Michael Schweisheimer : Are you good? All right. Here we go.
One. Welcome back to the Mission Story Slam podcast, brought to you by PWP Video. I'm Michael Schweisheimer. I'm the executive producer of PWP Video, Mission Story Slam, and I'm coming to you from a secret location. Speaking of actual locations, I have some really big news. I am thrilled to announce that National Mechanics in Old City has offered to host Mission Story Slam at their venue.
Everything is in place for Mission Story Slam 9 to happen on Tuesday evening, December 5th. The theme is moving right along. Start planning your story now, because we started Mission Stories Land to share the stories of people on a mission to make the world a better place. People like you, who are often from the types of organizations that we serve at PWP Video.
Those include non profits, big corporations, and other sustainable organizations. We gather in person and pick the names of volunteer storytellers out of a hat, and they compete for a 250 donation to their favorite non profit. The audience also submits votes for the crowd favorite story, which receives a 100 donation sponsored by your part time controller.
We videotape all the stories for sharing on social media and with friends and supporters. This podcast is about the story behind those stories. What motivates someone to come and tell a story in front of an audience? How do they choose the story they want to tell? And what is that experience like? Plus, we get to learn all about the storytellers themselves.
Today's guest... Terri Ann DiJiulio won the Your Part Time Controller Crowd Favorite Award at Mission StorySlam 8. The theme that night was The Next Chapter, and Terri Ann used that opportunity to make telling a story with no notes in sight to an audience of complete strangers her own next chapter. Let's hear her winning story.
Terri Ann DiJiulio : I really love this theme, The Next Chapter, because I just started my next chapter. And tonight is a page in that chapter. The journey here started about 18 years ago and a lot happened in the last 18 years. So I'm going to give you cliff notes of everything that happened. I am a lung cancer survivor. I have been diagnosed with lung cancer three times over 18 years.
I am a member of a multi generational lung cancer family. And that means six of us have been diagnosed with lung cancer in my family. I was the first one diagnosed. I am only one of two to survive it. In the last 18 years, I have lost both of my parents. My handsome, bright, beautiful, athletic brother dropped dead of a massive heart attack eight years ago.
And five years ago, I had a stroke. Now, every single one of those things is life changing. But they weren't the thing that changed the direction of my life. What changed the direction of my life was a question. Seven years ago, I walked into Penn Medicine's Lung Cancer Conference. I had just been diagnosed and treated for the second time.
I had already lost my mother. And several family members were diagnosed with this disease. While I was there, I met a woman with a lung cancer advocacy group. And I learned lots of interesting information from her. And during the conversation, I asked a question. That question was, how can I help? That question changed my life in the most unexpected way.
I learned from her, and I went down a path I never expected. And what I learned was, lung cancer kills more people than any other cancer. period. Yet it is the least funded cancer. Nearly 25 percent of all newly diagnosed cases are with people who have no risk factors. Less than 10 percent of people who qualify for screening actually get screened.
Early detection saves lives. I'm living proof of that. Anyone with lungs can get lung cancer. I also learned that my voice matters. My story and my family's story matter. They matter to other patients when I speak to them so they know they're not alone. I help them navigate the system. The medical community needs to hear from us.
They need the patient perspective. And our government officials need to hear our voice. So when I go to Washington and I speak to our elected officials and implore them to make changes and to give us the funding we need, it makes a difference.
Two years ago is when I was diagnosed for the third time. And I thought, man, enough is enough. So I've had this luxury of experiencing life threatening illnesses without actually dying. And with my survivorship comes a profound sense of responsibility to do something. So I did.
Two years ago I made the decision to leave a 35 year career. I was really good at that career. I even started my own business. But it didn't bring me joy. I found my passion through my illness. Through my tragedies. It wasn't, I wasn't willing to play around anymore. So, I was an event planner and I finished out the commitments that I had.
And this January I dissolved my company. And I stand before you as an advocate and activist for the lung cancer community and the community as a whole. But here's the thing. All of you are part of this chapter. Every single one of you. Because what I hope is that you learned something tonight. You learned something that you did not know when you walked in this door.
And you share what you learned. Maybe you ask a question. Maybe you're around a family member or a friend who has a persistent cough and you ask them, how long have you had that cough? I want to share with you what I learned at the storytelling event about lung cancer. Maybe you should go check to get it checked out.
So together perhaps we can change a life or better yet save one. So thank you for being a part of my next chapter.
Michael Schweisheimer : Terri Anne DiJulio, thank you so much for joining me on the Mission StoriesLine podcast. It's really great to be here.
Terri Ann DiJulio: Thank you for inviting me. Of course. So I haven't spoken with you since the crowd favorite award was announced.
