Elizabeth Naylor
Episode 157

Narrator: Welcome, friends, to another episode of The Story and Experience podcast. Join your host, Japhet De Oliveira with his guest today, and discover the moments that shape us, our families, and communities.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, welcome, friends to another episode of The Story and Experience Podcast. I am super delighted to be able to have this guest here, because I met them only recently, and heard their story and thought, "Oh, I need to find a way to record them," so very delighted to be able to do this. Wish I could be in person, but we're over technology, and it's going to be fantastic.

If you're brand new to the podcast, we have a hundred questions. They progressively become more vulnerable closer to 100, and they're about stories and experiences that shape this person into the formidable leader that they are today. Right. I'm going to begin with the first 10, and then I'm going to hand over to them to choose. I'll start off with, could you tell us your name, and does anybody ever mispronounce it?

Elizabeth Naylor: Elizabeth Naylor, and yes, all the time. People actually like to refer to me as Elizabeth Taylor.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh. Well, that's a good one.

Elizabeth Naylor: It's okay, because I think-

Japhet De Oliveira: That's okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah, she was a lovely woman.

Japhet De Oliveira: She was.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yes, that's probably the biggest joke that I get.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. That's good, Elizabeth. Hey, that's great. Elizabeth, what do you do for work?

Elizabeth Naylor: I do a lot of things. I get to...

Japhet De Oliveira: Two? Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: I get to take care of 17 four legged creatures every day, equines, horses. They are either rescues or retired show horses. I also get to take care of six kitties, occasionally, six rescue dogs.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, my goodness.

Elizabeth Naylor: We're looking to rescue more animals, so we're in the process. That's my full-time job.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah. You run an entire sanctuary for animals, or...

Elizabeth Naylor: It's a private equestrian farm here in Napa Valley, and it's a very, very special place. On top of that, I am the executive director of Crush Cancer Napa Valley.

Japhet De Oliveira: Fantastic.

Elizabeth Naylor: That's a 501(c)(3) foundation that was started in 2010 by a wonderful woman named Rayellen Jordan. Just over two years ago, she handed over the foundation to me to take it to the next level. We help patients in Napa County and Lake County that are currently in treatment with cancer, so that it can make their progress and their journey a little bit easier.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, so of all the charities that you could be part of and help to lead, why did you pick this? I have to ask.

Elizabeth Naylor: Because I'm a breast cancer survivor, and I swore that if I, or when I got well, that I would give back and help others.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. I love that, Elizabeth. That's fantastic. Are you enjoying it?

Elizabeth Naylor: I love it. It feeds my soul in such a way. I don't make a dime from the foundation. I'm in a constant, constant race of raising money.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, wow. Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: I know firsthand what it was like to be a patient, and I was denied disability with cancer, and I called our governor 297 times.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, a few times. Okay. All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: Just, I didn't want him to forget about me, but it was a challenge to go through treatment. I used my life savings. I used my entire life savings to stay alive, but what is your life worth? I didn't want anybody to have to struggle that way. I thought if I could help and make it a little bit easier on them, and also, we have a website of resources, so it helps a lot of patients in all areas of where they are in their treatment.

Oh, man, between that, and never did I think that it would be so joyful to wake up at 5:30 in the morning and bound out of bed, and make my coffee, and put on my warm clothes, and go out and feed these beautiful, beautiful animals, but I get to do that every day.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful, what you shared. You also answered about three questions I was going to ask you, are you an early riser? Like clearly, 5:30. Do you have coffee in the morning? Clearly, you do.

Elizabeth Naylor: I do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hey, that's great. That is fantastic. Elizabeth, a couple of little practical fun ones. If people met you for the first time, would they say you were an introvert or an extrovert, and would you agree with them? Oh, you're shaking your head. All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: I don't want to say it depends on the Elizabeth that you get, because I am who I am, but I would say that I'm very much an extrovert. There are definitely times where I... Yeah, that's a complex question, believe it or not, for me, in the sense that in my twenties, if I would've gone to a restaurant and say a friend canceled, no way would I have stayed seated at the table. I would've had to get up. I couldn't be seen in public by myself sitting at a table. Now, I love, that's for me-

Japhet De Oliveira: You're fine. That's great.

