thank you so much. I greatly appreciate, respect you and your team, and thank you.
Darrin Godin: Thanks, Ray. Thanks so much for your time today.
Ray Hartjen: Yeah, my pleasure.
Darrin Godin: Well, I'm so proud to be part of City of Hope. City of Hope is delivering on our promise to Orange County to bring the full continuum of expert cancer care right here to Orange County. Later this year in 2025, we will open Orange County's only cancer specialty hospital. That means my family, my neighbors, my friends and all of you have access to nationally-ranked cancer care. That's top five cancer care in the nation right here in Orange County. If you or a loved one need our services, please reach out to us at cityofhope.org/oc, or call us at (877) 541-4673. I'm Darrin Godin. Thank you for joining us on Talking Hope today. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode.