Justin Davis
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[00:00:00] What do you drive? Uh, I drive a Raptor. Okay. All right. So I've always been a Ford guy. My dad, uh, ran a Ford store forever and I started cleaning cars there when I was younger and started selling cars there when I was in high school. And so I've always been a Ford fan. Mm-Hmm. And it's been an F-150 now for the last two or three trucks.

They're fun to drive. Yeah. And I love, you know, it's the point of the exhaust conversation if I'm no one's around, I kinda like putting that sport mode in and Right. Going for a cruise. It's fun. Yeah. Yeah, I've never owned a, never owned a Ford, but I've always liked the, the, the Raptors. If I was gonna go the truck route, that's probably where I would.

Where I would head. Yeah. The big joke is you, you buy a Raptor and go to Starbucks. Thankfully I don't drink Starbucks, but I just, I don't go offroading it either, so Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's fun to drive. I mean, it's, it's fun to drive if the kids like it about. Yeah, there you go. Exactly. I'm doing it for the kids.

Yeah, exactly. It's for the kids. I wish they liked like something else really cool, but Well, that's where we're at now. Yeah, they, well, how old are your kids? My youngest is three. My oldest is five. Okay. They will like cooler things as they get older, and [00:01:00] those cooler things just exponentially increase in cost.

Well, she wants a, the oldest wants a pink Bronco, so Oh, okay. I'll send her a picture of yours and then she'll say, why isn't it pink? And right now you can say, well, this Hot Wheels make a pink Bronco. If they do, we'll go with that one. Yeah, exactly. That's like $4 or whatever until she's old enough. Right?

Yeah. Yeah's such. Yeah. Buy myself some time. Yeah. Yeah. Then they get to an age, sorry, Mia. They get to an age where they say, Hey, I want, I want the Jeep. And you say, oh, okay. Here. Yeah, it's my pass. I'll pass it down. Like she's like, no, no, no, no. I want a new Jeep. Like, well, you can go get your own job and buy yourself in the Jeep if you'd like.

She did not do that. She did. She took the hand me down. Took the hand me down, and moved on. Right. Not everyone does that though, and that's the right way to raise. It's true. That's true. That's the good way. Yeah. They'll appreciate it more. I hope so. I hope so. Yeah, we all do. My wife said we'll just pass her down one of my cars.

I'm like, no, no, no. You're gonna give her something that's really, really nice and it'll be like two or three years old. That's not how it works. Yeah, let's go buy something now. We'll put it in the garage and I'll do [00:02:00] it. She'll clean it, she'll do stuff and yeah, not now, but later. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like she's eight or something.

Yeah. She doesn't need a hand me down. $70,000 SUV. No, no, this was 2011. So it's, you know, over 10 years old. Um. Still under a hundred thousand miles, which is, which is not, which is pretty good. Yeah, it's really good. Yeah. Um, obviously more than paid for and so we're good there. Yeah. It's a good first car.

Yeah, it is great. First car. She looks, she enjoys driving around iu, but why wouldn't you Right. Today, take one. Yeah, yeah. Take one now. Yeah. Yeah. Well, cool. We do have a few more mods to do the Bronco. Mm-Hmm. Um, we were talking about that earlier, which kinda started the conversation. Yep. So, um, and I'll, we'll see what happens.

I've got some spare parts of your still in my garage. Oh. So yeah. We'll, uh, okay. We can clean those up next time you're ready. I need to throw those on eBay, unless you know anybody who's looking for some, uh, some factory Bronco parts. OEM, Bronco parts. Yeah. My friend eBay. Yeah, try that one. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. That's where they, that's where they will reside here shortly, along with a bicycle of mine, which will, that's a different conversation. Are you [00:03:00] guys wrenching with waters in your hand or is there any cold beers? Um, there was, there was, uh, yes. Caffeinated beverages as well as there was alcoholic beverages.

Right. Yin and yang. I don't think you can work on a car without a beer in your hand. No, I think that's a, it's like a man law, right? Yeah. I think it's part of SOP. Yeah. Yeah. It was in, it was in the instructions that we received from one of the places, like crack a cold beer, then get the wrench out. That was in the YouTube video.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty funny. His, his instructions were a little off though, so I don't know. Whoever wrote those is a genius. Yeah. Yes, exactly.

Is this thing going?

Hey guys, welcome back to their episode of the Summits podcast. Thank you all for joining us from wherever you guys get your podcast or for tuning on the Heroes Foundation YouTube channel. Thank you for doing so, we appreciate [00:04:00] it. Uh, while you're at it, hit the subscribe button, hit the little notification bell icon if you haven't done that already.

It will alert you when you episodes like this one drop. All right. Today, Mr. Justin Davis joins us. I was gonna say jd, but I don't know if you even go back the nickname, that nickname, or if you like it or not. So all the heroes guys call me jd. Oh, well, there we go. All right. Okay. Well, jd, welcome to the Summits podcast.

