Summits Podcast

Epi 105: Court Maple | Putting the Mission into Motion with Team Heroes

April 22nd, 2026  |  56 mins 15 secs

ballstate, beatcancer, belgium, biggerpurpose, bigpharma, cancer, cancerprevention, caregiver, cat1, chirpchirp, ciba, cincinnati, cincy, community, cycling, diamonddave, eddymerckx, europe, faith, family, fcancer, fortwayne, gesupply, hero, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, iu, marketing, mba, mentorship, mobsquad, momentumindy, motivation, payitforward, pharmasales, prevention, racing, research, sales, showursummits, spf, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, teamheroes, track, unitinginagainstcancer, velonews, zipp

What does it look like when a passion for cycling collides with a mission greater than yourself? In this episode, we sit down with Court Maple of Team Heroes to find out.

Court takes us through the cycling journey that brought him to Team Heroes – a team built on more than just miles and medals. Now 25 years since its formation, Team Heroes continues to carry the Heroes Foundation mission forward, proving that the drive to fight cancer never slows down.

But Team Heroes is more than a cycling team – it's a family. Court opens up about the tight-knit community they've built, one that shows up for each other through life's biggest celebrations and its most difficult moments alike.

Court also shares about something we all need to hear: the importance of making your health a priority and the powerful role that prevention plays in the fight against cancer.

Whether you're a cyclist, a Team Heroes and Heroes Foundation supporter, or someone looking for inspiration to take charge of your health, this episode is for you.

🔗 Learn more about Team Heroes: https://youtu.be/C6HJD9DLNrY

Epi 104: Thriving Through the Storm: Elissa Kalver on Living Fully with Stage 4 Cancer and Building We Got This

March 31st, 2026  |  55 mins 7 secs

apple, babsoncollege, beatcancer, boston, boxing, braincancer, breastcancer, bschool, businessschool, california, cancer, caregiver, clinicaltrial, collaboration, community, daughter, dothingstogether, family, fcancer, gofundme, hero, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, indy, inspiration, lesions, los angeles, metastatic, motivation, mtv, networking, nonprofit, prevention, research, rhoback, showursummits, speaker, stage4, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, tech, terminal, ucla, unitinginagainstcancer, wegothis

What does it look like to not just survive cancer — but truly thrive through it? In this inspiring episode, cohosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah sit down with Elissa Kalver, a force of nature who is living with stage 4 breast cancer and channeling that experience into something extraordinary.

Elissa is the founder of We Got This, a nonprofit organization reimagining what support looks like for the cancer community. Through thoughtfully curated gift registries, trusted product and resource recommendations, and a growing library of essential tools, We Got This is helping patients and their loved ones feel seen, equipped, and empowered at every stage of the journey.

But Elissa didn't stop there. She's also the author of the We Got This book, the host of the We Got This podcast, and the creator of her personal podcast Live Like It Matters — a testament to her belief that every single day is worth showing up for.

In this conversation, Elissa shares the story behind the mission, what she's learned about resilience and purpose in the face of a stage 4 diagnosis, and how she's building a community that refuses to be defined by fear.

This is an episode about courage, impact, and living with intention. You don't want to miss it.

Learn more about We Got This at wegotthis.org.

Epi 99: Leaning on faith and cycling after brain cancer with Andrew Peters

December 16th, 2025  |  43 mins 51 secs

advocate, beatcancer, cancer, caregiver, carmel, chemo, colts, community, cycling, davematthewsband, emotionintoaction, evansville, fishers, glioma, hamiltionsoutheastern, hero, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, indy, inspiration, iu, jeffsaturday, mayoclinic, nonprofit, pacers, pendleton, peytonmanning, podcast, prevention, protonradiation, republicnationaldistributing, research, resource, rndc, showursummits, spirits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, teamheroes, unitingindianaagainstcancer, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes, wine

In episode 99 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Andrew Peters, Team Heroes cyclist and Division Manager at Republic National Distributing Company. Tune in as Andrew shares about surviving brain cancer, leaning on faith and good health habits to get through hard times, and how he’s giving back to others facing a similar battle.

Epi 97: The Future of Pediatric Care at Riley Children’s Health with Courtney Roberts

November 20th, 2025  |  28 mins 48 secs

africa, aneveningwithheroes, armchairexpert, beatcancer, bingewatching, blondie, broadripple, bulldogs, butler, butleruniversity, campaign, cancer, caregiver, community, corporateresponsibility, elililly, eos, fcancer, fixin26, foundation, gala, hero, heroesfoundation, hoosiers, indiana, indianapolis, indianauniversity, indy, inspiration, iu, ivytech, kenya, law, lilly, mentalhealth, pancreaticcancer, pediatricresearch, podcasts, prevention, rensselaer, research, riley, rileychildrens, rileyhospital, series, slowhorses, smartless, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, thrivein25, unitinginagainstcancer, whyheroes

In episode 97 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Courtney Roberts, President/CEO of Riley Children’s Foundation. Tune in as Courtney shares about caregiving through her father’s pancreatic cancer journey and the future of pediatric care at Riley Children’s Health.

“We want to ensure at Riley Children’s Foundation that we are able, through philanthropic support, to ensure that every kid in the state of Indiana and beyond has access to the world-class care at Riley.”

