Summits Podcast

What's your cancer story?

About the show

Summits Podcast

What’s your cancer story?

Hosted by cancer survivor and philanthropist Vince Todd, Jr., Chairman and Co-Founder of the Heroes Foundation, and Heroes Foundation Board Member Daniel Abdallah, the Summits Podcast is a place for people to share their stories.

Everyone has a cancer story.

From battling a deadly disease to caring for a loved one, when we rise up and face life’s greatest challenges, we see with a new vision, feel with a greater passion, and think with a deeper perspective.

Along the way, paths cross, journeys intersect, and missions converge.

For Vince Todd, it was his own cancer diagnosis that led him and his wife, Cindy, to launch the Heroes Foundation to provide meaningful support to cancer patients, education to promote cancer prevention, and resources to advance research for a cure.

What started with friends and family grew into a community. The Summits Podcast is an extension of that community.

Our stories are what bring us together.

Artists, athletes, doctors, business people - we’re all family members, community leaders, and activists.

Everyone has a story. Anyone can inspire. No one battles alone.

Join the conversation.

Let’s climb the summit together.

Summits Podcast on social media

Episodes

  • Epi 63: Men and breast cancer

    October 31st, 2023  |  32 mins 40 secs
    author, ballstate, ballstateuniversity, beatcancer, books, breastcancer, cancer, caregiver, chirpchirp, cincinnati, citrus, communications, community, domorein24, education, florida, football, getscreened, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, journalism, knowyourbody, knoxville, lfgin23, lifeovercancer, magazines, october, phd, podcast, radiation, running, selfexam, showursummits, speaker, stage2, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, tennessee, trademagazines, university, wefly, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes, writing

    In episode 63 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. David Sumner, professor emeritus of journalism at Ball State University. From a surprise diagnosis to recovery and perspective, tune in as Dr. Sumner shares his experience with breast cancer.

    For more on the book that Dr. Sumner recommends for cancer recovery, read more here: https://www.lifeovercancer.com/.

  • Epi 62: Lisa Hayes fights disparities in breast cancer care

    October 17th, 2023  |  44 mins 15 secs
    advocate, africanamerican, beatcancer, breastcancer, breastcancerawareness, cancer, cancer community, caregiver, cervical, chemo, community, disparities, disparity, education, genetic testing, gennesaret, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, hispanic, indiana, indianapolis, indy, inspiration, lawschool, lfgin23, minority, new orleans, october, pike, pink, pink4ever, podcast, radiation, research, showursummits, story, stvincentdepaul, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, surgery, survivorsguilt, triplenegativebreastcancer, tulane, whyheroes, womenshealth

    In episode 62 of the Summits Podcast, Vince Todd, Jr. is joined by Lisa Hayes of Gennesaret Free Clinic and Pink-4-Ever Ending Disparities. Tune in as Lisa shares her personal triple-negative breast cancer story and her passion for fighting disparities in breast cancer care and treatment.

    For more on Pink-4-Ever Ending Disparities, visit pink-4-ever.org.

  • Epi 61: Piper Lyon gives back

    September 26th, 2023  |  39 mins 34 secs
    abdomen, attitude, believe, burkitts, burkittslymphoma, cancer, caregiver, chemo, chest, childhoodcancer, community, fightlikealyon, flashes, franklin, halloween, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, hoosier, indiana, indianapolis, indy, inspiration, kidney, lfgin23, lymphoma, neck, onedirection, pediatric, pediatriccancer, pediatriccancerawareness, pediatriccancerresearch, pediatriconcology, piperstrong, podcast, realtor, september, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, teamjoey, tonsils, tumor, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

    In episode 61 of the Summits Podcast, Vince Todd, Jr. is joined by Kim and Piper Lyon. Tune in as the mother and daughter share memories of her Burkitts Lymphoma diagnosis and how they’re celebrating being 5 years cancer free! “It is pretty tough, but you can get through it if you believe.”

    For more on Piper’s cancer story, watch here: youtu.be/IBQMSikFYUg

    For more on Halloween4Heroes, visit halloween4heroes.com

  • Epi 60: Dr. Jenny Belsky aids pediatric cancer patients

    September 7th, 2023  |  28 mins 52 secs
    aml, beatcancer, bigten, biomarker, buckeyes, cancer, cancerresearch, caregiver, collegefootball, columbus, community, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, hodgkins, hoosiers, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, inspiration, leukemia, lfgin23, longitudinalcare, lou, lymphoma, mirrorlake, mousemodel, nationwidechildrens, ncaafootball, neurotoxicity, ohio, ohiostate, ohiouniversity, pediatric, pediatriccancer, pediatriconcology, predictivemodeling, research, researchcurescancer, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, teamjoey, theohiostateuniversity, vincristine, wager, whyheroes, wrightstate

    In episode 60 of the Summits Podcast, Vince Todd, Jr. is joined by Dr. Jenny Belsky of Riley Hospital for Children. Tune in as Dr. Belsky shares her research on decreasing the detrimental side effects children and teens experience while receiving cancer therapy, now funded by the Heroes Foundation Team JOEY fund.

