Feel the Good Conversation, Episode 6: Cameron Mathison
Thank you so much for visiting the Feel the Good podcast website. This is the transcript of my FTG conversation with Cameron Mathison. My apologies if it has a few typos in it or the grammar is off. I tried my best to comb through it to make it as accurate as possible. I do use a program that helps me transcribe so it might be off here or there, but overall it’s very close to our conversation. Hope you enjoy it and please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or more suggestions on how I can make it easier for you, if you can’t listen to the podcast.
Shawl
(INTRO) Hey, Hey Everybody welcome to Feel the Good! Thank you so much for being here and listening. I got to start out with just in appreciation to all of you who have done a rate and review for me on Apple Podcasts. I am so thankful to all of you who have done that. And you know as a new podcast it's really important because the more rate and reviews there are, the more people find your podcast especially on Apple podcasts, which is where most people listen to their podcasts. So, I would love to encourage you if you have not done a rate & review yet to please go do that. And ask your friends and family to review Feel the Good With Shawl too because I want everyone to hear these amazing conversations I'm having with my guests, because they really are either positive or uplifting, or they've got such wisdom in them that I know we're all growing from and learning from and I want everyone to get a taste of that. So, if you could join me in that goal of getting more rates and reviews, I would appreciate it.
Shawl
I actually wanted to read one that was really special I it's one of the kindest reviewsI've ever read. And I'm just, I'm sort of emotional about it because it was so, so sweet. So I'm just gonna read it to you.
Shawl
Now, the title is "Shawl has Arrived." And this is from Michael from Mountains. He says "Shawl's intimate approach to interviewing is the strength of this podcast. She has that rare gift of being able to find the soul of her guests and bring their stories to life. She asked the questions we would ask if we were in her place. And that makes it easy for the listener to feel the good. Give it a listen."
Shawl
What high praise Michael from Mountains, thank you so much. This was such a compliment. And it totally made my day reading this. And, you know, I really do try as the host of a podcast where I am having guests on and facilitating conversations where I hope there are some takeaways for the listeners. I really do try my hardest to dive deeper when I can, or when I'm curious about something to follow that instinct and ask those questions. And so it's really confidence building to hear that you are feeling that, and that I'm satisfying that for you. And I hope I'm satisfying that for a lot of the people listening. So, again, I just wanted to give a special shout out. Thank you so much, Michael from Mountains for taking the time. And if all of you could take the time, if you haven't already to do a rate & review on Apple podcasts, I would so appreciate it.
Shawl
Now, you know, I like to start the show off with something that I'm grateful for. But before I share what I'm grateful for, I wanted to give you a few moments to think about what you're grateful for. And, you know, this is a practice that I love doing and it doesn't matter when you do it in your day, if it's in the morning in the middle of the day at night before bedtime. It just really puts you in a positive headspace. It gets you feeling good inside of yourself to think about what you have in your life that you're grateful for, you know could be people, it could be things, it could be an environment, what not. So I'm going to give you a few moments to think about what you're grateful for and then I will share mine for this week.
Shawl
Okay, so something that is I gotta say it's a little simple, but I can't help it. I am so excited for Fall coming up. And I know, I know some of you are probably like, Fall coming up? Fall is here Shawl, because it's after Labor Day and I know that's when a lot of people are like it's Fall. But it's really not Fall to me until like, mid September, which is sort of this week. I know the autumnal equinox is, I believe it's like the 21st or the 22nd. So that's technically the first day of Fall, but just now feeling in New York City, you know, the air is a little crisper, the leaves haven't changed quite yet, but I'm really looking forward to the leaves changing. I'm looking forward to have like a pumpkin spice latte in my hand and cozying up under blankets and watching movies with my family. I just, you know, the season of Fall is just so cozy and it's so warm and this is sort of random, but I always think about Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in the City. And there's this great quote that she says where she's talking about New York, and she says this is the time of year in New York when you know, even before the first leaf falls, you can feel the seasons click and the air is crisp and summer is gone. So I'm starting to feel that here. And it just delights me and thrills me And so anyway, very simple, but I'm so grateful that I actually also live in an area where I'm experiencing the season. A fun little thing that I got recently that I'll tell you guys it's not an ad or anything but I got these beautiful candles from a company called Feya.. I actually wrote about one of their products on the blog, but I ended up getting a pumpkin spice candle from them. And all the candles when you purchase them, every purchase gives back. They work with a few nonprofits that give out meals to those in need. So every time you purchase something from them, you're doing good. So it's called Feya. And the pumpkin spice candle is just amazing. So again, I'm already in the mood. I'm getting there and soon you know, I'm really going to be celebrating fall and all the colors and gonna put my sweater on and get cozy and cuddle up with my loved ones and my puppy Webster. So anyway, that's what I'm grateful for. If you thought of something that you're grateful for, I would love to hear it. If you want to share it with me, you can message me over on my social media accounts on Instagram and Twitter at Shawlinivmh.com. Or you can go to my website which is shawlinivmh.com. All of that is linked in the Episode Notes for you so you can head over there and contact me, message me. I always love hearing from y'all. So please don't hesitate if you ever want to reach out about anything, what you're grateful for or even some of your thoughts and reflections after listening to some of these conversations.
Shawl
Speaking of the Feel the Good conversation I have today, I am just so excited to share it with y'all. Cameron Mathison is someone that I have had the pleasure of getting to meet in person through our Hallmark Channel connection. I was a huge admirer of his before I started watching him with my family when he was Ryan Lavery in All My Children. So if there are any All My Children, fans listening, yes, we do talk about All My Children and his career and he shares some really funny storylines that he was a part of during his time there. And of course, besides All My Children, I mean, Cameron is an Emmy nominated actor. He's a television host he hosts Hallmark Channel's Home and Family with the lovely Debbie Mattenopoulos. They are just incredible duo if you don't watch the show. Talk about feel the good and positivity, they're just like right up there with that. He's also hosted on Entertainment Tonight. On Good Morning America he's been a correspondent, on Extra, he even co hosted the 35th annual daytime awards, and the,n he's been in just a ton of film and TV projects. Obviously a ton of Hallmark movies which I love. We dive deep into his career, his journey with kidney cancer and how he sort of stayed positive through that which that is an incredible part of the conversation that we go through, his health advocacy, and his family and so much more. I'm so thankful that he gave me so much of his time. So I hope you enjoy this Feel the Good conversation with Cameron Mathison. (END INTRO)
Shawl
Cameron, I can't tell you, how thankful I am that 1.) you decided to do this and 2.), I mean, feel the good, you are like, always feeling good. I feel like in a sense, you're such a positive person. So I can't wait to chat with you and hear sort of the secrets behind your positivity a little bit because you're just like a ray of sunshine.
Cameron
Well, I gotta say first of all, thank you for saying that and it's a really important thing for me to try, I try to walk the walk I really do and not just to say it. Honestly, you're the perfect person for for this podcast, for this conversation because you are the same obviously in many ways, just kind of getting to know each other a little bit, but from what I know of you, you're absolutely the same.
Shawl
Oh my gosh, well, that is so kind and yeah, I mean, I try to and I think that's one of the reasons why I created the pod is so that I could talk to more people that are doing that and figure out what's working for them and just hear about their life experiences and their journey and for me, I always picture you like, Were you always like this as a kid because I picture you as like this happy , go lucky like handsome little kid. Was that you growing up or no?
Cameron
When I was 2.5 years old, I was diagnosed with a bilateral In both legs, degenerative bone disease in my femur bone, the head of my femur bone and I had to get off my legs and they put me in a very wide a frame brace it was sort of a massive, like just sort of apparatus that weighed more than my whole body and I had a crutch behind me and a crutch in front and I would swing this kind of a frame almost, it looked like a truss like a building truss. And my reason for saying that is to your point, I look at these photos so I you know, I think because of that being a traumatic experience, I wore that night and day, I slept in it and wore it for over four years, four and a half years. And to let my femur bones harden and become strong enough to support the load of my body on their own. And I look at these photos and I have very little memory you know, through those years, I don't know if you just kind of block it out because it was sort of traumatic, but and every photo I see of me in this crazy contraption I have a huge smile on my face. And although I think I was a pretty shy boy because of that, I was embarrassed and began you know, I was the guy that like a lot of people stared at and stuff like that.I think I just I think I just went through that tough time and learned to kind of smile through it, I guess. And so I think maybe I was a happy kid even though I had some, you know, fairly tough circumstances.
Shawl
Wow. So that was when you You said you were two years old when you got diagnosed?