Elizabeth Naylor: Oh, I love it, and I love spending time with myself, but I love meeting people, and hearing their stories, and knowing their journeys, and seeing how we connect as humans, because we all really connect. If we sit and listen long enough, you'll find a connection with anybody.

Japhet De Oliveira: For everybody listening, I met Elizabeth when she was filming part of her story, surviving and out of one of our hospitals, St. Helena, Adventist Health, St. Helena. She was just meeting total strangers and patients, and people as well, and just warm as ever with all of them. I thought, "Whoa, wow, this is a great person." It was wonderful to see that in action, but it's true about you.

Elizabeth Naylor: Who doesn't need a hug?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, that's true. That is true. That is really true. All right, where were you born, Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Naylor: I was born on the East Coast, a little town in the Berkshires of Massachusetts called Great Barrington.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, fantastic. Did you grow up there?

Elizabeth Naylor: I grew up there until I was 13.

Japhet De Oliveira: Ooh, okay. All right. Growing up there, what did you imagine you would grow up to be?

Elizabeth Naylor: I thought as a child, I would be a veterinarian.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's the love of the animals, okay. Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: From the time I can remember, I was on a horse.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, really? Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah. My first horse, I got a pony, a Shetland pony when I was five. Very smart thing to do if anybody's thinking of getting their horses, get a Shetland pony, because boy, they're like Napoleon, and they'll teach you to be a very tough barn girl, that's for sure. He taught me to be very tough.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, that's good. I'm glad for you. I'm glad that you were able to do that. That's great. Hey, just one more question, and I'm going to hand it over to you, which is fantastic. It's a leadership question, are you a backseat driver?

Elizabeth Naylor: Wow. Am I a backseat driver? Before my cancer diagnosis, I was an A type, had to be in charge.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: I am two years out of treatment, or almost two years out of treatment, and my leadership skills are very different now. I take a leadership role generally now because I'm asked to, with no ego attached. How's that? I think ego plays a large role in that. My greatest day is when I don't know something and someone can teach me, where before cancer, I knew everything.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow.

Elizabeth Naylor: If you let go, and you just give it all up, and you don't attach your ego, you can learn so much, but yet you can still, I don't know that I would say be in charge, but you can be the best leader. The best leaders will listen and learn. That's what I love.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is brilliant. I love that. Very insightful. Thank you for sharing that. Okay, the floor is open, Elizabeth, where would you like to go between 11 and 100?

Elizabeth Naylor: Well, because I am the youngest of 13 children-

Japhet De Oliveira: Are you really?

Elizabeth Naylor: Yes, I'm going to say I want number 13.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow. 13. Okay. Oh, this is great for you. Walk us through the ideal end of your day.

Elizabeth Naylor: Oh, I live the ideal end of my day.

Japhet De Oliveira: I knew you were going to say that.

Elizabeth Naylor: I do, every day. Do you know that at 7:45 PM, I walk about 25 feet out of my house to the horse barn, I turn my phone onto a lullaby, I turn a low light on in the barn, I go stall to stall, and I kiss every single horse's nose. I do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: I tell them to have wishful wonderful horse dreams. I turn the light off, I shut the door, and I walk back to my house, and it is the end, every day is the best ending to my day.

Japhet De Oliveira: That is truly beautiful. I like that. All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: The only thing that makes the day, if you want the cherry on top?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, sure.

Elizabeth Naylor: Is then I walk in the house, then my daughter calls. She's off at college, and she's only 47 miles away. Who's counting? When Sophia calls me, and then it's magical.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. I feel the same way when the kids call, it's just, yeah. Well, the earth stands still.

Elizabeth Naylor: That's right.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. All right. Where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: Okay, so let's go to 17.

Japhet De Oliveira: 17. All right. Oh, share one day that is the most special day on the entire calendar, and why?

Elizabeth Naylor: In my life, do you mean?

Japhet De Oliveira: No, in a year.

Elizabeth Naylor: Or the most special day? November 17th.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: It's the day my daughter was born.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great.

Elizabeth Naylor: You said a moment ago that the earth stopped. November 17, to me, is to wake up and realize where I was that day each year, and to realize this beautiful human that I brought into the world, 27 hours of labor, and I did it all natural, and she came at her own time just as she is on this earth now, but November 17th.