Thanks for having me, guys. Looking forward to it. You're welcome. Um, why don't you give a little background on intro on yourself to everybody. Yeah. Uh, Justin Davis from Greenfield originally, uh, grew up with a younger brother. Older brother, two parents that. Or pretty amazing, I think very supportive firm, but loving, uh, went to school in Greenfield.

Went to IEPI really enjoyed it. Would've loved gone to IU instead, I studied downtown and spent every Friday and Saturday evening in Bloomington. Okay. Uh, a lot less expensive minus the driving. Yeah. Uh, I. Sold cars all through high school and college. Um, [00:05:00] sold a car to a really good friend of mine that's a now mentor of mine that was in orthopedic sales.

Got an orthopedic sales, did that for 12 years. Uh, exited in January of last year when my wife and I bought Leaf Spring School at Geist. And, um, we live in the Geist area. I've got two beautiful daughters, got an amazing wife, Molly Ann. Uh, we've been together since 2012. Been married since 2015. And just a happy, happy person.

Good. A really good time. Good part of my life right now. So glad to be here. Awesome, awesome. Gotta ask. Um, and, and not going back all the way to the beginning, but when you go from orthopedic sales to. Owning a school, not a probably very traditional transaction or transition, I should say. Fair. Um, what prompted that?

There's gotta be a story there. Yeah. Uh, fair question. And I think anytime I, uh, bring it up with a friend of mine, they're like, why, [00:06:00] why, why, how? There's no, you know, step one, open a beer, right? Yeah. Yeah. There's step one, orthopedic sales. Step two, buy a preschool. Um, so I did orthopedic sales, like I said, 12 years.

And with that, I found that I was always gone. And you know, you're in the OR and you have to get there before the surgeon. You're there after the surgeon. So it's, you know, early days leave at five 30 in the morning when you're going somewhere close. A lot of times I was going to Northern Indiana, Southern Indiana, so you have a lot of driving.

And I found very quickly when we had my oldest daughter, uh, she was born in 2018, I was gone. Mm-Hmm. I spent, uh, she was born on a Friday. I went back to work on a Monday. So I was grateful to have the weekend, but you know, I was. I was always gone, so, yeah. Um, fast forward, we had my youngest daughter, which is a whole different saga.

Um, but I, I. Came to realize this was, well, this is what happens, right? You, you work, you invest your time into your business, you continue to grow. And with that, you, if you're [00:07:00] successful, fortunately you work more and more and you hire more people. And, and that's how the game goes. And so, uh, I wanted to find something to get out of it and, uh, Jake Powers really good friend of mine, uh, got me into real estate.

And so that was, uh, the first move. And then, uh. Uh, also another heroes guy, Brian Bowman, really close friend, uh, they own some preschools in the north part of Indianapolis and I remember asking him so many questions and finally he's like, why don't you just do it? I'm like, no, I can't. I can't run a preschool.

Yeah. And fast forward, we ended up purchasing Leaf Spring at Geist Leaf Spring School Geist in uh, January of 2023. And it was on the premise of being around my kids more. You know, I think something that I've been focusing a lot on is time. And getting more time, uh, not just for myself but for my family.

And so it's been really, really fun being around my kids, uh, when I want to. Not all the time, I can still step away when I need to, uh, as [00:08:00] any parent does and should, but being there and taking them to school, having dinner with them. Yeah. And. Just experiencing parenthood, not just from, you know, a dinner here and there, or the weekends.

It's been a lot of fun. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. What has been your big, what was originally when you were going through the idea, before you guys committed to it, what was maybe the biggest fear to overcome and making that decision? And then since then, how long has it been since you guys have bought the school?

It'll be two years in January. Two years, okay. So over that two years, what's been the biggest challenge, uh, in, in owning a school or running a school? I think staffing is probably the hardest part. Uh, thankfully when we took over, we immediately looked at the pay structure and, and you realize the ones that were underpaid, we, we bumped 'em up immediately.

And you, you have to run a business lean too. Sure, right. Uh, to be able to go with the flow. Mm-Hmm. And so staffing is definitely the hardest part, but trying to take care of your [00:09:00] team, uh, with anything. Right. It's, it's teamwork. Um. When I first took over, I took it as a mantra of a family, and I think that's the wrong move.

Okay. And I, I realized that very quickly, where, you know, if you're a family, if somebody makes a mistake, you know you're still family. We are a team. So if somebody, if there's an accident, not an accident, sorry, that's the wrong word. But if there's something that doesn't go the way it should, you know, people get cut from teams and uh, uh.

I think changing that a little bit and that way everyone knows that they're part of something that works really well, but we have to take care of our teammates. Mm-Hmm. So that's really helped a lot, but staffing's been the toughest part for sure. Um, and then obviously as a parent myself, I know I want someone to take care of my kids and do a really good job.

Mm-Hmm. And so there's that pressure for, we have 200 families. Yeah. So doing that for all of our families. Yep. Right. But that's probably, that's the hardest part, is uh, is Leaf springing part of a larger organization of preschools or schools? We are, yeah. We're a franchise. Okay. Uh, started in 1989. Okay. Uh, by a nurse that realized she wanted a school with a nurse that was [00:10:00] there.

Mm-Hmm. So we are the only franchise, uh, in Indiana and there's 15, so it's very small. Mm-Hmm. But everyone has a nurse, which is really cool. Yeah. So if your, if your child gets injured. Uh, if they have any medication, uh, we have a nurse on staff there 40 hours a week. Cool. Yeah. That is there to take care of the children, which is great.

Yeah. So if there's something that's wrong, it's not just us using our better judgment. Yeah. We've got a licensed nurse, which is, it's really, yeah. It's fantastic to have. And was was the, this. Particular location already established or did you start at net new? No, it, it was already established. Uh, the previous owners had built it in 2017.

Okay. And then we bought it, like I said, January of 2023. And, um, we've tried to take what was already a good thing and make it better. Mm-Hmm. So it's been our goal for the last 18, 20 months. Okay. Awesome. Cool. Wow, that's awesome. It's been a lot of fun. Yeah. I never, never, never would've guessed I'd be running a preschool.

Um, you know, maybe something with boys. But when you have two girls, I think it changes your outlook. And I am the biggest softie. I [00:11:00] think one day my girls will see this and laugh and be like, yeah, we got you. But man, I, I have turned into such a softie for my girls. I'm still definitely a disciplinarian.

Yeah. But they've got me wrapped. Yeah. Sounds, sounds familiar. That's a father of three girls sucker. Um, so how did you, you mentioned Jake Powers and I know Jake, um, how did you get introduced into Team Heroes? Yeah, so. In 2018, a friend challenged me slash tricked me Okay. Into doing a half Ironman. Ah. And so we both signed up.

He dropped out. Uh, but I was like, I gotta see this through. Yeah. So I started cycling and obviously the other two disciplines, but I. I started riding with, uh, Jake Powers and then, uh, Jeff Cusick. Mm-Hmm. And those guys kind of took me under their wing and showed me cycling. I had no clue what I was doing.

I was wearing t uh, you know, a t-shirt and shorts when I went out. Mm-Hmm. And they're like, all right, you know, come get our super sexy outfit. I'm like, all right, I'll, I guess I will. Uh, but they got me started in [00:12:00] cycling and they got me into the group and I very quickly realized what an amazing group it is.

Uh, and I say that wholeheartedly. The, the men and women that are on the, the heroes, steam heroes, they're awesome. Mm-Hmm. And we've got people, you know, I, I, I was the youngest for a while and now it's like you got your guys coming through and I remember, you know, Don being like, you know, youth, youth, these, these dang youth.

And now I'm seeing these, you know, those college kids. I'm like, these young kids are so strong. Yeah. Don't you get tired? No, they don't. They don't get tired. Uh, but it's been really fun to. See the team and, and see the evolution of it. And the guys, I think started like two or three years ago, uh, you know, back to time, right?

So two or three years ago they were like, Hey, why don't you, you know, get involved in the board, or, you know, Mm-Hmm. Get involved with the group more. I'm like, ah, I, I, I got young kids. I, I'm all right. And then I think last year they were like, why don't you get involved? And I was like, I, I just started this, you know, preschool [00:13:00] thing.

I got so much to learn. And then this last year they were like. Hey, why don't you get involved? I'm like, you know what? You can, you know, say, uh, uh, was it one day or day one? Mm-Hmm. And that's kinda how I approached it. So, you know, you can always say, one day I'll do it, one day I'll do it, or, you know, make it your day one.

Yep. And so we were sitting at, uh, Pearl Street after our Wednesday ride and one of the guys was like, why don't you do it? And I was like, all right, let's, and he was like, I got it. And that was, uh, that was Lauren. And so. Lauren tricked me. Thank you, Lauren. Wherever you are. Yeah. Um, but I knew I wanted to get involved.

I, I knew I wanted to make the time to do more and it, it's, it's fallen into place. So yeah. I'm excited to see what the future holds with it. Mm-Hmm. Because I, I know it's a really good foundation and I'm excited to give more to it. And just, honestly, I, I have a new foundation of giving more and then, you know, making time and giving back.

Mm-Hmm. I think it comes down to, um, passion. [00:14:00] I mean, you have a passion for, um, running things. Um, you have a passion for different things in your life. And for, and the same thing applies here. If you have a passion for the mission of what the organization is, whether it's here's foundation or some other organization, um, if people have that passion, they, they just need to figure out where they fit in.

Um, whether it's, again, we talked about this earlier, they're just. Simply as volunteering at an event or helping out with maybe you, maybe you're an accountant or maybe you're really good at X, Y, or Z, and they have that need, support them in that need. Um, I, I think if more people did that, um, it, it, it'd be crazy what could be accomplished.

Mm-Hmm. You know, I think, uh, when I started with the real estate aspect, one of the guys I, I really liked to listen to, talked about your superpowers. And, uh, obviously this is one of your superpowers for you. Yeah, and you know, mine is, is networking. I've really enjoyed networking and, and working with people that have used their strengths and, and, [00:15:00] and help connect them with other people.

And we all have a superpower that can be used for something. And if you're not doing something with it, you're wasting it. But you have to find time. And everyone that says they're too busy for something, you make time for things that. Waste time. If you spend 30 minutes on your phone doing Instagram, that's 30 minutes could be used for something else.

Mm-Hmm. So I've tried to be very mindful of it. Yeah. So note to self, don't use Instagram today. 29 minutes. Oh, okay. That's fine. Yeah, it's actually reasonable. 27. Oh man. All right. Is this, is this an over under game 12? I'm out. There was something I read earlier, like there was teens that are doing like 13 hours of social media on their phones a day.

Oh my God. It's like that moment you wake up till you go to bed. Yeah. Right. It's terrible. Yeah. I'll pass. Yeah. I hope. Well, I know. Oh, careful. Yeah. I don't wanna say, I know it's like, say never. Yeah. Um, my kids don't do 13 hours. They probably do more than I realize, but [00:16:00] Yeah. I don't wanna think about that.

It adds up. I mean, we, we've, we're all guilty of it. Sure. Yeah, for sure. Um, all right, so you kind of tiptoed into it. Um, Justin, you are a, a new member of the Heroes Foundation Board. Thank you for your, your commitment in doing that and welcome aboard. I. Thank you, uh, to the Heroes Foundation team, not just Team Heroes.

What I did there. Yeah, I got you. Um, following. Yeah, that's good. Let's ask you, so the premise of the foundation, or sorry, the premise of the podcast, the Summit's podcast is talking about what's your cancer story? So Justin, what is your cancer story? Yeah, uh, we talked about this briefly beforehand. Um, so three members of my family have been affected.

Um, my grandmother, uh, Eileen Campbell, uh, my aunt. Uh, Amy Campbell, and then my uncle on my dad's side, uh, Greg Davis. So, when I was thinking about this last night, 'cause I, I wanted to make sure I, I knew the details and Mm-Hmm. I was just going back and [00:17:00] my grandma Eileen had my uncle, and when she did, she had to get a blood transfusion.

And so this is, you know, he's 60, so this is a long time ago, and. She had to get a blood transfusion unit and contracted hepatitis C from the transfusion, which led to cirrhosis of the liver, which turned into cancer. And that's something that now I believe to be pretty easily fixed. Uh, but unfortunately, uh, she succumbed to it.

Um, I was in college and I she was someone, she was the, the matriarch of the family, right? So. She was incredible. Uh, I'm very fortunate, you know, I, I've got a chess when she passed, the only thing that I wanted, uh, from her house was this chess set 'cause she would play with us. Mm-Hmm. And I remember being at grandma's house and playing chess, so, Mm-Hmm.

Um, I've got that in my house. But when I was in college, as she was getting sicker, I was able to time take her to church and I took her to church like three or four Sundays. It's not a lot, but I, I made time to do three or four Sundays as a college student. And I'm sure I smelled like booze. [00:18:00] I mean, it's Sunday morning.

Uh, but I remember, uh, one time I picked her up and I was selling cars at the time. And, uh, my dad goes, why don't you take this Corvette home? I'm like, that sounds awesome. I had a great month. He's like, yeah, go take it home. And I picked up my grandma on this Corvette and we broke so many laws on the way to church, and we got to church and I got, you know, smacking on the wrist and on the way back to her house, I did the same thing.

And you know, you just gotta be careful, gotta be careful. And, and she said, uh. She looked at me and she goes, that was fun. And she goes back in the house and, and that was one of my last memories of her before she really just succumbed to the illness. Uh, yeah. She was amazing though. And my aunt Amy, I was very young.

Uh, she was 28 years old and was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer Okay. And started chemo and we lost her within a year. Um, she's beautiful. The youngest of my mom's, uh, siblings and. You know, we were, we were young, uh, when we lost her. And I remember seeing her change and I didn't know, you know, I didn't [00:19:00] know what to expect.

We, again, I was just young. Uh, but watching that happen and then we lost her. And I remember, you know, playing around as a child at the funeral home as kids do, and then fast forward the same funeral home from my grandma, and it's like, whoa. You know, those things just hit you different. Mm-Hmm. And you know, as a parent now, I could.

I couldn't imagine losing one of my girls. Right. Yeah. It'd be awful. Yeah. So, um, yeah, so we lost her. It's been 25 years, 28 years ago. Mm-Hmm. Um, and then my, my uncle Greg, he was diagnosed at 46. There was a free screening at my aunt's company. And she was like, come in and do a screening. And I talked about him with this last night and, and just hearing her in the background, like I told you to do the screening, I was fine.

I was healthy. And then he said it all kind of made sense afterwards. Um, uh, oh shoot. Um, it was prostate cancer. So the, um, the, the lab, [00:20:00] the, the urine test. The PSA, yeah. Yes. Thank you. PSA extremely high. And he's like, well, now think about it. You know, I went to the bathroom nine times a night and, and it all kind of made sense.

But yeah. Prostate cancer at 46. And this was right when the Da Vinci was starting to come out and before that it was like a cesarean section they made, I believe. Yeah. It was a pretty big scar. Yeah. And you just hope not to nick anything on the way down. Right. And so he was telling me about the surgery and they did the Da Vinci and, and thankfully everything worked out just fine.

But I asked him last night, uh, I said, what would you, you know, what have you done since then? What have you shared with your friends to make sure that they're aware? And he's like, I tell everyone to get tested. And he goes, two of my friends, uh, have caught. I've caught it early by getting the test done and, uh, you know, I I take the 30 minutes, take the hour Yeah.

To get the exam done. He goes, it's, it could've saved my life. Mm-Hmm. Right. Just an initial blood test. Yep. Pretty simplistic. Yeah. Yep. So, uh, uh, he was, it, this has been like almost 10 years or 12 years ago now for him, and he's, [00:21:00] he's doing great. He's a big, uh, marathon runner, uh, does the goofy every year, uh, or the dopey every year down at Disney where it's, you know, three they build up.

It's like a mini then a half, then a full over the weekend. Mm-Hmm. And he does that every year. Even when he is not training. He, he goes down and does it. Um, and he's just, he's grateful. So, yeah. That's awesome. He's awesome. That's awesome. Good story. Uh, as a recent prostate. D diagnosed patient. Did I say that right?

Yeah, I think so. I, so I was diagnosed with prostate cancer two years ago. Um, hearing that story is, is, is really good to hear. Um, two, two things. 'cause you hear about the new technologies. You mentioned the Da Vinci robot, that they're used now for a lot of the surgeries. Um, doing my own research on that and also speaking with others.

Very cool to hear that that was c. Knew. Mm-Hmm. When he was going through 12 years ago and, and to your point, he's thriving today. He's doing great. That's phenomenal here. And I think it is a testament to. Advancements and why we do [00:22:00] research, whether it's research in, in medicines or technology or, or equipment, et cetera.

So that's, that's really good to hear. And just to hear my aunt, like it was a free screening and he is like, the only reason I did it was because I think she got a kicker on her HSA or a something or something. Yeah. They made a, so it was free that she got paid for kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but I know a little bit about your story.

But, uh, you know, when I talked to him last night, he was like, when it hit me, it hit me different than I thought. And I was curious not to open a can. But when, when you found out, what was that like? Uh, well for me it was the second time. So I had, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's at 26, which is, that's the story that really kind of prompted the, the, or was the catalyst for starting the Heroes Foundation.

Uh, hearing it a second time doesn't make it easier, that's for sure. Especially because it's 20 over 20 years removed. Um. Yeah. But, uh, yeah, I think any, any, for anyone or most people when you, when you hear, you know, Hey, you have, you have cancer, regardless of what kind it is, [00:23:00] it's, it's, it's a gut punch to say the least.

Um, but I think I, for better or worse, I know enough now, certainly know, knew a lot, know a lot more now that I did when I was 26, probably more than I should know. But, um, for me, I think it was also, um. And this is gonna sound right, but a little bit of calming because I knew, like what, I knew the conversation, I could understand the conversation.

But was at 26, you get, you hear you have cancer and it's like my mind, your ears are reaction. What? Yeah. And then your mind's like flying in a hundred different directions. So you want to have people around you who are listening to the doctor and, and kind of taking notes for you essentially. 'cause you're not, you're paying attention, but you're not paying attention.

This phone call I was. Probably calmer than I, certainly calmer than I was 26, but calmer than the average bear. And understood the conversation better. Also could interpret some [00:24:00] of the um, I guess, technical aspects of the diagnosis. So I was like, okay, this isn't like, oh my God, we gotta do something like tomorrow.

You're educated. Um, yeah. On it, right? Yeah. So that, um, come a long way of answering your question, I think. Um. It still was like, holy shit, I can't believe, you know. Here we are. Okay, great. Two for two, but um. Uh, yeah, again, we, I understand it better now and I know what the, the prognosis is and, and I know what the, the, the protocol is, even as weird as it sounds 'cause I've not done anything yet.

Um, it's, it's very slow growing. Not, not aggressive, but we're monitoring it every six months. And, and then when the numbers tell us, Hey, it's time to do something, then we know, we know what that plan is. Mm-Hmm. Uh, there's a plan in place. So it's just a matter of do we, is that gonna get implemented next week or five years from now?