    For more on Dr. Belsky’s research, visit https://www.heroesfoundation.org/pediatric-cancer-researcher-will-use-30k-from-team-joey-to-make-patient-journeys-less-painful/.

  • Epi 59: Joel Russell on serving the local community

    August 24th, 2023  |  23 mins 51 secs
    cancer, caregiver, community, hero, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, story, summit, summits, summits podcast

    In episode 59 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Joel Russell, Founder and CEO of eimagine Technology Group. Tune in as Joel shares eimagine’s “IC3” focus (Individual, Company, Client, Community), and how supporting the Heroes Foundation is a natural fit for this principle.

  • Epi 58: AssuredPartners gives back to cancer fighters

    August 15th, 2023  |  21 mins 58 secs
    cancer, caregiver, community, hero, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, story, summit, summits, summits podcast

    In episode 58 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Judd Feldman and Noelle Perkins of AssuredPartners. Tune in as Judd and Noelle share the personal stories that inspired their company to join the Heroes Foundation as a Summit Partner.

    For more information on joining forces with the Heroes Foundation, visit heroesfoundation.org/partner-program.

  • Epi 57: Dr. Bill Tierney on caring for cancer patients

    July 25th, 2023  |  50 mins 19 secs
    abvd, ampath, austin, beatcancer, biomedical, cancer, caregiver, chemobrain, chop, community, dell, detroit, empathy, epidemiology, eskinazihospital, globalhealth, healthservices, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, improvedoutcomes, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, indy, informatics, inspiration, iu, iuhealth, iuschoolofmedicine, iusimoncomprehensivecancercenter, jacksonville, jersey, lfgin23, lymphoma, melanoma, myopathy, podcast, publichealth, regenstriefinstitute, research, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, urbandevelopment, wedding, whyheroes, wishardhospital

    In episode 57 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Bill Tierney of the Fairbanks School of Public Health in its Department of Global Health. Tune in as Dr. Tierney shares his long-standing career in medical research and how surviving cancer made him a more empathetic doctor.

  • Epi 56: Dr. Ted Brauer raises awareness for oral cancer

    July 6th, 2023  |  31 mins 28 secs
    alcohol, beatcancer, cancer, caregiver, community, dentalpractice, dentalschool, england, harrypotter, hero, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, inspiration, iu, lfgin23, newcastle, northcentral, oralcancer, oralscreening, riskfactors, showursummits, soccer, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, thatdad, thryoidcancer, tobacco, vaping, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

    In episode 56 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Ted Brauer of Brauer Family Dentistry. Tune in as Dr. Brauer brings awareness to the screenings and risk factors for oral cancer.

  • Epi 55: Fred Yeakey on advocacy and hope

    June 20th, 2023  |  30 mins 56 secs
    beatcancer, brokenfinger, cancer, cancerdiagnosis, caregiver, community, cristorey, development, disparities, dogood, foundation, gala, hero, heroes, housing, indiana, indianapolis, indy, inspiration, internship, kickball, lfgin23, nil, podcast, providencecristorey, school, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, swag, vicepresident, viral, whyheroes, workstudy

    In episode 55 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Fred Yeakey, Vice President of Providence Cristo Rey High School and Heroes Foundation board member. Tune in as Fred shares his vision for ending disparities in education, housing and healthcare in Indiana.

  • Epi 54 Drew Tower of Project 44

    June 6th, 2023  |  27 mins 27 secs
    ad, administration, advocacy, andrewsmith, athleticdirector, athletics, basketball, beatcancer, bethematch, bonemarrow, bonemarrowregistry, bradstevens, brownsburg, bulldogs, butler, cancer, caregiver, charity, chasestigall, coaching, community, covenantchristian, deaconscott, donordrive, dougboles, education, executivedirector, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, hoosiers, indiana, indianapolis, indy, indy500, inspiration, lfgin23, lymphoma, newcastle, nhl, non-hodgkins, nonprofit, podcast, prevention, project44, research, showursummits, stevealford, stories, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

    In episode 54 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Drew Tower, Athletic Director at Brownburg High School and Executive Director of Project 44. Tune in as Drew shares the non-profit organization named for Butler University’s men’s basketball player Andrew Smith.

    Learn more about Project 44 at project44.org.

  • Epi 53: Zak Keefer shares his family’s cancer story

    May 23rd, 2023  |  27 mins 38 secs
    athletic, beatcancer, braincancer, cancer, caregiver, colts, community, communityhealth, dad, dougboles, englishpaper, foundation, gbm, glioblastoma, golf, hero, heroes, hoosier, hse, ims, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, indy500, inspiration, irsay, iu, jimirsay, journalism, journalist, lfgin23, memory, native, nfl, pacers, pga, podcast, showursummits, sports, sportswriter, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, theathletic, therapeutic, tonyhulman, whyheroes

    In episode 53 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Zak Keefer, NFL writer for The Athletic, Indianapolis Colts insider for WISH-TV, and adjunct professor of journalism at The Media School at Indiana University.  Tune in as Zac shares the inside of being a sports journalist and the cancer diagnosis that changed his family forever.  “You can’t change what happened, but you can live every day to make your dad proud.”

