Welcome to the “Making of a DM,” Nick the Brave. Today's show has a special guest that you've never heard of from before, the winner of the two Super Bowl Championship tickets that I gave out to this amazing young man. You're going to hear a story and, more importantly, how historic can make a massive impression on your life. So, with that said, let's get started.
Mark: Hey there. It’s your boy, Mark Evans DM, the Making of a DM. Today we have a special guest. We have Nicholas the Brave here. What's up, Nicholas?
Nicholas: Nothing.
Mark: How are you doing, buddy?
Nicholas: Good.
Mark: Good, man. We’re sitting here in beautiful Parkland, Florida. Why are we sitting here? To do a podcast show, right? [01:05.5]
Nicholas: You could tell my story.
Mark: Yeah, you've got a story to talk about, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah, you’ve got a lot of cool stuff to share. Guys, what we want to do is we're going to have a conversation with Nicholas, kind of where he's at, what's going on, his mindset, where he's going and all this cool stuff.
Nicholas, talk about your intro, “Nicholas the Brave.” Why did they call you Nicholas to Brave?
Nicholas: In the clinic, cancer clinic, I wouldn't fight the nurses.
Mark: Yeah?
Nicholas: Yeah. You see the little kids screaming, and then if you do it positively, they like you better, and that's why I got the nickname.
Mark: The cool story you told me about was with the quarters, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That was the quarter story.
Nicholas: No, not quarter. They're, like, coins.
Mark: Oh, just a coin?
Nicholas: Yeah, and after you’ve got your vitals taken with the cuff, temperature [unclear 01:59.5] thing, they would give you a coin, and I would always give it to the little kids, so they would have two coins. [02:10.4]
Mark: Nice. And they can leave and what do they get?
Nicholas: Bouncy balls.
Mark: Bouncy balls and stuff like that.
Nicholas: A little like dollar store kids’ toys, yeah.
Mark: That's cool. So, Nicholas, talk about your story. You were leaving, what was it, Panama City?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: On vacation. This was what, three or four years ago?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: So, what was going on? What happened?
Nicholas: I love crabs, so we thought it was crab sickness, but we went through our local physicians and they gave me shots in my arm and medicine more for my migraine. And then, we come back and they found cancer in the middle of my brain. It went like this and like this. It would be right in the middle, and they said it was cancer. So, we had to do chemo, and I had an adult dose of chemotherapy and then adult dose of radiation, and that didn’t ... It worked. [03:05.5]
And then, I was good for a year or two, and then it came back, and then I had more. But they did more chemotherapy every day for a month, and then in the hospital for months, every Friday, so during the week, and then chemo weekend. Chemo weekend. They did it for five weeks, and then that was it, but I had to stay in the hospital for that.
Mark: Oh, you had to stay the whole time?
Nicolas: Yeah.
Mark: Oh, wow.
Nicholas: But then I was stable for a year, and then it came back again, and then that's the present day.
Mark: The present day, huh? And right now your present day, you're on chemo right now.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Right. This is a little bit different, though. A little bit of oral chemo now? [04:00.3]
Nicholas: And I have mouth sores.
Mark: Yeah, from it?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: It's pretty aggressive stuff.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah? Does it help you, though? How do you feel [about] the chemo? Obviously, I've never had it. But does it make you tired?
Nicholas: A little.
Mark: Yeah? Tired. Make you feel grumpy and sicky?
Nicholas: Sick.
Mark: Yeah, sick feeling. Messes with your fingers and legs, and all that, nerves?
Nicholas: There’s one chemo. It’s not. All chemos mess with your fingers and legs, and stuff. But the chemo, this chemo, this makes me … chemo makes you think you're going to throw up, but you do throw up, even though you don't have anything still in your stomach.
Mark: Right. Okay, so it's like a bunch of weird liquid stuff? And you're like, Where did that come from?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: So, right now, what does your chemo schedule look like now?
