The Scoop with Tanya Flanagan

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Tanya Flanagan 0:19
Good morning and thank you for joining me for the scoop with Tanya Flanagan, I'm so happy you decided to wake up and start your day with me here on the scoop, where we talk about life, joy, funny moments, trending topics and so much more. We promise to keep you in the know and find out what you know. So let's get started. Dave,

Tanya Flanagan 0:47
good morning Las Vegas, and thank you for tuning in once again to the scoop with me. Tonya Flanagan, it is breast cancer awareness month, and as you know, I dedicate the month of October to having a variety of conversations centered around breast cancer and the importance, the importance of continuing to educate one another or just talk about cancer. Today, this conversation is going to focus on the importance of advocacy in the nonprofit space, and so I have some really wonderful guests in the studio with me. Three wonderful women have agreed to wake up early on a Sunday and talk with me about this subject, but I began to think crucial and important it is to have people on the front lines who go out and advocate on behalf of others. And why is this important? How do you find yourself in this space, fighting for something that may or may not be affecting your life personally, like it's happening to you, but it is still personal, because it's happening to someone, probably that you care about, and that's why you've walked into the space. So today, I am pleased to welcome and I'm going to have them each tell you a little bit more about who they are, what they do in their, you know, daily life, and how they lead this double life as sort of a super shero wearing their cape to make a difference for everybody. So first I'd like to welcome Tammy Moyo. Hi.

Tammy Moyo 2:15
Thank you so much for having me today. I am. I don't say just a mom. I shouldn't say just a mom, but I am a mom to three teenage kids, and I'm a breast cancer survivor, and just finished up treatment not that long ago, and I've been involved with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network for, oh gosh, like four years. I think now as an advocate. I think it's just so important to talk about our story with our legislature. So yeah, that's who I am,

Tanya Flanagan 2:48
Tammy, thank you first. Congratulations on being a survivor, for being a co survivor. So thank you for being I'm I'm glad you're a survivor. I'm not happy that you're in this club, right? So that's the thing. I'm not happy that you're a survivor by having had breast cancer, but I am happy that you're a survivor and you're still here having had it, survived, it beat the fight, and you're still in the game to tell the story. So thank you for that. Yeah, and congratulations, and thank you for the work that you're doing with the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network. Next, I'd like to welcome and before we jump into the meat of the conversation, my Sora, my friend, my sans as you all know, I'm a member of the illustrious sorority of alpha cap. Alpha Sorority Incorporated, so I get to take a point of personal privilege and say thank you, Amanda McWilliams, for being here today.

Amanda McWilliams 3:36
Thank you for having me, Sora Tanya, but my hat that I'm wearing today is as a volunteer with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. I'm actually a lead legislative ambassador for congressional district four, which is the district for Congressman Horsford. And thank you for inviting me and having me today.

Tanya Flanagan 3:57
Well, thank you for being here. I am so happy that you are here. My last guest in this studio is going to make this conversation amazing. This morning, around everything out is the wonderful latash ganita with the American Cancer Society.

Latoschka Nether 4:13
Good morning. I feel like that's a heavy burden to carry on my shoulders, but I'll see what we can do here. You can do it. I am latoshka, neither. I am the senior grassroots advocacy manager for the state of Nevada, and happy to be here with you again to talk about the work that we're doing in Nevada.

Tanya Flanagan 4:33
Thank you for coming on again. Yes, you all may recognize latoshka from a store a show that we had about, I don't know, maybe a month ago now, where we were on talking about breast cancer, talking about the study that is being done. There's a study being done to reach 100,000 black women between the ages of 20 and 5525 and 5025 and 55 I wanted them to be a little younger to talk about. What has happened to them in their life, health care, walk, etc. So thank you once again for being here, and we will share information on the show today, also about how you can participate in that process, absolutely. But as I mentioned, this show is to talk about the importance of advocacy when relative to a cause. And today, the cause is not just breast cancer, although it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it's essentially, in a way, cancer, or really anything, right? So I want to start with Amanda, because you are and then Tammy, we're gonna talk to you a bit. But when I invited you on to the show. You made a point of letting me know, breast cancer isn't necessarily the cause for you, but cancer is the cause for you. So just how'd you find yourself? What do you do by day? And how'd you find yourself doing this?

Amanda McWilliams 5:53
Well, I found myself doing this work because my mother, I lost my mother to lung cancer 15 years ago, actually, and I just learned about ACS can a little over a year ago when I was on vacation at a fundraiser on and I just fell in love with what I was hearing in the work that was being done nationally through ACS can. So as soon as I got back home, I immediately looked up the organization and signed up for the organization I wanted to, you know, do the work, you know, you know, in tribute to my mother. But of course, we all have a cancer story. There isn't, probably anyone walking around who does not know, does not know, someone who has either suffered from or maybe even died from cancer. And, you know, I so that's why I did start this fight. But of course, I've always been an advocate for in some way, shape or form. So it's easy to advocate for a cancer patients in general. And of course, this being the focus of breast cancer month. That is to talk this month, but I just wanted to share how important it is for us to remember the fight for all cancers. You know, I my personal story, even something that affects me, that I was thinking about, that, you know, as I was listening and just learning, you know, even being involved in this work, like even with colon cancer, for example, you know, not knowing that at 45 you should get screened for colon cancer now, and they actually approve that, but that's not open information. And you know, I'm currently 51 but at 47 is when I learned that, and I had a colon cancer screening, they found three polyps, and removed the polyps, and they said, well, because we found three polyps, please return in three years. Well, three years was this year when I returned, I said, Hey, it's time for me to have another colonoscopy. They couldn't find the records. And then when the doctor said, Well, we changed this and let me go look, when she looked and she came back, she goes, Well, I'm glad you decided to come because we wouldn't have notified you. And also the when they tested the polyps that can't that though the information they found, it actually would have turned to cancer, is what she said. So it's great that I had a colonoscopy even several years earlier than I would have, you know, naturally planned. And now you know, next week, I'm oversharing that I will be having that colonoscopy again. But I'm just saying that to say, you know, it's really important to to just be aware and have knowledge, and because you have to advocate for yourself, you have to know your own history, and you have to make sure you're following up as it relates to cancer. So thank you for allowing me to share that during this discussion.

Tanya Flanagan 8:26
Thank you, but you made a really excellent point in there, you have to advocate for yourself. We're talking about the importance of advocating around a cause, right? But in that space, you have to be your primary cause. So when you are in the doctor's office, when you are moving through your medical history, when you're understanding your family's story, and you're going in for care, you have to advocate for yourself. That has to be the primary number one cause. And a lot of times that I remember, I've had many opportunities to talk to people about my breast cancer journey as a three time survivor, and one of the things over the years that I've stressed, you cannot advocate for yourself enough. You have to engage in the process. Learn what's happening to you, understand what's happening to you, and don't just sit back, because a lot of times there's a physician in front of us, right? And you want to believe this person knows everything there is to know about what you are dealing with. And you just want somewhere to lean in and trust. So you want to let go and have the person fix it. I remember I was young. Can you just fix this so I can just get back to living my fabulous, whatever life I thought it was my life. So therefore, you know, I might not have been on a private jet, but it was my fabulous life, and I was young, and I wanted to return to it uninterrupted, and so I wanted the doctor to just fix it. And that the third time, second time, really. Me, there was this check in, and I recognized the need to have a greater understanding. On the third one, 100% understand everything. Say yes or no, want this doctor. Don't want this doctor on my team. You're advocating for yourself. Tammy moyal co survivor here with me this morning. What was it for you that brought you into the space of was it being diagnosed that made you begin to work with but you said you recently finished the diagnosis, so you started with the American Cancer studies at four years ago. Yeah? So, yeah. What's your

Tammy Moyo 10:38
story? So I my story is, is I've worked in nonprofit my entire career, so I've always worked with like in the medically fragile nonprofit space. And so I actually used to work for the American Cancer Society, and then wanted to come back as a volunteer, because my sister had been diagnosed with cancer about 10 years ago, she was diagnosed stage three colorectal single mom, three kids. She literally found out she had gone back to school. She found out she had cancer the day before her graduation with her business degree. So you know, I had her story, and then also one of my very best friends got diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. We lost her around the pandemic time. So that's that was, that was why I was in it, right? My friends were involved. I wanted to be in the fight. I wanted to speak up and share their stories. And I just hate saying the word ironically. But got diagnosed as well. About two years ago, just got ready one day, and happened the way my finger landed. I had just happened to find a tumor and my right breast. Ironically, I had gone to get a mammogram a few months earlier. It was clean. And I think that when you get like, a mammogram, you think, oh, okay, I'm good for a year, right? Like, I'm good. I don't, I don't need to think about it again. But the way my finger just happened to land on my breast as I was getting changed, I found that tumor actually latoska and I went out for breakfast a couple days later, and I was like, Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. And she's like, get a biopsy. Like, and I was like, okay, so I was, I was absolutely shocked when it came back with cancer, but one in eight women get diagnosed with breast cancer, and I just thought to myself, You know what? Why not me? I so many women get diagnosed every single day. So while I had already been advocating, it became, obviously extremely personal at that point, and I wanted to keep sharing because I think that it's so important to make sure that our stories, whether it's personal or families or friends, get told because every everybody's story is unique and different, but it shows why it's so important to be in the Fight for ourselves or for our loved ones.

Tanya Flanagan 13:01
Absolutely. That brings me to a point where, latosha, you have a very vital and special role in this space, because you work for the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network component. So it's kind of like you you're driving the bus, if you will, right? You're coordinating people and engaging with them and talking to them about what role they can play, how their contribution is significant. What does that feel like? How do you do that like? What does that look like on a daily basis? And then I want to hear from the ladies some of the specific things that you've done in this space.

Latoschka Nether 13:40
So I will say my my work in nonprofit started when I worked for another organization managing diabetes and advocating for diabetes because my son was diagnosed at 18 months old with type one diabetes. So I started the journey in the nonprofit space and advocating and fighting because of some things that happened while my son was young and things that weren't being done. We had fights for insulin affordability. We worked with the with the legislature, and at that time, Senator Reid to try and get those fundings and legislation passed to be able to afford insulin, because insulin started going crazy, and we had lots of issues along that line that led me into the cancer space. Cancer runs rampant through my family and getting to know various people who have had to fight, trying to understand why people get screened, why they don't get screened, why they're not getting covered, why they're you know, their care looks the way that it does all of that as. Far as advocacy for me takes me to where I think a lot of this begins, and it is with the work that we do with our legislators, whether it's in the state or in federal work, if we don't get care legislated as part of our regular everyday walk of life, then people are going to get lost, and if we don't advocate and fight for those people who will so I, you know, it's, it's always the fight for me,

Tanya Flanagan 15:33
I appreciate that. I want to say thank you. Thank you to each one of you, because it takes a lot to participate in this process and to contribute to the process effectively, and to not feel discouraged because you talked about legislation. And we see so much happening, even in our country right now and just over the years, the time it can take you may just be the person at home making a phone call to your insurance company, to your provider, to your doctor, to your care coordinator, and the number of calls that you have to make to get what seems simple and you're tired because you're sick sometimes while you're trying to make those calls, or your family member is Caught up in the weeds of what this conversation deals with in print and on the phone and on a website, and how it correlates or doesn't connect, the minutia of the minutia of it all, and you're trying to stay diligent and focused to track that care. So I say thank you for that. Amanda, speaking in that vein, what have you had to do to or what have you done? What are your sacrifices? Travel? Is it? Going to conferences? I mean, like talk to us about what you do.

Amanda McWilliams 16:49
Well, most recently, going back to your initial question about what we've been involved with. You know, just a couple of weeks ago, the three of us, well, really, 700 of us with the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network. We were on Capitol Hill. We were, you know, speaking with our congressional delegations. We're part of Team Nevada, of course. And it was eight of us, you know, it's three of us here today that we spoke with our legislatures regarding some very important initiatives. You know, one is one that's in the fight right now that has contributed to the government being shut down. And you know, ironically, you did ask earlier, what do I do? I am a federal employee. You know, I manage a office here locally. And of course, you know, all of my employees are impacted by this shutdown, but they all also knew that I was in in DC last month, and they also understand the value of the work that we were doing in DC, and how, you know the impact is now affecting them, but they also know how there could be a greater impact. So that was one of the things we were involved with recently. And I know Tammy is a state lead in Nevada, so I'll let her talk about our visit to Carson City, because we were with you or near you in Carson City as well when you were up there earlier this year. So I'll defer to Tammy now to talk about what we did in Carson City earlier this year.

