BW 126: Finding Purpose After Loss: Kira Andersen’s Journey from Grief to Advocacy

[TRANSCRIPT BELOW]

In this heartfelt episode of the Brave Widow Show, we sit down with Kira Andersen, a powerful advocate and mother who has turned the devastating loss of her husband into a life of purpose, service, and impact. Kira's story is one of unimaginable pain, resilience, and transformation, offering hope to widows who feel lost or stuck in the depths of their grief.

 

What You’ll Learn in This Episode: 

•  Kira’s journey through grief after losing her husband to pancreatic cancer and how she faced life as a young widow with three children.
•  The unexpected strength Kira found in advocating for cancer research and how she used her pain to fuel a greater purpose.
•  How to navigate the complexities of grief, find meaning in your loss, and take meaningful steps forward in your life.
•  Insights into what helped Kira rebuild and how widows can start their own journey of transformation.

 

This episode is a reminder that even in the darkest moments, purpose can be found. Kira's story will inspire you to start finding your own path forward, no matter where you are in your grief.

 

Join us for this powerful conversation, and hear how you too can move through the pain and emerge stronger on the other side.

 

Chapters:

01:21 Meet Kira Andersen

02:10 Kira's Personal Journey

04:41 The Cancer Diagnosis

08:15 The Battle and Advocacy

25:27 Fundraising and Future Goals

30:16 Conclusion and Call to Action

 

 

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell to stay updated on new episodes that bring you hope and inspiration.

 

 

#BraveWidow #Widowhood #PurposeAfterLoss #GriefSupport #LifeAfterLoss #CancerAwareness #Advocacy #HopeForWidows #StrengthInAdversity

 

 

Resources: 

 

•  Connect with Kira on IG at - https://www.instagram.com/theessentialsbykira or at https://www.kiraandersen.com 
•  Never Alone Widows SEEN Conference: https://www.neveralonewidows.com/seen
•  Donate to Pedal the Cause: https://www.givesignup.org/Race/Donate/MO/SaintCharles/pedalthecause
•  Widow Winter Solstice Event: Join us for this free, live, public event on December 19th. It’s going to be a transformative evening you won’t want to miss! Sign Up Here

 

Join the Brave Widow Community:
Are you struggling with your grief and feeling disconnected? You don’t have to walk this journey alone. Join the Brave Widow Membership Community today to receive support, healing tools, and inspiration for creating a life you love after loss. Get Started Here

 

 

 

Interested in joining a supportive community of women who get it? 

Join the Brave Widow Membership and start your journey of healing and hope today.

👉 Visit Brave Widow Membership

 

 

Don't forget to subscribe, like, and share the podcast!

 

 

Join the Brave Widow Community:
If you're feeling overwhelmed and unsure of your next step in your grief journey, now is the time to take action. The Brave Widow Membership is here to provide you with the support, guidance, and community you need to heal and rediscover joy. Don’t go through this alone—join us today and start moving forward with confidence. https://www.bravewidow.com/join

 

 

Subscribe & Review:  

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback helps us reach more widows and support them on their journey to healing.

 

 

•  Join the Brave Widow Community: https://www.bravewidow.com/join
•  Schedule a consult with Emily:  https://calendly.com/bravewidow/widow-consult-call?month=2024-08 

---

TRANSCRIPT

 

---

Hey, and welcome to episode number 126 of the Brave Widow show. Today I talk with Kira Anderson. And before I dive into her story, I want to invite you To join us for the Widow Winter Solstice. The Widow Winter Solstice is the most popular Brave Widow live event of the year.

It's going to be hosted on Thursday, December 19th from 7 PM to 9 PM central time. Roll on up in your cozy, comfy clothes and your PJs. You won't be on camera, so you will be safe. Pour yourself a nice cup of hot cocoa and settle on in for an evening with an amazing panel of widows who are going to tackle some of your tough challenges, topics, questions, All of the juicy stuff.

It's going to be good. We're going to have activities. We're going to have giveaways. We're going to have music. I have signed books. I have Amazon gift cards, like all the good stuff. It's going to be so great and it's free. To the public and to any widow, you're welcome to invite anyone. Just go to BraveWidow.

com to sign up you do not want to miss this event.

