Dorothy: [00:00:00] She said the primary wish of any cancer patient, of anyone going through cancer is a wish for more time. Sina Reed is with me today and her story is one of absolute amazement. Sina is a business woman, a software developer. For oil and gas and many times found herself as the only woman in the room. But her real story has to do with her journey through breast cancer.
And what she says is the wish of every cancer patient is more time. She talks about so many things as she went through her own experience, but the way she found The Rose was at our Everything’s coming up Rose’s luncheon. When she found herself at a table surrounded by other women who had experienced exactly what she was going through for the first time, she really felt support.
Sina also talks about the [00:01:00] importance of research and why investing and innovation can make a difference for the next survivor. She says The value of telling your story and recognizing how caregivers can change lives is incredibly important. So join us today as we learn more about this amazing woman who is truly, truly a trailblazer.
When you subscribe to our show, you help us grow. Someone you know may need to hear this story, so please share with your family and friends and consider supporting our mission at therose.org.
Let’s Talk About Your Breast, a different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, a breast center of excellence, and a Texas treasure. You’re gonna hear frank Discussions about tough topics, and you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.
Samina, thank you so much for being with [00:02:00] us here today. It’s, it’s just a joy to have you.
Samina: Well, it’s a joy to meet you too, Dorothy, and following The Rose for a while now. It’s very impressive.
Dorothy: I know you have, and I’ve heard a lot about you.
Samina: Oh, cool.
Dorothy: But, but one of the things that I’m so curious about, because you started in oil and gas, right? You were in the energy world.
Samina: I was.
Dorothy: As a young woman. How was that?
Samina: I think it was just such an exciting period of my time. I mean, when you’re a young woman and you get into an area and you just wanna excel like a lot of young women do. I was in this area, it was intimidating, no question about it. There were a lot of men around and I felt a need to. Be as not just as good but better. Like a lot of women and I needed to be, uh, it was interesting. You know, people say it’s hard sometimes, but in some respects it was. They always recognize you [00:03:00] were the only women in the room half the time. So if they didn’t recognize anybody else, they remembered you well.
Dorothy: You know, so there were some, never heard it that put that way. That is a good way to think about it. But you truly were, I mean, the only woman in the room.
Samina: It was, and there were, there were, as it, it was difficult in those days in particular where no bars on what people said in the room or, you know, whatever. So I, fortunately, I. Think for me, my humor, I could kind of laugh at it and take it a little bit in stride. I always also fortunate, I have three terrific brothers, including one brother who’s been a mentor for years, and if I had a difficulty, I could go back to my family and they could say, oh, don’t let that get to you, you know, kind of thing.
Dorothy: Oh.
Samina: So that was, that was very, I think support is, well, you know that.
Dorothy: Yeah.
Samina: Support is incredibly important.
Dorothy: But see, the difference in you and me is I’ve been in a, a primarily female environment
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: For 40 years. So. I don’t [00:04:00] even remember when I used to work around men.
Samina: Oh, that’s funny.
Dorothy: I mean, it funny’s it’s so different than this world and healthcare is just a little bit different.
Samina: It, it was funny ’cause, you know, I, after I, um, sold my company retired, it was, I got, you know, got even more involved. I was involved previously, but, you know, various groups, you know. And it was women’s groups. Now all of a sudden it’s like all these incredible women who were going through their paths and how the heck did I not know them then?
Dorothy: Yeah.
Samina: It was, we were just so busy consumed with our careers that, uh, I just knew a bunch of guys and now actually I know a lot of great women.
Dorothy: Oh no. It has changed and I think women are a lot more supportive now, but, but what you’re doing with encouraging women is also important. I think, you know, too often I used to hear, and I don’t as much anymore, you know, oh, women just don’t support each other.
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: But that has changed. It’s different.
Samina: I’ve had both experiences. I had some difficulty with women who, as I was [00:05:00] promoted, were made comments in regards. So I’ve, I’ve seen that side of it as well. But I, I think we’ve started. One of the great things about women is we do share emotions, and when we don’t feel like we have to be like men or thing, we can start sharing it we find the commonalities and recognizing that, I see that in young women. I see that in women, my peers, and older women too. You start going, oh. Well, you know, you get went through that same thing and, and sharing experiences then becomes so much easier.
Dorothy: Right.
Samina: I think so.
Dorothy: Now tell me about your company.
Samina: Oh, the company. My baby?
Dorothy: Yes. Yes.
Samina: Oh my baby. Okay. So I started, uh, so I was in the energy industry and saw a terrific need for, um, in those days, it sounds so crazy, but you know, we didn’t have internet or anything, right? So we were pe these guys in the field would send in, you know, they would, spreadsheets were sent. They were, you know, emailed over, sent over, and then they were typed [00:06:00] in and that’s how you figured out what was going on in your most important asset, which is oil and gas, which, you know, remote areas, you’re getting all this stuff and you’re getting it late.
And I just couldn’t tolerate the fact and having, okay, so I, having had a computer background startup is a computer programmer. I always think about how technology can help. And I just couldn’t. I was like, this is crazy. We’re finding about wells that are shut in, like, you know, weeks, months we’re losing money nuts when we could have rectified the situation.
And so I had this vision and people thought, you know, it was pretty outrageous. Thing because there were some very large companies pursuing the same, you know, solutions. But I became obsessed with it. And so basically we built out a company that was enterprise wide, tying in engineers and accounting and the field personnel in the field to really improve the efficiencies with multiple products.
Um, and my company was Merrick Systems. I’m very proud of it. It’s still around 10 years after I’ve sold. [00:07:00] It’s.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness.
Samina: It’s been, was sold once and then, um, being part of one company, and now it’s part of, uh, I it is now IFS Merrick, if you look it up on the tube. So I’m quite proud it, you know, you wanted to survive right beyond you.
Dorothy: Oh, yes, yes, yes. That’s a, that is a very important thing.
Samina: Yes.
Dorothy: So you, you did, you brought all this information together. It’s communication in a, in a internet form in.
Samina: Well, you know, you, we changed the technology as a technology improved. Right? So, but initially it was, we wrote our own software and wonderful nephew who I found it with, aunt Nephew team, which is also pretty crazy. Right. And then another nephew joined. So it was, it was it, we were kind of funky. We were a little crazy out there. We were known to be very innovative, but also, you know, very family oriented company. Because we were family and then we brought in all these people and we recognized the importance of it.
But yeah, so we, um, you know, we built everything from, from scratch for, you know, built out the, he built Kamal did a lot of that. He, we built out this technology that basically brought the [00:08:00] data in fast, you know, near real time transmitting files and started off with files and of course later on went to mobility. We were early on to introduce mobility in the field and stuff like that. So we. I like to think that we had a big ch the change would’ve happened anyway, but we were part of that change early on in helping ha make it happen.
Dorothy: That is so fascinating.
Samina: Thank you.
Dorothy: I mean, it’s like, whoa, I’ve never known anyone that was right there on the ground to start something like that, you know?
Samina: Thank you! And it’s pretty cool ’cause you run into people all the time. I’m going, oh, I used your software. You know, oh, I, I, I use it now. I use it daily, every day. It was like, are you, you know, it, it, it’s, it’s, it, it really is so. It’s. It’s so satisfying. It’s satisfying is not a strong enough word for it.
Dorothy: Mm, that’s a good word.
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: Yeah. I think you created something like that.
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: Obviously, I know you’re very, very proud of that, but you’ve had many different experiences. Was that your favorite job?
Samina: [00:09:00] It was. ’cause I like running stuff. But.
Dorothy: You like being the boss.
Samina: I do, I do. But I was also very fortunate. So I came, uh, you know, I started in the industry pretty early on and I actually rose to a very high level at, was used to natural gas, which became Enron. I was, I was running it and then nobody heard of it. And that day I was moved everywhere to run. You know, I was director of pipelines and that’s crazy in the operation side of it. I was just in interesting in talking to a colleague who called me up last night, unfortunately somebody passed away, but we were talking about those old days and I was the only woman in the room and, and that was, you know, with all the executives and it was just.
It was exciting and it was scary, but it was exciting and it was just, you know, it was, um, just learning so much learning on the job. And I don’t mean just learning about the energy industry. And I’m so fortunate there was some great people out there, these great men who taught me a lot. They take [00:10:00] me to the field and show me equipment and stuff, and I thank God for them.
Uh, they were very gracious with, with know, with their knowledge, which, you know, people hoard knowledge, but it was, um, but beyond that, just learning how to operate, how to be in that world, kind of growing that was a great experience. They gave me a lot of autonomy. That gave me, and then I helped another boss start up a gas marketing company. He pulled me in that didn’t last, I thought lasted less than a year, and I thought, God, nobody’s ever hired me again. That was another incentive, starting your own business. But it was funny, a lot of people were very impressive that you took a risk, you know, and they were kind of like, oh, women don’t take a risk. You took a risk. That’s pretty interesting. And of course, uh, building my own company, uh, it, I the love for that company. And I think you, you know, at any time you start an organization, you’re consumed by it. You know, 24 7, and it was just my life. The highs were higher than high. The lows were lower than lows.
You ride [00:11:00] that, you know, you ride that wave and, and it just, it is just, it’s it. I loved it. I loved the people that I worked with. I love my clients. I can say that. I can say that proudly. It’s just, it was just, I love and you could do things your way with the values that you thought were important. I talked about family earlier.
We were early on in hiring a lot of women and giving them flex hours, we got awarded by the governor, you know, at one point, uh, you know, companies that were recognized and all we did is we started flexibility before everybody else started flexibility. Because we recognize that people had other responsibilities. We started giving men time off for kids and people thought we were crazy. ’cause small companies never do stuff like that.
Dorothy: Never.
Samina: But to us.
Dorothy: Oh my goodness.
Samina: To us it was really important.
Dorothy: So how did you decide to retire?
Samina: Oh, I didn’t retire. I was, well the comp, well, I always thought I’d sell the company, but can be, you know, it’s like win, win, win. Uh, but what happened was we got some, after [00:12:00] 2008, the craziness, we ended up getting outside money in private equity firm. And, um, anyway, it was a difficult situation for the first two and a half years, so we started trying to see if we could talk to the F company. And we were also, you know, um, I, we had been getting offers all the time, but let’s just put it this way. We got an outstanding offer that the private equity firm just, who then had more control of the company could not refuse because they had to look at it. We was so high and then we hadn’t, we ended up with like nine, nine competitors bidding. So the the, it was cool was, it was very cool.
Ka kach kaching, you know, so yeah, it was, it was a little shocking. Uh, but so we ended up with a very good, um, very good exhibit. So that was kind of weird. So it kind of just happened. It was a weird time for me. I will tell you this though, ’cause it was, it was in 2014. Uh, [00:13:00] it was just a strange time. My sister. My first sibling, I’d lost, my parents passed away in September, and then all of a sudden we sold it within like three months.
Dorothy: Hmm.
Samina: And got these offers, the bidding starts. The PE firm says, okay, we’re gonna decide in three months. Okay. And. So within their three years they ended up selling it. And so it all just happened so quickly. And then you’re going, what happened?
Dorothy: Right. Right.
Samina: What is going on in my life? And then three months later, I found I had cancer. So that was another, what the heck is going on in my life?
Dorothy: Right.
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: Right. So talk about your, your cancer experience.
Samina: So. A shocker. Okay. Uh, first and foremost, as I just said, it was a kind of a strange period. I was always very good about getting myself checked out. It started that early and as an executive in those old days, I think you, even if you got a job at a certain level, you had to have physicals.
Dorothy: [00:14:00] Right. You had, yeah.