Nicholas: Two pills. I did more like 10 pills, but they're different pills. Some are for pain. Some are for digestive and sometimes some are for bathroom, bathroom regimens, and then some are pain. I already said that, but when you go and the mouth sores I have right now, we had to stop a med, and now I'm just taking one med. [05:22.7]
Mark: Right. So, you're like the experimental guy, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That's why they like you as well in the hospital. They say, if you can't handle it, no one can.
Nicholas: Yeah, but when I had my port, they would stick a needle in for my chemo, but I don't have any port anymore. But they tried a trial thing on me, one of the needle things. It wasn't very good.
Mark: Didn't feel too good, huh?
Nicholas: No. It was like if you had a razor blade that went like this and on a needle, and you pulled it out and it pulled.
Mark: Oh, wow. Yeah, it doesn't feel good.
Nicholas: No.
Mark: So a lot of people are wondering how we met, why we're sitting here talking on a podcast show about you and me. [06:07.4]
About two weeks ago—it was about two weeks ago, right?—we were doing a Super Bowl giveaway of two tickets to someone and I did a whole promotion talking about it. I want to find someone that's an amazing person that has something going on in their life that is insanely powerful, wild. It's over the top, which in your case is definitely amazingly over the top for such a young man. We ended up picking you.
But what I did was I did a Facebook Live. A guy who actually lives in this complex knows Nick. Nick is the one that shot the video to me for you, and then I talked to Nick. I talked to you guys, and now we're sitting here two weeks later. Pretty wild, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: So, you went to the Super Bowl already.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Did you like the Super Bowl? Did you guys have a good time?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: What was your favorite part of the Super Bowl?
Nicholas: When the Chiefs won.
Mark: That's it. And not only that, you were hanging out with that little celebrity kid. That was cool. He was out on the field right after you talked to him, right? [07:02.7]
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That's pretty neat. You liked it? The seats were good? The food was good?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah? I saw you on the jumbotron, throwing food at people, peanuts at people. No, I was just sassing. So, that's how we met. Everyone I talk to is typically a business owner or entrepreneur of some sort, and what I love about you and what you’ve got going on in your life is your attitude in life, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: It's so powerful. There are some guys and gals that call me, and they think they have a lot going on in their life, and then I hear your story and I'm like, We have nothing going on.
You told me a good story. You kind of started sharing it about the positive attitude of dealing with where you're at.
Nicholas: So, cancer is not a bad thing if you go through it negatively, because when you feel bad, you're saying, I give up, when you're negative. But when you're positive, you can strongly fight through it. And then, when you're not, yeah, that's what I told my mom. Negative makes you feel worse. Positive makes you feel better. [08:07.1]
Mark: Yeah. It's literally as simple as that, but getting it in your brain to understand that, it’s a big deal. You probably see a lot of kids that are negative with it. How do they deal with it when they're negative? You see them just kind of screaming and kicking?
Nicholas: No, they're just down inside.
Mark: Yeah. How do you get up inside? How do you wake up and get positive and all that every day?
Nicholas: Because I wake up during the day.
Mark: Yeah, that's the battle, right? Just being able to wake up. So, you’ve got that attitude, but have you ever read any books, and understand the positive and negative mindset?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: You just kind of figured it out, and your mom and dad have helped you with that clearly. Pretty cool people, huh?
Nicholas: Yeah. My dad stays up if I can't sleep and he's my morning person. And my brother is nice to me now.
Mark: He's not hitting you on the head anymore?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: Wrestling around? No, I think what's cool about this is it's all mindset, how you see the world. It's not even that. How you see yourself, how you see others and fighting your challenges. [09:08.2]
Nicholas: But you still get pain.
Mark: Of course, yeah.
Nicholas: But better if you take it in a positive way.
Mark: What does a bad day for you look like?
Nicholas: Stomach hurts.
Mark: Is that what it is? A lot of stomach pain?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: So, you just lay there?
Nicholas: For me it was stomach pain, but like anything else, nauseous stuff and pain, tingling in your legs, pain, yeah. If you hit something on your … and it hurts. And my head, when my head was bald, it was sensitive.