Meet Kira Anderson
---

All right, let me introduce you to Kira Anderson. Kira is an experienced health and wellness coach. She grew up in the good old Midwest and in a divorced home. Join the club, right? For years, she struggled with anxiety and bouts of depression.

However, she had no idea that's what she suffered from. In her 20s, she literally ran away from anxiety by running over 75 half marathons, four marathons, and a couple of triathlons. After almost 10 years of constant travel from a demanding and chaotic career as a medical cells representative, she started to realize This wasn't what life was all about.

It just couldn't be. She knew she was being called to something greater.

Kira's Personal Journey
---

All right, let's dive in to Kira's story.

[00:02:13] Emily: Kira, welcome to the show and thank you for coming on. Yeah. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. I know our audience would love to learn more about you and your background and your story, so we can dive in wherever you want to start.

[00:02:29] Kira: Okay, awesome. Yeah. So my name is Kira Anderson. I am the mom of three beautiful children, now seven, five and almost four, two girls and a boy. And we lost my husband to pancreatic cancer last year, April 3rd, 2023, after a 17 month battle with pancreatic cancer. We It's been really a whirlwind.

Since my husband and I met, we met at 40 and 30 which you would have never known the age difference. My husband was 10 years older than me, and we knew pretty quickly that, we were each other's person. So we dated for a year, got married, engaged for 6 months, got married and found out we were pregnant right away.

So it was. A whirlwind got pregnant with our first I had really bad postpartum anxiety because my my mom passed away 10 years ago and his family's in Montana, so I'm just trying to paint the picture of what it looks like. So we didn't have any support here in St. Louis. We were here because he worked for Edward Jones.

And after my first, when she was like eight months old, we were asked to move to Toronto, Ontario. And we had just bought a house. Just getting settled in. I had just left my career of 10 years. And I lived in Northern California, so I was in like reverse culture shock. So we moved to Toronto, had a great year together.

He was home a bunch cause they didn't do as much entertaining up in Toronto. It wasn't, it's Edward Jones doesn't have a big of a presence up there. And then we got pregnant with our third, three months up there, three months of living up there. I'm sorry, I got pregnant with our second, moved back, had her.

Another girl and then nine months later, we found out we were pregnant with my son. And it was actually the day of the pandemic shutdown. We found out we were pregnant, went through COVID, and got a lot, spent a lot of time with him, which, again, all of this, I think, is God's work.

He knew what he was doing, because these were, like, Circumstances that weren't normal. Typically, he's on the road traveling a bunch. Typically, he wouldn't have been home with us much at all because he's, high up in Edward Jones. So we got to spend that whole year with him. When I was pregnant and my son was like probably two or three months old when he's my husband.

The Cancer Diagnosis
---

[00:04:41] Kira: My stomach started getting my husband started getting some stomach pain. Issues like he wasn't really sure, but his stomach was hurting, his back was hurting, he felt like he couldn't eat like he used to eat, like everything was irregular. And we just thought it was stress of three babies and life because he was still working and it was a high stressful job and again, it was COVID, so COVID times, so we were spending a lot of time together and And he was a nervous Nelly too.

So he was a hypochondriac to begin with. And so everything, he thought everything was cancer. He was 43 years of life at this point and he had thought he got never cancer in the world. You know what I mean? So the last thing we thought was for real, it was cancer. At least I thought.

And so he had GI problems all year. And finally, October 23rd, we went to the hospital cause he had some severe stomach pain and vomiting and they did a scan, I can't remember. It was the 23rd, 24th, it doesn't matter. And they found three tumors, one on the tailless pancreas on his liver and also his lung.

That changed our whole life. The whole trajectory of our life moving forward. So we had stage four pancreatic cancer. It was an emergency type situation because he was blocked. The reason they found his cancer was the tumors in the back of Taylor's pancreas and it wrapped around his colon and Constricted it so he couldn't pass anything up or down.

[00:06:04] Emily: I can't even imagine what that would feel like to be in that moment as, mom with young kiddos and so many major life changes that had happened and then finally getting that news that it's stage four cancer. What was that like for you?

[00:06:22] Kira: Yeah, it was, surreal. I I'll never forget the look of the doctor's face coming in.

She came in with someone else by her side and looking at my husband, and the world just stopped because, that was not what I was expecting. And of course I like begged and pleaded for them to double check to, let's take a biopsy to see if it's actually cancer. I'm like, what are the odds it's benign?

And they're like, it's cancer. And so from then on, it was a whirlwind. I called two of my best friends and my parents, but two of my best girlfriends here in St. Louis, one of them beat lymphoma, so she had already been through it, and the other one had just finished treatment with her stage 3 colorectal cancer.

And I called both of them and, so they were there for support called my parents but right away, he had to be rushed up, they had to put a tube in his stomach. through his nose to empty his belly because we figured out what was the tumor wrapped around the colon and so he was all full of everything.

And they did emergency surgery to put a stent in his colon to see if they could release his colon so we could move, move things, which it was a success, successful treatment. Intervention, which sometimes it's not sometimes you can proliferate the colon, which can cause substance, so they weren't sure every step of the way.

It was like, we don't know. We don't know. But yeah it it was a nightmare. And, we were already, new parents, not sleeping. God blessed us with three kids very quickly, but with no family support, really. My parents are in Nebraska. His are in Montana. We have no family here. Yeah, I mean, it was a nightmare.

And then it, it proceeded to go that way whole time. It was a living nightmare.

[00:08:02] Emily: So it was probably 17 months of ups and downs and, oh, things are looking good and now they're not looking good and probably a lot of anxiety for you and for your whole family.

 

The Battle and Advocacy
---

[00:08:15] Kira: Yeah, it was, they were actually going to go ahead and put him on hospice. Okay. right away, which they didn't tell us. So the first hospital we went to was not a research hospital. It was just down the street.

It's actually a heart hospital. And essentially, the doctor was Like I could see it in his face, like they're like we can give him chemo, and I'm like how what does that mean? How long is he going to, what do you mean? Cause I was in denial. I'm not sure.

I felt like God was with me the whole time telling me this wasn't it. Everyone around me was telling me he's going to die. We don't think, how serious this is. I know how serious this is, but I personally have faith. Not everybody does. And that's totally fine. But I felt God there saying you got keep fighting Kira.

It's not the end. And so the initial doctor said just a few months. And at that point news had spread around our community about Kyle getting diagnosed, and so we were able to go to Sightman Cancer Center they didn't have any beds because it's COVID, okay, so there were no beds available.

So we're at one hospital saying there's not much, he's gonna die, and another hospital where they do research and there's potential, everyone's you have to get to Sightman, and so we had to pull a bunch of strings, call a bunch of people to get a bed over there, which was sickening in and of itself.

You know, and I have a lot of beef to pick now, and we can maybe talk about that as far as advocacy goes now because of what we experienced and what I saw and heard and read but finally got him a bed. And, that's where his oncologist, Dr.

Keon Lim, was going to come meet us in the hospital room. So he said, Dr. Lemus told me since then all the doctors on the floor were like, he's a hospice case don't even try this is over. It's everywhere. It was all at this point. It literally kept growing so fast. It was all over his perineum.

He had more spots on his liver. Apparently there was one on there on his hip. They just kept popping up anywhere. And so Dr. Lim came in and saw how young I was, saw how young Kyle was, and in his hospital room, I had put up pictures of our family, a picture of a clean pancreas I'm like, visual, visualization, anyway, Dr.

Lim's let's just give him chemo. Let's just see what happens. But they were worried that he was so compromised that he wouldn't even it would kill him. So we got chemo and the tumor released off his colon. So and at this point they had drained his stomach. They had to put a drain in his stomach.

They took it out of his nose. And he proceeded to get, there's only two standard of care treatments approved for pancreatic cancer. And I can mention right here, pancreatic cancer is a GI cancer. And G. I. Cancers are on the rise because what we've been eating and drinking our environment. We don't know why Kyle got cancer.

He didn't have he doesn't have any known genetic mutations, but he was stressed out his whole life and he did. He traveled all over the world, eating, drinking wine, enjoying life, which is good. I don't know. I just think it's our responsibility to treat our body. And I don't think he gave himself cancer.

