Okay, w know this is a serious subject, but the next lady that we're going to visit with is a longtime friend.

Her smile just lights up a room, and she is our Kansas Insurance Commissioner, Vicki Schmidt.

I'm just so thrilled to see you.

Good to see you, Betty Lou.

Always.

Okay, so let's go back.

We do need to get bac to the day that you discovered you had breast cancer.

Yeah, it was a life changing day, for sure.

I was at work the Friday before Memorial Day a year ago, and, I got a notificatio on “My Chart”, got a text messag saying you have a new message.

And I thought, oh, this would be a great way to start my weekend.

I had the biops and I'm sure it'll be negative.

And I opened it up and it was like 4:30 in the afternoon and I had cancer.

And I remember just sitting at my computer and wondering, like, am I reading that right?

Am I... what what is going on here?

And then I thought, can I get home by myself?

I'm not sure.

But, you know, I did get home and, and there's just a whole a flood of emotions that that come.

And I had a little pity party for a little bit and, and decided, okay, now I need to put some plans in action, and, and, you know, find out what I, what I need to do.

And I knew it was early because I knew the mammogram had lit up a small area, but I thought it was just fat tissue or whatever else.

Yeah, it could be anything.

Could be anything else.

Just not cancer.

Right.

And, so, you know, and then that that sets in a whole bunch of things into motion.

And then it was kind of hurry up and wait, make the appointment and then wait for the appointment, which wasn't that long but it seemed like an eternity.

But here you go again.

It's on a Friday afternoon before holiday weekend.

You're thinking, is everybody closed?

What am I going to do?

Where do I turn?

Millions of questions.

Millions of questions.

And quite frankly, no answers at that time.

So you're just, you know, and the worst thing you can do is to start doing your own research.

There was a lot of things going on that weekend for me with family and friends and I was determined not to tell anybody because I didn't have enough information.

I didn't want to talk about it with anybody else.

I just wanted to have a plan before I started talking to anybody about it.

I got treatment I had surgery, I had radiation, it took through September into September to get all of that done.

But I'm a public figure.

Yeah.

And, I didn't want the rumors to be out there.

I know how the rumor works.

The rumor mill works in the circles of, public officials, and, so, that was a lot of thinking about that.

Probably more thinking about that than the diagnosis of how do you communicate this out and, don't make people worry about you and turn it into, like, maybe a positive of some of some sort.

And, you know, I was shocked.

Amazed.

couldn't believe the outpouring of love, prayers, cards, everything that that that I that I received and from people that I don't even know throughout Kansas and, you know, boy, we are good people here.

We are.

We really are.

And, I treasure that a lot.

And I would have never thought that would happen.

It was a big step to to tell everyone that you have cancer and you're going to undergo treatment.

And, you know, and certainly I'm not the first person in public office to do that.

Right.

But I just love the smile.

You know, you've you've got it.

You're continuing and you're fighting on.

Oh.

And you know, I've told everyone I want to be the Bob Barker of mammograms.

I mean, you know, get your mammogram.

Yeah.

I mean, tell your loved ones, the people that you care about, get your mammogram early.

Detection makes a huge difference.

And, you know, for me, it was a routine mammogram.

it wasn' I hadn't didn't feel anything.

In fact, when they told me I needed to come back for a second one, I was sure it was someplace else.

I was totally wrong.

So, you know, that is just the way it is.

You start imagining things, but, you know, I'm very fortunate, very blessed.

you know, we're sitting in some of the best medical care in the United States, and, we were able to get that.

Okay.

Thank you so much.