Tanya Flanagan 18:12
So Tammy, let's talk about the 83rd session of the Nevada State level.

Tammy Moyo 18:18
What's that like? So yeah, so we work on the federal and the state level, and it's wonderful. I love our time up in Carson City, because we take, I don't know, what is there, like 25 of us, or something, 37 this? Oh, wow. I was way off 37 and you know, most of us are coming from Southern Nevada, and we fly up there and we just go to other offices and we just share, you know, there's legislation that we're behind. We ask for support. We just sit, we share our stories, we talk, and it's a really amazing experience, I don't know, just to let our volunteers actually, like, see government in action, right? Like, go up and participate and why it's important to them. So we visit the offices on a in Carson City. We go to Washington, DC, but we also do things like write letters to the editors about things that are important to us. We make the phone calls, we do the emails, we go on social media. We'll tweet at them whatever we can do to try to gain recognition for the bills we want to pass, or the support that we're looking for or against is something we do on a regular basis. So the thing about advocacy that I love is you can be crazy involved, or you can just, I don't mean again, just, but send like one email, because that one email is going to be one of many emails coming in and will hopefully be making a difference.

Tanya Flanagan 19:48
I want to talk about that a little bit because as a legislator, one of the people that you came up to Carson City to see the being on the other side of the aisle, being that person that you're coming to see. Or one of 63 people. I should say, in the case of the state of Nevada, that you are or before it is important, because sometimes when you're in the thick of the issue, it seems so obvious, right? It's blatant to you. And what happens with a cause is usually something has happened to you or a family member. We talked about that at the beginning of the show. So it becomes passionate to you. There are legislators. It hasn't happened to them, right? So your faces, you're making it you're humanizing the issue in a different way. You are bringing information. So when you come up and you advocate, whether it's in Carson City or it's in DC, you are advocating for something, and you're raising awareness, and you're educating that person, and you're humanizing the issue in a way that maybe wasn't humanized before. And that is really a big picture, a big piece of the picture of why it's so important to the work that you do, that you take the time to travel. Some people, I suppose, probably do it out of their own financial resources. Some people may do it because the organization's able to get some funding to help you. Because it is not it's expensive to travel somewhere and stay, whether it's two days or five days. It becomes expensive to do the airfare, to eat, the transportation.

Amanda McWilliams 21:21
Well, Tanya, I just want to take over for a second, because, you know, when we were up there, you actually were presenting your bill that was passed. And there are so many bills that are passed every year, I'm not sure if you should share. This be a good opportunity for you to share the bill that you were the lead on that passed around.

Tanya Flanagan 21:43
Interviewer, thank you for asking. As Assembly member who represents District seven here in Southern Nevada, I presented a bill AB 428, and a before 28 is a bill that looks at women who are diagnosed with breast cancer or ovarian cancer, and it affords them the opportunity to access IVF under insurance, which, before was not an option. And it is, it is a big deal. Was my it was my passion bill for this particular session, having been a breast cancer patient and being diagnosed in my 30s. So all of my 30s, I dealt with breast cancer, which for a lot of women, as we work and establish our careers 37 when we think about having children, because we've found some work, we've made some money, we've made some mistakes, we're a little bit more financially solvent. You're married. I mean, there's just all the things that are supposed to align in the perfect world of what we try to do. And I was constantly battling breast cancer. And when the third diagnosis came, the first diagnosis came. I declined certain treatments, radiation, tamoxifen, because the oncologist couldn't explain to me what tamoxifen would do to my reproductive system. 37 I was there again. At 38 I decided I wanted to have a child. I also found out around the time I wanted to have a child, oh, you have breast cancer again. Well, can I have a no, you need to do chemo this time. Well, can I enter No? You need to do it consecutively, and you need to take this tamoxifen for five to 10 years. So I had three months from my simple mastectomy to the day that I had to start chemo in order for it to be effective. And in those 90 days, I had to do all this research, start to see a fertility doctor. Everything was happening. So I was paying to think about my options. And when I say paying 1000s of dollars to think about my to not run out of options, back and forth to UCLA for second opinions, everything. So this piece of legislation allows a woman to not have to figure out how to be treated, to save her life, and also how to pay for reproductive choice, because you want to have a family, but now you're diagnosed, and this process is interrupted. So that's what a before 28 allows Nevada families to have an opportunity to access is a little bit of help because of our budgetary constraints, it's not starting until January 1 of 2027 but it is something that is now available to Nevada women and families. So thank you for asking about it, and thank you for being there and to support it and to understand the relevance of it and the benefit of it to so many families. There were so many women who, when I would do zooms and talk about what was happening at the legislature, said that happened to me. That was me. I was diagnosed. I wanted to have a kid. I couldn't have a kid because I had to focus. I had to do this, and I couldn't. I just I couldn't I needed help.