Samina: And so I had, I had started getting regular physicals and I was pretty good about that. Um, in this case, um, this was the beginning of the company was sold in 2014 December, and so this was. I was a little behind, like I would say about a, every year I went through my physicals, but I was a couple of months behind really because of everything that was going on. And yeah, I did my mammogram and I, um. You know, and they said there were some irregularities, but over the years they had had called me back in again and they said, well take a biopsy. And that had even done before too. fine. So there I am and this, I will tell you the date ’cause the date is so seared in my mind. It was March 2nd, 2015. And I was, I went for my colonoscopy. My lovely niece took me from my colonoscopy and I had my colonoscopy, so I was good about that too. And we’re driving back. She’s driving me back ’cause she has to drive me back and. We get a call and they said, your results came in from the biopsy last [00:15:00] week and we’d like to see you today. Well, anytime they tell you they wanna see you today or is bad. And I said, well, I’m driving back from a colonoscopy. I’m in the car. We just, she just, you know, we were just driving back from, from the medical center and she said, oh, well, can we see you tomorrow? And we said, no. I mean, you know, there’s not good. So you say, we’re coming now, we came there and we sat there and, and I remember sitting there for a long time.
We went in there and I had a, a internist, a lovely woman who always said, oh, she was much younger than me, and very cool. And she said, I always wanna be like you when I grow up. And I was very flattered, of course. But he, she just kind of, I’d had her for like nine years and then she just. Well, that day I got fired by my doctor.
She basically just mumbled for a while and then she said, I don’t know how to tell you. And we’re just sitting there going like, what’s going on? Said a bunch of other stuff. My niece remembers this. Well, of course I had, you know, I had had my colonoscopy. And it was strange. And then all of a sudden she said, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you [00:16:00] have cancer. And so now you’re sitting there, and we did not at, at that time, I did not know if we had any family cancer. So cancer was not on my radar.
Dorothy: Right.
Samina: Uh, uh, my father died of a heart attack. My mother died of, or my sister died of a heart attack. So, you know, my whole thing was heart attacks, right? And, uh, it’s just so, I don’t know. It was just so weird. It was like, what?
Dorothy: It sounds surreal.
Samina: Surreal. It was very surreal, very strange. And then it’s like, what do I do now? And I forgive the stop. I mean, this, I, she said, well, I, I can’t really help you anymore. You have to get some other help. And I said, where? And, uh, or something of that nature. And we got the, the general number of MD Anderson. Yeah. It was a very shame. I was so lucky. One of my closest friends is an oncologist in Dallas, Dr. Cindy Osborne. So I, you [00:17:00] know, I had, I had resources, which, which one? The reason I don’t like The Rose, because a lot of people were not as fortunate as the resources in the context that I have.
Dorothy: Right.
Samina: So it’s so critically important, and she guided me. She says Samina. Okay. Find the good oncology oncologist is the most important person. So you go and you go to all the local, and we are so fortunate in Houston. We have all of these medical institutions. And you find somebody you’re really comfortable ’cause that they’re going to go on the ride with you.
They’re gonna go with you for the whole process. It’s extraordinarily important. And, and she gave me some suggestions and, and I was delighted that I actually ended up, but the whole experience I will tell you is one of learning I did not know about cancer. Many of us don’t. And we took cancer as one thing. Well, breast cancer is very different from another cancer.
Dorothy: Yes.
Samina: And another cancer. And another cancer. And that then became my journey about learning about cancer. And I spent a lot of time, and I was very fortunate because my [00:18:00] family studied, we all started studying cancer and learning about it. So it’s, it’s, it’s still daunting. Yeah.
Dorothy: So is that why you, you became so interested in the research behind it and finding a cure, all the things that they’re about?
Samina: Yes, I did, and I had some unfortunate losses to cancer afterwards, so, okay. This was interesting too. So then I don’t think I have any family, you know, cancer, so, no, it’s this thing. So my dear, um. You know, she hears it. She’s going to, she said to me, um, do you, she just lost her mother. And she’s like, can I, and she’s older. She’s not young at, at that time. I mean, she had older kids, teenage kids or something at the time. And she said, do you mind if I share this? And I said, no, it’s a reality.
Of course, share it. And I’ve always been that way. Um, but she put it on the Facebook. I bless her heart.
Dorothy: Oh.