I'm just now I'm a real big advocate. As far as treating your body because you never know, you just never know. After a couple of months of standard of care treatment, so there's two treatments, he got the first one, he was, it was a mixed response, which means some cancer grew, some cancer stayed the same.

And then we tried the second option, and it was stable. But here's the problem with pancreatic cancer. If something is stable, eventually the cancer learns the treatment. That's why most pancreatic cancer patients don't live past. a few months.

[00:11:45] Emily: That's wild.

[00:11:47] Kira: I know. So right now the survival rate, five year survival rate is 13%.

It was like 10 when Kyle's diagnosed a few years ago. So they are making strides. But essentially I looked at his doctor, one doctor's appointment, because they're just keep, and I'm like, we're going to get a miracle. Of course, we're going to get a miracle. And at one point, I asked the doctor what else is there?

This is A and B. What are options C, D, E, F? He's here, there aren't really much. Kyle doesn't have a mutation. He won't respond to immunotherapy. And I'm like, there has to be something else. And his doctor said there's something in a lab right now that is extremely promising. It's just going to take time.

And I'm like, okay, how much time? And he's it depends on funding. I'm like how much funding, like how much, what does it take from a promising clinical research in labs in mice? Cause that's the only thing they test on to human. Explain to me. And I was in medical sales for 10 years, so I know enough to be dangerous, but not, details.

And, he was basically like, it takes, it's a, it's 3 million dollars, essentially, to get a drug, or a treatment approved, and get it in 50 to 60 patients. And my thought process was, we will find you 3 million, in which I told him we would, because I want Kyle to be one of those patients. Because my husband was 47, we had three young children, we were looking at the rest of our lives, right?

It wasn't his time to die. It was his time to live. He literally had been working his tail off for Jones. And this is a true testimony to people that work work, until retirement, because they want to enjoy retirement and then they die.

It happens a lot. You have to live now today be financially savvy and smart but live today. So Anyhow, I was like I'll get you three million dollars and he's like you don't have to do that I'm like, but yes, I do I can find three million dollars so Anyway, then I went on a tangent and i've had my blog still going because I needed some sort of outlet And I went on my instagram and said, all right, who knows

somebody At this company because I got a hold of the study and I was looking at the manufacturers of the drugs, like who owns these companies because I believe we're all humans. I do care that you're you know, you have a title, but I also don't care because I know you're a human. The fact I basically said, who knows somebody at this company and someone I worked with sent me the CEO and president's number.

Of the drug that we needed, the inhibitor, so I call him on a Saturday and I'm like, Hey, you don't know me. And I told him our story about my husband and we're a young family and he basically said this drug is being used for our rheumatoid arthritis right now. And I'm like, great, let's get him a rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.

And he's doesn't really work like that, but because it works so well in the studies for pancreatic cancer. He's I'll go to my board to see if we can somehow work compassionate use. And I, Compassionate Use is where a researcher who's done research in their lab and it's really promising essentially is waiting for funding.

It's like a Hail Mary. You can give it to a patient if it's the last resort. So in my mind, I'm like, there's going to be so many hoops, but if it's an option and this guy's let's go down this road. So I Googled the board because he had a meeting with his board member on Monday. I Googled the board number two listed on his board as someone I worked under.

So then I called him. I know, right? Talk about godwinks. So I call Bill, I'm like, Hey Bill, may or may not remember me, cause I only worked with him for a couple years, but he's luckily he did remember me. I told him the story and he's I will, we, I will try to get everybody on board cause it has to be a unanimous yes.

From all the board members, so by the end of the week, they had the meeting. They all said yes. Dr. Lim was made aware that I was making lots of phone calls. He called another company that has a similar inhibitor and said, hey, a cleric is going to let them potentially let us use their drug. Would you also let us use yours?

Just in case. We actually used another company's inhibitor, but this inhibitor that I initially saw, they are, they actually went for a pancreatic cancer indication. So it's amazing because that's they're working on that and then Kyle got the other one and essentially it was standard of care treatment, the study drug and immunotherapy.