How did you feel when you got the news that you won the crowd favorite award?
Terri Ann DiJulio: I was really excited because for me it was more about the crowd than the judges. So I was thrilled to win the crowd favorite. Means they heard what I had to say. And that's, what's the most important thing. I think it's interesting.
Michael Schweisheimer: Sometimes we've had storytellers win. Both the judges award and the crowd favorite word, but I actually really do like when it splits because I think it is interesting to see how three people can end up having really different opinions than the group that's in the room and like have different experiences together.
Terri Ann DiJulio: And I agree. I think winning the crowd is, it's a big challenge.
Michael Schweisheimer: Did Dave Winston, our producer, tell you if he can stop the bartender from mixing drinks, he knows he's telling a killer story? That's a great way to gauge it. Never thought of that. And having worked in that industry in my time, stopping someone from doing all that work really is a big win.
So how did you think everything went on the night of the slam itself? Because I know you were a bit nervous not using those.
Terri Ann DiJulio: I thought it was great. What the most meaningful part of the night for me were the people that came up to me after the event was over to talk to me about my story about lung cancer, how long cancer touched their lives.
I made a couple of connections that I can. I want to send resources to people. Oh, cool. Potentially help them navigate a personal situation. So it wasn't about winning. That is why it.
Michael Schweisheimer: Have you been in contact with some of those people that you met that night?
Terri Ann DiJulio: I have. It's been really good.
Michael Schweisheimer: It is always interesting to me the different connections that happen in the room.The community we're building, I think, has some really interesting members and they're really open and they do want to look for those bridges. So I'm really glad to hear you were able to make some connections. So not using notes was brand new for you.
Terri Ann DiJulio: It was. It was really scary. How did you deal with both the fear and the actual challenge of telling a story without using notes?
The fear is something I've learned to deal with over the years because I'm actively seeking opportunities that are going to make me grow. One of the reasons I wanted to do it is because it made me uncomfortable. Because I wanted to learn. I wanted to experience it and get better and improve. And the only way to do that is to get outside of your comfort zone.
When I speak live, I typically write a script that I have on a table and follow. So it allowed me to then take my script, narrow it down to bullet points, and then memorize those bullet points. I'm always afraid I'm going to miss something or leave something out or get stuck in a cycle What was I supposed to say next?
Yeah. But the audience was so engaged, everybody was so warm, and I'm telling my own personal story, and I knew the core of my message was about communicating facts and information about lung cancer. So even if I got off track, knowing that was my main goal, I would be able to bring it back there. Right.
Michael Schweisheimer: You're, you're always on that center line, right?
Terri Ann DiJulio: Correct. And the fact that it was the next chapter could not have been more perfect for me because this is a huge change in my life this last six months. So to share it was pretty easy.
Michael Schweisheimer: I have to say though, just from your story, it seems like you have had an awful lot of next chapters.
Go by with this all of these journeys and everything you've been through with family as well. It's pretty intense
Terri Ann DiJulio: It has been pretty intense. I remember at one point. I didn't even add this part. There was also a divorce in there But I remember Say once okay, so we'll go maybe a whole year without something happening and that hasn't happened in a really long time Yeah, so the beauty of all i've been through it sounds a little odd to say it i'm not grateful for any of it.
I am grateful for what I've been able to pull from it. And I've been able to pull something positive out of everything.
Michael Schweisheimer: When you were diagnosed for the third time, not even talking about the stroke, but that third diagnosis. That feels like it would be very difficult to rise up another time.
Terri Ann DiJulio: During that time, I was a little saturated with lung cancer.
I had just finished a campaign. My 59th birthday, I wanted to raise 60, 000 in my 60th year for lung cancer. So, I did that campaign. My aunt was dying from lung cancer and then I was diagnosed for the third time. I remember thinking at one time, seriously, I don't. I just, it's not that I can't go through it, I just didn't want to.
I just don't wanna do this again. But what's your choice? You rise and you handle it. So I allow myself a little pity party. I don't make myself feel bad for it, and then I move on.
Michael Schweisheimer: I would think the pity party has to be a necessary step, right? My goodness. And it's interesting. So I mentioned Dave before, he's a cancer survivor. Also, he survived a really major battle with leukemia and we were just having a conversation yesterday and it wasn't actually related to your upcoming interview, but he was talking about how a lot of our lives are made possible by suspending belief in our own mortality, right? But he said that once that's been stripped away.
As strongly as battling cancer, that it's hard or even impossible to get back into that state of suspended disbelief. Is that accurate?
Terri Ann DiJulio: I absolutely share that. I think I might have said it in my story, but I say that I've had the luxury of experiencing life threatening illnesses without actually dying.
Michael Schweisheimer: You did say that, yes.
Terri Ann DiJulio: That profoundly changed me. I liken my lung cancer to a hurricane. I've lived through hurricanes. You can prepare for it. You can come up with a plan. You're not 100 percent sure how it's going to go, but at least you feel like you've got somewhat of a plan. A stroke is a tornado. It just can take you out.
One day, I got up out of bed, I walked over to my kitchen, and I was on the floor, and I lost the left side of my body. in a split second. So I'd say that combined with my brother's death changed how I live my life. I don't really take anything for granted. I live as big as I possibly can because we really don't get a second chance at a lot of things.
Michael Schweisheimer: So, why waste it? I think that by knowing Dave, or hearing stories from people like yourself, or just the work that I do, I get to hear stories about that change in perception. But I think that it is really hard to have it without having traversed one of those journeys, I think. Because I don't know that, even though I can mentally get myself there, or remind myself, or think of you, or think of Dave, like, it's hard to actually be there.
Terri Ann DiJulio: It is. There are two messages that I like to spread. One is, of course, the statistics on lung cancer to help prevent and find it and catch it early. But the other is to share my story to help remind people that life is short. And if there's anything that you're thinking, really just take one step towards whatever it is that might be holding you back because you never know where it's going to take you.
I've had this conversation with other people. That have been through similar situations. Like how do we help people get to this beautiful place without going through all the shit we went through? I don't know what the answer is, but I don't want anyone to go through all that I've gone through. Boy, the place I'm at now, I'm the absolute best version of myself.
So if my story can help people find their way here, that would be amazing.
Dave Winston: Hi, I'm Dave Winston, and I've been a storyteller all my life. Sure, I started out by telling whoppers to my mom about who broke the lamp, but now I tell true stories for a living. As producer for PWP video. And occasionally I take to the stage at various story slams.
Today, I'm talking to you as the producer of Mission Story Slam. Michael Schweisheimer and I developed Mission Story Slam for the nonprofit community of Philadelphia to help us come together and share the stories about how we came to a mission driven life. And yes, I have a few beers with friends in the process.
In the last two episodes of the podcast, I've told you what Mission Story Slam storytelling is not. It's not a TED Talk, it's not stand up comedy. So what is it? Well, first of all, it's true. Well, what does that mean? We often say, it's as true as you remember it. Some parts of our memory may be fuzzy, please don't ask me about dates and times, but it's important that the things you talk about in your story actually happened.
Your perspective on these events, or how you interpret them, may be different from others. But facts are facts. What they mean may depend on where you're standing. Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Other Things, was fond of telling a story on certain talk shows. One day he was on his way to a meeting by train.
He was a little early. For the train, so he went into a shop at the station and bought himself a newspaper and a packet of cookies, and then he went out to the platform and picked out a table. He put his cookies on the table, pulled out the section of the paper he wanted, put the rest of the on the table and sat down to read until the train arrived.
After a few minutes, the area started to fill. And another man sat down on the other side of the table, pulled out a section of his newspaper, and started to read. After a few minutes, Adams opened the packet of cookies and ate one. A few seconds later, the man across the table also helped himself to one of the cookies.
This was quite perplexing to Mr. Adams, someone eating his cookies. But being British, he said nothing. and took another cookie. A moment later, the man across the table took another. This went on and on, back and forth, until the cookies were gone. That's when the announcer came on the PA system and announced the next train.
The man across the table stood up, grabbed the rest of his newspaper and the cookie wrapper, and went to meet his train. That's when Mr. Adams noticed that there on the table was the rest of his own newspaper and his packet of cookies. Two people. Having the same experience and coming away with two different stories.
Adams used to say somewhere in England, there's a man telling the exact same story, but he doesn't have the punchline. Your mission story slam story doesn't need a punchline. It does need a beginning, a middle. And an end. And it needs to be as true as you remember it. So join us for the next Mission Story Slam and hear people sharing their truth.
And maybe you can share a little of your own. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or become a missionary and sign up for our Slammail email blasts on the contact page of our website. MissionStorySlam. org
Michael Schweisheimer: In your story, those moments when you're talking about that journey or about where you are today, like those are moments that are really powerful hearing about that transformation and I'm not negating the importance and the power of the statistics that you're sharing. But yeah, thinking about talking to you today, most of my questions are actually about your journey as opposed to.
Some of the statistics, your story stays with me for the volume of difficulty that you've been through, but also for the way that you've emerged from it.
Terri Ann DiJulio: So I think it works really well to help at least for me, get me a little bit closer to that awareness without having to. Walk at the exact same path that warms my heart and makes me very happy.
