Episode 13

Inside the Heart of Oncology Care: Sharon Followill’s Journey

Episode 13 Sharon Followill Former Intake Coordinator, Oklahoma Proton Center & Cancer Specialists of Oklahoma ~121 minutes

Episode Summary

In this deeply personal episode, David Raubach and co-host Heather sit down with Sharon Followill, a woman who has spent the better part of 25 years at the intersection of oncology care and personal loss. Sharon began her career in cancer care at Baptist Hospital in Oklahoma City in January 2000, joining the oncology floor as a ward clerk at age 40. From there she followed four physicians to Cancer Specialists of Oklahoma, working alongside Dr. Choma, Dr. Choan, Dr. Holland, and Greg Parker, before landing at the Oklahoma Proton Center, where she became the first voice most patients ever heard. Her trajectory from ward clerk to intake coordinator is less a career story than a calling, shaped at every turn by her own family’s encounters with cancer.

Sharon’s motivation for entering oncology is rooted in a loss she experienced at 26: her mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer at age 44 and died just three years later at 47. At the time, Sharon was juggling nursing school, three young children, and the informal second-parent role for her 12-year-old brother. She describes her mother’s illness with striking clarity, the initial abdominal pain dismissed by multiple providers, the eventual discovery of a uterine mass by her longtime gynecologist, a year of remission after aggressive chemotherapy and radiation, and then recurrence in the liver. That loss, she says, left her with no older woman to call on for advice, a void she still feels, and planted a fierce belief in the power of early and appropriate screening.

The episode turns to Sharon’s role at the Oklahoma Proton Center, where she led the intake department and served as the first human contact for patients navigating life-altering diagnoses. Colleagues David and Heather recall overhearing her phone calls and marveling at her ability to cut through decision paralysis with compassionate directness, at one point literally telling a prostate cancer patient it was time to “pee or get off the pot.” She credits a phlebotomist colleague with a pivotal early insight: that patients with cancer are going to have bad days, and it is not the job of the care team to take that personally. That lesson, she says, flipped a switch in her thinking that changed not only how she worked but how she lived.

The most emotionally raw thread of the conversation is Sharon’s account of her daughter Jandy’s breast cancer diagnosis, which arrived less than a year after Sharon retired from the Proton Center. What began as a dry, scaly patch of skin beneath Jandy’s left breast, initially presumed to be a dermatological issue, with a mammogram appointment delayed three months, was ultimately confirmed as breast cancer with two distinct pathological findings: one ER/PR positive and one PR negative. Jandy’s treatment has been comprehensive and arduous: surgery involving the removal of 16 to 17 lymph nodes, more than a year of chemotherapy, and proton radiation therapy at the very center where her mother once worked. Sharon describes hanging up the phone after Jandy’s diagnosis and falling to the floor, only to “flip the switch” moments later and begin mobilizing every oncology contact she had.

The episode closes with Sharon sharing the thank-you letter Jandy wrote to her radiation care team, singling out therapists Payton, Katie, Stacy, and Jackie; medical oncologist Dr. Bova; radiation oncologist Dr. Story, who called from his personal cell phone while on vacation to deliver a clear PET scan result; nurse Sarah; and front-desk staff Tessa and Cheryl. Jandy’s letter, read aloud by David, is both a testament to what patient-centered care looks like in practice and a reminder that no member of a care team, from the intake coordinator to the person managing insurance, is invisible to the people they serve. Sharon’s parting words are simple and urgent: get early screenings, because they can make all the difference in how you live the rest of your life.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Early Screening Saves Lives: Sharon’s mother’s uterine cancer went undetected through multiple provider visits before a gynecologist found the mass; Sharon credits inadequate early imaging as a factor in the outcome and closes the episode with a direct call for proactive screening.
The Intake Coordinator’s Role: As the first point of contact at the Oklahoma Proton Center, Sharon shaped the entire patient experience from the first phone call, helping frightened patients navigate treatment options, cut through misinformation from outside providers, and move past decision paralysis.
Proton Therapy vs. Conventional Radiation: Sharon fielded frequent calls from patients who had been told by their own doctors that proton therapy was “experimental” or a “fad,” and she worked to counter misinformation by providing written materials, physician consultations, and connections with former patients.
Active Surveillance in Prostate Cancer: The episode explores why some early-stage prostate cancers are monitored rather than treated immediately, and why patients who contact a proton center have typically already received a recommendation for active intervention.
Inflammatory Breast Cancer vs. Skin Changes: Jandy’s presenting symptom was a dry, scaly patch of skin beneath the breast rather than a lump, highlighting that breast cancer does not always announce itself in the expected way and that skin changes warrant prompt evaluation.
ER/PR Positive and PR Negative Pathology: Jandy’s biopsy returned two distinct pathological profiles, one estrogen/progesterone receptor positive and one progesterone receptor negative, illustrating the complexity that can exist within a single breast cancer diagnosis.
Lymph Node Removal and Mobility: Jandy had 16 to 17 lymph nodes removed during surgery, resulting in a frozen shoulder and limited arm mobility that made her radiation setup physically painful; a side effect Sharon describes as one of the most difficult aspects of the treatment process to witness.
Chemotherapy Duration: Jandy’s chemotherapy regimen extended beyond a year, from her first infusion in late November through ongoing three-week-cycle infusions continuing into the following March, a duration that underscores just how consuming comprehensive breast cancer treatment can be.
Caregiver Advice, Let the Patient Lead: Sharon’s most pointed guidance for parents of adult cancer patients is to step back and allow the patient to own their treatment decisions, manage their appointments, and advocate for themselves, while still showing up for every small practical task, from changing bed sheets to feeding the cats.
Word-of-Mouth as a Treatment Driver: In Oklahoma especially, Sharon found that patients were heavily influenced by friends and family members who had undergone treatment; the Proton Center formalized this by maintaining a list of former patients willing to speak candidly with prospective patients.
The Compassion Switch: A phlebotomist colleague’s offhand remark, “don’t forget, they have cancer, you don’t”, became a foundational philosophy for Sharon, reframing patient frustration as pain rather than hostility and reshaping how she approached every difficult interaction.
Kings of Leon Connection: Sharon reveals that the Grammy-winning rock band Kings of Leon, whose members Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill share her family name, are her husband’s nephews; her son Christopher has worked with the band since their early twenties, and she fed the road crew gumbo at their first Oklahoma City shows.