Japhet De Oliveira: Beautiful. I hope that she gets to listen to this podcast. I think she's going to love that. Yeah, that's great.

Elizabeth Naylor: It's funny that that was the 17th question.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I know. It's apropos.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Where next after 17?

Elizabeth Naylor: I'll jump around a little bit. I'm 56.

Japhet De Oliveira: 56, all right, let's go there. Ooh. Share an activity that you just lose all sense of time.

Elizabeth Naylor: Mucking stalls in the horse barn.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, really? Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: It's one of my favorite things to do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah. I put my AirPods on, I put James Taylor on.

Japhet De Oliveira: Nice. All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: Off I go. I muck stalls, and I dance around, and I love it.

Japhet De Oliveira: For somebody who's never done that before, could you explain what actually it is?

Elizabeth Naylor: It's cleaning horse's stalls daily. I clean horse's stalls.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, every day? All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yep, and put down bedding for them for nighttime, especially now with winter coming. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Wow, they get a fresh bed made every day?

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. This is great. To be the life of a horse. All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: I know.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: How about 27?

Japhet De Oliveira: 27? All right, here we go. Oh, bring us into the kitchen. You're making a special meal. What would you be making?

Elizabeth Naylor: Spaghetti.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah?

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Do you have a secret for your spaghetti?

Elizabeth Naylor: Yes. It's the only time that, because there's no sugar in my diet, especially after treatment, I do literally about a teaspoon in my sauce. I grow tomatoes all summer. I cut them, I do olive oil, salt and pepper. I roast them, then I puree them, I put them in the freezer. Then in the wintertime, it's my favorite thing to make. I'll make spaghetti sauce. Then of course, you cannot make spaghetti sauce without Napa Valley Cabernet in it.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay. Okay. All right.

Elizabeth Naylor: I always pour a little bit of wine into it as well.

Japhet De Oliveira: Cook all that flavor into it.

Elizabeth Naylor: Oh, it's beautiful.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, good. Good for you. All right. Where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: How about 12?

Japhet De Oliveira: 12? Yes. Oh. What's your favorite movie or book of all time, and why?

Elizabeth Naylor: The Liars' Club by Mary Karr is probably my favorite book.

Japhet De Oliveira: I've not read it. Tell us a little bit about it.

Elizabeth Naylor: My friend, Mickey Raphael, who's a very dear friend, he's a harmonica player with Willie Nelson for 30 years.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, wow. Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: We trade books from time to time. He sent me that book probably 15 or so years ago, and I've passed it on. It's a memoir. It's pretty special. I really do, I love that...

Japhet De Oliveira: I'm going to have to read it.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah, it's a good one, The Liars' Club. My favorite movie?

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: That's too broad a question, because it depends on if it's a romantic comedy. I don't like horror movies of any kind. I won't watch them.

Japhet De Oliveira: God bless you, God bless you. [inaudible 00:14:38], yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: I do not watch them at all. Okay. You're going to laugh, but I'm putting it out there, Footloose, the original.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's really good.

Elizabeth Naylor: I've watched it probably 80 times.

Japhet De Oliveira: Great soundtrack too. No, it's good.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yes. That's why, the soundtrack is so great. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: It's great. Good. All right, where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: Let's go to 50.

Japhet De Oliveira: 50? All right. Oh, share about who's influenced you professionally in your life.

Elizabeth Naylor: Professionally.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: Boy, there's been quite a few. I would say my sister, Claire. She's number 11.

Japhet De Oliveira: I was going to say, out of the 13. Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: She's number 11.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: I would have to say all of my sisters. My brothers are amazing too. My sisters are incredible. I have six just beautiful, bright, brilliant, professional sisters that have all taught me throughout my life in different ways and in different areas of my life. I would definitely say that. Then my dearest friend of 50 years, Julie Zdziarski Jones, she is so smart.

She doesn't even know how she's impacted my life in a sense of when I just sit back and I watch her, and she's been in her professional life, she's just recently retired, but really, really brilliant. Then I would also say two people, there's so many, LeBron James, who I've known and been friends with for about 10 years. I just-

Japhet De Oliveira: Has he taught you a few tricks?

Elizabeth Naylor: He hasn't taught me much about basketball, but he's taught me about giving back, and really about being a really good human. He's a really good human.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful.