Epi 96: Elevating Change for Pediatric Cancer with Dr. Robyn Spoon

November 4th, 2025  |  53 mins 24 secs

advocacy, asburyuniversity, beatcancer, cancer, caregiver, childhoodcancer, cincinnatichildrens, community, connector, education, elevate, emotionintoaction, fcancer, foundation, hero, heroes, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, iowa, iu, kentucky, phd, prevention, research, rhabdomyosarcoma, rileyhospital, showursummits, son, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, teamheroes, teamjoey, thrivein25, unitinginagainstcancer, whatsurcancerstory

In episode 96 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Robyn Spoon, CEO of Elevate Childhood Cancer Research and Advocacy. Tune in as Robyn shares her son’s cancer story that ignited a passion for change and how Elevate Childhood Cancer Research and Advocacy is moving the needle on precision medicine for those diagnosed with childhood cancer.

Learn more about Elevate Childhood Cancer Research and Advocacy at elevatechildhoodcancer.org.

The Heroes Foundation Team JOEY Program proudly sponsored the 2nd Annual Indiana Pediatric Sarcoma Research & Advocacy Summit. Together, we will continue uniting Indiana against cancer.

Epi 95: Persevering through Breast Cancer with Jasmine Gonzalvo

October 24th, 2025  |  31 mins 33 secs

airforce, beatcancer, boilerup, brat, breastcancer, butleruniversity, cancer, caregiver, community, doctor, fcancer, hero, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, indy, inspiration, invasivebreastcancer, mammogram, many hats, mastectomy, pandemic, pharmacist, pharmacy, prevention, professor, purdue, radiation, research, showursummits, stage2, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, teamheroes, thrivein25, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

In episode 95 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Jasmine Gonzalvo, Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice at Purdue University College of Pharmacy and breast cancer survivor. Tune in as Jasmine shares her breast cancer journey and the priorities she has now in survivorship. “Cancer gave me the slap in the face that I needed to be present for the right reasons.”

Epi 94: Overcoming Obstacles with Will DesJean

October 1st, 2025  |  31 mins 9 secs

12, amputee, beatcancer, bonecancer, brokenleg, cancer, caregiver, chemo, chemotherapy, chickfila, childrenscancer, community, fcancer, franklincentral, friendships, hero, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, indy, inspiration, itgetsbetter, iu, lambo, lookatthepositives, middledistance, notredame, oncology, osteosarcoma, pediatriccancer, prevention, research, showursummits, southbound, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, surgery, swimming, thrivein25, unitinginagainstcancer, whyheroes

In episode 94 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by osteosarcoma survivor Will DesJean. Tune in as Will shares his cancer story, the setback he experienced this past year, and how he’s getting back to what he loves most – friends, fun, and most of all – swimming.

For more of Will’s story, tune in to episode 32 with his parents, Chris and Stacy DesJean: https://youtu.be/400NoR1ogVM

Epi 93: Pediatric Cancer Research with IU School of Medicine’s Dr. Nur Damayanti

September 9th, 2025  |  58 mins 47 secs

apxa, bali, beatcancer, braincancer, cancer, cancertreatment, caregiver, community, funding, hero, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianacancercommunity, indianapolis, indonesia, inspiration, japan, lab, masters, oncologyresearch, pediatriccancer, pediatriccancerawareness, pediatriccancerawarenessmonth, pediatriconcology, phd, podcast, prevention, purdue, quantumchemistry, rarecancer, research, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, taiwan, tumor, unitinginagainstcancer, whatsurcancerstory, whyheroes

In episode 93 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Dr. Nur Damayanti, cancer researcher at IU School of Medicine. Tune in as Dr. Damayanti shares the personal cancer diagnosis that changed the trajectory of her career and the Heroes Foundation funding that is supporting her project to study new treatment methods for children with rare brain cancers.

Learn more about recent Heroes Foundation gifts: https://www.heroesfoundation.org/the-heroes-foundation-has-awarded-nine-exciting-indiana-cancer-projects-with-223500-in-funding/

Epi 87: Four Day Ray’s Scott Kennedy on the Team Heroes family

April 29th, 2025  |  30 mins 28 secs

alleghenypassage, beatcancer, beer, bloodorangeblonde, breastcancer, brewing, cancer, caregiver, community, diamonddave, fishers, fit4heroes, fourdayray, frozone, gbm, hero, heroesfoundation, hydepark, indiana, indianaflyer, indianapolis, inspiration, livercancer, mom, motioncycling, nashville, noblesville, podcast, prevention, research, showursummits, spin4heroes, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, swing4heroes, teamheroes, tennessee, thrivein25, tuesdayswithmorrie

In episode 87 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Scott Kennedy, Director of Operations at Four Day Ray Brewing and Team Heroes athlete. Tune in for a peek inside the Indiana-based brewery and how the Team Heroes family supports each other, both on the bike and off.

For more on Four Day Ray Brewing, visit fourdayray.com.

Epi 86: Penn State Head Volleyball Coach, Katie Schumacher-Cawley, bump - set - spikes breast cancer

April 15th, 2025  |  18 mins 50 secs

allamerican, beatcancer, breastcancer, cancer, caregiver, cfl, chicago, chicagoland, coach, colts, community, fit4heroes, football, hero, heroes, heroesfoundation, indiana, indianapolis, inspiration, jmu, katiecawley, katieschumachercawley, mikecawley, nationalchampion, natty, nittanylions, pennstate, podcast, prevention, quarterback, research, showursummits, story, summit, summits, summits podcast, summitspodcast, support, survivor, swing4heroes, teamheroes, thrivein25, volleyball, wearepennstate, whyheroes, xfl

In episode 86 of the Summits Podcast, co-hosts Vince Todd, Jr. and Daniel Abdallah are joined by Katie Schumacher-Cawley, head volleyball coach at Penn State University. Amidst a championship volleyball season, Katie was put to the test as she also battled breast cancer. Tune in for the life lessons she’s learned through the experience.