Michael Schweisheimer: So speaking of this journey, we're what, six months into your journey as a full time advocate. What has it been like as someone who's had a small business for a couple of decades, what has it been like to close a business and leave that career that you were so good at for such a long time and take a whole big new journey?
Terri Ann DiJulio: It's been interesting. I was so ready to make a change and I think that's what made it a little easier. It's something I've done for 40 years. I was really good at it. I just never really loved it. But I'm so passionate about what I've learned and what I'm doing that it was an easy transition. The scary part was no real safety net.
I'm doing something completely different and it is not, I'm putting air quotes here, a full time job. It is something I'm trying out. I'll see what happens. It's a little scary and a little uncomfortable, but I'll grow, I'll learn, I'll figure it out. StorySlam helped me become a better speaker, a better communicator.
When I do things like this, I just say yes to everything, quite frankly, and see where it leads me. It's led me to some pretty interesting places. Never saying no can have some pretty interesting side effects. I follow my intuition. And every time I follow my intuition, it leads to a really wonderful place.
And every time I don't, things don't turn out as well. So I don't have specific goals. Other than, how can I contribute?
Michael Schweisheimer: In your story, you talked about you asked a question.
Terri Ann DiJulio: Yes, I asked a question. That question I asked seven years ago led me down this path, and I just want to follow it and see where it leads.
Never did I think I'd be public speaking. I was terrified of public speaking. Didn't think I'd have lung cancer three times. Didn't think I'd be a caregiver. But I just kept putting one foot in front of the other in situations that felt right. And it's really led to some amazing places. So I have a couple, couple little goals that are pushing me outside of my comfort zone, but I'm also not coming up with some strategic plan.
Michael Schweisheimer: I was thinking about it as like, you know, that the old trite thing about eating an elephant one bite at a time and who in the world would eat an elephant? They're lovely creatures. But I see a lot of reason why. It's not like you can be like, all right, I'm going to cure lung cancer. Like you had that 60, 000 goal in your 60th year.
Like that is a climbable hill. But yeah, switching over to full time advocate doesn't mean you're going to cure cancer.
Terri Ann DiJulio: No, but it means that I have a voice that can be heard. It means I'm doing some work with the government. I'm a consumer reviewer for the Lung Cancer Research Program, which is Super rewarding.
I'm bringing a patient voice to research. I felt compelled to write an article, an essay on a personal experience about stigma. And I published it on my website and it was picked up by two other organizations and now has had global recognition. I have a website, terrianndejulio. com
Michael Schweisheimer: I will put a link in the show notes, but just in case anyone isn't somewhere that they'd be able to do that.
How do you spell your name or how do you spell your URL for us?
Terri Ann DiJulio: Terryann DiJulio, T E R I A N D I J U L I O dot com.
I know it's a mouthful, but there's a way to subscribe to my website and you'll get announcements every time I put out a new blog post. And there's also on my website, there's a resources page and on there are resources for lung cancer patients.
It's resources on how to qualify for screening and have your insurance company pay for it. Screening centers, there's also a resilient souls. It's for people who have been diagnosed with lung cancer. It's an online community. So there's lots of resources there too. So I would love for people to check it out.
I'm doing things that I'm passionate about, but I'm not concerned with the outcome. I'm doing it because I think it's important. And the outcome always surpasses anything I could have imagined. But if I feel like something needs to be said, I say it. Or if I feel a particular community, whether it be the patient community or the medical community needs to hear something, I figure out a way to tell them.
Michael Schweisheimer: With that resource about lung cancer screening, it's actually something that I'm not that aware of myself. Do insurance companies usually block lung cancer screenings the first time you request one? Help me understand what the screening protocols are. Like, should I be getting screened? I've crossed 50, I'm 51 now.
Terri Ann DiJulio: That's a really good question. Lung cancer screening is tied to its smoking history. Unfortunately, a mission that I'm on is to try and figure out what do we need to do to get that changed, but you have to be over 50 years old, you have to have smoked X amount of cigarettes in your lifetime, and then you can qualify for screening.
So, something I don't really talk about often, but it's on that blog post about stigma is I have a smoking history. I was diagnosed at the age of 44 years old. It was originally found at 42 and watched. I didn't smoke enough, putting air quotes around that, to even qualify for screening. So I would never have qualified for screening because you have to have smoked a certain level.
So if my lung cancer wasn't found accidentally in the emergency room for a whole other issue, it's very likely I wouldn't be sitting here today talking to you. Because by the time it... Was what had been discovered might have been too late a lot of times. Before I would talk about my own smoking history, I would talk to people, if I saw them smoking, about smoking cessation, or, and share my story a little bit.
