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View Winners → Monrovia Author Chronicles How He Found Hope Amidst Cancer Diagnosis
Featured Jun 25, 2018
Randy Brewer, founder of Brewer Direct, recounts how he survived a rare form of throat cancer and found hope. - Courtesy photo
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Randy Brewer, founder of Brewer Direct, recounts how he survived a rare form of throat cancer and found hope. – Courtesy photo
Randy Brewer’s story of living in hope, not loss
Marketing executive Randy Brewer, a Monrovia resident and founder of Monrovia-based company Brewer Direct, recently wrote “Finding My Voice: A Story of Grace, Hope and Healing,” a narrative about surviving a rare form of throat cancer and how he found hope.
Randy’s story begins six years ago, when the doctor offered a single, draconian option — the entire removal of the trachea and larynx – to treat Randy’s cancer.
If he survived, Randy would never speak again. Through a ground-breaking surgery however, the cancer was removed and the surgeons fashioned a new trachea from spare body parts. The lengthy recovery was grueling. For five days, Randy could not speak; he was voiceless. He wondered if would ever speak again, a horrifying thought given his reliance on his voice for his work at Brewer Direct.
In his darkest moments, Randy discovered what it means to hope when all seems hopeless.
“Hope is a belief in something better, bigger, and beyond us,” says Randy. “I think most people, when they encounter challenges, question God. ‘Why me?’ I certainly did.”
Some might even lose hope completely. A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows suicide has increased by 57% in a 17-year period.
Even now Randy experiences side effects from the treatment—something that might cause him to lose hope. He is not cancer-free, and life isn’t perfect. But hope, Randy says, is about not living in the loss.
“I am still not 100%,” Randy says. “I have coughing fits, and if I talk for thirty minutes or more, my throat gets sore. Some days, I have to work hard on my breathing.” These are all limitations, thanks to cancer and its treatments.
“My cousin once asked, ‘Randy, are you 100% back? You seem so much like you were before the cancer.’ I said, ‘Heavens no. Maybe 70% back, but I choose to live in the 70%. I don’t want to live in the 30%. I don’t want to live in the loss.’
“Unfortunately, in our world, we tend to focus on the 30%. We focus on the disease, the suffering. But if we can rise above, suffering will still happen, but we might not experience it with the same intensity.
“At our lowest moments, we have to look up.”
Today, Randy travels the world for his work with Brewer Direct and speaking about how the healing of his voice was ultimately about the healing of his soul.
When not traveling, Randy returns to Monrovia, where he lives, works, goes to church, and regularly enjoys the Friday night festivals. A longtime resident of the community in the foothills, Randy brought his nonprofit marketing and fundraising company, Brewer Direct, to Monrovia in 2004. The employee-owned company, situated in Old Town Monrovia on Myrtle Street, regularly gives back to the community, including participating in a yearly canned food drive for the Foothill Community Center. As an ESOP, Brewer Direct creates an environment of longevity. “People want to be loyal to the company and retire from Brewer Direct—and that creates loyal citizens of Monrovia.”
To order Randy’s book, visit amazon.com.