Sharon Followill’s story is not a single story. It is the story of a daughter who lost her mother too soon, a caregiver who turned grief into vocation, a colleague who made thousands of frightened people feel less alone on the other end of a phone line, and a mother who sat in the same waiting room chairs her patients once sat in and learned, all over again, what it feels like to need someone. Her final words on this episode, “get early screenings”, are not a clinical reminder. They are a plea from a woman who has seen, from every angle, what happens when cancer is found late versus found early. If this conversation moves you to schedule a mammogram, a PSA test, or any screening you have been putting off, then Sharon Followill has done what she has always done: made sure you leave the conversation better prepared than when you arrived.

Full Transcript

Read Full Transcript

Transcript generated from the episode’s audio. Speaker names are identified from the context of the conversation rather than from recorded speaker data, and automatic transcription may misspell names and terminology. Please refer to the video for the authoritative version.

David Raubach: Today’s episode is one that spans generations and emotions. Our guest has spent over 20 years working in oncology, standing beside countless patients and families through some of their most challenging moments. But cancer has also come knocking at her own door more than once. She lost her mother to ovarian cancer, a loss that reshaped her both personally and professionally. And now she’s walking alongside her own daughter who is currently in treatment for breast cancer. Through it all, she has carried the heart of a mother and a daughter. This is a story about what it means to fight cancer from every angle and why hope, even in the darkest moments, can be the most powerful medicine of all.

David Raubach: Sharon, thank you for joining Heather and I today. So, you and I worked together a long, long time ago. I guess that was, what, 2010 to 2013?

Sharon Followill: Yep.

David Raubach: Then I left and went to Knoxville and then I came back in 2019 and we had the privilege of working together for a number of years, and then, Heather, you and Sharon overlapped at the Proton Center for. Yeah, about four years.

Sharon Followill: Four years.

David Raubach: So let’s start. First question, what were your first thoughts when I walked back through the door?

Sharon Followill: In 2019, I was saying, I know that guy, and was really happy that you were coming back, because I can remember that you used to come and sit in my office and we would, you know, and your role at that time was business analyst.

David Raubach: What was your role when Sharon first met you? His role was golf with the president. That’s what I knew that he did.

Sharon Followill: That’s what a business analyst does.

David Raubach: That’s right. Analyzes the president’s golf game. So, yeah. But no, in all seriousness, though, Sharon, you have had a profound impact on me, just in terms of a mentorship role, just because of your experience in the field of oncology. And I know you’ve had a similar impact on, very much so, on Heather. So tell us, what got you into oncology?

Sharon Followill: Well, I didn’t actually work in oncology until I moved to Oklahoma about 25 years ago. In fact, it was January of 2000. And when we moved here from Louisiana, I got a job at Baptist Hospital, on the oncology floor, which was 7 West at the time. And so that was the beginning. I was just a ward clerk, you know, I got really close to the physicians there.

David Raubach: How old are you at this time?

Sharon Followill: I was 40.

David Raubach: Okay.

Sharon Followill: I think I turned 41. Yes. In 2000, January 2000. And so when four of the doctors decided they wanted to go and have their own practice, they invited me to come with them. And after working at Baptist probably two and a half, three years, I went with them, and that was Cancer Specialist of Oklahoma with Dr. Toma, Dr. Choan, great Dr. Holland and Greg Parker. And then I worked with them for, I think, about eight or nine years.

Sharon Followill: And then there was a couple of nurses that worked at the Proton Center and they said, “We need somebody to fill in this position that we have open and they can’t seem to find anybody. You know, they’re trying.” And so I applied for that and I got that job and the rest is history.

David Raubach: So tell us about your motivation for getting into oncology. I think you had a personal experience with cancer.

Sharon Followill: I did. My mom, when I was really young, I probably was about 25 or 26 years old when she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She initially had this terrible pain in her abdomen. And we’d brought her to different doctors, you know, to try to figure out what it was. Nobody knew. Finally, she went back to her old gynecologist who did an exam and said, “You have a big mass in your uterus. That’s what’s causing all your pain.” So, when she had the surgery and I guess they biopsy, I was so young, you know, I didn’t really, and had young kids at the time, three little, mom of three, and you’re trying to deal with that but also deal with this diagnosis of your own mother.

Sharon Followill: I was in college.

David Raubach: Okay. Going to nursing school, right?

Sharon Followill: Yeah. So she, when they did the biopsy, it came back, she had uterine cancer. So then she went through treatment, and was in remission for a year. She had chemo, radiation. I mean, they blasted her with it. You know, it wasn’t like it is today. And of course, protons as far as we knew was not available, and it came back, recurred, and it was in her liver.

David Raubach: So then what was that time frame from when she was in remission?

Sharon Followill: A year.

David Raubach: So she probably was sick a year with the cancer going through treatments and got better a year.

Sharon Followill: So, and then she died a year later. So, it was a total of three years from diagnosis to when she passed away. She was 47 years old.

David Raubach: Wow. Young. Was that at diagnosis?

Sharon Followill: So she was 44 and stage.

David Raubach: Oh, I’m sorry. Stage.

Sharon Followill: I don’t remember that. I don’t remember that. You know, when I was that young, of course, you know, you don’t know what you’re doing with your own life. You know, you block a lot of it, too, because it’s painful. It’s very painful and confusing because my mom had always been very healthy. There was never any health issues with my dad. I mean, he was a truck driver, so he had a lot of back surgeries because there was no ergonomic seats for trucks back then, you know? It was just bouncing around and you loaded and unloaded your own truck, you know.

David Raubach: So, you’re a mom of three and I am a mom of three. Also, I think I need my mom. I need her advice. I need this person to walk with me through this journey of motherhood. And then you’re kind of faced with that at such a young 26 years old. There’s so many more milestones that you will have that your kids will have, whether it’s like going to kindergarten, going to college, going, you know, getting married, all those big milestones that you want your parents there for. You’re kind of faced with that at 26 years old. And so, yeah, I can’t imagine that was easy.

Sharon Followill: Well, I was very headstrong back then and I got married very young, and so I was still in the stage of trying to prove that I didn’t need anybody to tell me what to do. I didn’t want to ask any questions. I mean, it wasn’t until after my mom was gone for a few years and I was like, “Oh, man. I need somebody.” And I was the oldest daughter, you know. I had two siblings under me, but I had no one to ask, you know. So that was the thing that I missed really the most. But, and now, you know, I think to myself, if only we would have had appropriate screening, you know, imaging that could see right what was going on. But we didn’t.

David Raubach: You know what? So, what was your role with your mom as she was going through treatment? Were you a caretaker? Were you helping make treatment decisions? Were you—

Sharon Followill: No. Yeah, I was not. I was a caretaker in so much as, my brother was 12 years old when she was diagnosed. So I took care of my brother.