Mark: Oh, was it?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That makes sense. Wow. So, what does a good day look like for you? So, you get up. I mean, do you sleep? How is your sleeping and everything? Because you’ve got a pretty crazy schedule, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: So you don't sleep that much? No?
Nicholas: But when I can, I do.
Mark: Yeah, I know. Your mom was sending me some pictures of you passed out in the afternoon. That's good. You’ve got to get your rest anytime you can get to sleep, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Is it just because you're anxious and you’ve got a lot of projects going on, and you’ve got a lot going on and you just don't feel like sleeping? [10:12.1]
Nicholas: No. just don't feel like sleeping, yeah. Some days I'm up all night and sometimes I can go to bed at 08:00 and sometimes 10:00, and sometimes 12:00.
Mark: Oh yeah?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: When you're lying there and you can't go to sleep, are you thinking about … are you reading? Are you watching TV? Are you playing games? What do you do?
Nicholas: Play games on my iPad. I have this iPad pro thing and the nurses, when I brought the first time they, they said, “Is that a TV?” I like to be positive because I always said God gave me cancer because of little ones. I give my coins to the little ones. That’s just off-topic, but God gave me cancer because the little ones couldn't take it, so that's why I have multiple cancers, yeah. [11:06.4]
Mark: What kind of cancer do you exactly have?
Nicholas: There's not really a name. I just have brain tumors now. But the first one is called pinealoblastoma. I don’t know how to spell it.
Mark: I was going to say, don't ask me.
Nicholas: But if you took a diagram like I showed you, it would be right in the middle, and that's on your pineal gland, which is the thing that produces melatonin. That's why I don't sleep. And it blocked my spinal fluids, so massive headache, and we were coming home fine and I would throw up every 20 minutes.
Mark: Yeah, in those bags, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Thank God they have those bags, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: I always thought that was for trash. So, God gave you cancer because the little kids couldn't handle it, right? That's a pretty cool outlook. So, what's it like when you're at the hospital? Are there a lot of kids in there hanging out with their parents or what? [12:10.8]
Nicholas: It’s like there are two wings of it. When you're sick and can't be by people, there are these folks going to a room in, like, a hospital that you go to to go get a physical or something. And then, there's another side where it's just like a curtain and there's just [loose hair? care? 12:33.0], and then a couple of [stairs? tiers? cares? 12:35.1], like normal care, and then, there's a couple. And then, they stick you if you have a port and they stick you if you have IVs.
Mark: IVs.
Nicholas: Those suck.
Mark: Yeah, they don't feel good, right?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: So, at the school, when you go to the doctor's office or the hospital are the parents in the waiting room waiting, or is this an all-day thing or what does it look like? [13:07.6]
Nicholas: The parents are coming with you. They’re in the room with you. It would suck if you couldn't have parents there, but they come in. Then, you get, like, they tell how many meds you are taking and if you still take that med, and if you need a refill on the med or what the doctor says.
Mark: Yeah, you could probably be a doctor with all this stuff, couldn’t you?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Probably too much stuff. You probably know too much.
Nicholas: I already have the Netter’s medical books.
Mark: Do you? You kind of learn what it does and what it means, and all that?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That's pretty cool. On your side kind of, what are the goals? I mean, that's where you're at. You're 13. You'll be 14 on June 23, right? Is that correct?
Nicholas: {Mm-hm.}
Mark: Do you have any big plans for your birthday?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: Not yet? Maybe there could be something big one day in your plans for that, right? With what you're working on, what kind of goals and dreams do you have right now? What are you working on? [14:07.9]
Nicholas: Chemos. Chemo, puppy and kitten.
Mark: Chemo, kitties.
Nicholas: And canines.
Mark: Yep, that's your website.
