0:00

you kind of get appointment identity and

0:02

because I was quote unquote a special

0:04

case being pregnant while doing chemo

0:06

and all the treatment which um the do I

0:08

had four or five Specialists tell me

0:10

that I should not continue with the

0:12

pregnancy and I should abort Luke and I

0:14

you know I'm not going to wouldn't

0:16

survive to deliver him and based on the

0:19

that my pregnan or my cancer fed off

0:21

hormones and I was pregnant given that

0:23

that special case I I was just in the

0:24

hospital so many times a week getting my

0:26

pick line in and out and tested and

0:29

blood work done and ultrasounds which

0:31

was fabulous but also two being 29 at

0:33

the time being younger than the typical

0:35

demographic for breast

0:44

cancer greetings hello good day wherever

0:46

you are in the world thank you for

0:47

joining true Hope cast the official

0:49

podcast of true hope Canada today I

0:51

welcome two very special guests to the

0:53

show Luke Webb and his mother Becky they

0:56

founded a company called living giving

0:58

Which is a lifestyle clothing company

1:00

that gives back in 2010 Becky discovered

1:04

that she was pregnant with Luke and it

1:06

literally turned the lives of the family

1:07

around when they had to return to cam

1:09

loops from Alberta soon after this

1:12

miraculous news Becky discovered that

1:15

she had an aggressive form of breast

1:17

cancer and doctor after doctor told her

1:19

to abort the pregnancy but Becky felt

1:22

very differently about it today we're

1:24

going to discuss that wild journey and

1:26

the birth to living giv him okay Luke

1:29

Becky welcome welcome to the podcast I

1:31

really appreciate your time today it's

1:32

really great great to have you here

1:34

Becky how you doing good thanks for

1:36

having us of course Luke how are you

1:38

good excellent well we're going to kick

1:40

off a little bit of the story so Becky

1:42

why don't you tell us a little bit about

1:44

um living giving before Luke because you

1:48

know all kicked off there so why don't

1:50

you tell us a little bit about that

1:52

story well I had we had tried to get

1:55

pregnant with a second child for 4 years

2:00

and um I accepted a job in Fort McMurray

2:02

and so I moved up there for the job and

2:05

when I got up there long story short

2:07

found out it was pregnant with Luke and

2:08

came home but um as things go I found

2:11

out also that I had breast cancer during

2:13

that journey and so onto surgery and and

2:16

chemo I went and he was born with more

2:19

hair than I had at the time and so just

2:23

through my journey and um after that he

2:28

had some complications with his heart we

2:30

just decided that there were so many

2:31

frustrations in the system and we wanted

2:34

to find a way to give back um and help

2:38

those who needed a hand up yeah amazing

2:41

so during that period of time when you

2:43

found out you were pregnant so obviously

2:45

this is like A8 month n month timeline

2:48

yeah tell us a little bit more about

2:51

that that Journey from fin you're a

2:54

pregnant cuz reading your blog mhm

2:57

you've got that like sixth part of your

2:59

blog like like you know before Luke was

3:01

born I think it's it 2011 2010 2011 yeah

3:05

that's when you were born right yeah

3:07

yeah so we've got that period of time so

3:10

you mentioned that you you noticed so

3:12

many issues or complications with the

3:14

health system can you tell us a little

3:16

bit more about that like N9 Monon

3:18

Journey because I know from reading that

3:21

blog you were you know there was a

3:22

period of time where you were in the

3:23

hospital three four times a week yeah

3:26

that was you kind of get a appointment

3:29

identity and because I was quote unquote

3:31

a special case being pregnant while

3:32

doing chemo and all the treatment which

3:34

um the doc I had four or five

3:36

Specialists tell me that I should not

3:39

continue with the pregnancy and I should

3:40

abort Luke and I you know I'm not going

3:42

to wouldn't survive to deliver him and

3:45

based on the that my pregnan or my

3:48

cancer fed off hormones and I was

3:49

pregnant so um yeah given that that

3:54

special case I I was just in the

3:55

hospital so many times a week getting um

3:59

my pick LLY in and out and tested and

4:02

blood work done and ultrasounds which

4:04

was fabulous but also two being 29 at

4:06

the time being younger than the typical

4:08

demographic for breast cancer um things

4:11

like access to wigs and um at the time I

4:15

it was winter so I just wore a toque and

4:17

I had had no hair so I just was I kind

4:20

of went with it anyways but when I did

4:22

want to find try a wig to see how that

4:25

would make me feel um I even went to the

4:26

Canadian Cancer Society like the doal

4:28

one that everyone knows and they didn't

4:32

even know where I could get a wig so

4:34

everything was very disjointed so that's

4:35

just one example of the many things that

4:37

we experience or I experience that you

4:39

just kind of when it looks good on paper

4:41

and there's so many campaigns out there

4:43

for things like all my friends were

4:44

getting doing their haircuts for Pantene

4:46

give back to wigs or or whatever and I I

4:49

couldn't there's I couldn't find

4:51

anything now the wig bank at Royal

4:53

Inland is um really nice it's been

4:55

redone in the last year couple years but

4:57

um at the time and just I know even more

5:00

so with many things and with Luke's

5:02

heart Journey we just you know you slip

5:03

through the Gap so we just wanted to

5:05

having kind of been there first being we

5:09

wanted to out of our frustrations help

5:11

other people not experience those yeah

5:14

yeah so you you were moving you Liv in

5:17

BC you were moving to Alberta and you

5:19

were doing you you were doing some like

5:21

routine tests for your work and that's

5:24

how you found out you were pregnant yeah

5:25

I'm a truck driver by trade so I was

5:27

going up to run a concrete batch plan in

5:28

the oil stands and and so through that

5:30

you have to have drug alcohol testing

5:32

and different other tests rigorous tests

5:33

to um be able to work on the oil sands

5:36

and so that's kind of there was a little

5:38

marker in one of the samples and I

5:41

thought wait a minute that does that

5:42

seems like something else and so sure

5:44

enough it found I was pregnant yeah so

5:47

then that that that that pregnancy made

5:49

you move back to BC well that job was

5:51

not pregnant friendly I I literally that

5:54

night I drove I started driving the 16

5:56

hours back home because it yeah and

5:59

happen yeah and then from getting back

6:01

to BC finding out you were

6:04

pregnant um and then can you tell us a

6:07

little bit more about that that initial

6:09

like diagnosis and kind of how that

6:10

worked well I had I felt the lump in my

6:12

left breast months before but I was 29

6:15

and it didn't run in my family so I just

6:16

had had any kind of thought about it

6:20

about breast cancer so even though it

6:22

was a bit of a weird lump I I didn't pay

6:24

much attention to it and so you know the

6:26

way things work

6:28

um thankfully we my doctor had wanted um

6:32

to do an ultrasound on my breast when I

6:34

was doing my dating ultrasound for Luke

6:36

just to make sure breastfeeding was

6:37

going to be okay and it wasn't assist or

6:39

anything that would impede breastfeeding

6:41

and then sure enough um that was it the

6:43

next week I was had a myectomy and I was

6:45

on to treatment and yeah it was pretty

6:47

quick so and you mentioned in your blog

6:50

as well that that you had the medical

6:52

advice during your pregnancy probably

6:54

pretty early on that you you should have

6:56

bought the pregnancy oh yeah no every

6:59

single like five doctors told you do

7:01

yeah they all my actually well because

7:03

my family's in the medical field as well

7:05

a lot of them are my are more kind of

7:08

family friends and so they had best

7:09

interest in mine but we just um we roll

7:13

a different way and we just knew that

7:14

things happen for a reason so we just

7:16

went with it and we just knew we got

7:18

what we got what did you know like you

7:21

you knew something else right like you

7:23

had you haven't getting all all of this

7:24

advice but you knew something well one

7:27

thing I exactly right you have to go on

7:30

kind of take all the factors people what

7:32

you think what you read what you know

7:34

what you know in your gut and also

7:36

what's out there and and make your own

7:37

decision and and faith I mean we go on

7:39

faith of you know it's the Assurance of

7:41

things unseen and conviction of or

7:44

Insurance of what's hoped for and

7:45

convictions of something not seen so we

7:48

just knew I don't know without a shadow

7:51

of doubt that that's what we should do

7:53

that's amazing and when you going

7:56

through chemo were those was the

7:58

response different from like nurses and

8:01

doctors because you were pregnant cuz

8:03

I'm assuming I don't know but that has

8:05

to be pretty rare to be going through my

8:07

oncologist had been working well he hadd

8:09

been doing oncology and CBS for eight

8:12

years at the time and he had never had a

8:14

pregnant person so he didn't even know

8:16

how to treat me I he had to um meet with

8:19

a panel of other doctors out of

8:22

Vancouver and cola and and you you went

8:25

on a you went on the you know the Red

8:27

Death I can't remember what the name of

8:28

it is it

8:30

cyos ad yeah it's a combination yeah

8:33

like it's a significant it's out of all

8:35

the cancers out of all the treatment

8:36

it's the it's the worst one apparently

8:39

and that's because of the type of breast

8:41

cancer you had I guess so yeah yeah so

8:43

it was a really like it was a really

8:45

really hard one so they kind of went at

8:46

it with the biggest thing that they had

8:49

yeah what were the conversations with

8:50

you with the other doctors and things

8:53

around like when they they're like okay

8:55

this is this is so first of all patients

8:57

pregnant second thing is she has this

9:00

particular type of very dangerous tumor

9:04

yeah we have to go at it with this drug

9:07

which is called the Red Death for a

9:09

reason and like and then they they

9:12

talked to you about it like they must

9:14

obviously this is a complete unknown for

9:15

all of them because they're having to

9:17

think about two people really well they

9:19

weren't actually because IID made my

9:21

they already told me that I'm stupid I

9:23

was I mean in the nicest way possible

9:25

but not really I'm

9:27

very irresponsible ible and you know

9:30

that they they weren't cont thinking of

9:33

Luke at all because I they didn't want

9:34

me to have them so that was all on my

9:35

own accord um they really just treating

9:38

me as a normal patient with that

9:40

aggressive cancer so yeah the one thing

9:42

though that was really I think the

9:44

hardest thing was that as he grew every

9:47

time I had it I mean it was like

9:48

clockwork I knew exactly when I would

9:50

get how long I would get really really

9:52

sick after I had my treatment um it was

9:55

a few hours after and I kind of got to

9:57

know how I would feel but the worst

9:59

thing was

9:59

at that time as well because Luke was

10:01

inside me you could just I could feel

10:05

him just kick and move and try to get

10:07

away from that awful poison and that was

10:09

the part that just just tore me as a mom

10:12

like knowing I had to do this and I

10:14

decided this but also that oh he could

10:17

just I just remember that feeling too

10:18

that he would just kick and squirm and

10:19

try and get away from this literally

10:21

sitting in the clinic literally burning

10:24

his being right like this oh like I yeah

10:28

that was the part that was was the most

10:31

not fun yeah yeah when what was the like

10:36

through your pregnancy like when when

10:38

during the pregnancy is this is this

10:39

really happening is it right at the

10:41

beginning is it in the middle is it the

10:42

end uh so I had I it was the beginning

10:47

of the second trimester is when chemo

10:49

started because I had to have surgery

10:51

right away and then six weeks after

10:53

surgery um you can start chemo or

10:56

something like that I start yeah based

10:58

on your body how so it was quite well it

11:01

was quite well into the pregnancy uh a

11:03

couple months yeah yeah okay and the

11:06

doctors yeah they weren't that Pleasant

11:09

with it were they thinking about when

11:11

they were giving you that advice were

11:12

they thinking about the baby were they

11:14

thinking about you oh not the baby no

11:17

cuz again I wasn't they didn't want me

11:18

to have him yeah so they were basically

11:20