Cameron
Yea, two and a half. Luckily, my mom was a nurse. So it's called Legg calve perthes disease. It's a rare disease in degenerative bone and oftentimes is caught very late and what happens is the femur bone gets warped and deformed and it causes so much pain and discomfort and there's so many surgeries and things that have to happen. But my mom was a nurse and she noticed I was walking funny. Immediately she brought me in right away and they caught it before the femur got too deformed and weird. And so yeah, so you know, I went on, they never thought that I'd ever kind of be sort of being able to play sports and stuff like that and I went to play college basketball and I, I extreme ski and I'm a big fitness and workout guy. And so they, you know, you never know. I mean, you never although there were a lot of very lucky and fortunate circumstances. but I still sort of defied the likelihood anyway. \
Shawl
Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad that she caught that early. I mean, I think with a lot of kids, it's really important to catch things early. Right? I mean, for anyone, right? I mean, when you catch something early health wise, you can really make a difference in the outcome.
Cameron
Yea. Well said.
Shawl
You had that brace on until you were what, six? Almost seven?
Cameron
Yeah, yeah, exactly. A six, seven. So two and a half. Yeah, probably about seven years old.And yeah, I wore it the only time it ever came off. in that time was either when I was getting fitted because i was growing for the new one or when I was being kind of like carried and lowered into the bath otherwise it was on me night and day you know like I wish, I wish we could show a photo to see like it sort of looked like the Forrest Gump but way bigger and it didn't move with it, you couldn't like, he could walk with his, I couldn't walk with mine it was rigid, like a big truss that my legs were way out in a sort of an A angle so it was pretty awful.
Shawl
So did that did that make you sort of like an old soul in a way as a kid? Because I feel like for something like for you to go through, something like that so young. You know, it does sort of change your childlike self a little bit, you know, like there's some innocence that is a little bit gone there because you're dealing with something that you have to overcome.
Cameron
No, it's good insight. And I think you know, maybe a bit of like, you know, you sort of said an old soul but I think for sure, it was very character building early. So like right away at that age, whether you realize it or not, which I didn't, you know, again, like you're the kid that gets stared at, the kid that the parents say Don't stare, honey. And, you know, there's bullying and I mean, there's so many people out there that can relate to similar things that they've gone through as a child. I mean, kids can be mean, because they don't have a lot of the same filters that maybe you kind of get when you're older. But, so with that said, I learned, I feel like I learned what not to do in many ways and what it feels like to make others feel good. I think so. I really believe becauseyeah, I just think that there's, there's real aspects of me that were really formed during those years. I mean, there's no way that there's no possible way that certain character aspects weren't sort of formed and ingrained at that time.
Shawl
Well, you're such a kind person that I imagined that you were the same as a kid to, very kind. Once the brace was off what was that like for you? And going into your teenage years? What were you like?
Cameron
Super shy. Like superduper shy. If you told me I wouldn't even be able to talk on this podcast like I couldn't. I was so, I think because I was in a sense shamed through those years. I don't know, I just kind of like wanted to hide most of the time. And so as I grew up, and I was athletic, and you know, I, I started overcompensating probably for being known as the the crippled kid or the handicapped kid. I mean, I use that word. I know it's not PC, but that's sort of what people would say back then. Um, and I think I used to come home, my parents would have dinner parties, and I'd maybe come home this is high school, or maybe middle school or high school and I would be so shy even to go and say hello to their guests. Like I couldn't even say two words like I couldn't be in front of anybody. The fact that I'm now on television and hosting, and acting, you'd never, you'd never ever believe that that kid would go on to this career.
Shawl
So how did it all happen, then? How did you get started acting? And, you know, obviously hosting came a little bit later. And you started out as a model too, right?
Cameron
Yeah, I was in engineering school at a university called McGill University in Montreal.
Shawl
That's right, because you're Canadian. You grew up in Canada.
Cameron
I'm Canadian. Yeah, it's a really good school, a good engineering school in Canada. And I had worked for my professors for summer jobs, like just doing research projects and stuff. And then my summer before my last year of engineering, I couldn't there was no jobs available, and I was at a bar or a club or something and somebody that I knew, like a common friend said, You should go and talk to my modeling agency and see if you can make a couple of bucks over the summer. And I was like, that sounds like a blast. I'll do that. And I literally, I literally took his advice I walked in and they took a Polaroid of me. I used that Polaroid, they sent me to go see a client for that was casting for a job for like a modeling job for and I booked it off of just that Polaroid and me in person. And then that one week, it was a week long job shooting like at the beach. And I made more money in that one week that I made all my summers before working for professors and I was like, Man, this doesn't suck. So, I I kept doing it. And then that led to doing some commercials as well. And my roommate in college was an actor, like a successful actor, working actor. And he, you know, like not that, not that he necessarily helped me in any way but he opened my, I mean, it was such a foreign, completely foreign business. So when I started doing commercials and having him as a roommate and I'd see the scenes that he was auditioning for and then eventually my modeling agency set me up with an acting agent. And that's when it went to sort of the next level.
Shawl
Wow, I can't believe like off of the first thing, right with modeling that it just, boom like it took off from there. That's so awesome. And so lucky in a way you know?
Cameron
Really lucky, really lucky that there was like a, you know, a job that was looking for somebody in my category, whatever. And by the way, also they were just looking for a new face. It was a very small market it wasn't like New York or LA. This is Toronto, it's called a B market. And they were probably just looking for a new face and they're like, let's try this kid. But it definitely helped me out.
Shawl
Well, I don't know I mean, I think you have a pretty good looking face (small laugh) if I mean, your face is pretty good..um, honestly Cameron so I'm sure they were seeing that as well. And you know, like I said, you radiate, you radiate. I mean, isn't modeling also like yes, it's the person's face. But you do have to have some sort of energy behind you right? That like that you're bringing even though you're not necessarily saying lines, but you have to have some sort of charisma to I feel like?
Cameron
You have to.You have to. I mean, truthfully, I got to be completely honest, I was so shy that I was actually pretty, like I was fairly lousy at it at first, but I've kind of got better as time went on, but yes, lousy because to your point, you do have to have like, a real confidence and you have to be able to emote, you've got to be able to kind of in a sense play these characters even on some level. Like my wife was a model for, for many years doing lots of different catalog stuff and she would look at my early photos and just cringe because they were so bad. (laugh)
Shawl
Awww (laugh) I'm curious. I mean, you know, as somebody who's been a model did you always think that you were good looking? Did you have an idea about the fact that you were like, Okay, well, you know, or like, after they booked you, were you then like, Oh, I guess I'm good looking now, like, how does that sort of work? Because for everyone who's not I mean, I always think like, Oh my gosh, like models must just they walk through the world sort of with this attractiveness. And I'm curious if they know that they are...?
Cameron
Well, I don't know, I can't speak for, you know, I would say real models out there. I don't really think I was actually a super legit model, but I, um, I definitely didn't know and I never thought I would ever do something like that. And I think I mean, yeah, no, I mean, I think part of it if I was to be completely honest, I think part of the reason I went into the business and stayed in it. One of the reasons I went into it was just to make some quick money, but the reason I sort of stayed in and pursued it was because it was on some level sort of level validating for me, and I, maybe it does trace back to, you know, trying to validate myself after having, you know, a pretty rough go of it as a kid. And you know, like all these things that I tried to do through my teenage years could have possibly, you know, from one perspective anyway, been trying to, like add to that. So yeah, like being looked at for being or thought of as a model and being on billboards and being in magazines and people being seen and, and I think, in many ways that was a contributing factor. I would say a big contributing factor as to as to why I stuck with it because I started feeling a little bit better about myself kind of getting more confidence. For right or wrong it definitely was an aspect because I started having a little bit more confidence through this.
Shawl
Yeah, well, then, of course, you know, I mean, I'm skipping probably a little bit in your acting career, but All My Children and I know I've told you this, that I watched All My Children. Ryan Lavery, how I remember your character, I watched it with my mom and watched it with my sisters. I mean, you know, your character is such a, I mean, it's such a big one, in the All My Children universe. So what was it like doing that, being a part of such a popular soap and I mean, you sort of enter that show too quite hunky, right? I feel like one of the first scenes that I remember you even being in was like shirt off. What was that like?
Cameron
Yeah, well, exactly. That was another one where, that was even more so of one of those moments in life where there's like an opportunity and it was the right time and the right person. Like I was living in Toronto doing acting gigs in Toronto with American productions shooting up because a lot of American productions like Hallmark movies shoot up in Canada for lots of different reasons. And I was working on them as a local hirer in Toronto and I went to visit by my friends in New York. Just for the weekend. I just went to vist. And on the Friday before the weekend, I went to see an acting agent there so that I could legitimately write off my trip. Like I wanted to go and say it was, it was a work trip. So I went see an agency. And I literally didn't think anything of it. I had no intention of moving to New York, I had no intention of signing with a New York acting agent. But they were like, you know, what? Do you have you have some time, I'd love you to go over and see the casting director at All my Children, Judy Wilson. And I went over and I was like, Sure, let's do this. Yeah, fine. And again, like, zero, like it was such a good place to be and anybody out there listening can relate like when you're going into something and you and it's not really real, and you don't really necessarily care if you book it or not. Is that something you're dying to get? You're so much more relaxed, and it's a whole different version of ourselves, right?