Elizabeth Naylor: He really gives back, and Kevin Love, who played with LeBron when I met him on the Cavaliers, and now plays for the Miami Heat, Kevin reached out to me right after my diagnosis, as did LeBron. LeBron came to visit me after my diagnosis. Kevin, the one thing I would say about Kevin is that he had a mental health crisis where he actually left the floor in the middle of a game. He clearly, he had a moment where they thought that if he went public with it, that it could end his career.

Instead, being Kevin, he started the Kevin Love Fund for Mental Health. He saved many lives because he's spoken up. I think when you can do that, when you can take it upon yourself to step out of yourself, even though it's a very tough thing, and as a big professional, you don't want to let anybody know that there's any cracks...

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Elizabeth Naylor: I think that really shows-

Japhet De Oliveira: Character.

Elizabeth Naylor: ... True, yes. There's a lot of people, but I would definitely say...

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, that's great. Do all these people know that they've had this marvelous influence on you?

Elizabeth Naylor: Probably not, but I hope they listen to the podcast now.

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, I hope they listen to it too.

Elizabeth Naylor: I really do.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, hear your story. Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: I really do. They've all played a very pinnacle role. Of course, professionally as a mother, my mother.

Japhet De Oliveira: Aww.

Elizabeth Naylor: My mother taught me, raising 13 children-

Japhet De Oliveira: 13 kids, yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah, she taught me how to be the mom that I am.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's beautiful. That is beautiful. Hey, Elizabeth, thank you for sharing that. All right, where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: 35.

Japhet De Oliveira: 35? Okay, here we go. Oh, share a special interest or unique talent that you have.

Elizabeth Naylor: Oh, my gosh, that's a really hard question. I like to think that I can sing pretty well.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's good, that's good.

Elizabeth Naylor: But I sing-

Japhet De Oliveira: You haven't gone on America's Got Talent yet?

Elizabeth Naylor: No. I sing in the shower and I sing in the car. I think I'm a good singer, but don't we all?

Japhet De Oliveira: Well...

Elizabeth Naylor: I can play tennis both right and left-handed.

Japhet De Oliveira: There you go. Playing tennis with one hand is just good enough. Both are fantastic.

Elizabeth Naylor: There you go.

Japhet De Oliveira: Okay, that's great. All right. All right, where next, then?

Elizabeth Naylor: Let's see, what number haven't I... How about 14?

Japhet De Oliveira: 14? Okay, let's go there. Oh, tell us about what you enjoy doing outside of work.

Elizabeth Naylor: Spending time with my daughter, spending time with my friends, spending time with my family. Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. I would imagine.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah, spending time with the people that we love.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, community feel.

Elizabeth Naylor: Oh, yeah. Yep. To step away. I just was able to do that last week, as a matter of fact. I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico for five days, and I realized I really needed it. It kind of recharges your battery when you can do those kinds of things. If I have a choice of doing one thing, it's being with Sophia.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, good.

Elizabeth Naylor: I think even at the age of 20, in a couple of weeks, I think she kind of likes hanging out with me too.

Japhet De Oliveira: See, that's pretty fantastic when they love you that much. Yeah, it is.

Elizabeth Naylor: I know. I like to think that.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, no, it is. It is something to be treasured for sure.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yeah.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right, where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: Let's go to 65.

Japhet De Oliveira: 65? Okay. Here we go. Oh, share one word that you could use to describe your past, and then unpack that one word.

Elizabeth Naylor: Insecure. I spent a lot of years being very insecure, and I look back at that now, and I kind of view that word very differently than it... Growing up as a teenager, we're all a bit insecure, and then we go into our crazy twenties, and do wild things and whatnot. I would say that probably until close to the, I'm 56, but to close to the age of 50, I was pretty insecure.

Japhet De Oliveira: Hmm. What changed it for you?

Elizabeth Naylor: Really, really looking inside myself. My daughter's dad and I, we're not together, but we parent together and we're good friends. I did something after we split up, and we've been split now for, oh, my gosh, almost 15 years. When we separated, I dated myself for three years. I decided I was just going to date myself. In that time, I learned a lot about myself, and I learned about-

Japhet De Oliveira: Very good.