Therapy is doing wonders and cancer right now. The only reason we were, he was eligible is because the inhibitor basically softens the coding around the cancer cell he got the treatment starting March and it wasn't pretty, by any means. My husband was in the hospital a dozen times, he had 10 blood transfusions, we had neutropenic fevers, we were in and out of the hospital a lot, okay? And I've got little kids, right? So luckily, a few months in, one of his night nurses was amazing, so we hired her on full time to help.

Because I had other people helping, and it was a mess. People came after our money, it was ugly. So anyway, From March to December, his tumor marker went from extremely high active to non active.

[00:16:52] Emily: Wow.

[00:16:52] Kira: Yeah. So what it did in the mice, in the labs, it did in Kyle. So at this point, the NIH's eyes are on it because they've seen the study.

The NIH has seen the study a lot of scientists have seen the study and they're pumped to see what it would do. It just took whatever all these hurdles to get into a human. So come December, we're flying high, right? We're like, Oh, my gosh, cancer is non active. Let's go live. What are we going to do?

Are you going to go back to work? Are we going to travel? And he was on a low dose steroid for the holidays. So the doctor, Kyle's family's in Montana, as I mentioned, mine's in. Nebraska. Also on the East Coast. So he was on a load of steroid to keep any inflammation down because he did get colitis initially, which is one of the side effects of immunotherapy.

It's a potential. So steroids reduce inflammation. But what steroids also do is they counteract immunotherapy. Because he had that colitis, we were battling, steroids, treatment. December went fine. He was feeling like himself. His tumor markers continued to plummet. And he hadn't had chemo in several months.

So what this means is that the immunotherapy was working. The treatment was working really well. Come January, after we traveled to both families, had a great holiday season, come January, our first appointment, it looked like the tumor markers started going up again and the doctor's no worries, we'll get you back on treatment.

We'll start slow. The problem is when cancer comes back a second time, it also comes back with the vengeance. So all of the beginning of 2023, we were battling steroids to keep the inflammation down treatment. He'd get sick, we'd end up in the hospital, he'd have to take a break. Then we try to Do treatment again, and essentially the cancer won.

So April 3rd, 2023. We lost him. He took his last breath. So yeah. And, again, my kids were for two and 11 months when this battle started. So it's all they know.

[00:18:47] Emily: I can't. Imagine how hard and difficult that would be and just the emotional rollercoaster of oh, there's hope and things are looking great and then, a couple weeks later.

Oh, no. Now we're back to, square one and just the toll that it had to take on you as a mom.

[00:19:05] Kira: And my husband was anxious and angry, and a lot of patients are, and rightfully he was on all these drug medications. And I won't name names, but there were family members that tried to manipulate the situation.

So I had all of that tackled too, and keep our, my kids safe, our money safe, my husband not manipulated because he was sick. So that was a whole nother. Layer that a lot of people don't talk about. And I know otherwise, I've been very open about our story. I know a lot of other widows go through the same thing.

Family comes out of the woodwork sometimes and you just you have to be careful. It's the last thing you have to deal with, but you think you have to deal with, but it's the truth.

[00:19:42] Emily: Yeah, it's really unfortunate. A lot of dynamics changes with your social circle and family and friends. And it's typically the people you expect to be there for you the most that unfortunately aren't.

Yes. The way that you need, yeah.

[00:19:56] Kira: Exactly. Oh my gosh, my eyes are wide open. The people that stayed in our lives and really support my judgment past about what I should be doing, how I should be grieving. It was ugly. ugly. My kids and I, my kids are doing okay.

I've had them in therapy. My older two, my oldest one is in play therapy. My middle and my oldest both have a counselor at school. Our school was amazing. They were super supportive. And I've been, I was in trauma counseling for quite some time. I'm currently going to find a different therapist because she thinks that I'm, she's releasing me from her, I'm in a better place, but it's medically screwed me up.

My gut was all messed up with my hormones have gone crazy. I'm now in perimenopause. I turned 40 next month, like this isn't about me, but like the trauma that I experienced You know, the mind, body, soul, the connection between the mind and the body is crazy. So I've had a lot of issues.