Shawl
I think I booked every job I've ever gotten it being a busy day or something. And I go in not that I don't care, but it's sort of not, not everything is relying on this one thing. And I feel like every time that's when I booked something, you know?
Cameron
Yea I'm telling you right now. We all should learn from that.
Cameron
And I went in to see Judy Wilson and she was super kind and enthusiastic. And then she just gave me a script. I was like what they call a cold read, you'll know what it is obviously. But for people at home, cold read is when you don't have time to prepare a scene at home and you don't get the, what they call the scenes with the sides in advance. So she handed me a scene. And she gave me 5 to 10 minutes to go read it over and to work on it. And then she was going to put that on tape to show the executive producer. And I was like, yeah, sure, no problem. And I actually have, I actually have a copy of that audition and me reading lines, which is so weird to see, but in that I totally can tell that I'm like, I don't really care. Like I'm in there, just doing my thing. And I want these guys to want me but at the same time, I'm probably not really ever going to move to New York. So I do the scene, cold read and then two months later, I have a screen test. Actually, that's not true. Two weeks later, I had the screen test. I booked the job and then two months later, I moved to New York. And that experience, Judy Wilson, casting director who I still stay in touch with, who came to my wedding. That experience for sure even more so than that modeling thing was definitely the big game changer in my life and in my career moved to New York. All My Children like you say, Ryan Lavery luckily, was a character that was utilized a lot on the show and yes, I came on as a green actor with my shirt like...You know, I was learning how to act in New York on this soap often shirtless but, but thrilled because I had this great opportunity and I just loved, I honestly just love that job so much. Like I love the people. I love the job. I love living in New York at the time, I was 28. And it was just a really exciting and crazy time.
Shawl
Well, and you know, I mean, what a training ground too for you as an actor because, I mean, the amount of lines you have to memorize, how fast you shoot. I mean, it's just really it's like a weird, it's like a gift to an actor. Right? I mean, you're constantly doing new material. You're constantly acting with someone else. It's this day in, day out. I'm sure that was grueling at times, but wow, I mean, what a training ground.
Cameron
Yeah, it's so true. It can be a lot of times Luckily, I you know, I can, for whatever reason, I have the ability to memorize a lot of material fairly quickly. And so what was the hardest part for a lot of people was actually fairly straightforward for me, but um, but the hard part really to your point is, is to make it good training. Like you can go to a soap as a green actor as a new actor like I was, and develop a lot of really horrible habits. Because it's so fast paced, you're doing, you know, between 15 and 35 pages every day of dialogue, and you no matter what if you do a couple takes, even if you suck, they're like we're moving on. So you can just phone it in, they call it you know, you can just be in there. But to your point, it can become an amazing training ground if you really do want to be better. And of course over the 14 years I was on the show, there were many many phases where I was just like kind of calling it in and maybe I wasn't really super involved in a storyline or whatever and I was just kind of phoning in, but then there's other opportunities where your story gets really good and juicy when you get to work on it and, and become like and you know, this is the stuff you're really ask for, you know as an actor and it was it was such a good experience.
Shawl
There were so many nutty storylines like watching soaps in general not just All My Children but like, is there one that was just like for you that you were like I'm not, I don't even know how I can do this or this is completely crazy?
Cameron
It's not It's not the best example like I'm gonna tell you some crazy storylines, but then I was like behind and I could i was i was gonna go ahead first in and one of them was I had this six month relationship with a ghost my first love on the show, Gillian.She got killed, and the fans freaked out and they brought her back as a ghost and I got to work with Jill Larsen, who was the medium that I could connect with Gillian and it was wacky, but I loved it because I loved working with Jill and I thought it was also during the time of a show called Six Feet Under where there were all these kind of like visions of dead people. So it was like a cool thing. And it was wacky, whatever. But I was behind it. And I got into it and actually got my first Emmy nomination through that. So that was you know, like, that was a cool time for me. But believe it or not the the weirdest thing that I just was, it's, it's when we try to do too much on the on the soap. You don't have a big budget right? So we had to there was like an airplane scene and we had to be in an airplane and I had to get in the cockpit and then land the plane because the pilot had a heart attack and, and you're in the plane and the green screen is horrible. And nobody believes that you're actually flying a plane and it was, it was the dialogue was just awful. And I remember thinking to myself, like in fact, in one of the tapes, I actually said this, I was like Mayday. Mayday. This is the worst scene ever on All My Children. Like the whole thing was, it was it was so bad. So even though that's not one of the extreme storyline examples, it's stuff like that. I feel, you know, the big explosions, or, you know, the huge this or that. It's like, just keep it simple guys because you don't have the budget and it's just gonna look corny and cheesy. You know, but there was there was a lot of I mean, I got, I got shot. I had amnesia. I mean, I started a fight club at night. I remember that my character was so egotistical that I used to donate sperm in a sperm bank all the time and it was stolen and then somebody got impregnated with my stolen sperm from a sperm bank, like the whole thing was so silly. But, I mean, I could go on and on.