Nicholas: Yeah, and that's me. But the main idea was to go to hospital and have a sheet, and they can pick up a cat, dog or puppy, and that's what … because I only have four dogs, so I don't need any more dogs, but I want more dogs. But I don't need more. I had a dog I got for Christmas two years ago, and she knows I'm sick and helps me up the stairs.
Mark: That's cool.
Nicholas: And she’ll wait for me then get up the stairs, so she can go up the stairs. But they always need a companion, not others than their parents or their brothers and their sisters. [15:11.0]
Mark: Right. So, it's kind of like an animal to give you relief and be there to support you, and help you and all that, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: It's pretty cool. It's kind of like your buddy. If you're not sleeping, they're not sleeping. You kind of hang out with them, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: So, you have the Chemo, Kitties and Canines. That's going to be your website that people can click on, and go and register, and just follow what you’ve got going on. Also, people could follow you on Bumpy on Instagram, right?
Nicholas: @bumpy_06.
Mark: “bumpy” underscore “06”. They can follow that on the show, see that and all that, because you’ve got a lot of cool stuff you're going to be sharing over there. What about your book? You're working on a book right now, too, right?
Nicholas: Yeah, like a guide through cancer. What MRIs are like, what a port is like, and some … because the needles are scary, too. [16:02.4]
Mark: Yeah, very scary. Right? I'm still afraid of needles.
Nicholas: Some needles are wrong. The first time I got my flu shot when I was in chemo, it was that long.
Mark: Oh wow. Where did they stick it?
Nicholas: In my arm.
Mark: Oh, really?
Nicholas: It's the same thing as a normal flu shot. It's just deeper.
Mark: Okay, going straight to the source, huh?
Nicholas: {Uh-huh}.
Mark: That's pretty wild. You're not afraid of that stuff anymore?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: It's like whatever.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: You know it's just going to be a pinch for a second?
Nicholas: I just got over IVs, so …
Mark: So, in your book you want to teach people about MRIs, about cancer. What else is inside of the book?
Nicholas: Handling the [unclear 16:46.6], positiveness.
Mark: Yeah, because at the end of the day, you get cancer and you're either going to deal with it or not.
Nicholas: Yeah. You can’t just … some cancers are treated this … you don’t have to do chemo. You can just go into surgery and they can take it out. But mine was too … [17:08.2]
Mark: Non operable?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah, you don't want to be messing with that brain, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That's not good. So, on your book, though, is it for the kids or for the parents?
Nicholas: Both. And if you just want to read the book, you can.
Mark: Well, I can't read. I just need a lot of pictures. Can you put some pictures in there for me? All right, cool. So, when you found out that day, take me back to when you guys found out, because I'm sure for your mom and dad it was pretty crazy, huh? It was a very big day.
Nicholas: Because I've always been smarter than the average there, so I knew what it was. So, the first time they went and knew it, they wouldn't let me drink any water. They wouldn't let me eat anything, because they didn't know what it was. And then, they gave me swabs, so I wouldn't dry out, but that was it.
Mark: Those ice swabs or whatever, right? You’re sucking on them. [18:10.7]
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Those are fun. But you find out. What does your brain think instantly, like, Okay, we've got to figure out where the solutions are here?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: You're very solution-driven.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: You know that, right? You know what that means?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: You go for solutions. You think of the positive. I’ve got to deal with it. Let's just solve it. This needle, I'm going to get a needle. Just give it to me. I’ve got to do it. It's a solution. It's going to get me to the next step. Let's keep going. Right? That's very positive thinking. That's a good thing.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Because some people are thinking, thinking and thinking. They never do it or they go negative. It’s like, poor me, pity party. You know what a pity party is? So, they have a pity party. The problem with the pity party is no one brings gifts to pity parties, right? So, for you, you have a very amazing outlook on life with where you're at, and that’s your mom and dad, and everyone around you support. Pretty amazing support group around you, huh? [19:02.9]
Nicholas: It was like Christmas when they first [found out] that I would get bunches of candy, and I still have candy.
Mark: Still.
Nicholas: But it’s really old.
Mark: It's sugar. It won't expire. I'm sure you're good. So, on your book, though, I believe, because you and I talked about this, I think your book is more for the parents than the children, because it’s coming from a child's perspective about cancer.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: I think that's a good thing. On your book, when you're writing that book, are you thinking about the pieces? How do you feel when you're sitting there doing your chemo stuff? How do you think Mom and Dad feels? Are you thinking about that?
Nicholas: Sad.
Mark: Sad?
Nicholas: Not, like, sad.
Mark: But they shouldn't feel sad though, right? Because you're like, I got this, I'm good.
Nicholas: Yeah. But the first time, when they found out, they cried, but … My doctor always said, “You're going to cry. Parents are going to cry. Brother is going to cry. But after they’ve found out and that's done, they don't really do.” But the first time, I struggled with eating. This time, I can eat that, but it’s hard. [20:18.2]
Mark: Yeah. Because of the mouth sores?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Yeah. But now you like real yogurt, right? You don't like Greek yogurt now.
Nicholas: No.
Mark: No, I think the reason I'm bringing that up on your book, I think writing perspective, “Hey Mom and Dad, I know you're sad” is kind of what you're talking about, because it sounds like your doctor painted the picture of this, the process you're going to go through.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Discover we have cancer. Oh my gosh, this is a big deal. Boom. It’s the grieving moment. Now we have to go and let's get to the solution moment, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: From your writing, it’s like, Hey, I'm hanging out here. This isn't fun. I feel like crap. But, Mom and Dad, I got this right. It makes them feel good and it makes you feel good, and everyone's moving forward.
Nicholas: All the nurses are pretty confident, too. [21:02.4]
Mark: They're confident?
Nicholas: Yeah, in stuff, doing this stuff.
Mark: They’d better be. You don't want an unconfident nurse in there.
Nicholas: But there are some who need more training.
Mark: You told me this, yep.
Nicholas: But they're all good nurses.
Mark: That's awesome.
Nicholas: I always say after, like, 10 years, they need a [reassessment].
Mark: Reassess, kind of redo, yep?
Nicholas: Kind of IVs and stuff.
Mark: They kind of get complacent and they get lazy on their job. They're just grabbing you and sticking you, and going, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Instead of calm them down, relax, take it easy, huh? Maybe your book can have that. Talk to them about, Hey, I'm a person over here. You probably should be a little gentler. Huh?
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: What would you like to tell someone that's in business? Obviously, it's all mindset-driven, everything you're about. But in business, because you're a businessman with your books, your podcast shows, because in business you've got to make money. You’ve got to create solutions and solve problems for people. That's how you get paid, right? [22:09.7]
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: And what would you tell them if they're struggling? Maybe they're having issues with their teams or businesses. Just stay moving forward, right? Positive and moving forward.
Nicholas: Yeah, positive. In the long run, everything's going to be okay. But if you go negative, it's the short run, so you'll be done.
Mark: Exactly. I love it.
Nicholas: But knowing that everything is going to be okay, if you're positive.
Mark: I agree, because right now with the books, the websites and all that, that's legacy-building. I wish I was legacy-building at your age. You want to leave a big legacy in life, right? What do you want your legacy to be? Just kind of helping people?
Nicholas: Yeah, help kids.
Mark: You're a big helper.
Nicholas: I want to be an oncologist, which is a cancer doctor like my doctor. But cancer is for a long time, because I have to go to appointments when I'm, like, 20, but I’ll go to an adult doctor when I'm older than the Children's Mercy thing. [23:19.0]
Mark: That's cool. So, you’ve already have the plan, where you’ve got to go, because they have for the kids, the teenagers and adults.
Nicholas: {Mm-hm.} But the teenagers still go to Children’s Mercy.
Mark: Do they? Okay, cool.
Nicholas: But when you're over 20, you go to--
Mark: The adult side?
Nicholas: {Uh-huh.}
Mark: Your doctor sounds like he or she has been a very big influence in helping you navigate this process, right?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: What's his name or her name?