Which is really weird to say, like literally, I told my dog, I asked my dog, he's like, so how long has have you, have you had a patient live with this before they actually have to do something? [00:25:00] And I don't remember his exact answer, but it was like 10 plus years. I'm like, that's crazy. He's like, I know now we're, we're watching the numbers.

But there's also a mental aspect of this. If you say, Hey, I know it's there. Mm-Hmm. I know it's not gonna go away. I know it's not necessarily life threatening, but it's there. Mm-Hmm. And now it's messing up here. We can, we can, we can do it. Take that next step now if you want. Yeah. Well, and at least you, I think of a support system.

Yeah. Not only do you have a support system, but I mean, with everything you've done, you're educated, you have people around you that are educated and you have connections too. Well, yeah. You mentioned networking. Yeah. I mean, if I, I, it's really weird before I left. Uh, our office to come up here. One of our sales reps came in, had says, poked his head in, and he, he just said, Hey, I, I've been meaning to tell you this, but I just wanna say thanks, because his father, uh, was diagnosed not the greatest diagnosis.

They [00:26:00] had an initial doctor visit where they're from, but they wanted to get a second opinion. I'm like, happy to, you know, find out what the diagnosis was. If you only connected them with someone at iu, um, I would've known had these connections otherwise. And boom, he is like, they, they brought some things to the table that where they were previously didn't, and um, today his dad's still around the doc.

The prognosis was not good, but through better treatment options and new medicines and whatever, they're out there. Um, so yeah, the networking piece is, is huge. Mm-Hmm. Well, I think not only is it a network, but it's using your network. Right? Yeah. And, and I don't mean use it, like take advantage of it, but Right.

You know, I think, like we talked about earlier, the importance of giving back and the fundraising, right? And when you do fundraising, we were able to get the message out to more people. Mm-Hmm. And more people could become aware. And if it affects one person, I think that's great. And I mean, I would've never gotten tested if it wasn't for my uncle.[00:27:00] 

Yeah, sure. Right. I mean, yeah. If you can help one person, you help somebody. Yep. Yep, yep. Agreed. Yeah. So I think there are prostates of one example. There are a variety of cancers that can be, um. Uh, I guess uncovered, if you will, through just a regular blood test. Mm-Hmm. And there, there's more and more, um, I'm not gonna say this right from a, a medical terminology standpoint, but there are more and more tests, um, that are being developed that can detect early stage cancers or, and other.

Diseases through just, yeah, through just blood tests, which I mean, certainly don't wanna make light of it, but I mean, we might take it for granted, but like, yeah, to your point, 30 minutes, boom, go in there, take the, have the blood run or blood drawn, run it, uncover it. But there's a lot of people that don't do that.

One of the benefits to being alive now, I guess. Yeah, sure. Mm-Hmm. It's very cool. I, I was just curious because I, I, you know, I couldn't imagine what it's like to receive that news and taking it in stride. [00:28:00] Kudos. Oh, thanks. Uh, I don't wish it on other folks, but, uh, we all live long enough. The odds are, for whatever reason in our favor that, that we might, uh, experience it ourselves.

Um, but then go to the prevention piece, the other, the third summit of the Harris Foundation. Um, there are things we can do in our lives to try to minimize those chances. Sometimes we win the lottery. I. Sometimes we win it twice. Yeah. Uh, but not, not the, not, not the actual lottery. That'd be, that'd be cool too.

Um, maybe do my odds increase now? Probably I should go buy some Powerball tickets, I think. Yeah, I think you should. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, there's probably some, uh, some terms and conditions there, right? Yeah. I won't tell you it hit the lottery, but there'll be signs. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Ferrari. Yeah.

Don't tell anybody. Um, I lost my train of thought, but, uh, prevention. Yeah, the prevention piece. Thank you. Um, there are things we can do in our lives to try to minimize the risk, and that's, I think Team Hero always does a good job of, of being out in the community and, and, and kind of preaching that [00:29:00] word of prevention.

It's, it's not just the, the typicals of, you know, don't smoke, or in this case, you know, this, this day and age don't vape either. Mm-Hmm. Um. Wear sunscreen if you're gonna spend a fair amount of time outside, things of that nature. Um, just to, to, you know, taking care of your body. Diet's huge, eating right.

Yeah. Um, those sorts of things. And again, those are things people have been hearing for years, decades, whatever. But it's, it's just, you gotta have that constant repeat Yeah. Of the communication. I think, uh, someone dropped this on me and I shared this recently with some friends, but if you can make your decisions based on your three F's, right.

Family, fitness and finance. Yeah. And. Family fitness, I mean, eating well and taking advantage of, uh, the health you have now to stay in shape. And I mean, there's tons of research to show and obviously cancer is different, but the different, you know, coronary diseases and things that our society is taking advantage of right now.

Get out and go for a walk, go for a run, hop on a bike again, 30 minutes, 29 minutes. Mm-Hmm. It [00:30:00] adds up. It's compounding. Yeah. And I look at guys in the group that are, you know, 20 years my senior. And they're kicking my butt on the bike. Mm-Hmm. And it's because they started something, they stuck with it, right?

Yeah. One positive, right. Don's for sure. Um, one, I think positive that came outta the pandemic. We were all sitting at home, right? We had time on our hands. I mean, you'd work for a couple hours. It's like, well, okay. Got done with those emails and whatever else I was doing, nothing else was happening. Like, what am I gonna do?

A lot of people started either doing what? Doing more of what they've always done. So if they were normally doing 20 mile rides or whatever, now they're doing 50 or a hundred 'cause they have the extra time. Yep. Um, and then those who maybe used to do it or didn't do anything at all, were like, well, shoot, I might as well go take a walk or whatever.

Mm-Hmm. The, I think the, the upside is I now see, at least in my neighborhood, I'm sure you guys see it in your neighborhoods. People who may otherwise not have done this before, you see 'em walk all the time. Yeah. And they might be, they might be, you know. Doing two things at once. [00:31:00] They're, they're on a phone call with their earbuds in, but they're still walking.

I think hopefully that will pay some long-term dividends for a greater population. Hope so. Mm-Hmm. But we'll see. I think, well, time will tell with that one, right? Yeah. And I think, uh, you know, to that point, we started a tradition after our dinner, uh, after we eat, depending on, you know, obviously we have to make sure the day is gone the right way and we have time, but.

I love going for a walk after dinner with my girls because they're usually a little calmer. They got a full belly and it's the, you know, at the end of the evening and we'll just talk, go for a walk around the neighborhood, bring the dog and just talk. It's, yeah. So you're crossing two things off the list.

Not only just a little bit of exercise, but just that bonding time. Mm-hmm. And it goes back to what we talked about earlier. I never thought I had that time and the life that I have now as a result, obviously hard work and taking risks, but. Is be, is has given me the time and the opportunity to do those things.

And there are times I don't want to do it. [00:32:00] Sure. But when I do it, and we, we have those moments and I, I looked at my daughter the other day, she's five. And I said, stop growing. And she looked up at me, she had her sunglasses on her little hat, blonde hair. And she goes, that's life dad. No, no. It's not like, stop.

Let me just get you to shrink down a little bit. Right. But, uh, yeah, the little quips and quotes we get from these kids is, it's fun. Yeah. Funny. Totally dejavu when you said that. Um, right now I happen to be living at my parents' house because we're having some work done at our place and the water and electricity is shut off.

Um, we have two dogs, two. Decent sized dogs and my parents downsized. They have a little courtyard. My mom's like, no dogs in the courtyard. I'm like, oh shit. Now what do, because we're so used to just opening up the back door, 'em, let 'em go the backyard. It's fenced in, like, yeah, done. Let the out. Yeah. Two, two labs.

Oh, that's, we about 80, 85 pounds. Um, so as part of that, literally [00:33:00] every time you feed him or multiple times a day, we literally have to take him on a walk. But which at first was like, holy crap, this stinks. Um, but it has been great because, um, while yes, it takes extra effort, it's a little bit of pain in the butt sometimes, but, um, my wife and I have taken more walks in the last week and a half to two weeks than we probably have in the last two years.

Mm-Hmm. That's cool. Um, or I've done it with, you know, one of my daughters who's home. Um, it is, is is great. Well, there's 30 minutes there or 20 minutes there. Right. That you always had. You just used it for something else. Yep. Mm-Hmm. That's cool. Exactly. Yeah. And I've learned how to walk. I've had to walk 'em a couple times by myself and holding two dogs, hopefully aren't distracted by another dog while also trying to then pick up after them.

'cause you have to, that's part of the neighborhood policy. You do that. Yep. I'm like, man, that's. It's a, you bought a, it's a skillset that I, I'm slowly perfecting, but at first, like, this is not gonna go well. You haven't bought the scooper yet. No, no, no, no. You're not gonna walk around these plastic bags.

No. God forbid that squirrel runs [00:34:00] by when you're bending over, holding a coffee, two dog leashes and poop egg. Oh. And it's gonna have, that's why I'm waiting for have, like, this is not gonna go well, something's gonna break and it's probably gonna be me. Yeah. But it's what it is. We, uh, we have a 10 month old lab now.

And we knew we were gonna have a big one because we, we picked the big biggest, dumbest looking lab in the, in the litter. He's 90 pounds and he's like, not overweight. He's just huge. Dang. And seeing my wife walk him, knowing they're within a couple pounds of each other, I'm like. He could own you. Right? Be real careful how you're holding that leash.

Let's socialize this dog now. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, she didn't Well, good luck. Luck with that one. Yeah. What, what, what color? Chocolate. Okay. Nice. It hides the hair a little better than a blonde. It does yellow. So we had a chocolate originally. Great dog, unfortunately passed away at five from, from cancer, which that's a whole nother story that sucked.

Um, anyway, took a couple years off then, then jumped back in, got a blonde. Do hair. Hair is everywhere. Like I'm like, does he shed abnormally [00:35:00] more than another lab? It's just everywhere. Yeah. We have then a second chocolate who you don't, the hair is hidden. You don't see it as much. Yep. Yeah. But anyway, sorry.

No, this is not a pet podcast folks, but you know, it is what it is. It's part of life. Um, all right. Well, Justin, welcome to Yeah. Um, the Harris Foundation Board. We appreciate you stepping up and, and, and, and giving of your time and talent and, and treasure as well. Um, let me ask you this before we kind of close it down.

Um, what do you hope, um, what, what do you hope to get out of this, this, this level of involvement? That's a great question and it's something that I asked myself before I signed up because I didn't, I didn't really know. And I think no matter what the experience of being involved and finding ways to use my network, finding ways to use the strengths that I have, uh, to better the group, whether it's, you know, uh, through fundraising [00:36:00] or helping coordinating events that hopefully we can make an impact more than years than years pass.

Uh. But you know, it, it kind of goes back to again, to time. I have the time I, I've made the time to do this. I'm looking forward to our call tomorrow. Uh, but I hope that with the strengths and doing those things that we can just make a difference, make, you know, again, if we one person catches something, then that's a win.

If one of my friends catches something because of something that I share with them. I think that's a win. Yep. Mm-Hmm. You know, I think I'm just in general, and I think I know I'm in a point in my life now where I'm trying to give back because of what others have done for me. You know, again, the, the mentors that I've had that have helped me get to this point in my life, um, I actually sidebar, but I, I just started a group.

Because of the things that Jake did for me, Brian did for me. I started this group of, uh, business owners and entrepreneurs. Uh, I'm still trying to think of a name for it because it's starting to grow very [00:37:00] rapidly. Uh, a friend of mine said, call it the Go Getters Club or something. Uh, but there's about 30, 35 of us that are gonna meet in December, and it is a way that I can give back of the things that I've learned by getting people in the same room to share experiences.

And, you know, with that, hopefully it can change someone's life from a, you know, financial or a, a work related position to where they can have more time with their families too. Mm-Hmm. Right. You know, make a change in what they're doing to, you know, buy a business, start a business, do something, and then from there I think it compounds to where they have more time, they have more time, they can give back.

Maybe they involved with something like this or something that they're passionate about in their own community. And I. You can't, it's hard to give back when you're working 60, 70 hours a week for somebody else. But when you can carve your own schedule out, you know, carve out an hour to come over here, um, yeah, I think it all compounds.

And if you're, if you're doing something to answer your question roundabout way, if you're doing [00:38:00] something to give back to others, you're doing something good. It's not a bad thing, it's not time wasted. So that's long answer, but. That's kinda what I'm looking forward to doing. Yeah, well spot on. We appreciate that.

Um, we appreciate the networking 'cause that, right. At the end of the day, whether we're talking business or you know, philanthropy, networking's a key aspect. Cancer pretty much affects everyone in some way, shape or form. I. Um, and the other thing we've probably, you probably heard us talk about it multiple times that here in Indiana we're two ways from Kevin Bacon.

So the more networks we get involved, the tighter that, you know, Hoosier community, um, becomes, the easier it is to, to spread the word and get others involved. And it's not that hard Right. To do even it's a phone call. Right? Yeah. It's not that hard. So, um, looking forward to being involved. You talking about baking now?

I'm hungry for some lunch. Uh, but no, I enjoyed meeting up with you guys. Enjoyed talking. Hopefully provided some value and uh, I know. Being a part of the group's gonna be a good thing. Mm-Hmm. So, looking forward to moving forward with it. Great. Yeah. We [00:39:00] appreciate it. Appreciate your time. Yeah, thank you.

Thanks for, uh, being involved and, um, keep on trucking to your uncle. Um, I'm glad that he's doing well and, and, and living life. Yeah. When I talked to him last night, I said, Hey, you know, what are you doing now? He's like, well, I need to go for a run. 'cause you know, you, you, you getting complacent and you get comfortable and.

He's like, I'm gonna get my butt off the couch. Go for running. Thatta boy. Awesome. Go for it. So yeah. Alright guys, so all of you get off the couch, get your butt off the couch, go for a run or walk, bike, whatever. Whatever discipline you wanna do, just just get up and move. Uh, alright. Thanks for joining us on this episode.

Episode. Thanks guys. Yeah, appreciate it. Thanks for being here and thank all you guys joining us on this episode of the Summits podcast. We appreciate you tuning in from wherever we get your podcast or if you're tuning in on the Heroes Foundation YouTube channel. Thank you for tuning in. Until next time, guys beat [00:40:00] cancer.