Elizabeth Naylor: ... What I needed to change within myself. We can look out and say what we need change or what we think others need to change, but that's not our job. Our job is to look within what we will change within ourselves. When you do that, it becomes very clear and very easy about what you want, what you don't want.

Then of course, after the cancer diagnosis and treatment, boundaries became very, very clear as far as what I would accept in my life. Your life can be taken in a moment for any reason. You could get hit by a car, you could have cancer, it could be anything. My boundaries are very, very clear now, and it makes life so joyful.

Japhet De Oliveira: I was going to ask you if there was one thing, but you've already said it, boundaries.

Elizabeth Naylor: Boundaries.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's a great thing. Important for so many people.

Elizabeth Naylor: Yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: You have to come to it at your own time.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes.

Elizabeth Naylor: Even now, having conversations with my daughter, she has to go through the process, and you have to allow the heartache, and you have to allow all of that in order to realize what the boundaries mean.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's so true.

Elizabeth Naylor: You have to go through it all.

Japhet De Oliveira: Love that. That's brilliant. Great insights, Elizabeth. Thank you for sharing that. All right, where next?

Elizabeth Naylor: How about 25?

Japhet De Oliveira: 25. All right, here we go. Oh, share the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.

Elizabeth Naylor: We all... I'm pretty clear at this point what I would say. I watch a lot of videos because of the foundation. I recently watched a video of a little boy who was diagnosed with cancer, and he was in remission. His mom was taking him back to school, and they walked into the school and when they went around the corner, all the kids were standing in line, and they had signs for him and they were cheering for him. It was a really beautiful moment for me, I thought.

I actually wrote, "I think this is one of the most beautiful moments that I was able to witness." Just watching this little boy, he was so trepidatious and he was so not sure. This little boy just walked out of the crowd and went right up and just hugged him. They just hugged each other, and they took his hand, and off he went. His mother was crying, and I was crying, but it was just humanity. Just if we remember just the little things in life every day, you don't have to do grandiose things.

Just do the little things, they really matter. When I finished treatment at the Martin O'Neill Cancer Center, it was during COVID, and I had to walk out to ring the gong.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes, that's right. Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: I walked out, and there was all the people that I loved standing there, and it was such a beautiful moment. Then I turned around, not realizing that the beautiful team of nurses and doctors that took care of me were standing behind me. I just stopped. I thought, "What a moment." I said, in that video, "I don't want to leave because I will love you all," I got to come back for radiation, but moments like that, they touch me. That little boy, his little face will stay with me.

Japhet De Oliveira: You're very good at actually lifting up people. Have people told you that?

Elizabeth Naylor: From time to time, yes.

Japhet De Oliveira: When we filmed you for your story, we noticed that, I noticed that off, we filmed a lot of B-roll, obviously, that we did not capture into the film because of that short time, but you shared some really incredible insights about the doctor that took care of you.

Elizabeth Naylor: Oh.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah. I think on record, we need to record this. You just, tell us a little bit about why this doctor was so special to you.

Elizabeth Naylor: Dr. Ethan Schramm, if you'd like, I could do it A to Z, or I could do it one to 100. I really could. He is someone to me who... It's hard to put into words how my heart feels about him. I knew him as an acquaintance, and I said in that video that I quietly hoped that he would never have to be my oncologist, that he could just be my friend, but it didn't turn out that way.

I was actually diagnosed at a different facility. I was misdiagnosed at a different facility, and I called Dr. Schramm. He was on vacation, and I didn't know he was on vacation, I left a message. He called me back from vacation. It didn't matter that he was on vacation... You just said I lift people up.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yes, you do.

Elizabeth Naylor: Well, I learned it from him, because the compassion. I don't know anybody who really would want to go into oncology.

Japhet De Oliveira: Yeah, I know. I could imagine.

Elizabeth Naylor: Although if you look at it, I'm a cancer survivor, so he got to tell me that, but I know that he doesn't get to tell all of his patients that. It takes a special person that wants to go into that kind of line of work.

I did have a conversation with him one time, and he told me that, I asked him if he ever thought about pediatric oncology, and he said if it was something that he had done, he has two boys, he would've had to quit after having his boys because it would've just been too close for him. I don't know anybody that can do pediatric oncology. That's a whole different-

Japhet De Oliveira: Another level. Yeah.