just treating you because it's it would

11:23

be kind of my discretion yeah of course

11:25

and do you have to sign anything well

11:28

you I mean like anyone you sign all

11:29

these medical for you sign your nothing

11:31

special because of your situation no no

11:33

okay no all right um interesting yeah I

11:37

mean that's such a wild thing to even

11:40

kind of think about to go

11:41

through well when Cho is essentially

11:44

kills stops things from growing and this

11:46

is a

11:48

growing unit certainly is still is still

11:52

oh my gosh uh yeah so it was fascinating

11:55

from just the whole medical perspective

11:58

too of that happened and him coming out

12:00

fullterm and with more hair and you know

12:03

essentially fine do you have a really

12:05

positive happy memory of engaging with

12:07

the medical system during that

12:10

time well you know being in the because

12:14

obviously they're just doing the best

12:15

that they can they know are I yeah I

12:18

mean I have so much that's one thing

12:20

that they I've always had so much great

12:23

experiences and especially being in

12:24

Canada I mean really our healthare

12:26

system people it is what it is and

12:29

they're just human right like everyone

12:31

is just human beings and so people

12:32

really have to understand that it's yeah

12:35

and as much as I was at the hospital

12:37

everyone was

12:39

um yeah very nice to deal with yeah okay

12:44

I mean there was like I said there was

12:46

mishaps like when I delivered Luke and I

12:48

was the special one so I blessed them

12:50

but I had the students and you know one

12:52

almost almost dropped Luke bathing him

12:54

and all the there kind of all these

12:55

different things when you're a new mom

12:57

right after that trauma you're like

12:59

could you please not be in here was the

13:01

B was the birth

13:03

straightforward

13:05

uh I don't think any birth is

13:07

straightforward but I think both my both

13:10

my boys were really long and um but I

13:14

guess so okay I was just really tired it

13:16

was as a fatigue a tired after that

13:18

because chemo was Progressive and so I

13:20

would I was wheelchair bound by the time

13:22

I delivered Luke I had no I couldn't

13:23

even stand I was so exhausted so were

13:27

you still doing chemotherapy treatment

13:29

into the 8th nth month uh they wanted to

13:33

stop a month one month beforeand to

13:36

increase my white blood cells just to

13:38

make sure I had some energy okay but you

13:41

were wheelchair bound going into pretty

13:44

much the pregnancy yeah I couldn't my

13:46

birthday was February and I went to

13:48

Vancouver and I had to Jeff had to push

13:50

me in a wheelchair my husband around

13:53

Science Center cuz I couldn't walk right

13:55

yeah that was interesting and then did

13:58

they have any like special

14:00

um doctors in regards to Luke's

14:05

condition or Luke inside of you before

14:07

you the delivery no just just pretty

14:10

standard care for that birth yeah yeah

14:12

okay and then what happened after you

14:14

was

14:16

born

14:17

um well we continued on and then he at

14:20

two years um a lot of babies are born

14:23

with a little heart murmur that's kind

14:24

of typical but usually it stops at about

14:26

two years that's why your two-year

14:27

follow-up they they assess all that and

14:29

then his hadn't gone away so then they

14:32

did more testing and realized he had um

14:34

a few things issues with his heart and

14:37

then on he went to open heart surgery at

14:39

the age of four and now he has three

14:42

cardiac

14:44

abnormalities uh but it doesn't really

14:45

slow him down no that we just Monitor

14:49

and make sure I mean at some point he

14:52

may they they're assuming that he'll

14:54

have to have surgery of some kind again

14:56

but we'll you know we just goow okay

14:59

okay amazing okay Luke you've been very

15:01

patient over there I appreciate that so

15:04

I'm going to bring you in can you why

15:06

don't you tell us a little bit more

15:07

about living

15:10

giving so when I

15:14

was like little like I would say like

15:19

maybe around

15:21

six 7 eight

15:25

um I'm pretty artistic I do like I just

15:30

like to draw and paint for fun sometimes

15:34

and

15:35

[Music]

15:36

um I just started writing like this my

15:41

like my initials but it's

15:43

like but then I showed my mom and like

15:48

she thought it was really cool like um

15:52

yeah so you were doing some artwork and

15:53

you were and that is that what led to

15:56

the logo mhm is that led to the logo

15:59

what led to the idea of um creating like

16:02

the the actual like charity man what

16:05

what's the what's the charity

16:08

do

16:11

so

16:13

um Mom you can jump in any point want

16:16

well we are we are for-profit business

16:18

but we donate um a decent amount of

16:22

proceeds everything goes towards um a

16:25

particular either family directly to the

16:28

family our funds Andor to an

16:30

organization of their choice um when for

16:33

example this hoodie is the Liam hoodie

16:36

and um Luke's friend Liam has Down

16:38

syndrome and so his family the colors of

16:41

down the down syndrome awareness are

16:43

blue white and yellow and so $10 from

16:45

each sale goes towards um they chose

16:48

baskets of Love um support Society Down

16:51

drum support Society in Vancouver um

16:53

which gives a basket of an intro basket

16:56

to families that are new on the Journey

16:58

of down yeah so we really try to support

17:01

local businesses and the small guys so

17:03

to speak and just directly to families

17:05

um one other hoodie that we have um is

17:10

the sopia hoodie and it goes directly to

17:13

um help children access the funds for

17:15

service dogs because that's something

17:17

that's not again filling that Gap in the

17:19

system because service dogs are not

17:21

covered for most of the part um for

17:23

children with those needs and so they

17:25

are not um cheap they well yeah so I

17:30

mean the training it's the training and

17:32

it's the the proper dog that you need it

17:34

you know you're upwards of25 $30,000 so

17:37

we just try and yeah whenever something

17:39

comes up we try our best

17:41

to help and partner with the with the

17:43

families and kids that need it that's

17:45

awesome Luke why do you think it's

17:47

important to give back to Charities like

17:50

that to provide some money for them and

17:52

some

17:53

support well um I think it's very

17:57

important

18:00

to um give back a bit to them and to

18:05

just help them like give them a little

18:07

helping hand and at least do the best

18:09

you

18:10

can absolutely I think that's a really

18:13

pretty good philosophy for a lot of

18:14

things that's awesome what have you what

18:17

have you learned about yourself during

18:20

the time you started Living given have

18:24

you learned

18:25

anything um

18:30

it's a tricky question it's a big

18:33

question like what's it been what's it

18:35

been like working with your your your

18:37

buddy with you know the Down Syndrome um

18:41

organization what was it like or any of

18:43

the the friends that come on the rides

18:45

like watching their faces or that little

18:46

boy last

18:47

[Music]