Samina: I don’t know. She’s, if she hears this, she’s gonna be so mad at me. But my whole point is, but she did and was actually first was like, wow, that’s weird. Um, [00:19:00] and, but she needed to express it. But what came happened turned out to be great because all of these, ’cause I live here, um, I was born in Pakistan. My dad was with the United Nations. I grew up in New York, six years old, immigrant. Um, my cousins and relatives are all in Pakistan. Or all over the world. And so all of a sudden I get start getting these comments like, oh, you know your aunt and I knew she died, but I didn’t know where she died from.
Dorothy: Right, right.
Samina: Started realizing, and that’s when I, when I was able to do the test and find out PALB2 gene, so that actually was the start of cancer for me, kind of in the other research that I had to do to really learn about what this is. Um, and, um.
Dorothy: But that is so familiar.
Samina: Mm.
Dorothy: I mean so many people don’t know what their aunt or their grandmother are because there was a time we really didn’t talk about it.
Samina: Yep.
Dorothy: And I know just in the time that we’ve had The Rose.
Samina: Yep.
Dorothy: To, to be in a situation like we [00:20:00] are right now. Talking about this kind of experience that wouldn’t have happened in the eighties.
Samina: Oh. But even when I was going through it, I will tell you, Dorothy, I, it was incredible. All of these dear friends, I got to know these cool women. I, you know, I were telling you earlier, it’s just, I just, I and all of them, like, I went through cancer, I went through cancer. So many women go through cancer. I was just absolutely, you know, shocked, surprised at that.
Dorothy: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Samina: Didn’t know what was going on all around me.
Dorothy: Yeah. Well, and that is, that’s another part of it. We’re always surprised and, and kind of overwhelmed to know how many others have had that kind of experience.
Samina: But it’s there, it’s a reality. We have to deal with it.
Dorothy: We do.
Samina: And I think that’s the whole thing is, is we have these, uh, you know, it’s out there and thank God there are some resources and people need to be aware of them.
Dorothy: So, right.
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: But, but I think it’s really important what, what [00:21:00] your oncologist friend told you. Did you actually interview doctors?
Samina: I did.
Dorothy: Well, of course you did.
Samina: Of course I did. You know, I’m an interviewer, you know, I run things and it was really, of course, this is funny. So I of course was like, I’m gonna travel now. I’ve sold the company, I’m gonna travel. And I was traveling with some dear friends of mine and we were headed off to Machu Picchu and, and then it, I ended up, you know, doing some interviews and stuff and we were still actually waiting to find out what kind of breast cancer I had. I turned out, I had, uh, her two, um and anyway, so they said we can’t even start the treatment, but I found this lovely oncologist, uh, ended up at, at, at Baylor with Dr. Ellis and, and you know, he turned out to be such an incredible uh, a resource to me. And of course there’s Dr. Osborne there and all the work that they were doing. So, anyway, but he explained everything to me in such detail. You know, he drew a drawing and he said, and [00:22:00] then he had this lovely, um, ’cause I think it’s just as important, all the people around these incredible doctors. And he had, uh, his nurse practitioner and she was cool. And she was like, real matter of fact, and she just told me like, honey, you’re gonna go off. You’re gonna go. And have a great time and we are gonna take care of you when you come back. And it was just so, um, you know, it’s like, okay, so I did go off. I had a fabulous time ’cause I didn’t really know, but I felt like I was in good hands. And it’s.
Dorothy: Oh, we always say that’s so much a big part of recovery is trusting who is taking care of you.
Samina: Yes. I just felt I was very, um. I, you know, I, I had a team that really cared. You know, so, uh, and, and they did so that it, it, it, the, but the whole process itself was just, anybody who’s been through that thing, it was so crazy here. I was so consumed with my company now. I was just consumed with [00:23:00] every day.
You don’t know how you’re gonna feel, where, you know, went through the chemo, went through, I had, I ended, and I don’t mind sharing it. I, I, because of the PALB2, I went through double, you know, double mastectomy and all of that because my whole thing, we didn’t know. You know, I said to them, and you know, I said, I did the usual fact checking, like, you know, so does that mean it can come back?