What I want to see is that we stop shaming people. Smoking is an addiction, and let's help them fight it, but let's also get them screened, and try and save a few lives. And not make anybody wrong. Nobody deserves lung cancer. Nobody deserves lung cancer. In your travels as a storyteller, as a speaker, how are you, how do you manage sharing that you have a smoking history, but also battling that stigma?
Michael Schweisheimer: That has to be really tough. And by the way, I should just confess that I definitely was a smoker for a long time. I've, I have quit for well over a decade. But I have a smoking history too, but I'm curious about how you deal with it.
Terri Ann DiJulio: Yeah, Michael, the interesting thing is I didn't, you'll read in my article, I skirted around the issue and I'd say I'm one of six family members who were diagnosed with lung cancer.
We all have varying degrees of history. Some of us smoked, some of us didn't because I had so much shame that I didn't even realize I was carrying until recently. And I was like, Oh my gosh, if I have this shame and I wasn't. I'm willing to really acknowledge it, and I'm outspoken. What about all these other people?
So that's why I felt compelled to write that essay, and that's the one I was talking about that got a pretty wide audience, and I really appreciated that, because we need to get people screened, and we need to save lives, and we need to stop the stigma.
Michael Schweisheimer: It's interesting the way you describe that, because I was like, I should tell Terri Ann about that I have a history and be honest about that.
Terri Ann DiJulio: But like, yeah, it wasn't that easy to say in this format. I know there's been so much investment since like the tobacco settlements in smoking cessation and anti smoking campaigns. I would think there's probably an awful lot of people in our age group, older, younger, that are former smokers who probably are carrying...
But shame and don't even realize it. Yeah. And you'd look at the statistics too. In my family, we are those statistics. There are six of us, two people that in my family that passed away from lung cancer, never picked up a cigarette a day in their lives. I had a lot of fear when I published that essay. It was the first time I really publicly admitted my full story.
And again, I want to do scary things. So thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that with me and go get screened.
Michael Schweisheimer: Okay. Yes. I will go get screened. I will be encouraging my wife to go get screened. There'll be lots of encouragement. I know you had the goal of trying to lean in and do the scary story slam with no notes.
It sounds like you've told us a little bit about some of the things that you're up to in terms of patient advocacy and work like that. What else is next on the agenda for the second half of this first year as a full time advocate?
Terri Ann DiJulio: I'm in the middle of reviews for the Lung Cancer Research Program. I'm also working with the Lung Cancer Roundtable with the American Cancer Society.
This fall, I have a few speaking engagements in the medical community. So things are starting to come in based on me just sharing my story and putting the word out and writing articles.
Michael Schweisheimer: That's cool. I'm gonna like, yeah, hopefully you'll get some other random connections from people listening to this too.
We'll be having another story slam in the fall. I know now you've done this once. But I'm hoping that you might come back and tell another story for us. Sure. Why not? I think this has been a great conversation. Thank you so very much for coming out to the Mission Story Slam podcast, Terri Ann. Thank you.
Terri Ann DiJulio: This was really fun.
Michael Schweisheimer: And I want to thank our audience. You are the reason we created Mission Story Slam and this podcast. Remember, mark your calendars now for Mission Story Slam 9 on Tuesday, December 5th at National Mechanics in Old City, Philadelphia. The theme is moving right along. Until December 5th, I hope you'll reach out and let us know how we can make this podcast better.
We'd love to hear about how storytelling keeps you engaged with both your mission and work. Or just send us some ideas for some themes for future SLAMs or even podcast guests. Reach out to us through our website missionstorieslam. org Or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter X, whatever you feel like calling it.
And please share this podcast with friends and colleagues you think would enjoy what we're doing at Mission Story Slam. And don't forget, it's true. Ratings and reviews are really helpful. If you're not aware of it, that's a very powerful tool for podcasts like ours. And if you do like this podcast, I'd like to recommend you check out another one that we're producing a PWP video.
It's the Mission Business Podcast from your part time controller, LLC. And it highlights professionals and stories from the nonprofit sector and beyond. It's hosted by YPTC Managing Partner, Jennifer Oliva. And in the show, she weaves together some fascinating interviews with nonprofit leaders and other unique segments from other members of the YPTC team.
The Mission Stories Land podcast is produced by Dave Winston, edited by James Robinson, and brought to you by PWP Video. We are Video with a Mission. You can find us at pwpvideo. com. We'll be back in about a month with another episode. Until then, I'm Michael Schweizermer, and I will look forward to sharing the next story behind the story with you soon.