[00:20:52] Emily: A lot of times I hear from caregivers, too, is that, because you're supporting someone else, there's a lot of focus and a lot of support for that person and sometimes you're living in the shadow and people forget that you need help with the kids and you might need help with laundry and food and, all of those things, too.

Did you have a lot of that support or was that also a struggle for you?

[00:21:12] Kira: So I reached out and I said, we need support. So his sister came down which in hindsight was not a good idea. Initially, I needed help and I'm like, okay, family come great. But again, there's different motivations. And we probably should have had professional help from the start.

So I actually found a couple gals to come help with laundry and dishes, but they ended up being both of them had some mental issues and, one of them wrote Kyle a secret admirer note on his birthday yeah, like weird twisted stuff happening they got with the sister, and there was like, they were asking for more money, and they ended up coming after me, saying that I wasn't a good mom it was not support, it was, we see dollar signs.

And this man is dying. And so eventually when I caught wind of that, my parents were the ones that were like, and my cousin who came up to help were like, here, there's something going on there. There's whispering they're trying to get, it was odd. So again, another layer that you're not expecting.

Because we don't have family. So I was hiring for help. I was hiring people to help with my kids, cause I went to every single one of Kyle's doctor's appointments. Of course, in the hospital, luckily his sister would stay there because I struggle with sleep basically since my first child, I had insomnia.

So I have to sleep. And I was a nervous wreck. There was no way I was going to sleep at the hospital. I couldn't. So I come home and sleep with my in my daughter's bed with her and then go back up to the hospital and I did work out and that's where the shame came in. I got a lot of shame for working out and continuing to keep my blog going, but it's all I had outside of cancer.

Cancer ruled our life. It's all I thought about. It's all I talked about. It was every it was everything he was sick here or the hospital in my bed, our bed in the hospital.

[00:22:58] Emily: And how dare try to stay healthy and try to, keep your mind occupied at times so that you could be there for your kids long term, it's just reasoning is really wild sometimes.

[00:23:10] Kira: I know and I was trying to be positive and we can do this and, I'm a health and wellness coach, so I try to keep some of that going and truly it was my outlet to keep, to breathe and, unfortunately, some outsiders came down on me for that. And um, that was a real eye opener.

And again, my husband was angry. He was resentful. Towards the end, we got him off the pain medications before he, the cancer came back and he and I had some really in depth, great conversations and healed. He said he doesn't even remember the first year of his diagnosis. He's on so many medications.

It was insane eating through TPN. I was having to put TPN in him, and all these medications, which his sister managed initially, and I thought was a good thing. And then once I realized it wasn't a good thing for Kyle and I, it came between us, I started taking over. So that was a couple months after he was diagnosed.

I took over permanently everything and then still try to. Be a happy, healthy mom for the kids, because again, these kids are like their dad is sick, barely moving, and I'm trying to keep my head above water and still be happy for them so that they don't have, at least fake it. And be positive and, it's like cancer is, it's just, it's a beast, no matter who it strikes and everyone has their own story and, some people beat it and some people don't, but, what I've discovered along the way is, cancer research funding is not a priority for a lot of people.

The number one cancer research funding funder is the National Institute of Health that is an arm of the government. It's less than 1. so the government's budget cancer research is less than 1%.

And they cut the budget from last year to this year. I was going to, I went up to Washington, D. C.

with the group, the digestive disease coalition last year to talk to members of Congress about the need for cancer research and just how detrimental it is. If they hadn't had in their family, I wanted them to know and the long and short of it is, it was getting this year. Did I think my story would make that big of a difference?

No, but, the fact that a widow has to go up there and others were there whose children were fighting and then it's cut.

Fundraising and Future Goals
---

[00:25:27] Kira: And so I started a fund for Kyle shortly after got diagnosed because I thought we were going to fund the study and I'm continuing to fund that with the help of many others, we've raised almost 1.

Over 1. 6 million. Oh, that's amazing. Yeah. And I continue, I will continue to fund raise I told Dr. Lim I'd get him 3 million. So that is my intention. As quickly as I can, because people are dying and they're getting GI cancers. Younger and faster, and there are only two. Now there's three options approved, but the third option is no more efficacious than number two, essentially.