Nicholas: He's a guy. His name is Kevin Ginn. He's really funny. He always wears a bow tie.
Mark: Does he?
Nicholas: And funny socks. I started that for him, funny socks. [24:02.5]
Mark: Oh yeah?
Nicholas: I always have funny socks on.
Mark: That’s cool.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: What's your favorite funny socks?
Nicholas: They mix it up. It was eggs and bacon.
Mark: Nice.
Nicholas: So it didn't look like a pair.
Mark: Yeah, that's cool.
Nicholas: But I had some. We went to San Diego and we got to these unicorn ones. Mom said, “I didn’t know you would like those.”
Mark: You like it all, right? There's no problem with that.
Nicholas’ Mom: Why don't you tell him about the one chapter in your book about how you want to be treated, how to help kids and how they're going to treat you, how others are going to treat you and what happens?
Nicholas: They need to explain it more.
Mark: Explain on what side?
Nicholas: You're going to feel bad. You're going to feel worse. You're going to feel you’re going to try to have to again. Try to learn how to eat again. That's how I did, but it was hard to eat because everything came … the first time, everything tasted like cardboard. [25:07.2]
Mark: Yeah, for sure.
Nicholas: So, it would be like eating cardboard all day. But some things tasted different, but …
Nicholas’ Mom: And, Nicholas, like when you lost your hair and people stared at you.
Nicholas: When you get stared at Disneyland because you're wearing a pink hat and you're a cancer kid, it feels bad.
Mark: It feels bad for you because you feel like they're looking at you and judging you and all that?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: What would you like? If I saw you and I didn't know you, and you do have cancer and you have that hat on, how would you want someone to acknowledge you or say hi to you?
Nicholas: I'm not like a disability person. I have a disability, but it's not like I don't have an arm. But I'm not trying to hate on the people who don't have arms. It's not like I look some way that you have to look at me like that, [like] I'm a monster. [26:10.4]
Mark: Yeah, exactly. But when someone sees you, [they could just say], Hey, what's up? Just treat you like anybody else.
Nicholas: Yeah. And don't treat … don't baby me, like, Aw … Is that okay? No, I don't want to be babied. But I'm always the baby, so …
Mark: Well, that's your mom. She's babying you. You're her little baby, she said, right? No, listen, I think, at the end of the day, it's a good insight because a lot of times people don't know how to look at someone that's different in their eyes. How do they treat them? Do they acknowledge? Do they just stare and make comments, or do they just come up and acknowledge it?
Nicholas: Or whispering.
Mark: Yeah, that's terrible, right? Because now you don't know what they're saying. Are they talking good or bad, or negative, whatever. It's weird. So, if anything, you just want them to come and say, Hi. What's your name? What's going on?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Treat you, like you said, like a real person—and don't baby Nicholas. I like to be babied, though. I wish someone would baby me. [27:09.4]
So, you've got that going on. I love the book. I'm excited for the book. I'm excited for the website. As you know, we're going to be working on that.
Nicholas: I want it to be bigger. I don't have any topics to make it bigger.
Mark: We've got lots of topics, my man. We’ve got lots of topics. What to do when we're not sleeping. What do you do to fill your time? What to do when we first find out we have cancer. What to do, like we were talking about, when kids are staring at you. What to do. There are so many topics. I don't think topics is our problem. I think getting clear [is what matters]. Because you're just going through it, right? You're in the moment. You're in it. Do you keep a journal?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: No? Have you thought about that?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: Just like on your notes section in your phone or on your iPad, just like if you're feeling weird, what I do is I just write those, just 15-word notes like, I have a terrible day going on but I’ve got to stay positive. Just what's going on in life. It's just micro-clips. [28:08.3]
But it's good for you because I would help you with your book. That's how I write my books. I might have a story and if I keep seeing it come up, that's probably a chapter I should talk about, not to the world, but to myself, because we have to deal with it. We've got to push forward. And then, that would become a chapter in one of my books in the future and it just keeps evolving, and the more you do that, the more you learn.