Does it mean that the other breast can get it? What does it mean? And it was like, they were like, we can’t tell you. So it was like, okay, well I do, I wanna worry about it or not. So you make those kinds of, uh, you know, you have to make those kinds of decisions and um, you know, you go through that process. I was just, I had this little book, I journaled a lot and I wrote down every day. I was like, how many days left for chemo to finish up? How many, you know, all that stuff that you go through.
Dorothy: And you found that good? You found it was therapeutic to do, to journal?
Samina: I think for me, um, journaling just not that, but even in the work situations has been useful because sometimes [00:24:00] you, you really the closest people, you can’t share a lot of stuff with, you know, the people who worry about you. ’cause if you tell them about your fears and your worries, they’re already worried about you.
Dorothy: Right, right.
Samina: You know, so it’s, it’s, so for me it was easy to write some of that down And get it outta my system. Um, where there was some crazy thing that was haunting me, like, oh, I’ve got this kind of strange pain. I wonder what that means. Whatever that was.
Dorothy: Right.
Samina: I could write it down. Now that’s not to speak. You communicate and then you communicate with the right people at the right time, but getting that down was helpful. Yes, it was.
Dorothy: It’s, it is, I truly believe in journaling and, and it takes time, which is good.
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: Because you have some time for yourself. That’s just yours. I, I think there’s so many things cancer can teach.
Samina: Oh yes.
Dorothy: About life in general. Oh, and it just, it’s incredible.
Samina: Cancer taught me, and then I learned how to breathe. I found the importance of breathing. And calming down. I would go through my little [00:25:00] breathings because my, you know, high blood pressure would be high before some surgery. And then, you know, I’d, I’d give me a few minutes, I’d breathe. And I actually learned to control, uh, the blood pressure better.
And meditation I learned, um, you know, just. Uh, I learned to chill after being obsessed with working for a time. And thinking about what I ate, I went through this whole thing of cutting down on sugar. You know, there’s a lot of stuff it taught me.
Dorothy: Right?
Samina: Yeah.
Dorothy: Right. So a year later or so you had another scare?
Samina: Yes, I did. So I was still finishing up, if you know, if you know about HER2. You go through Herceptin uh, infusions for quite a while. So I was still going through my Herceptin infusions. This is funky. Kind of crazy. And so I had already found out that I had the, the PALB2 gene, and that was crazy. Uh, when they called me with that, that poor, uh, person, and I, I won’t, who called me to tell me that I had the PAL B, she said, Hey, we found something.
And I was like. [00:26:00] We found a gene. And I was like, what do you mean that’s not a good thing? Why are you telling me this? And they told me what they knew at that time that PALB2, you have a higher chance, not just a breast cancer, but um, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. There may be others now, but that at that time, yeah, that was, that was the thing.
And it’s pretty kind of a tied in with BRCA and um. So I hear all this stuff and I remember that was one of the few times I actually just sobbed, cried and I thought, you know, like I thought I was ending. I’m going through this journey. ’cause I heard about it when I was, you know, kind of going through my Herceptin treatment.
I’d finished the chemo. And I was like, this is crazy. Well, anyway, to make a long surgery, I started feeling something on the side and I thought, well, maybe it’s due to the surgery, maybe it’s due to something, you know, whatever else. So I kept going to different doctors and going, I feel something here. It didn’t hurt.
It was just bothering me. And Dr. Ellis was my oncologist said to me, I said, no. Then I talked to his nurse practitioner. I said, what organs are [00:27:00] there? What? What’s there like here? I pointed to you and she said, well, da, da da da and pancreas. And I said. But you guys said I could have the higher chance of pancreatic cancer, and they said, never feel pancreatic cancer.
You hardly ever know about it. I’m sure it’s not that, but you know, we’ll talk to Dr. Ellis. And Dr. Ellis said, you know what, let’s just check just to make you feel better. It’s probably nothing. And I remember he came in that day and, and, and they ran him and he just collapsed. And he’s, he thought it was, you know, it had metastasized.
Uh, the breast cancer had, and he was just as we thought we, he was, we were all excited that we were going on the way to recovery. And I found out that I had a huge tumor, golf size tumor in the head of my pancreas and in other, some others. And, um, so then became my. My next thing, which was I, I went through, um, I went through again looking at, talking to several surgeons and doctors and I ended up having, uh, Whipple surgery.