David Raubach: Second mom to your brother, right?

Sharon Followill: Yes. When I, when she wasn’t cooking, unable to prepare meals, I did that sort of thing. But don’t forget, I was in nursing school, right? So besides taking care of my kids, I was trying to do what I could, which was not enough, but it was all I could do. You know, my sister didn’t live there anymore. My brother was little, you know, 12 years old.

David Raubach: You’re the oldest child. You carry the weight, right, of everything.

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And then, my brother stayed with us a lot, you know, cuz my mom was sick. My dad did a great job taking care of her. He was retired, but my little brother was like my fourth kid, except he was considerably older. And you know, I mean, it was a financial burden on my family, on my immediate family, with my husband and my three kids, cuz I was in college. I had all these kids and, you know, to add a growing teenage boy to your family, you know, I mean, it’s remarkable.

David Raubach: Yeah. Right.

Sharon Followill: That I made it through without hurting someone.

David Raubach: Right. Yeah. So you carried this can do attitude and just kind of spirit of perseverance into your career in oncology. What else? How did your experience with your mom shape the way that you approached your job when you did start working for the, at Baptist, and then ultimately with the medical oncologist?

Sharon Followill: Well, I’ll tell you what I remembered the most when I started working with cancer patients was, compassion. And I mean, I was tough when I was at home because I was strict, you know, I was trying to keep everybody in line and doing what they were supposed to do. But when I moved here, my kids were mostly grown. My baby was like 16, you know, and I started working with these cancer patients.

Sharon Followill: I was at the front desk at Cancer Specialist and one of the phlebotomists there told me, after a patient had come and just ripped me a new one for something, I can’t remember what it was, but, you know, you sit back and after he sits down and everything you’re kind of teary-eyed and you don’t know what to do. So he told me, he said, don’t forget that these guys have cancer. You don’t have cancer. They have cancer and they’re going to have some bad days.

David Raubach: There’s a lot of perspective, right?

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And then I was like, it was like a switch was flipped, you know, in my brain, and it just changed everything. I think that I did, not only at work but at home. And you know, you learn to, when a patient comes in, it made me put myself in their place so that I could understand, you know, what they’re feeling. And I think that that was a lot of, feelings and emotions that I brought with me to the intake office at the Proton Center, was that don’t forget they haven’t worked in oncology all these years like you have. They know nothing about it.

Sharon Followill: So, it’s up to you, or the job is, I didn’t feel like it was up to me. I felt like it was everybody’s responsibility to make sure that you take care of these patients. You explain things to them in a way that they can understand it and let them tell you how they feel and take that, you know, but you especially, you are the first phone call. You’re that first point of contact for these people.

David Raubach: And so the role that you had there was, you know, it led to them speaking to everybody else. You know, you were—

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And I took that responsibility very seriously, too. I thought it was so important to do that.

David Raubach: Well, I think, also, too, Heather, I know we’ve both taken turns sitting outside Sharon’s office or having our office close to her office, so we’ve had the, we’ve had the privilege to listen in on some of the phone calls. One of the things that’s always struck me is that I think that there’s some patients that are, there’s just so much uncertainty and everything is so overwhelming. There’s so much new information that they actually need a little bit of decisiveness. They need a little bit. It’s almost like they, or, or maybe encouragement is another word. And I always thought that you were really good at that, like, empowering them to make these decisions. Like, hey, look, this is what needs to happen and we’re going to get this done and I’m going to make sure that this gets done for you and you get it done.

Sharon Followill: I can remember one guy called me, like he couldn’t decide. He was a prostate cancer patient and he’d gotten all this misinformation from his own doctor, I might add, that oh, protons is just experimental and, you know, it doesn’t really work. It’s just a new fad, you know, that. And so, talking to this guy, you know, and I give him all the information I could. I mailed him brochures. I invited him to talk to one of our physicians, you know, several things. Finally, after like five or six things, and I, he called me back and I said, “Look, you’re going to have to either pee or get off the pot. You know that you have cancer.”

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: So now, what do you do? You got to do something about it. So, let’s do it.

David Raubach: What was the hardest part of running the intake department at the Oklahoma Proton Center?

Sharon Followill: I think the hardest part—

David Raubach: And don’t say management. You can’t say management.

Sharon Followill: David.

David Raubach: Of course not. It was David. Yeah. No.

Sharon Followill: The hardest part for me was trying to help people that were not educated about treatment options, right, no matter what their disease was, because they had a professional telling them one thing and somebody else telling them to do something else, or some do, I never understood this, and that, this is another funny one, when a guy said, well, a doctor said that my prostate cancer, it’s very small, and we’re just going to keep, we’re not going to do anything, we’re just going to keep an eye on it. And I’m like, I’m like, are you going to just wait for it to get bigger and so we have to treat you more? I mean, you tell me if that makes sense to you.

David Raubach: Yeah. What is the narrative behind waiting and watching, and waiting, or active surveillance? What is that? Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think, you know, there’s, there’s a point where cancer maybe is caught early enough, and you talked about the importance of screening, where we, we are able to say, okay, we don’t necessarily have to do any type of intervention right now, we can keep an eye on this cancer, and especially with something like prostate cancer, there’s actually a lot of guys that are going to get old and pass away of something else, even old age, without the prostate cancer spreading outside of the prostate, but there’s also, so I think by the time, usually by the time somebody is contacting a place like the Oklahoma Proton Center, they’ve probably had a recommendation that they need intervention, that they need treatment.

Sharon Followill: And so, to your point, it’s like, mostly, mostly that was true, you know, it. But also patients can get overwhelmed with the, with how many treatment options that there are, right? And so then that you get decision paralysis. Well, I don’t know what to do, right? Is there a wrong answer? Is there a right answer? How would I, listen to, because you want to trust your doctor, right? You. And I would say, if you, a patient that said there was all these different options and I don’t know which one to pick, I would try to go over with them, because we had good information that the doctors, that you had written up for me, showing me, or saying the different, the showing the difference between each one, you know.

Sharon Followill: But, to be honest, a lot of patients call, would call and say, “I had a friend who had prostate cancer and they took his prostate out and now he has to wear, you know, incontinence briefs and I don’t want that to happen, you know.” So, things like that, too, because I don’t know if it’s all over the country or just in Oklahoma, but word of mouth is a big deal here. And people trust their friends, they trust their family members to share their experience.

David Raubach: Experience, right?

Sharon Followill: They, yes, for the most part, all had great experiences at the Proton Center.

