Stage 4 colon cancer had already spread to Tim McDonald’s liver when his life changed completely.What started as pain in his side around Thanksgiving 2020 led to the words nobody wants to hear: “You have cancer.”In this episode of Raw Minds, Tim shares his stage 4 colorectal cancer story, chemotherapy, colon cancer treatment, the search for a living liver donor, liver transplant surgery, survivor’s guilt, cancer advocacy, and the stranger who ultimately gave him part of her liver.Tim says only 13% of people with stage 4 colorectal cancer live five years after diagnosis. Instead of treating that number like the end of his story, he focused on one question: what do I need to do next?He explains how becoming one of the early colorectal cancer patients in North America to receive a liver transplant gave him more time, but surviving created a new mental battle. After watching people in the cancer community die, Tim had to figure out what to do with his second chance.That journey became a mission.Today Tim is a cancer survivor, patient advocate, speaker, community builder, and author of From Patient to Advocate: Turning Survivorship Into Impact.This conversation is about stage 4 cancer, colorectal cancer, chemotherapy, liver transplant, colon cancer screening, survivor’s guilt, grief, mental health, purpose, second chances, and turning survival into something that can help someone else.TIM McDONALDBook:From Patient to Advocate: Turning Survivorship Into ImpactAvailable on Amazon — search Tim McDonald From Patient to AdvocateWebsite / Podcast / Advocacy:https://advocacyatwork.comLinkedIn:Search Tim A. McDonaldCHAPTERS00:00 Stage 4 Cancer Changed Everything02:49 Welcome to Tim McDonald03:25 Tim’s Book and Advocacy Work04:14 Who Tim Was Before Cancer07:15 The Pain That Started Everything09:20 The CT Scan That Found Cancer09:34 Hearing “You Have Cancer”10:22 How Tim Reacted to the Diagnosis11:20 What Do I Need to Do Next?13:06 The Doctor Who Changed His Direction15:17 Learning How Serious Stage 4 Cancer Was17:11 The Emotional Roller Coaster18:36 Finding Purpose Inside Cancer21:39 Colon Cancer Screening and Colonoscopy22:48 The Reality of Chemotherapy24:16 Becoming a Colorectal Cancer Advocate25:19 What Research Advocacy Means27:17 Finding the Liver Transplant Option27:41 How a Living Donor Liver Transplant Works29:21 The 13% Five-Year Survival Reality29:52 Qualifying for a Liver Transplant30:50 Searching for a Living Donor32:43 Why Finding a Donor Was Harder Than Treatment34:39 A Stranger Becomes His Donor35:43 Meeting the Woman Who Saved His Life37:25 The Mental Battle After Transplant38:34 Survivor’s Guilt After Cancer40:29 Losing Friends in the Cancer Community40:54 Turning Their Memory Into Purpose43:20 The Fear Tim Didn’t Admit During Treatment44:15 Why Mindset Matters47:17 Tim’s Final Message47:28 Where to Find TimRAW MINDS PODCASTReal conversations about trauma, survival, mental health, grief, addiction, fatherhood, relationships, PTSD, and rebuilding.For the ones we’ll never meet.Healing out loud.Business / Guest Inquiries:rawmindspodcast@gmail.comPARENTPATHhttps://parentpath.ca/ParentPath helps self-represented parents organize family court evidence, timelines, documents, and case information.