Latoschka Nether 24:46
When you talk about your story, this is one of the things that we stress when we are working on legislation. It's the story you carry, a story that's a story that. We want to carry to the rest of the state. We want to carry to the rest of the country, because what you've done, what you've lived through, what your journey is, is important for you, but it's also important for another person who may be going through it. So when we look at advocacy, and the work in advocacy, whether you're dealing with, you know, the state or federal or, you know, on our side of the table, those stories are what change all of the work that we're doing. We implore people to say, you may think that what you're going through is not important, or, as I often say to Tammy, just, if not just, your story is important for someone else too. We want all of that. We need to bring all of that to the people who make those decisions on what we're able to do, moving legislation, whether it's you know you're working on health care, whether you're working on research, researches is huge in in making sure that you get the treatment that you need, and she gets the treatment that she needs, or whatever it is. But the way all of those pieces of legislation tend to move is because someone told a story, someone was willing to share, and that's how we advocate. That's how we continue to move all of the work that we're

Tanya Flanagan 26:27
doing. Absolutely it's what happens to one, happens to many. And when many voices come together, you can make a difference that affects many or affects one before we get too far, too close to the end of the show. I like to make sure people have access to information, where they can go to get more so if you want to share a website or social media, handles, whatever you're comfortable with,

Latoschka Nether 26:51
there's lots so fight cancer.org. Gets you to many of the spaces that we're that we're talking about for American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network that will lead you into some of the research studies that we're working on, some of the legislation where we are looking for people to be able to share, to tell their story, talk about their journey, fill out a petition that may be Online. And then we have our other spaces, as we were talking about women of color and needing to have women of color participate in studies, there's the voices study on on the fight cancer.org voices at fight cancer.org you can get information on the studies and getting people to participate. But for everyone who is in the cancer fight and cancer journey, you can find what you need at fight cancer.org It's there. You just got to look for

Tanya Flanagan 27:51
Thank you. We're getting into the last minute and a half of the show, so I want to make sure I thank you, each one of you, for your time. These conversations are always, never long enough, but I do hope to the listening audience, we've provided you with information that is useful, that is encouraging and an opportunity if you're looking for a way to make a difference, allows you a way to tap into that network. Latoshka. Amanda Tammy, thank you for your time and your contributions. If you could leave in 20 seconds, I guess to each of you, what piece of advice would you give to anyone, either thinking about getting into the space or dealing with any aspect of a major disease?

Tammy Moyo 28:35
Tammy, I would say just it can be one email. It can be one phone call, it will make a difference, and it might not. You might not see the change immediately, but it's going to help someone in the future, and that's important.

Amanda McWilliams 28:52
I may have to agree with Tammy, because I recently got my daughter involved, who was a college student. We need all ages involved in the fight against against cancer, and even if you only have time to send something once a month or post a social media once a month, that all of that is helpful.

Latoschka Nether 29:07
And I would say everyone has a voice. Use it. We need it. You need it. It doesn't change without you

Tanya Flanagan 29:15
and folks, thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next time I want to thank you for tuning in to the scoop with me. Tonya Flanagan, and I want to invite you to get social with me. I'm on Facebook and Twitter. My name is my handle, T, a n, y, A F, l, a n, a G, A N. You can also find me on Instagram at Tonya almond eyes Flanagan, and if you have a thought, an opinion or a suggestion, don't hesitate to shoot me an email to tonya.flanagan@unlv.edu Thanks again for joining in. Stay safe and have a great week. You.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai