Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast brought to you by PGTI University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Good afternoon.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: We are here on the Clear Impact.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: Podcast and we are recording in Scottsdale, Arizona at the 2024 CX event. And so I know you're speaking tomorrow, but at the table with me is Brady Lucas. So welcome.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Well, it's so good to be a part of the podcast, Sheri, and I'm excited to talk to you a little bit further.
[00:00:42] Speaker C: Yeah. So Brady Lucas, you're going to be speaking about the foundation, but tell us a little bit about you.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So my name is Brady Lucas and I am a 28 year old currently living in Washington State. I'm directly connected with the foundation through many, many years of friendship with the CEO Matt DeSoto as well as the rest of the Mitre foundation and Mitre Brands. I got brought into the fold after being a two time childhood cancer survivor. I was originally diagnosed in 2005, treated for about just over three years and then the cancer unfortunately came back in 2010. Why I mentioned that ahead of time is one of the big things that the Mitre foundation supports is cancer as a whole, but but specifically children as another focus area. And then childhood cancer obviously fits both of them. There's an organization based out of Penn State Health children's hospital called Four Diamonds that covers 100% of the medical bills that insurance doesn't cover for any child that's treated for childhood cancer. At Penn State Health Children's Hospital they also cover the whole psychosocial various resources. So that's anything from child life specialists would help bring down to terms that a child can understand and really educate them on what they're going through. As well as music, therap therapy, a full time psychologist that's there not just during treatment, but for survivorship care as well. So what happens after the child rings the bell or finishes their treatment? We need to make sure that they have the resources to cope long term with that. And the final area is childhood cancer research. And we're in a very interesting area with childhood cancer as many of the medications we are still using are about 40 to 50 years old. Different combinations of therapies. But the hard thing about that is they're great at curing the cancer, but they cause a lot of hard side effects in the future. So really my mission in the future is to how do we continue to raise awareness about these therapies working but then also moving in the future where we can prevent the disease from happening or go forward from there. I mention all that because the foundation supports four Diamonds and they support as well one of my other endeavors, which was creating and publishing Smiley Smile. Smiley Smile is a book that helps educate children on cancer. It breaks it down into age appropriate terms. It's a picture book for anything from children that are babies all the way up to children or young adults or even adults that just want to book. To break it down into terms that aren't as hard to explain can help start the dialogue and conversation because the reality is our world is impacted by cancer in many ways. I think the statistic now is like one in two people will have a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, and it's just staggering.
[00:03:20] Speaker C: Wow, I didn't know it was that high.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Yeah, it's. It's one of those things now that is just continuing to be in our community. And whether you're the one diagnosed or whether a community member is diagnosed or anybody, you know, it impacts us all. And really, the big mission of that is to spread awareness and go into the future. Tomorrow I'll be talking a little bit about the impact of the foundation from the cancer standpoint, how I got involved with the foundation, which I mentioned earlier, from the DeSoto family and a friendship with Matt and the rest of the family, as well as the rest of MI Windows and Doors, now Mitre Brands as a whole, and exciting to add PGT to that as well. And there's just so much opportunity, I think, for us to grow the foundation in the future.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: Okay. How old were you when you were first diagnosed?
[00:04:02] Speaker A: So I was 8 years old when I was first diagnosed.
[00:04:04] Speaker C: And were you living in the Harrisburg area?
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yes. So I'm originally from York, Pennsylvania, which is about 30 minutes south of Harrisburg, Hershey area.
[00:04:13] Speaker C: Okay. So that's where the four diamonds came into play, because you were in that space. You were in that location.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So you have to be treated at Penn State Health Children's Hospital to be receiving the services. That's one of the stipulations. The other stipulation is under the age of 22 when you're diagnosed and then receiving your primary cancer care at the hospital.
[00:04:33] Speaker C: Okay. So you were in elementary school and dealing with a cancer diagnosis. And so you're not going to school, you're not hanging out with your friends. Probably lost your hair.
[00:04:43] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:04:43] Speaker C: And then had to be in treatment for. You said several years. And so then you were fine. You were in remission, right?
[00:04:50] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:04:51] Speaker C: And so then when did it come back for you?
[00:04:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So I was off treatment for about two years, and then it came back.
[00:04:58] Speaker C: And how old were you when it came back?
[00:04:59] Speaker A: I was 14.
[00:05:01] Speaker C: Oh, yeah. That's rough.
[00:05:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And it went from being a third grader, and like you said, I missed so much school. And then you go into freshman year, high school, getting excited, potentially going to college or going into the workforce after high school. And about three weeks within the semester, out of nowhere. Played my first varsity golf match on a Tuesday as a freshman, which was a huge deal because our team was really good back then. Wednesday came, wasn't feeling well, progressed throughout the week. Sunday came, sharp pain in my shoulder. Went to the emergency room, and the cancer had returned.
[00:05:37] Speaker C: So then what did the rest of high school look like for you?