I'm currently, I joined an organization. If I raise another 430, 000 dollars, essentially, by the end of the month, the pancreatic cancer team at siteman cancer center will reach we'll get a 1, 000, 001 million dollar check and they will start its phase 1 study. It's my current mission, and honestly, I know I'm putting it on myself, but it really stresses me out because there's just so many families I know that are affected by this.

Just the other day, last Friday, a gal I went to school with college, she had stage four melanoma, battled it for three years, four young children, passed away. And it's just we've got to stop this. So if we want to stop this, and this is serious. If we want to slow down, the disaster that cancer is, we have got to privately fund it.

We have to. That doesn't mean you or me paying for it all. It means everybody give a little bit and go right to the researcher. A lot of these other organizations are great. Pan Can's great. Susan Coleman's great. All these organizations are great. But honestly, if we want to move the needle, we need to find a researcher and fund them.

A promising researcher. Because the problem with all those organizations give a little bit here, a little bit here, and a little bit here. So the doctors have to continue. They joke that doctors are grant writers. And I'm like, that's not funny. That's not funny. They should be in the lab researching and seeing patients, right?

Instead, they're flying all over trying to get money. So anyway, that is my spiel. I am not ever going to stop preaching until we find a, I call it a cure. You won't hear a doctor call it that, but they're trying to find something that makes cancer livable because we know one in two people is going to get cancer if we live long enough.

So find treatments that help us live longer. So it's like living within a disease. Versus a terminal, diagnosis, essentially.

[00:27:57] Emily: If people want to get involved, if they want to help, if they want to reach out to you, what is the best way for them to do that?

[00:28:04] Kira: Yeah, absolutely. So I have an Instagram page, the Essentials by Kira.

They can send me a DM. I also that would be the best way. I have a website. That's another way you can get ahold of me. It's just my name, www. kiraanderson. com. But send me a message and we can talk. Cause I, however. People want to support. There's many ways to do it. I currently am working with pedal the cause, which is an organization here in ST Louis.

We've reached 200 and like 70, 000 in the last couple months. And that's where I need that to get to 700 in order for the team to get a million dollars. So that's what I'm currently working on. It has me a little stressed. I'm like, have the it matters. It really does not just for me and my family, but our kids and their kids and future generations.

We need to act now. Because unfortunately, because of what we eat in our environment and what we've been drinking

[00:28:58] Emily: Yeah, and what a beautiful way to honor his memory and his legacy and to just remember him by being able to provide that sort of a gift to that research organization and hopefully positively impact someone else's future down the road.

[00:29:16] Kira: Yeah, absolutely. That's the goal. I think God gave us this for a reason. I hate to even say that, but there's no other way I can look at it. Otherwise, truly from a mental health standpoint, there's good days, but there's really bad days. There's days where don't want to get out of bed.

I want someone to take care of me and that's not an option. I have to get out of bed and I have to do it for my kids. And I'm trying to be, the best mom I can be. And, with a terrible set of circumstances, thank goodness we are financially stable enough that I can still work part time and be in their lives.

But, there's just the reality of it is most of the time cancer, absolutely destroys a family financially. And in many other ways. And so I'm just, I'm bound and determined to prevent that from happening to more people. I know one little person can't do a lot, but that's what I'm trying to recruit more to come and advocate with me and spread the word because matters.

Conclusion and Call to Action
---

[00:30:16] Emily: Thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your story. And I'll put all the links to everything that you mentioned in the show notes. So people know how they can get ahold of you, but thank you.

[00:30:28] Kira: Absolutely. Yes. And I look forward to having you on my show. So I have a podcast that I record on Tuesdays called Yes We Can.

And I have people come on that have been through something and turn pain into purpose. And so I'd love you to come on my show and talk about your story.

[00:30:44] Emily: Yes. Yes, I can. Absolutely.

Are you a widow who feels disconnected? Do you feel like you're stuck or even going backwards in your grief? Widowhood can be lonely and isolating, but it doesn't have to be. Join us in the Brave Widow membership community and connect. We teach widows how to find hope, heal their heart, and dream again for the future.

Find your purpose and create a life you love today. Go to bravewidow. com to get started.