David Raubach: You want to. That’s right. Friends.

Sharon Followill: That’s right. And also a great tool that we had was we would say, “I have a man. He’s a patient here. He’s already finished with his treatment. He’s been out of treatment for six months, and he says he would be happy to talk to you and you could ask him whatever questions you wanted to.” Patients really responded well to that because they knew they could talk to someone who had been through it already.

David Raubach: So we treat a lot of different cancers at the Proton Center. We definitely treat prostate cancer, is one of them. Breast cancer, lung cancer, head and neck cancer, brain cancer. But you got the opportunity to have a lot of very intimate and personal conversations with potential prostate cancer patients. I think that is one of the things that, you know, that made it a little bit worth coming into work for me, is to get to listen to you take the really challenging or awkward questions from the guys that are like, what is about to happen to me?

Sharon Followill: Yeah. Yeah. And I think that’s a question for your doctor. Yeah. Sometimes you did have to say that, or tell, ask your wife. Yeah. But I would tell them, a lot of them, that would, I would only answer questions about treatment or prostate cancer, because, when, and again, I know that we treat a lot more than that now. When I started it was a lot of prostate patients. You know, that was the one, the cancer that a lot of people were treating with protons. So that’s the most of the cause that I got. But I think that it’s not hard to talk about something like that on the phone, you know.

David Raubach: Oh, as long as you don’t have to see them in person.

Sharon Followill: Well, it was okay with me because I talked to people about it all day long, but for them it was easy for them to pose questions to me on the phone.

David Raubach: You’re not making eye contact.

Sharon Followill: Yeah. I mean, I had a very few patients that was, you know, kind of, I wouldn’t say it’s, in, it was inappropriate. It was just kind of, you know, really pushing the back, so to speak, and TMI.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: And sometimes, but those, but I mean, at the same time, those are legitimate questions.

David Raubach: They’re legitimate questions. I mean, when you have a 75 year old man saying something’s wrong with my PP, you know, you want to say, okay, I’m sorry. Let me give you the number.

Sharon Followill: Yeah. We will. And that was nice, too, having, that, having the information for them. They felt so much better when you said, “Oh, I know a urologist practice that has several urologists there. You can call, tell them I told you to call so that they’ll take care of you right away, and you can talk to a urologist about any other kind of problems that you’re having.”

David Raubach: Yeah. And that’s important.

David Raubach: So, I want to switch gears just a little bit, because I think it’s important for the people that are listening to get to know you, Sharon, a little bit outside of the work setting. And we’ve obviously talked about you as the caretaker with your mom. And then we’ll talk about your most recent experience as a caretaker with a family member going through cancer. But there’s two things that I’ve loved to hear you talk about. One is your family reunions.

Sharon Followill: Okay. Out.

David Raubach: Is it Talihina?

Sharon Followill: Talihina. Well, it’s in Albian, Oklahoma, but nobody really knows where Albian is.

David Raubach: So, this is like this, to me, is like a flashback to another era almost. Describe a setting at a Fwell, and all the—

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And all the—

David Raubach: Yeah. Family reunion in Albian.

Sharon Followill: Okay. Well, to begin with, don’t hold anything back.

David Raubach: Uh oh.

Sharon Followill: Yeah, or maybe, I don’t know. Y’all heard him tell me not to hold back.

Sharon Followill: Well, in the beginning, when I first married Chris, they were already having family reunions, but they were just doing it at different places, you know, like they rented places at Beaver’s Bend and Dry Creek and all the, which I, of course, had never heard of anything like this before. In my neck of the woods, down south Louisiana, we didn’t have six and seven kids. I didn’t even know anyone that had six kids, you know. We had two or three kids, you know. So, I had a total of six cousins on both sides of the family, right? You know, so it wasn’t big like this. So, I was thrilled to death to show up, and all of these people that were Chris’s cousins, you know, and aunts and uncles and grandmothers, and it would be like a hundred people on a bad year, you know.

Sharon Followill: And so eventually, one of Chris’s uncles, he donated some of the land, and he said, “I want this part of this land to be for family reunion, because that way we can stop going to all these places, you know, and we’d have our own place.” And it was his uncle Kenneth. So they started it. We still lived in Louisiana. So Chris’s parents and uncles and aunts, they started working on that property and clearing it out. And we, people would bring tents the first year, you know, and then travel trailers sometimes, you know, and then they got the idea that, hey, why don’t we just all build us a little cabin? Nothing fancy, just some place to get out of the weather, you know, and they built a big shower house, is what they called it. And it had a women’s side and a men’s side, and had two showers each side and two potties on each side.

David Raubach: So it was, can’t follow. You can’t follow.

Sharon Followill: Well, it was like going to the lake somewhere, you know, where you went when you were a teenager, you know, but it eventually, you know, it just kept growing, and we bought the five acres behind the property that attached to it, so, because we were running out of room, you know. So now it’s like, every year we have at least 98 or 100 people, but a lot of times we have over that. We have had 150 people, but it’s all people that are related, and we cook food and play horseshoes.

David Raubach: How do you cook for that many people?

Sharon Followill: Well, we’ve got these big giant barbecue pits, you know, smokers. Everybody’s got their own little setup that they cook, whatever you cook, to bring to the center. Chris’s other uncle actually had built a big giant pavilion, where, when you get, we have certain meals, you know, and then we all bring our food together under that pavilion and sit together and eat. And it’s actually supposed to be Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, and then Monday, Memorial Day, everybody usually goes home, but the Followills and a few others stay the whole week afterward, and we swim and we fish and we play games. It’s the best thing.

David Raubach: You’re swimming in it? It’s like a big nice pool?

Sharon Followill: Five star. No pools. No glamping. Yeah, it’s the river. And we get down there and we’re like, “Oh, Walnut Creek is not up. You know, we’re going to have to walk a little further down to get in some water.” So, and then you just sit in the water.

David Raubach: And you just sit in the water when it’s not deep enough to swim.

Sharon Followill: Just bring your lawn chair and your cooler, and I love it. It’s, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

David Raubach: Yeah. No, it’s really fun. It speaks a lot about too your love of family and get-togethers, and making that a priority, from, we go there, even on other weekends, you know, we, about 20 of us will say, “Hey, we’re going to the cabins this weekend.” And you know, you may have 20 people, you may have 50 people show up, you know, and just, it’s pretty cool thing. Have you incorporated some of your Cajun roots from Louisiana?

Sharon Followill: I have. Cooking and the, yeah, we typically will make gumbo on Friday evening.

David Raubach: Okay.

Sharon Followill: The gumbo, it’s delicious.