Uh, it was recommended by some of the best doctors here [00:28:00] in town that it was also just so big and it was causing all sorts of problem with my bile duct and stuff that I needed to have Whipple surgery. So I went through that very, and you know, I think about Whipple. That’s weird. Your whole digestive system.
Dorothy: Everything.
Samina: Everything is touched. Uh, so I had to stop my Herceptin and then go through that and I finished my Herceptin after everything else.
Dorothy: Good Heaven woman.
Samina: It was like just being in a, it was so funny. You’d go into the hospital and people go, Hey, Ms. Farid, you’re back. And you go like, you know, they know you by name.
Dorothy: Name, right?
Samina: How’s your brother doing? My brother used to take me in all the time. All that sort of stuff. It was, it was, it, it, you know, it was kinda like family, but in kind of a weird, good, bad way. I’m not sure.
Dorothy: Dr. Ellis was one of our favorites.
Samina: Oh yeah.
Dorothy: Because so many times the Baylor doctors would work at Harris Health and, uh, for many years that was our only option with our uninsured people. And I would always tell our women, you know, you’ve got the best of the best here. I mean, they. They didn’t [00:29:00] realize being in the public hospital system, that that’s the kind of arrangement it is.
Samina: Dr. Dr. Dr. Ellison, I, I worked with him. I match his patient advocate for the work he was doing in, um, in um, uh, you call it, uh, precision, um, yeah.
Dorothy: Therapy or.
Samina: Precision therapy. Yeah, exactly. ’cause he was really. Very focused on that. And so I helped publicize that and raise awareness for the importa. And it is so critically and it still is. So critically important. Absolutely. So, uh, there’s closer, in fact, I just got a text from his wife and we’re gonna try and get together for a drink, so,
Dorothy: oh, cool. Cool.
Samina: Absolutely.
Dorothy: So, so, so here you are, this incredibly successful, uh, businesswoman, also a cancer survivor, twice. What, what message do you wanna say to women? What, what is the one thing you’d like to be sure? ’cause you, you are in touch with a lot of younger women now that are working [00:30:00] on their businesses, working on their careers.
Samina: Health is everything. Health is everything. And stress is also really important. Manage your stress levels as best you can and find the time. I mean, my whole deal is, um, you know, I told you my lovely brother. Uh, Khalid, who’s, you know, he always used say to me when I, I go to him lots of times with these decisions, my decisions, and he, he just goes, you know, like buying my house.
And he said, well, how are you gonna feel if somebody else deals it? Well, how are you going to feel if a year later you go like, God, I’d wish I’d gone to see the doctor a year, you know, last year like I was supposed to. How are you going to feel? Just keep that perspective as you think about it and move it up.
The priority list and the old Nike thing. Just do it for crying. Just do it. You know, life is gonna take you different places, but having information, knowing what you’re going through, people, I try and avoid. I, I have friends who try and avoid like, knowing like, I don’t wanna hear that I’ve got cancer. I don’t [00:31:00] wanna hear that. I’ve got this problem. I don’t wanna hear about it. You gotta bite the bullet. You’ve gotta basically understand it and then learn about it and basically do what you need to do to do the best you can
Dorothy: right.
Samina: Through the process. And so if you’re smart. Do it. I’m gonna challenge If you’re smart, do it.
Dorothy: Good challenge. Good challenge. Well, thank you again for being with us today. This was just wonderful. Great, great advice. And I know that all the women around you, I, I think I would be one of them too that’s saying, I wanna be just like you when I grow up.
Samina: You’re sweet. Thank you for that. I, I, I just, you started this organization and I think it’s, it’s truly amazing what it does. It’s so important. So thank you for allowing me to tell my story and.
Dorothy: Sure.
Samina: Be part of this.
Dorothy: Oh, it’s, it was our, truly our honor. Our Honor.
Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The [00:32:00] Rose. Visit therose.org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends, and join the conversation on social media using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference to a person in need. And remember self care is not selfish. It’s essential.