Shawl
The commitment, the commitment that you have to show though, as an actor and all of that I again, I commend you and I commend all soap stars because you just, you still have to commit even if it's like the most unrealistic thing possible, being in a relationship with a ghost. I mean, you're in it, you know?
Cameron
You gotta be in it. The hardest thing to is that there's other, you know, as as an actress, you know, like there's other things that make it hard to make these scenes good. And that is, so many times you've got to like stand there's like five people in the scene. And really, it's just a two person dialogue and everyone's just standing around looking dumb. Like, I turn it on sometimes and I'm like, good for you guys. Because it just looks dumb. Like, I don't know why they're doing that. And, you know, you try and they and the actors on the soaps are so good that they really, they pull it off like they make it not look idiotic that seven people are standing around staring at two people having dialogue, which like never happens.
Shawl
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I want to switch gears a little bit and talk about hosting because I think this is where I mean me, personally, Cameron, I feel like I really get to see you come alive when you host and maybe that's because you are yourself to a certain extent when you're hosting and not playing a character. One I just think as a host, I mean, obviously you host Home and Family, our, again our Hallmark Channel connection that we have together. And of course, maybe I'm biased because we're both part of the family but I just absolutely adore Home and Family and everything that you guys are doing there. I mean, talk about positivity, and joy. How did sort of that come about for you, Home and Family? And then you also hosted for E? You did GMA I mean, sort of talk a little bit about that.
Cameron
Yeah, it's true that my, you know, my career has largely, kind of blossomed in the unscripted, in the hosting side. And luckily, I still get to work as an actor too. But what happened was, I was on All My Children back in the day, and they would do these kind of wrap ups where, you know, I was one of the people on the show, they would ask every week to do a summary of what happened on the soap. And then those summaries of us on camera like saying, Hey, everybody, this week on All My Children, this and this and this and then Marcy, and whatever did this and this. Whatever. And so I would do these, and everybody would mess up because it was a lot of copy and a lot of dialogue, but I was able to memorize all of it. And they would air on the affiliates all over the country. And then I guess it was I was just so comfortable doing it because I was memorizing it and just kind of having some fun with it, that Lisa Grigoris an Extra saw me do that and started having me on. So the first real kind of hosting thing I did. I was on Extra as a correspondent just very casually just you know, very, I don't know, probably 10 times in total, maybe 20 times in total. And then from doing that, I was asked to do a hosting job for the soap network. I Want to Be a Soap Star so I hosted that reality show. But it all kind of came through being on the soap and doing stuff for them and then I did I want to be a soap star and then from that hosting job. I started doing you know other little hosts, I hosted a game show on TLC and all while still on All My Children. It just kind of blossomed from there and eventually I was on Dancing with the Stars and that's when my appearance on Good Morning America as a contestant of Dancing with the Stars, that's when they and they knew that I had a hosting background, they started hiring me on GMA and that's really when my hosting world kind of super exploded because I was, you know, basically full time on Good Morning America as a special correspondent. And then from there, I booked Entertainment Tonight and so on. So it really is one of those things and you know, from your experience to, you know, work begets work so the more you start being seen, the more people watch you and it just kind of went like that. So I've been very lucky.
Shawl
Wow. Do you have any, I would imagine working you know, again, at Extra, I think the you were on the red carpet for the SAG Awards. Are there any fun celebrity stories that you have or anybody that you interacted with that's been really fun to share?
Cameron
Yeah, I mean, it's there's been some amazing, amazing moments on red carpets. But you know, you mentioned the SAG Awards it probably would have been impossible for me to come up with one but because you mentioned that, one popped into my head. So I was hosting the red carpet for ET with Nancy O'Dell and myself. And that year, Carol Burnett was receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. I'm sure your listeners remember Carol Burnett that she was an absolute legend
Shawl
Of course. She's a legend.