Elizabeth Naylor: Dr. Schramm, coming from a misdiagnosis, and being told that you have cancer, and you're scared, and you just want somebody to tell you that it's going to be okay. He told me that it was going to be okay, but more importantly, I believed him. I believed him. He wasn't just saying words. He's always been straightforward with me. He made me cry once, because he only yelled at me once. He showed up at my house because I got COVID shortly after my diagnosis, and he brought me popsicles on the 4th of July at my house.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's great, that's great.

Elizabeth Naylor: I didn't feel good. He came to my house to try to fix my furnace, because he was also my neighbor down the street, come on. Who couldn't love this man? He is somebody that is with me every day. When I wake up in the morning and I open my eyes, the first thing I do is I do a moment of gratitude. He's a part of my moment of gratitude every day.

Japhet De Oliveira: That's wonderful.

Elizabeth Naylor: He's very, very special. I hope nobody out there ever has to have him as their oncologist, but I hope many of you can call him your friend, because if you do, you're very, very lucky.

Japhet De Oliveira: Elizabeth, that was beautiful. We... Amazing. We only have time for two more numbers. Where would you like to go for your last two numbers?

Elizabeth Naylor: Then I'm going to go to 90.

Japhet De Oliveira: 90? Okay. 90 it is. Oh, well, tell us about how you overcame a seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

Elizabeth Naylor: My team, and I won't sit here and say I didn't have bad days or that I didn't tread backwards. For me and my journey, I only see forward. From the moment that I was diagnosed and there was a plan, then I put my plan in place, and I want to live, and I want to live with my daughter, and I want to travel and do all of this. I put a very clear plan in place as to how I was going to move forward.

That's a very broad question in the sense of it has to be mind, body, and soul, and it has to be nutrition, and it has to be your way of life, and how you choose every single thing. I changed, not that I was doing anything wrong, but things are very different in my life now as far as moving forward. When I tell you that every day is joyful, I say, I mean it. Every day is joyful.

Japhet De Oliveira: I can tell. I can tell. That's good. That's really good. All right, Elizabeth. Yeah, go on.

Elizabeth Naylor: I have to ask 100.

Japhet De Oliveira: Oh, you do? Okay.

Elizabeth Naylor: I do. Since you said they get more... I got, I have to do it, so 100.

Japhet De Oliveira: All right. Well, here's question 100, then. Tell us about one question that you don't want to answer.

Elizabeth Naylor: I don't have a question that I don't want to answer. I do not. I'm an open book, because if asking me a tough question, or asking me any kind of question can help, then why wouldn't I answer it?

Japhet De Oliveira: Well, then, do this for me. Thinking about the people who listen around the world to this podcast, and thinking about the next generation coming up, what would you say if you had one thing to leave to the next generation you would want them to hear?

Elizabeth Naylor: I would tell them that sweating the small stuff, having fear in your life will not get you anywhere. Having hope, love, and humanity, but it has to truly come from your heart. When you start doing and living that way, it becomes such a part of your daily routine that when you don't feel that you're giving, or you don't feel that that love is exuding from you, something's missing. Nothing's missing from me when it comes to conflict, or drama, or anything like that.

What I find missing for me is, have I done the best that I can do today? When I lay my head down on the pillow tonight, can I say, "I really did the best. I really, really, really didn't sweat the small stuff, and tomorrow's a new day. If I didn't do it right today, I'll try again tomorrow."

Japhet De Oliveira: That is good. That is good wisdom. Elizabeth, it has been an absolute pleasure to be able to talk to you. Thank you so much. Wow.

Elizabeth Naylor: Same.

Japhet De Oliveira: You love humanity, for sure, and you love also animals, which is great, double whammy. Hey, it's been great. If people do the same thing that you and I just did now, sit down with each other and ask good questions, and we learn about each other, we are so much better for it. We're all transformed for it.

Elizabeth Naylor: You better believe it. I agree. Thank you so much for having me.

Japhet De Oliveira: Absolutely, absolutely. God bless you, and all our listeners as well. We will connect again on another episode soon. Thanks again, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Naylor: Okay, bye.

Japhet De Oliveira: Bye.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for The Story and Experience Podcast. We invite you to read, watch, and submit your story and experience at AdventisHealth.org/story. The Story and Experience Podcast was brought to you by Adventis Health through the Office of Culture.