The presenting sponsor of the Satellite Sisters Big Fund weekend is M-E-A, the world's first midlife wisdom school.

M-E-A has workshops on subjects like managing transitions and reframing retirement at campuses in Baja and Santa Fe or online.

To find out more, go to M-E-A wisdom.com. That's M-E-A wisdom.com. M-E-A wisdom.com. Navigate what's next.

You're listening to Satellite Sisters. What's a Satellite Sister? The person you call when the best thing in your life happens or the worst.

The person that gets you up gets you going and gets you through. And every once in a while changes your mind.

This podcast is part pep talk, part weekly check-in. Like grab and coffee with a friend.

Thanks for being here. Welcome to the Satellite Sisterhood.

You're listening to Satellite Sisters. Thanks for being with us today. I'm Leanne Dolan in Los Angeles. I'm a writer and a podcaster. I'm a mom of two and I live in Pasadena, California. And I'm very happy to be here today.

Yes, we're happy to have you here today. I'm Liz Dolan. I'm the middle sister. I'm here with Leanne at the Wundry Sunset Studio in West Hollywood, California.

But I live in Santa Monica, California. So the other direction from where Leanne lives. I'm a marketer, a podcaster and a dog lover.

That sounds good. This is Julie Dolan in Dallas, Texas. I'm the oldest sister and I've lived and worked in some pretty unusual places around the world.

But I'm here in Dallas now and I'm an empty nester. And Urban Nana is my official title. I have five grandchildren. They're all in cities. And so I spend a lot of time with them, which I like. And I'm really happy to be here today.

Okay, well, today we are going to do something we have never done before at Satellite Sisters. And we've been doing this a long time people for those of you are a long time listeners. But we have an important story to share with you.

So we are going to devote this entire episode to one story, all three segments. And we've got bad news, good news and important news. So follow along. Please stay with us.

And we want to ask you to share this story with your own Satellite Sisters and mysteries. And you'll see why in a few minutes, you know, our motto has always been not every conversation will change your life, but any conversation can.

And not to overtout today or anything. But today's conversation could really be one of those. It could be a life changer. It could even be a life saver.

And, you know, Leon, this is really your story to share. So Julian, I will chime in as appropriate. But let's just dive in. Shall we? Sure. Let's do it. So I'm Leon for those of you who are new to the show, Leon Dolan. I'm 54. I'm a female. I have a couple of kids. And in general, I have been in good health most of my life. Super health.

Do I have good years and bad years? Sure. My weight go up and down. Yeah. Whatever. Do I try to eat healthy like 80% of the time? Yeah. Do I eat ice cream? Sure. I do. You actually grow some of your own food. I grow my own kale list.

And it's important to this story because in August, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. And that was a shocker to me. So today we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the diagnosis. We're going to talk about what I experienced physically and emotionally.

We're going to talk about the surgery I went through and the recovery and the outcome. I don't want to leave people hanging because it does have a pretty good ending. I have a very good prognosis. So here is the short story of what happened.

And then we're going to break down some of these things. In August, I had a colonoscopy. I was a reluctant participation in the colonoscopy participant.

But I went. I got it done. I did the prep. No problem. And then I was shocked. When a week later, the biopsy came back. They had removed a polyp. The gastro thought it was fine. The biopsy came back. It was cancer.

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