Cameron
And we're like, we're interviewing people as they come through SAG Awards you get and then we're getting the word Carol Burnett's standing. Waiting. Carol Barnett's coming up. So we kind of finish up our interview, Carol Burnett comes up and Nancy and I are all excited because she's the Lifetime Achievement Award. Carol Burnett, we love her. And she we, you know, we start, we start asking her a question and she stops us and she's like, "Cameron, can I just say you are such a good actor. I love watching you act. And I want you to know that your character on All My Children and some other things were some of my favorite and I think you're a great host, but I love you as an actor." So this happened live with Carol Burnett on the SAG carpet when we're supposed to be talking about her, and how awesome she is. And that was a moment that I'll never forget. And, I mean, I showed it to my mom and dad, and they all know obviously it was very cool. But honestly, my favorite things that I did probably at ET were this series of things that we did called Can Cam. So basically putting me in challenges against celebrities. Were like I raced maseratis against Josh Duhmel. I went on Lip Sync Battle, um, I did American Ninja Warrior and they would challenge me to do these cool things that were obviously part of the entertainment world and those were all my absolute favorite. I did an MMA Fight against one of the guys from one of those MMA shows and, you know, all sorts of fun stuff. So that's, yeah, that was a really, really cool series that happened, like over a period of a few months and it was a big hit. Oh, I also, you know, I did Laird Hamilton xpt his challenges there and there's so many so many fantastic ones. I can't even think of them right now.
Shawl
Oh my gosh, I can't believe I mean, again going back to Carol Burnett. Like what a compliment like you must have felt like, you obviously must have felt like amazing after that, and it sounds like all the things that you've been able to do hosting wise have been so much fun. How do you keep yourself sort of upbeat? You have this boundless energy to you and it's not like you're like an energizer bunny either. It's not like you're like fast talking or anything like but you just have this lift to you if that makes sense. So, I mean, do you feel that way about yourself like do you think you have that is there like something that you turn on to bring that energy is that energy, just always there?
Cameron
Well you know, like I said earlier that means a lot to me that it sort of comes off like that because I I try to I definitely I think it's an intention, I try to be positive and I try to encourage others and it's definitely not always there. Just ask my wife sometimes I'm a little jumper around the house. But uh, but I hate it when I'm not like I don't. It's not like I try and you know, stuff negative feelings or whatever but I, I acknowledge that they're there and the real, the real answer to that is for sure without a doubt, my meditation practice. So a lot of people misunderstand meditation or think that it's just like blanking the mind or it's about like escaping from reality, but it's, it's very, the practice that I follow is very, very different. And it's really, in many ways I mean, to your point exactly into this podcast sort of essence is that it... Meditation can be used to train the mind in building positive virtuous states of mind and reducing negative agitating states of mind. And in doing so in a way that's very, very applicable to, and specific to somebody's life and to somebody's challenges and to what their tendencies are maybe, you know, anxiety, depression, or maybe somebody tends towards, you know, anger, frustration, and there's, literal meditations that you can do to help oppose those tendencies. And really, what you're doing is you're going to the gym and you're training your mind and not kind of snapping back and following those sort of neural pathways into what what you've maybe developed as a habit, or what your tendencies are and,one of those big ones is to really... Like that's one of the reasons this podcast like this is hard for me because I'm talking all about myself. And what I really try to practice and I know you guys do too. The key to being happy in my experience and from what I learned. This is not coming from me. This is coming from, you know, many spiritual practitioners for a long, long time is to get the attention off of oneself and to focus on others. I mean, that is the secret to happines. It's the secret to life to learn how to deeply cherish others, care about others happiness, care about their freedom from suffering. Really think about others. What are they going through thinking about things from their perspective, not in a way where you become codependent and you become like, looking for their approval or whatever, because that's still self centered, but really training and trying to think about others as much as possible in constructive and creative ways.
Cameron
Then, all of a sudden the backdoor effect of that. So like the secret backdoor effect of that is we're going to be substantially happier and more peaceful ourselves and even all, even our challenges and our problems that we go through. Like, when I had cancer and I got scared and I had all these things come through my mind, the number one thing that helped me in the moment was just to do a little meditation on compassion for others, going through such difficult times like that. And immediately I felt better. And I felt connected to others and it just makes, it gives you pep in the step like you say, andyou know, it just warms your heart.