David Raubach: The gumbo is amazing.

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And then Tyson sometimes will make red beans and rice, or he’ll make chicken and sausage fettuccine or something. It’s real spicy. You know, everybody likes it.

David Raubach: But so, I read a story back, this is maybe 10 years agoish, maybe 15, I can’t remember. It was in the Rolling Stone magazine, and it was about, it was a narrative of the band The Kings of Leon.

Sharon Followill: Uh-huh.

David Raubach: And the, in the interview, they talked a little bit about going to a family reunion on a regular basis that sounds a lot like what you’re describing.

Sharon Followill: Really?

David Raubach: It does. Yes. And what’s interesting is that the guys in that band have the same last name as you.

Sharon Followill: That is interesting.

David Raubach: Is there any connection? Interesting, huh? Is that, is that just a random coincidence?

Sharon Followill: Yeah, I’ve heard that, too. I read the article.

David Raubach: Well, is it true?

Sharon Followill: Everything in the article. It is true. Yeah, it is true. The Kings of Leon, those four boys are my nephews.

David Raubach: They’re your nephews. Okay.

Sharon Followill: They’re my husband’s brother’s boys that are in the band. And my son, he’s been working with them since they were all in their early, early 20s.

David Raubach: Yeah. And so, and are still together, and are just, and are back out on tour. New album last year, new song with Zack Bryan that just came out a couple days ago. Do you, so, what was it like with the whole family there? But what were, what was it kind of like with, I mean, a lot of people know the Kings of Leon. What were they like coming to the family reunions growing up? I mean, you were a little bit like a mother figure to them, I think.

Sharon Followill: Well, after their mom passed away from COVID, huge loss in my life, because she was a really good friend to me, because we both married those Followill boys around the same time. So, we were pretty good friends, and I don’t know that, they would come and stay with us, you know, in the summers, and we had pallets on the floor for all those kids, you know. You got six kids laying in the living room, you know. I mean, it was tough, but it was fun at the same time, you know. So, I did, they did grow up. I mean, I feel like I would do, you know, just about anything for him.

David Raubach: What a great influence, though, for you. Yeah, I mean, I know the influence that you’ve had on me. So if I had that at a young age.

Sharon Followill: Well, I’ll tell you, for the first probably four or five shows that they did here in Oklahoma City, I had gumbo. I brought big giant pots of gumbo and fed the crew. And after that, but then the crew got to where it was like 150 people on the crew.

David Raubach: Yeah, there were more people on the crew than were coming to the Followill family reunion, and that’s where you drew the line.

Sharon Followill: I just was like, I can’t do, but anymore.

David Raubach: When you guys were all growing up together, your kids, them, were you thinking, you know, Nathan and Caleb and those guys, you’re like, “Well, this world famous rock band. This is—”

Sharon Followill: No, you saw that when they were, they probably don’t even think that though. You never know. I don’t think, I don’t know. Maybe they did. You know, I do remember that they, that those three boys, it was Nathan and Caleb and Christopher, my son. They were all pretty close, you know, growing up as teenagers. And they all said, “Christopher, if you get a baseball contract, you take care of us, and if we get a rock band, we’ll take care of you.” And they always said that. And they actually did, you know, that they went on to work together and be successful, and I’m really proud of it.

David Raubach: I love that. Yeah. It’s great. And I do love the new song with Zack Bryan, the Bowery. I know, Heather, you, I’m a big fan. Yeah, big fan.

Sharon Followill: Yeah, all of them.

David Raubach: But so, yeah. What are you hoping that, or what do you hope for, that band, for Kings of Leon? I guess, are they going back out on tour?

Sharon Followill: And, I don’t know, really. They’ve done a couple big stadium shows. Yeah. I don’t know, really, that much about them. But all, you know what I hope? I hope they just all come home. Yeah, that’s what I would like to see. I would like for them all to just come back to Aunt Sharon and let’s live here in Oklahoma and do family reunions.

David Raubach: Yeah, that’s neat. That’s—

Sharon Followill: But I tell you what, that’s hard to do when you got, when you come to your family reunion and there’s a hundred people that you’ve never seen before in the life, and nobody else has ever seen them either, because this is not a gated community, you know, it’s out in the open, out in the country. I mean, anybody could show up. It’s possible that people show up to the Followill family reunion that are not actually families.

David Raubach: So, if I showed up, absolutely, one year, would you vouch for me, or are you kicking me to the curb?

Sharon Followill: Just give him my name, baby. Come in.

David Raubach: Yeah. So, I want to segue back to the, what we talked about a little bit earlier, which is this journey that you’ve gone on in the field of oncology, as a caretaker, a little bit as a caretaker for a lot of patients coming to the Proton Center, and then, of course, with Cancer Specialist of Oklahoma, but then for the last year or so, as, again, as a caretaker for your daughter.

Sharon Followill: Mhm. Jandy.

David Raubach: Right. What was that moment like, as everything was going down and you’re thinking, my daughter may have cancer?

Sharon Followill: It was horrible. It was just horrible. I mean, when she went, because she had a patch of skin underneath her left breast that was just kind of dry and scaly, you know, and so her primary care doctor made an appointment for her to have a mammogram and an ultrasound just to be sure, you know. And, of course, I didn’t know too much about different types, of, you hear about a lump or feelings. So, you don’t think so much about it being a patch on the outside of the breast.

Sharon Followill: No, we didn’t think nothing about it, because she was very, every time she took a shower, she did a breast exam. She was very, she kept up with that. She never let it slide. I mean, she was just really, she kept up with it, you know, she didn’t let that kind of stuff get out of control because she wanted to be sure, you know, like we all do, women do. And so, believe it or not, because we were like, “Oh, well, it’s dermatological.” That’s what I thought, too. It’s just some skin something, you know.

Sharon Followill: And so, for three months, she didn’t have an appointment. No appointment. Nobody called. If I could do that over again, I would call and say three months is not acceptable. You know, we’re gonna. And of course, later, JD’s oncologist said, “I wish you would have just called us, you know, but you’re thinking it’s nothing, right?” But then, you think too, filling out forms, do you have a family history of X, Y, and Z? Yes. No family history of breast cancer. But her grandma had uterine cancer, which is a female cancer, right? But you don’t think like that, you know, you think because that’s what people ask you. Doctors will ask you, “Do you have a family history of breast cancer?” No. None whatsoever.

David Raubach: Mhm.