What happens when a man becomes strong enough to survive almost anything, but still has a battle inside that nobody can see?JD Tremblay knows what that feels like.JD grew up in northern Quebec, dealt with bullying, watched his parents separate, and joined the Canadian Armed Forces at just 17 years old. He spent more than a decade in uniform before moving into firefighting, engineering, natural health, human performance, and extreme endurance.In 2022, JD completed the Epic Deca.10 full Ironman-distance triathlons.10 straight days.Six Hawaiian islands.Only three people finished.JD was one of them.But this episode of Raw Minds is not really about medals or proving how tough you are.It is about discipline, identity, fear, faith, addiction, purpose, mental resilience, and what happens when achievement still does not fix what is happening inside you.One of JD's biggest ideas in this conversation is that everybody is disciplined.The real question is what you are disciplined at.A smoker can be disciplined at smoking. Someone stuck in a destructive pattern can become extremely consistent at repeating it. JD argues that discipline is not just about waking up early or forcing yourself through pain. It is about standards, structure, values, habits, and the things you refuse to negotiate with yourself.JD also opens up about what happened after leaving the military. For years, the military gave him structure. When to eat. What to wear. How to move. What standards to meet. Then suddenly that structure was gone.He had to learn how to build his own standards, create direction, and understand who he was outside of the uniform.We also get into Hungry Warrior Academy, the organization JD built to help men work on discipline, health, recovery, faith, mental strength, and purpose.JD explains the EPIC pillars, the DECA method, the BRAIN system, and RISE. BRAIN focuses on blood chemistry, recovery, attention, inflammation, and the nervous system.We also talk about confidence versus cockiness, addiction patterns, emotional shutdown after divorce, male loneliness, first responders, PTSD, neuroplasticity, courage, biohacking, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.JD also explains why he rejected the idea of yelling at struggling men as a way to create change. His focus is on accountability, facts, logic, science, and practical tools.This conversation is about what happens when physical strength is not enough.CONNECT WITH JD TREMBLAYHungry Warrior Academyhttps://hungrywarrioracademy.comRAW MINDS PODCASTReal conversations about mental health, trauma, addiction, grief, fatherhood, relationships, survival, resilience, personal growth, and rebuilding your life.Websitehttps://rawminds.caYouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/@RawMindsInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/rawmindspodcastTikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@rawmindspodcastFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/rawmindspodcastIf this conversation hits home, share it with somebody who needs to hear it.Subscribe to Raw Minds for more real conversations about the things people carry when nobody else is watching.For the ones we'll never meet.Healing out loud.

Robert Beeson went from a successful Sony Nashville music executive to a single father raising three young daughters after his marriage collapsed.

In this Raw Minds episode, Robert opens up about single parenting, divorce, custody, fatherhood, shame, addiction, faith, mental health and rebuilding your life after losing everything.

Before becoming a single father, Robert founded Essential Records and helped develop artists including Jars of Clay, Third Day and Casting Crowns. At 40, his career ended. Three months later, his wife left. He was suddenly fighting through a custody battle and raising daughters who were nine, seven and four.

Robert talks openly about betrayal, loneliness, shame and his own mistakes, including an affair early in his marriage. He also asks a question many men face after life falls apart: Who are you when the job, marriage, money, status and identity are gone?

Robert spent more than eight years raising his daughters as a single father. That experience eventually led him to create Solo Parent, an organization built to give single parents the support and community he could not find during his own crisis.

We also discuss raising children after divorce, family court, rebuilding confidence, finding purpose and showing up for your kids while trying to hold yourself together.

I share my own experience as a single father, including walking away from a nearly 19-year construction career when the job no longer allowed me to be the father my daughter needed. That experience helped inspire ParentPath, a platform for self-represented parents to organize evidence, timelines, documents and case information.

If you are a single father, single mother, divorced parent or someone rebuilding after losing the life you expected, this conversation is for you.

CONNECT WITH ROBERT BEESON + SOLO PARENT

Solo Parent:
https://soloparent.org/

Robert Beeson Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/robertbeeson/

Solo Parent Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/soloparentsociety/

Solo Parent Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SoloParentSociety/

Book:
Solo Parent: The Transformational Journey of Parenting on Your Own

CONNECT WITH RAW MINDS

Website:
https://www.rawminds.ca

YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@RawMinds-cs3ci

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/2DTczix6Egs7fscQiqCpfa

Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/raw-minds/id1722381518

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/rawmindspodcast

TikTok:
https://www.tiktok.com/@rawmindspodcast

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/rawmindspodcast

All Links:
https://linktr.ee/rawmindspodcast

Email:
rawmindspodcast@gmail.com

PARENTPATH

https://parentpath.ca/

ParentPath helps self-represented parents organize family court evidence, timelines, documents and case information.