Episode #146 with Allison Shadock

The Swinging Palm Trees Podcast

On today's episode I'm in conversation with Allison Shadock, an advocate for Glioblastoma (GBM) awareness and research. Recently her husband John sadly passed away from this malignant brain tumour. With Ali's consent, we made this episode to celebrate John's life and talk about how they both met, their lives together and how they both fought this cancer.
Allison Shadock is the widow to John, a Glioblastoma (GBM) warrior for over 5 1/2 years. John, a very healthy and active person, was given a terminal diagnosis with only six months to a year to live in 2019 at the young age of 35. As the couple navigated the brain cancer world, they found ways to enjoy a low key life and still find the positives in the situation. A diagnosis that can tear people apart, they realized they were a tight couple and became even closer!

There is no cure for this cancer, with less than 2% of total cancer research funding going towards brain cancer combined with the unfortunate low life expectancy, Ali told John early on, we don’t need a cure today. We just have to get to the next step. Time after time and set back after setback, they kept finding ways to continue the fight, staying “Strong All Along” on their journey! Although no time will ever be enough, they cherished every extra day together and knew their love and positivity helped them immensely along the way!

From having no clue to what GBM was and turning their lives completely upside down in every way imaginable and having limited people that could relate to them, they knew they didn’t want that for others on this journey. Ali and John wanted to share their experiences and hopefully shed light on GBM so they could support others going through the unimaginable and unknown so they started the Instagram page “Strong All Along” Thus, Ali and John began to document their battle with GBM as a way to share their day to day as a cancer patient and spouse and bring awareness to others. Through this, they began to connect with others having gone through or currently going through a similar battle. Hoping to help them stay “Strong All Along” on their journey as well.
*This episode is dedicated to the memory of my friend, Claire Echavarry, who sadly passed away from GBM. I miss you, boss.*

Thanks for listening to the episode. I'd like to thank my guest for their time, insight and being a great sport!
I would also like to thank my producer, Ashanti Omkar, for all her hard work.
If you'd like to be a guest, drop me a line at [email protected].
Keep Rising & Thriving. Aṣẹ!