Sharon Followill: Um, so she had that screening done, and I mean, the, yeah, the ultrasound, the mammogram, and we went, I immediately wanted to go to some of my resources like Dr. Toma, who I had worked for all those years. She’s a medical oncologist. She’s a medical oncologist in Oklahoma City who I, she was a part of the Oklahoma, Cancer Specialist of Oklahoma, that group. So I drove there, called them, and they said, “Bring her right in the door, and we’re going to check this out.” And so they did.

David Raubach: We should mention, too, you have retired, newly retired at this point. So you’re no longer at the Proton Center.

Sharon Followill: That’s right. Six.

David Raubach: How long was that from retirement to Jandy’s diagnosis?

Sharon Followill: Probably not quite a year.

David Raubach: Okay.

Sharon Followill: Not quite a year. I had been retired from the Proton Center. But then we had a biopsy done. And then that’s when JD’s insurance said you can’t go to Integris, you have to go to Mercy. So we did, and which turned out to be great. We went to Dr. Bova. She, we knew that she had breast cancer from that biopsy. And when I, when she called me, of course, I just said, you know, that’s okay, because treatment these days are great. We’re just going to go in there and who knows, you may just have to have surgery. I didn’t know, but that’s what I thought. Maybe, you know, to her, this is what I was saying. And so we hung up, and of course I fell on the floor, you know, because this is my kid, right?

David Raubach: It’s my kid, after all of this time in the oncology field, and my kid, right, gets cancer. And I mean, I just, I couldn’t, and you’ve said this before, you just wish it was you. You just want to take it away and have it be you getting diagnosed.

Sharon Followill: 100%. 100%, because I knew what to do. You know, I had seen all of this before already. So I knew what to expect. She did not.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: And so I would have happily taken that on myself, you know.

David Raubach: So what were the, what were the next steps from there? So, was it the medical oncologist who confirmed that it was a positive cancer diagnosis?

Sharon Followill: Yes. Well, we got the report from the Integris. They gave us the pathology report.

David Raubach: Okay.

Sharon Followill: Gave it to us, which they used to be, you couldn’t get your pathology report. You had to get it from your doctor. But because I knew those people and I had that connection, they gave us the report and we knew what it was.

David Raubach: Is there a certain type of breast cancer that’s associated with the mark on the outside of—

Sharon Followill: It is. It is, but typically it’s inflammatory breast disease that does that. Jandy did not have that.

David Raubach: Okay.

Sharon Followill: So she had two, and I hope I’m remembering correctly, but she had two different pathologies. One said an ER PR positive cancer and the other one said a PR, yeah, PR negative. So I was lost when it came to that, you know, because I wasn’t familiar with looking at a pathology and know what to do.

David Raubach: No, don’t do that. No, no. And I’m one of those believers that, don’t look that up.

Sharon Followill: Yeah, you’ll find out more stuff than you need to know.

David Raubach: Google doctor will give you 25 different diagnosis scenarios every time.

Sharon Followill: Great. But of course, I looked up inflammatory breast, you know, when, the, because the pathologist at Mercy who did the ultrasound and the mammogram said, “Oh my god, you have inflammatory breast cancer.” That’s what she said to Jandy, which I mean, bless her heart, I don’t know why you would say that to a patient, you know, but she did, you know, and of course Jandy doesn’t know what it is, you know.

David Raubach: I don’t know what it is either. So you find out that Jandy has cancer. There’s that emotional, just shock.

Sharon Followill: Yeah.

David Raubach: Jolt for you. And then what are you, what’s kind of the next set of emotions for you as a parent, especially a parent who has experience in the field of oncology?

Sharon Followill: Well, then you, the switch flips, and you shift gears into first gear.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: And you get going, and you start talking, to yourself and my husband, about what we need to do, what we’re going to do. And she was in such disbelief that this was happening to her, you know. I did not flood her with all of that stuff, you know. I just, in my mind, calls, talking to people who could tell me what was the best way to do it. And I’m telling you, when we walked in to see the medical oncologist that she goes to now, which is Dr. Bova, I was ready for bear. I mean, I was going to say, “You need to jump on this right now. I’m ready and let’s do it.” You know, I don’t want to talk about anything else. Let’s go. She did that for me. I remember you saying, to your first meeting with Dr. Bova was kind of later in the day, when it was 6 in the evening, and she took hours to sit with me. She left us at 7:15 p.m.

David Raubach: Wow.

Sharon Followill: And she answered every question. She, and I did not have to prompt her, like I feel like I have to do a lot of times when it comes to stuff like that, you know. I feel like I want to say, “Come on, you know, let’s do this.”

David Raubach: You know, I’m not, I understand what you’re saying, which goes back to patient care, right? That’s best case scenario. Have someone patient with you who explains things to you that you may not understand.

Sharon Followill: But Jandy is, she’s so much smarter than me, and she has a memory like you wouldn’t believe. So every, I knew that she would remember everything Dr. Bova said, and she did.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: So I, let, sat back in my seat and said to myself, you don’t need to do this. You need to let her do this. She is in control of her health care. You’re just the mother. You’re not the intake worker. You are not the support staff. You’re mom right now. And so I did it, and thank God she just took over and she asked questions. She knew what they said at the last appointment, and it was way easier. I was ready to fight, and yeah, I didn’t have to fight.

David Raubach: What? So initially you mentioned that you were thinking maybe we just have to do surgery, which for breast cancer is probably the least invasive, only having to do a single modality. Let’s say you just have to do radiation, you just have to do surgery. That’s probably the best case scenario from a treatment standpoint, right? I think for Jandy, it seems like she’s kind of had the worst case scenario in terms of everything that she’s had to do. When did you figure that out? And what was that process like?

Sharon Followill: Well, it was the first appointment.

David Raubach: Okay.

Sharon Followill: She said, “You’re going to have to do chemotherapy.” Of course, she was following the guidelines that all medical oncologists follow, and you’re going to have to, which was exactly what Dr. Toma had told me personally, you know, that’s going to be this, this, and this. But Dr. Bova was talking to Jandy. Dr. Toma was talking to me, you know, personally. Jandy wasn’t there, but she said, “I would recommend, you know, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, and possibly some chemo after radiation.” All of which she’s either gone through or going through.

David Raubach: She’s gone through—

Sharon Followill: Yeah, she’s finished everything, ex, she just finished her last proton therapy treatment on last Tuesday, and so, which I think was the 7th, and then now she just has to do a chemotherapy infusion once every 3 weeks until March 26th.

David Raubach: Wow. So, so she will have been on chemo for a year.

Sharon Followill: Longer than a year.

David Raubach: Longer than a year. Wow.

Sharon Followill: Because I think she had her first treatment the end of November.