I usually write something two or three times a day, and I might look at it today or I might never look at it. But at least I get it out of the brain and put it on paper, if you will. It will probably help you a little bit there, just like your podcast show. Do you ever think about doing a podcast show by yourself? No?
Nicholas: I don't have a YouTube channel, and when I'm alone, I have stage fright, so I can never do it by myself. So, I can do talking to you, but … [29:00.0]
Mark: But you're doing awesome. You're great at it.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: I think what would be cool is what if you had a little YouTube channel. Not little. A big YouTube channel and you could turn it into a podcast show as well, where you're interviewing other kids with cancer that you hang out with, interviewing your doctors, your nurses. I picture your podcast show or YouTube channel called “Nicholas the Brave.”
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: That's a pretty cool [unclear 29:22.8].
Nicholas: I don't know how to start one. Yeah, you need millions of dollars to start one. But there's always a small YouTube channel no one cares about.
Mark: We only need Mom to care about it. That's how it starts. I care about it. So, you’ve got two fans already. I'm sure your dad, your uncles, your cousins, everyone cares about it. You can't worry about the big stuff. You've got to worry about the little stuff, because the little stuff equals the big stuff overall. How much do you think it costs to set up a podcast show?
Nicholas: Maybe $2,000.
Mark: Yeah?
Nicholas: Because you have to buy the YouTube thing and you still make money on that, but I don't know how to make one. [30:02.4]
Mark: Okay, we'll show you. Clearly, we're shooting videos for YouTube and podcasts, and now my buddy runs a great show called the Podcast Factory. He’s the guy that produces my podcast shows. What I'll do is I'll make sure I hook you up with him and pay for that and all that, and get that taken care of, get your own podcast show.
Nicholas: I can’t imagine.
Mark: I’ll get you the equipment. I’m going to get you whatever you want, whatever you need, as long as you're in there hanging out and doing the right [things], making a cool podcast show. Maybe get some dogs running around in the background and all that. But I think it'd be really cool. I'll hook up.
So, we have the website. We have the book piece. We have a podcast show. What else do you want to do?
Nicholas: I don't know.
Mark: You don't know? Just keep moving forward?
Nicholas: Just get the word out there.
Mark: What's the biggest thing you want to get out there? The word out there, meaning?
Nicholas: People with cancer. It's not contagious.
Mark: Yeah, exactly. It's not contagious. That's funny. That's real, though, right? Because people think it's contagious, huh? That's wild.
So, on your show, who would you have on your show? Who would be your first guest? [31:03.7]
Nicholas: You.
Mark: Oh yeah? That'd be awesome and I'd love to be your first guest. Where are we going to do it? Who knows? We'll figure it out. It sounds like your doctor would be an amazing guest on your show.
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: It sounds like he's a very amazing person.
Nicholas: But he’s always busy.
Mark: He’s busy. I'm sure he is. He's helping a lot of people, right? Just like you. You're really [busy]. Your show, I always talk in my world, one-to-many, how do you talk for an hour like we're doing and it goes out to many people in the world for the rest of our life? A lot of times, the problem with the doctors, they work really hard one-to-one. That's why he's busy, because he only has so much time in the day and he's got to sit down with you. That's what makes him a great doctor.
Nicholas: I'll get my doctor. So, I love Converse. We met him at the KC art fair and I gave him … I love Converse. So, it was this iguana and a Converse shoe, and he lived in the Converse shoe. And he still has it up.
Mark: Oh yeah? That's cool. Because you like art, right? Who's your favorite artist?
Nicholas: Vincent van Gogh. I don't have anything on right now, but I have a bag of his, yeah. [32:10.8]
Mark: The computer bag, right, that I saw?
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: That’s cool. Vincent van Gogh. But I think your voice could be heard by many people. You're making a massive impact. Honestly, even if you don't make an impact, you’ve made an impact in my life. You’ve got so much to share with the world. It's pretty cool, right? That's wild, man. You're so young. I wish I was in your shoes at this age. You’ve got a great advantage with that.