[00:05:40] Speaker A: It was in and out of doctor appointments. It was in and out of the hospital even to the level of. I had a bone marrow transplant in February of 2011, and I had an admittance back into the hospital about two years later with rsv, which is just a common cold for any person with a normal immune system. But I was in there for 10 or 11 days, and I got used to along the way. My immune system isn't as normal as anyone else's. Have to be more careful with germs and things like that. But it never stopped me from me living my life.
[00:06:12] Speaker C: Right. So what did your education look like after that? Were you able to graduate with your original class, or did you have to do homeschooling, or what did that look like for you?
[00:06:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. And something that really was my light at the end of the tunnel. Education is what pushed me to continue to fight and continue to be so optimistic and positive throughout my journey. I always mentioned smiley smile. The inspiration to me writing was empowering others to be a part of their educational journey. And I was always empowered to go to school as well as just be a part of my healthcare journey. I stayed on track with my class, was able to graduate on time, was the class president for my class, and then went on to Penn State University. Got a bachelor's degree in biobehavioral health, which is biology, sociology, and Psychology of Medicine. And then I minored in Health Policy Administration. The original goal was to become a doctor. Came out working in fundraising, actually, for health care entities, as well as foundations. And then I ended up going back, actually, and getting a Master's of Education and curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in Children's literature.
[00:07:17] Speaker C: Wow, that's amazing. So do you work for the Mitre foundation or do you have your own company or what does the work life look like for you now?
[00:07:25] Speaker A: Yeah, so currently I work for the University of Washington in fundraising professionally, but then also just am a big supporter and serve on a lot of boards for different organizations. No formal capacity for Meitr foundation, but given what they do in the community, it'll always be a special place in my heart. I have a very deep gratitude and friendship with Matt DeSoto, as I mentioned, and one of the most incredible people that I've ever met in my entire life as a mentor, as a leader and as a friend, just to me, but also my family, my wife. And then on top of that, I really believe in what they do. As I said, cancer is one pillar, veterans is another. My wife's active duty Navy, so that plays a huge role in our family as well as the children aspect and then just community as a whole. I mean, I think keeping our communities at the center of everything we do. Like, I know PGT works on Milgard. Am I. The rest of the Mitre brand family really focuses dialing down on like the people in our back doors are the people that we need to continue to support. And that's what it comes down to.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: Yeah, that's been one of the things that I love early on. I've been with PGT almost four years and one of the things that I really appreciated was that they're a huge presence in the community. One of the largest private employers in our area, but they maintained some very long standing partnerships with some nonprofits. So I had the privilege of bringing in some of those charity partners and doing podcasts with them and just kind of highlighting what they do in the community and how our sponsorships and partnerships and donations have helped enable them to continue doing their work. So when we got acquired by Mitre, it was kind of like, what's going to happen to what we're already doing in our community and what's going to happen to the employee fund that we have, that we contribute to? And it was like, oh, it's just going to continue. And so it was like, oh, okay, we're fine. This is good. And so it was really comforting for me and I know for many others is that there is that mentality of let's give back. And I've heard Matt DeSoto say that's one of the joys of being a profitable company is that it just gives you more to give. And it's like, and you can't out give. You just can't. It comes back to you and it's one of the best things you can do for yourself is to help someone else. So I'm looking forward to hearing your keynote tomorrow and I appreciate your time. So how can people find smiley smile? Where do they find that?
[00:09:54] Speaker A: Yeah, so they can go to Amazon and just type in smiley smile S M I l e Y apostrophe s and then smile S M I l E By Brady Lucas B R a D Y L u C a S okay. And you can also go to my author website, bradylucasauthor.com so B R A D Y L u C a S a u t h o r.com follow me on social media. I'm on Twitter X as well as LinkedIn, Facebook and all the other stuff.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: Nice. Anything else you want to share?
[00:10:25] Speaker A: Just want to express gratitude for allowing me to share about the foundation on the podcast. Also, my challenge to all those listening is look into how PGT is going to continue to invest in the community. Because I love what you said about keeping your current relationships going with community partners. And the way I envision this philanthropic relationship is you're investing back into the people that helped you make you so great.
[00:10:51] Speaker C: Right.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: And I would push it even further to say these relationships won't only continue, but they're going to grow exponentially. Because that's the way I think the Mitre Brands thinks is. Let's just not keep it status quo. Let's continue to impact as many people as we can.
[00:11:06] Speaker C: Awesome. Well, have an amazing afternoon. Thank you for your time and it was a pleasure meeting you.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: Yep. Thanks so much, Sherry.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: All right, take care.
[00:11:12] Speaker A: Bye.
[00:11:12] Speaker C: Okay, bye.
[00:11:16] Speaker B: The Clear Impact podcast is brought to you by PGTI University. We are a part of Mitre Brands, a family of leading window and door brands united by our passion for quality and relentless pursuit of 100%. One of the missions of Mitre Brands is to unite and deliver the finest customer experience possible across the nation. Our window and door brands deliver regionalized expertise and products. Backed by a national company. PGTI University is here to educate you, our listener, so that you can be a more informed consumer of window and door products.