David Raubach: Yeah. And I think part of what I want people to understand is just how arduous that journey is. Like when you get diagnosed with breast cancer, and a breast cancer that’s going to require surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, lots of follow-up appointments. I mean, I think we had a patient, Heather, that talked about going to the doctor. I mean, it was half the year. It was like, there’s 365 days in the year, and I probably had 180 doctor’s appointments, when you just literally add up the number of times that I walked into a medical facility.

Sharon Followill: It’s a tough experience.

David Raubach: It’s a tough experience, and you get tired of that being your life, right?

Sharon Followill: I think Jandy, she loves her life. She always has. She has a great group that she works with at the salon. It’s called Revelate.

David Raubach: Revelate.

Sharon Followill: Her boss, who owns the place, is wonderful. I mean, a person for her to lean on, I noticed.

David Raubach: Yes.

Sharon Followill: Yes. And has been supportive in every way. Her friends have been super supportive, but she would just, sometimes she would say, “I’m just, I just want my life back. That’s what I want. I want my life like it used to be, you know.”

David Raubach: And I think people struggle with, succumbing is the wrong word, but saying to themselves, “Okay, it’s either fight or flight.”

Sharon Followill: Yeah.

David Raubach: You either ignore it and don’t do anything, which we have seen patients that have chosen that. But if you choose to fight, then you may have to, you may slip down and fall, but you get right back up. And that’s, that’s what I’m for to Jandy.

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And I think you find too, right? You never really go back to your old life, or what was normal, because, you were, because it changes you forever, person, to your core, after overcoming something like this.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: And it has changed people in our lives. Some of our family members, you know, that used to not, we used to not be, I don’t mean we weren’t close, but we weren’t in touch as often. And now they’re calling all the time saying, “Hey, how’s it going?” you know, just because we made that connection again, you know, so it can do that, too. But I think the hardest part for Chris and I both was just the idea, you know, that your kid has cancer.

David Raubach: Yeah. And you went to a lot of the appointments. I mean, I think all of them.

Sharon Followill: All of them. Yeah. All of the appointments that she ever had, including chemo, I went to. And I was going to come to all these, of course, you know, I’m 41 miles away. Yeah. But it was so simple for her, you know. I mean, she’d go in.

David Raubach: You’re talking about the treatments at the Proton Center?

Sharon Followill: The Proton Center treatments. These, these last treatments, she, the first time was tough. She has a frozen shoulder, I think it’s called. So, she had a really hard time.

David Raubach: Mobility.

Sharon Followill: The mobility is really, because she had 16, limp, 17 lymph nodes removed when she had her surgery. So it’s a lot, you know, and her, that arm is sore, and it was hard to hold her, and, but that team helped her every day. They, I mean, she wrote such a beautiful thank you letter to them, because they made, and I’ll tell you, not only her journey easier, but I was comfortable with not worrying about it, you know. I mean, think about it, you come to the front desk and it’s Tessa and Cheryl.

David Raubach: Know them, right?

Sharon Followill: You know, yeah, you know them, and they know you.

David Raubach: I think that that message that she wrote encapsulated everything that we at the Oklahoma Proton Center would hope that a patient would say about going through the treatment process. We have an incredible team there, an incredible group of clinicians, and the people that sit at the front desk, and everybody that’s behind the scenes, all of the different departments, everything that goes into taking care of patients. And Jandy did such a beautiful job just talking about what it was like for a patient and what that relationship is like, with, between the patient and the care team.

David Raubach: It’s got to be validating for you, too, because you didn’t have a ton of interaction with the radiation therapists at the Oklahoma Proton Center when you were there. You had, you’re kind of more behind the scenes with us.

Sharon Followill: We didn’t overlap a lot, and knowing that they took care of your daughter the same way they would any other patient—

David Raubach: So Jandy couldn’t come to the graduation today, but she wrote a letter to her team and to everybody at the Proton Center that I thought was really good, that you mentioned earlier. So I’m going to read it.

David Raubach: “I finished my radiation treatment last Tuesday and I want to acknowledge my care team at the Proton Center. They were absolutely stellar in every way. I love those precious angels who were my texts. My texts like them. I’m sorry. Like I love them and I want to be their friend forever. These angels by name are Payton, Katie, Stacy, and Jackie. They went above and beyond in every possible way. And I will miss seeing them and yapping with them every day. I’m so grateful for Dr. Story who called me from his personal cell phone while he was on vacation to tell me my PET scan was all clear. You’re a really tall doll baby and I could squish you like Myra squishes the squirrel.”

David Raubach: This must be an inside joke, right?

Sharon Followill: I have no idea what that means. That’s not the only thing I don’t know what it means in here.

David Raubach: “My absolutely amazing nurse, Sarah, who I could also squish in the same manner. To the ladies at the desk, Tessa and Cheryl, you were light and love every time I walked through the front doors. I learned to love my career from the front desk of a salon while gritting my teeth at the inconveniences of reception service. I’m humbled and awed by the way you do your jobs. It’s something I will learn from and teach from forever. And Carrie over there dealing with the insurance, winking at me and letting me know it will all be okay. Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy to be done with this course of my treatment. But I will love you all for the rest of my life. Tens across the board. To David and Heather and Devon, you can never truly know what your care and kindness has meant to me and my family. I want to thank all of you for showing up every day and making your patients feel like people.”

David Raubach: That’s amazing.

Sharon Followill: It is amazing. And it’s true, because that’s what’s important, when people come to a health care facility, is make them feel like they’re a real person.

David Raubach: Yeah. And I think we don’t do that enough out there, not at the Proton Center. Well, and, it’s got to be, I think it’s, there’s, it, it’s probably a little bit nervous, you know, you’re bringing your daughter into the place that you used to work. You know, it’s like, hey, I hope this all goes well. And obviously, it, the team is fantastic and they do an amazing job, but it is, it feels different when it’s your family member.

Sharon Followill: It does. It does. In fact, when I brought her for her first treatment—

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: I go to the door, you know, that leads from the lobby back to the treatment room. And Jackie, who was new, did not know me from Adam.

David Raubach: Oh, right.

Sharon Followill: You know, so I’d start to go in the door. She doesn’t know that I know, I can’t go back to the treatment room. And she said, “It’s, it’s just Jandy.”

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: And I’m like, I know.

David Raubach: Yeah. She started after you had already retired, right? Jackie did?