18:50

weekend um

18:52

so

18:54

like with the last week we did a like a

18:58

car event with this little kid um I

19:02

think

19:04

he's I I think he's like around six and

19:09

he has a like a muscle

19:12

disorder

19:14

and it was just

19:18

like he had so much energy it was just

19:21

like fun watching him he was just like

19:23

running around and he was just so you

19:27

guys create an event or something for

19:29

for that well we just piggybacked on

19:31

event that was happening but we invited

19:33

this um family

19:35

um to come along and um a good friend of

19:39

ours that um helps us in Vancouver she

19:43

had you know knew this family and the

19:45

boy was just really excited so just to

19:47

see the smiles on their faces yeah

19:49

that's the best part pretty excited yeah

19:51

yeah I think um giving back and doing

19:54

charity work or just you know helping

19:57

your neighbor out is a really important

19:58

thing to do cuz it just you know how

20:01

does how do for you like look how did it

20:03

make you feel watching that little kid

20:05

smile and have like the day of his life

20:07

like how does that how do you describe

20:08

how that feels for

20:12

you it makes me feel like really happy

20:15

to see someone else feel that way yeah

20:18

and that's a really nice thing to do

20:20

right yeah that's probably why you want

20:21

to keep doing it yeah yeah and we've

20:23

been fortunate to be on the receiving

20:25

end of other like very generous um

20:28

events and and happening so I know

20:31

through that Luke know really knows that

20:33

feeling and to be able to pay that

20:35

forward is really where life's at right

20:37

especially these days when people really

20:39

need lots of Hope sure and a little bit

20:41

more joy in life right yeah absolutely

20:43

look do you have any me like a message

20:45

for people who out there who might be

20:47

who might be struggling with some sort

20:50

of condition in your experience do you

20:53

have any do you have anything to say to

20:54

those people

20:56

um I don't really no okay no worries

21:00

it's another it's another tough question

21:01

I'm giving you yeah what do you think

21:03

Mom like as a part of living giving what

21:06

message do you have to those um children

21:09

and those families that you know go

21:11

through be your I always say just be

21:14

your own Advocate go with I mean it's

21:16

great to listen to all things but we

21:18

know quote unquote science and or the

21:20

medical system can change and everything

21:23

is up for re-evaluation and so

21:26

ultimately end of the day if you go on

21:29

what is best for your family and

21:30

yourself and in your gut that's really

21:32

going to be what's the best choice of

21:34

action cuz people you know with great

21:36

intention when you're in something or

21:38

you get a diagnosis like anything people

21:41

will come at you with conventional

21:42

medicine natural medicine you know

21:44

suggestions tips all these and

21:46

ultimately at the end of the day

21:48

whatever decision whether it's a

21:50

combination of both or one or the other

21:52

that's going to be right because it's

21:53

going to be right for your family and so

21:55

and all of that can be quite

21:56

overwhelming keep pushing if something

21:58

does doesn't sit right with you and it

22:00

doesn't feel like that's the way it

22:01

should be going keep researching keep

22:03

pushing because yeah yeah people are

22:07

just human and also always have just

22:09

walk in love as much patience as

22:12

possible even if it's hard right I think

22:14

becoming part of a community and working

22:17

with other people who not necessarily

22:20

going for exactly the same thing but I

22:22

think when we go through something

22:23

really tough and scary we sometimes

22:26

choose to isolate ourselves a little bit

22:29

and yeah things can be overwhelming but

22:31

like stepping out into that community

22:33

and creating a you know even creating a

22:35

charity which is creating connections

22:37

out across the world is a really

22:39

powerful thing to do and to be able to

22:41

you know put smiles on faces of people

22:44

who sometimes go through difficult

22:46

things I think that's really important

22:48

how much of your faith Becky was

22:51

involved in everything well it is

22:55

Everything Jesus for us is everything um

23:00

from morning till night and so that's

23:02

just what keeps us going all day every

23:04

day yeah because there would have been

23:05

some really tough times right so yeah

23:07

and I mean like you know we don't we

23:09

don't have to know all the answers

23:10

because we know someone who does

23:12

and because of that we can just

23:15

completely still live with joy and um

23:18

moving forward even if we don't always

23:20

know what's going to be around the

23:21

corner so we have today and we just got

23:23

to enjoy today right yeah love it how

23:27

can people connect with

23:31

you you guys got a

23:34

website www. liven

23:39

ln- GV

23:41

n.com or Instagram at where liven given

23:45

perfect Facebook I'll put the show notes

23:47

up so people can find that check out

23:49

more and I'm going to share the um the

23:51

blog links as well because I found them

23:54

very very interesting you writing them

23:56

like in like real time um um no I think

24:00

I did a a personal consistency challenge

24:05

if you will uh year and a half ago two

24:07

years ago or so just to write um write

24:11

every day for 365 days you know just

24:13

doing something for 365 days so I chose

24:15

writing and um that's I think that was I

24:18

believe that's when I wrote those is

24:20

within that time frame cool yeah all

24:23

right well if you guys got anything else

24:25

to add well we just really appreciate

24:27

your time and have us and sharing our

24:29

story and everything that you do

24:31

beautiful for having us thank you very

24:32

much well I'll make sure that um all the

24:34

information to liveing give the website

24:37

is available on the show notes of the

24:39

show um that is it for this week we'll

24:42

see you next week this is true Hope cast

24:44

the official podcast of true hope Canada

24:46

we will see you next week

24:51

[Music]