Darrin Godin: Well, hey everybody, I'm Darrin Godin and you're listening to the Talking Hope podcast. I am pleased to be joined today by Christian Bedolla. Christian is one of our grateful patients here at City of Hope, Orange County, and I'm so excited to talk to you today, Christian, and hear about your story and hear about what life has for you ahead. Thanks for being with us today.
Bedolla: I'm excited to be here.
Godin: So I hear that you're working currently as an E M T and you are planning to become a firefighter joining maybe next year into Firefighter Academy.
Bedolla: Yep, that's my goal. I'm hoping to be in the Santa Ana Fire Academy next year.
Godin: Awesome. Well that's super exciting and we look forward to that with you as well. So take me back to 2019. I hear that you were a teenager in high school, everything was going great, you're getting ready to graduate, had just met somebody that you're starting to date, you're at the mall, you get sick, you go home, try to sleep it off, wake up, still feeling sick. You end up at the hospital. And I understand that it was over the next course of about a year that you continued to have to go to the hospital and you eventually end up with a diagnosis of a rare form of blood cancer. Is that correct?
Bedolla: That is correct.
Godin: Take us back and tell us what was going through your head at that time.
Bedolla: Well, originally when it first started, when the symptoms appeared, it was definitely very confusing as they were just so sudden and they became so severe out of nowhere, just after back-to-back visits, I was questioning what could this be? But cancer definitely did not come up in my mind, and when I was just diagnosed with it, it honestly never hit me too. It didn't hit me too hard.
Godin: It didn't hit you too hard. No. So tell us more about that.
Bedolla: So being so sick and Ill, I felt that I was already going through what cancer is and just putting a label on it did not really change my mindset on how I'm going to get through this.
Godin: Gotcha. Okay. So you get the diagnosis and you start going through treatment. What other things were around you to help you and support you now that you knew that label?
Bedolla: Well, definitely Faith was my number one supporter. That's what kept me going. Second was family and friends, and third was my girlfriend that you had mentioned earlier. All three of the support systems is what got me prepared to go through this battle of cancer.
Godin: Wow, that's great to have people around you as well. So talk about faith. I know that city of Hope, we say that we treat the whole person, so body, mind, and spirit. So talk to me more about how your faith helped you.
Bedolla: Well, I am a Christian. I've been a Christian since I was about seven years old. I've always been a strong and firm believer and I believe that this was just a battle that God wanted me to go through in order to bring more blessings out of it, which I believe it did.
Godin: Okay, well thank you for sharing that. So what are some of the lessons that maybe you've learned from being a fire cadet that you applied during this journey that you've been on?
Bedolla: I believe the strengths that came out of being a fire cadet for this cancer journey was number one, mental strength that having a strong mind over matter is definitely what had helped me gone through this whole journey. And it's continued, still get me through this journey. Being strong physically because it is a physically demanding job, allowing me to get distracted, allowing me to continue building my strength and allowing me to keep going. And emotionally wise, you feel tons of emotions going through fire stuff, but that's why we train in order to control those emotions. And I believe that's what's also helped me gone through this cancer journey as well.
Godin: So mental fitness and strength of mind. You mentioned earlier that it didn't really hit you as hard when you got a label for what you were going through. Do you think that kind of played into that of just saying, okay, I can get through this. It doesn't matter what the label is, I can handle this.
Bedolla: Faith is what originally had told me I can get through this. I believed later on when I did become a fire cadet, it's what helped me continue going through the journey.
Godin: Okay. So I understand that you came to City of Hope and you're receiving treatment and then you had a relapse and your doctors said at that time that there was a clinical trial available to you. So talk to us more about what that meant to you and how that maybe brought you some new hope.
Bedolla: Well, it was definitely great news because I remember the previous time when I did relapse, they told me that there was no other options as of right then and there when they told us that this clinical trial was coming out and I could go on it. Like I said, it was very great news and I was very excited to go on it. It brought me more hope, more faith, more strength, and it got me excited that I can possibly be helping other patients besides myself for this upcoming clinical trial.
Godin: Were you nervous to go on a clinical trial or what kind of thoughts did you think about before you agreed to enter the trial?
Bedolla: I wasn't more so nervous. I was just more curious, wondering what could possibly be the short-term side effects or the long-term side effects. But that's just part of the unknown of this clinical trial.
Godin: And can you tell us more about the trial that you participated in/
Bedolla: How it works?
Godin: Yeah, yeah.
Bedolla: So the way it works, it's an intravenous antibody treatment. The way it works is that there's proteins in these antibodies and they attach one side to a healthy or cancerous, and then the other receptor side of the protein attracts healthy. And basically the healthy T-cell eats up both the protein and the cancerous T-cell making a two in one system.
Godin: Wow. And how long have you been part of that trial or how long were you part of the trial?
Bedolla: I got my first infusion on December 7th, 2022.
Godin: Okay. And you're still continuing in the trial now?
Bedolla: I'm still continuing the trial right now.
Godin: And how are you feeling today?
Bedolla: I'm feeling great. I've been in the best shape of my life since I've been diagnosed with cancer.
Godin: Wow. That's good news to and great to hear today. So what is your message or your shout it from the rooftop message that you tell others, especially those who maybe are on a cancer journey of their own when they look to you and ask you for answers or for inspiration?
Bedolla: Definitely my shout it out message is mind over matter. Staying strong mentally is what's going to help you get through it physically and emotionally. If you don't have a strong mindset, everything else will start breaking down and it's going to be harder.
Godin: How do you do that, Christian? When you hear the news and you're not feeling well, how do you make the shift to have a mindset that your mind over matter?
Bedolla: Well, I always love to distract myself. I love to find things that I can do. Music is a big hobby of mine. I love to listen to music whenever I can. Talking to family and friends, being around them, going out with them when I can is great. And as I said, I'm a Christian. I pray if I'm in the worst of my worst. I always pray. I always ask for a light to be shone, and I've gone in it many times before and it just continues to remind me that I should always stay faithful.
Godin: And we like to ask this question on of all the podcast guests. What does hope and the concept of hope mean to you?
Bedolla: Faith is what my hope is. It reminds me of the little things to be grateful for the little things, being able to get up out of bed, being able to breathe for another day, being able to do the most good for the most amount of people.
Godin: Wow, that's good. Thank you so much for that. What are your goals and plans moving forward?
Bedolla: I'm going to continue working as an E M T, continue sharing my story to help motivate others who have a story like mine. Continue to remind those that it's okay to feel down, but it's never okay to stay down.
Godin: That's great. You're so young and you've already experienced so much and you have so much life front of you. It's great that you're able to take this and use it not just for what you're going through, but for the benefit of others as well, and to encourage them and be alike. So that's very cool. How about your family? How's your family doing with it? How has this impacted your family through this whole journey?
Bedolla: Well, I will never relate to how my parents feel because I'm not a parent myself. I can't imagine what it's like having your child diagnosed with a cancer. However, they have been one of the strongest parents I've ever known, and they've definitely had been there since day one. They've always done their best in order to make me feel better, and I'm super grateful to have them in my life.
Godin: I'm a parent. I've not had a child with cancer, but I can only imagine, like you said, how hard that must've been for your parents. But to see you doing so well today has got to be just an encouragement to them and just a testament to all of your faith. So well, we're so glad you joined us today on the podcast and shared your story, and we look forward to celebrating with you as you become a firefighter. And we thank you in advance for your service as a first responder and thanks again for talking Hope with us today. Christian.
Bedolla: Thank you very much for inviting me here. I really appreciate it.
Godin: Thanks so much, man.
Bedolla: Thank you.