Nicholas: I want to get a tattoo on my port scar of a cancer ribbon, a little one. That’s because that recognizes kids cancer, my age cancer and down to the age.
Mark: That's cool, man. How old do you have to be before you get tattoos?
Nicholas: That could be out of college.
Mark: Oh yeah? Your mom might say you might have to be 50 before you get a tattoo. I don't have any tattoos yet and I'm too afraid to. I used to do piercings, ear piercings, but other than that, I was too afraid to get a tattoo because it's permanent. But that's a pretty cool tattoo over there, because you already have a tattoo which is the scar. [33:13.8]
Nicholas: Oh, I do.
Mark: That's your tattoo?
Nicholas: I have three.
Mark: Oh yeah? Three little dots?
Nicholas’ Mom: Tell him why, Nicholas.
Nicholas: What they find the line for radiation.
Mark: Oh, wow. So, they have three dots to put you on the line, and that's how they know.
Nicholas: One down here, too, yeah.
Mark: All the way down. Wow.
Nicholas: Then one that I’ll make [unclear 33:35.9].
Mark: Wow. Man, you're an amazing person. You've got a lot of cool stuff to share. I want to help any way I can, for sure. Keep going.
I think another thing, too, what's cool about what you've done, and you may not even know it, is that all these people that you come [across] in your life like Nick, that's how I met you, it seems like they're an inspiration of hopes to you. You're making them excited. You’re getting people rooting for you and that actually helps make things better, too, instead of if you're a negative, you'd be hiding out in your room, not talking to anybody. Poor me, poor me, poor me. And then, that's just never going to end well at all. Now you're just out. You're positive. You're tired, but you're still moving, right? [34:14.2]
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: Anything else to say, buddy?
Nicholas: No.
Mark: No? Did you have a good time?
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: What are you doing next? We have been told where you're going next after you leave the house.
Nicholas: Disneyland.
Mark: Disney world. Disneyland is on the West Coast, right?
Nicholas: I think.
Mark: I don't know. I think so. Disney World for the next three days, right? Monday to Thursday. What do you want to do out there?
Nicholas: Buy stuff.
Mark: What are you going to buy?
Nicholas: I don't know.
Mark: You don’t know?
Nicholas: Socks, funny socks. Because we went with, like, Make-A-Wish, not, like, Make-A-Wish, but they gave us $10,000 to spend for whatever. I don't remember what the … and they gave us a couple, after I met Gordon Ramsay.
Mark: Oh, cool. That was cool. You like cooking, right? [35:01.6]
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: That’s cool. What's your favorite thing to cook?
Nicholas: I like to cook those easy bake things.
Mark: Oh yeah? Those are good, right? Those are good. Those would get you in trouble. There are a lot of calories in those things for me. I'm too old to eat that. At your age, you can eat everything. At one point you lost a lot of weight, though, too, right?
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.} I was skinny.
Mark: Yeah. So, you were what? What size were you and then you lost how much weight?
Nicholas: I was, like, 200 pounds.
Mark: You were?
Nicholas’ Mom: No, 130.
Mark: Hundred and thirty pounds.
Nicholas’ Mom: It went down to 70.
Mark: Went down to 70 pounds. And that was what, probably 11 or 12 years old?
Nicholas’ Mom: Eleven.
Mark: Eleven years old. Wow, man. You're feeling good now and you look good, healthy. Are you ready to jump in the ring and take on someone, right? Take on life.
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: That's pretty cool, man. I appreciate you being here. So, people, you guys can follow him at @bumpy_06 [“bumpy” underscore “oh-six”] on his Instagram, as well as “Chemo, Kitties and Canines,” right?
Nicholas: {Mm-hmm.}
Mark: Anything else to say, guys? Just follow him, right? [36:01.3]
Nicholas: Yeah.
Mark: Awesome. Thank you, buddy. Thank you.
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