Sharon Followill: Yes. I didn’t know her. I’m Sharon. You know, I’m like, I’m a legend around. And of course, in my brain, I’m trying to figure out the appropriate way to act, because I don’t, I know I’m not supposed to go back there. Yeah. And so I’m kind of stammering around, and finally I’m like, “I know you’re new, but I’m old.” And then I just stopped.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: Because I was like, I was so nervous, you know, I didn’t. So I just went and sat down.

David Raubach: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You got to learn all the rules now. I mean, you’re on the, you were on the back side of it.

Sharon Followill: Yeah. And you know, David, another thing I wanted to say was that, Jandy getting her chemo treatments, she had a lot of nice people take care of her, you know.

David Raubach: She never had that kind of connection?

Sharon Followill: Yeah. I mean, she did with her team at the Proton Center.

David Raubach: That’s correct. That’s correct.

Sharon Followill: Every time she would get, they would access her port. That was the reason why I had to go with her, because she was terrified, because she had a horrible experience. One horrible experience of a new nurse that could not, and she kept sticking her, you know. So anyway, so we grip her hand, you know, and wait till she gets all settled, and then after she gets, they get, the, that part over, then she’s good.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: So we sent Chris one time because I had a doctor’s appointment or something that I couldn’t change. And so he goes, and he said, “Mom says I’m supposed to hold your hand when they stick your port, you know.” So she said, “That’s right.” So she holds his hand, and so it goes all well, you know, and she goes, “Okay.” She said, “Okay, Dad, you can go.” He said, “Okay, well, I’ll see you later.”

David Raubach: Yeah, that sounds like Chris.

Sharon Followill: That was, he made it through. He had to, he had to get up to go in there. He needed a break.

David Raubach: Yeah. What, well, and I do appreciate Jandy working Heather and I into the shout out, or the letter there.

Sharon Followill: That’s not why I asked you to read it.

David Raubach: No, it feels like such a small thing compared to what the treatment team and staff at the, a friend to you.

Sharon Followill: And I know, but if it wouldn’t have been for y’all, you know, in a lot of ways that I won’t talk about, that, it would have been harder.

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: You know, I wish that everybody who has to go through something like this would have people in their lives that they could count on and depend on to help them, like real friends are supposed to do, you know.

David Raubach: What advice would you have for another mother who’s having to watch their daughter or son go through cancer treatment?

Sharon Followill: I would say, don’t try to take over. Don’t try to run the show. Let your kid run the show, because they can. Now, I’m not, of course, I’m not referencing little kids. I’m talking about, you know, adult kids who trust that they’re going to make the right decisions for themselves. You have to, and do it, right? Just support them in whatever decision they make, because it is their life, and they are smart enough. You don’t think they’re smart enough to do it by theirself, but they are, and they can do it. And so, not only will it take the weight off of you having to make all these decision, but it helps them to take control of their lives, you know, to take control of their treatment, right? To be responsible for everything they’re supposed to do.

Sharon Followill: You know, I didn’t have to call Jandy and say, “Don’t forget to put your jeans cream on today,” or “don’t forget to put your cream on your port.” You know, I didn’t have to tell her that, because the doctor, I sat back in the chair while Jandy and Dr. Bova talked to each other, and said, Dr. Bova said, “Now, this is what you have to do.” And Jandy said, “Okay.” You know, and I think that that’s the best advice I would give any parent, just, and never, no task that you do for them is too small, right?

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: You know, if Jandy’s at work and her shoulder’s been killing her, I’ll call her and say, “Hey, I’m going to go over your apartment and change your sheets, wash your towels,” you know, just, get everything, things that I know that will hurt her arm, right? You know, so things like that, even go, go and feed the cats or sweep or not, right? Anything, you know, that, no, nothing is too small to do for them.

David Raubach: Nothing is too small. What is next for Sharon Followill? I know that Heather and I are trying to talk our work mom into coming back and helping us a little bit at the Proton Center, and we may be able to convince you to do that a little bit. But what else for you? I mean, I know there’s still some treatments with Jandy and you guys are working through that, but just as a family, kind of, what are you hoping that the next year looks like?

Sharon Followill: Well, I don’t know. I’ve got my youngest lives in Rogers, Arkansas. Jandy lives here, of course. And then my boy, Christopher, lives in Nashville. So I don’t know, traveling, right? Well, when I first retired, I went on all these trips. I went on a trip with my sister. I went on a trip with my best friend from high school. I mean, I just did all the things that I wanted, that I couldn’t usually do, because I was too busy, you know, and. But then, after that, I’m like, “Okay, now what am I going to do?” You know, because, I mean, it’s just me and Chris. I mean, how clean can you get your little tiny house, you know?

Sharon Followill: So, I, in fact, I’ve, this is the perfect thing for me, because I can also say, podcast guest. Yeah, podcast guest, I could do that. Yeah. I mean, I don’t know. I’m, I think I’m gonna like working. I think I would enjoy that field.

David Raubach: Yeah. I think about, too, when you were starting to consider going into retirement, and you had almost like a gut instinct saying it needs to be at this time, and then so you did retire and traveled for a little bit, but then Jandy was diagnosed, and you had all this time to be there for her and to take her to appointments. It was almost like this, you can’t even explain it, but something inside you is saying, okay, it’s time, doesn’t have to be forever, but I think right now is the time to retire. And it’s always crazy to me how things like that work out, right?

Sharon Followill: Well, there’s not many people in the world, I know some people in the world enjoy working all the time, but most people work for vacation. I mean, I remember when y’all first came back from Knoxville and Tom said, “Why do you want to work at the Proton Center?” I said, “The same reason why I want to work anywhere.”

David Raubach: Yeah.

Sharon Followill: Is so I can go on vacation.

David Raubach: I mean, fair. Let’s be honest.

Sharon Followill: You know, if I can help a lot of people when I’m working in the process, right, then that’s what I want to do.

David Raubach: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I thank you so much for taking your time, Sharon, and just being willing to talk—

Sharon Followill: Sure.

David Raubach: About your family experience with your mom and then with your daughter. And thank you for everything. There’s not many people like you. And there’s not many people that could handle the job that way that you handled it, with all of the patients calling into the Proton Center and you helping them navigate that process or that journey. And so, thank you for coming on with Heather and I today.

Sharon Followill: Sure. I got one more thing to say.

David Raubach: Just say it.

Sharon Followill: Get early screenings.

David Raubach: Yes.

Sharon Followill: Get early screenings, because they can make a big difference on how you live the rest of your life. Early detection saves lives.

David Raubach: Yes. Amen to that. That is a great way to close out the podcast. So, thank you.

Sharon Followill: Thank you so much.

David Raubach: Love you.

Sharon Followill: Love it.