  • Epi 52: Dr. Nick Countryman shares skin cancer prevention tips

    May 3rd, 2023  |  30 mins 8 secs
    aad, americanacademyofdermatology, asymmetry, beatcancer, border, cancer, carcinoma, caregiver, coloncancer, color, community, dermatologist, dermatology, diameter, evolving, freeskincancerscreening, golf, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, ihm, immaculateheart, indiana, indianapolis, indy500, inspiration, josefnewgarden, lfgin23, lungcancer, mba, md, melanoma, meridiankessler, notredame, penske, pickleball, podcast, selfexam, showursummits, skincancer, skincancerscreening, spf, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, tanningbeds, tennis, tonykanaan, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes, yale

    In episode 52 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Nick Countryman, dermatologist at Dawes Fretzin Dermatology.  As we head into Melanoma and Skin Cancer Awareness Month, you don’t want to miss Dr. Countryman’s top tips for protecting your skin from harmful sun exposure.

  • Epi 51: Dr. Tarah Ballinger on physical activity and cancer care

    April 20th, 2023  |  22 mins 5 secs
    beatcancer, cancer, cancerprevention, cancerresearch, caregiver, cbus, columbus, community, exercise, fit4heroes, getphysical, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, inspiration, interception, iu, lfgin23, move, notredame, ohio, oncologist, oncology, physicalactivity, prevention, research, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, thearnold, vanderbilt, vandy, wellness, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

    In episode 51 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Tarah Ballinger, breast oncologist at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center and research gift recipient from Heroes Foundation’s Catherine Peachey Fund program.  Tune in as Dr. Ballinger shares the supportive oncology programs offered by the IU Simon Cancer Center and the important correlations between physical activity and cancer care.

    Join us for Fit4Heroes!  Everyday Heroes are participating in the Heroes Foundation’s campaign through April 30 to increase their physical fitness and raise important funds for Hoosiers fighting cancer.  Register today at fit4heroes.org.

  • Epi 50: Dr. Nawal Kassem details cancer prevention and genetic testing

    March 30th, 2023  |  20 mins 8 secs
    beatcancer, cancer, cancerresearch, caregiver, community, geneticmutation, genetictesting, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, iuhealth, lebanon, lfgin23, middleeast, showursummits, sjp, sjpfellow, sjpheroescancerresearchfund, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, uae, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

    In episode 50 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Nawal Kassem, breast oncologist with IU Health and the Heroes Foundation’s new SJP Heroes Cancer Research Fund Fellow.  Tune in as Dr. Kassem shares her passion for cancer prevention and how genetic testing can greatly affect a patient’s outcome.

    For more on the SJP Heroes Cancer Research Fund, visit heroesfoundation.org/sjp-heroes-cancer-research-fund/.

  • Epi 49: Bryce Zoeller on cycling to fight cancer

    March 14th, 2023  |  31 mins 39 secs
    apresski, attorney, beatcancer, breck, breckenridge, businessinfront, cancer, cancerprevention, caregiver, community, cycling, dirtykanza, emporia, finland, finlandgravel, fit4heroes, garminunbound, groomers, hero, hitandrun, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, iu, kansas, kightlingerandgray, law, lawfirm, legal, lfgin23, mullet, partner, partyinback, ride, riding, showursummits, skiing, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, teamheroes, unbound4heroes, unboundgravel, valbotas, valterribotas, wellness, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

    In episode 49 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Bryce Zoeller, a Team Heroes cyclist and member of Heroes Foundation’s Board of Directors.  Tune in as Bryce shares his passion for cycling and the Fit4Heroes event, and why he chooses to give back to Hoosiers fighting cancer.  “I got tired of watching it happen to people I cared about, and I wanted to get involved.”Follow along on Instagram (@thenotoriusbiglebowski) as Bryce rides to #beatcancer in the Unbound race in Kansas this June.  To donate to Bryce’s Unbound4Heroes fundraising page, visit givergy.us/unbound4heroes2023For more on Heroes Foundation’s Team Heroes program, visit heroesfoundation.org/team-heroes.For more on Heroes Foundation’s Fit4Heroes event, visit fit4heroes.org.

  • Epi 48: Annie Martinez on building the future of the Heroes Foundation

    February 28th, 2023  |  32 mins 20 secs
    avon, beatcancer, boilermakers, boilerup, buttfact, cancer, caregiver, cerias, childrensbureau, communicating, communications, community, development, eddiebird, endowment, familiesfirst, firefly, florida, floridaatlantic, floridaatlanticuniversity, fundraiser, fundraising, fundraisingstool, hammerdown, hero, heroes, heroesendowment, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, indianaschoolofphilanthropy, indianastate, individualgiving, inspiration, larrybird, lastinggifts, lead, leadership, lfgin23, majorgifts, management, musicforall, opportunityindianapolis, purdue, purdueboilermakers, purdueuniversity, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, sycamores, whatsurcancerstory, whoislarrybird, whyheroes

    In episode 48 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Annie Martinez, Heroes Foundation’s new Executive Director.  Tune in as Annie shares her philanthropy and development background, and the building steps she has planned for her first year with the Heroes Foundation.