Shawl
I love that so much. And I love that you're sort of talking about active empathy too, right? Like having empathy, thinking about others and then also being actionable about it too, which I think is really important. You know, it's not just the thinking about it's also putting that into action. And you know, through meditation too, you're able to get there I'm so many people tell me to meditate. I haven't started it yet. But I I feel like I need to because so many people in my life have been telling me you've gotta do it, you've got to do it. There's so much peace in it. There's so much elevation of yourself in it, you know, in the sense that like you said, You're, you're really opening yourself up, you're thinking about others. I mean, there's just so much to it. So you're the first one to tell me that. So I need to I need to get on that for sure. You did bring up your kidney cancer, which I did want to ask you about. I mean, you know, it hasn't yet been. I mean, you got diagnosed last year around this time, right. Cameron?
Cameron
Yeah, exactly. Right. About a couple of weeks. You're right. It's almost, almost a year.
Shawl
So I mean, how did you like what how did you react? What were you feeling? I mean, you mentioned being scared. You know, sort of talk to me about what that was like when you first heard the news. And they told you kidney cancer like immediately or did they have to figure that out? Did you just find out it was a tumor?
Man, it was a phone call. I had asked for this MRI for a long time and doctors didn't think I needed anything and then so I really didn't think I'd get this call. So, anytime that you do an MRI and then you get a call with your, your doctor's ID coming up on your phone, like six hours later. That's never a good sign. So I saw the phone like I just finished playing golf. Yeah, I did the MRI but I don't really think that I could possibly have anything seriously wrong with me. I'm super healthy guy, whatever, blah, blah, blah. I see the doctors ID on my phone and my heart stops like literally, it was as if everything kind of faded a little out of focus in my peripheral vision and slowed down and got quiet. And I answered the call. I was like, "Hey, Dr. Lee" and I just didn't, I didn't want to like, You know, you got to watch yourself. Don't get out of control. It's probably nothing. He's just following up.
Cameron
And he's like, "Hey, Cameron and I say well, "I took I did the MRI This morning," I didn't even know if he knew that was today and he's like, "Yes, I know. That's why I'm calling" and I'm like, "Uh huh." And he explained that the MRI came back with a report from the radiologist and from the doctor that reads it there that there is a mass on my right kidney that is consistent with renal cell carcinoma. So they can't exactly say that it is for sure yet without a biopsy, but that it is consistent with it. And then I asked him what the likelihood was and he said usually when they say that it's there's, there's very specific aspects that they see that they can pretty much determine it is they don't know necessarily if it's cancerous or not, but there, there was a lot of indication that there was and I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know what I didn't know if four centimeters was a big tumor or small. I didn't know if kidney cancer was a death sentence or what. There was other language in the report that I didn't fully understand. So I hung up with that doctor and I called my urologist because he would know, not excuse me, not my urologist, my friend who happened to be a urologist. And I asked him what the other information meant. And he said that it hadn't spread. So everything else in that report said, Yes, you've got very likely kidney cancer. But the good news is it's not in your lymph nodes. It's not in your I think lungs, he stayed there and maybe a gallbladder as well. And that was huge. Because if it's confined to your kidney, then it's it's a very, very different and he explained all this to me, you know, so start to feel a little better that it's usually just requires surgery and it's, it's a very big deal, and you got to do it right away, but at the same time, it hasn't spread throughout your body. So and then we're just kind of went from there.
Shawl
And did you say that you you asked for the MRI. Your doctor didn't do it. You asked for it?
Cameron
Yeah, I've been asking for...So I'm super big into, you know, my health and being self aware how I feel and what's going on in my body and what I feel like after I eat this food and that food and I changed my diet and I tried things and I really enjoy all that. And I there are some aspects, I get tested, I do different types of blood tests and other tests. And some of the tests were really confusing like they are incredibly low immune function and credit like just all sorts of white blood cell issues and I just wasn't sure what was going on. And so this is month after month, we changed we tried lots of different things. Western medicine, I tried functional medicine, alternative medicine and things weren't really changing dramatically at all.
Shawl
And were just feeling pain like were you just feeling pain like in your stomach and your back?
Cameron
No, no, there was no immediate pain from the actual tumor. There was only suspicious tests.results and then also a lot of gut issues and believe it or not it doesn't seem directly related, but when your kidneys aren't filtering and functioning in lowering your immune function then your gut can get so I was really focusing on gut and small intestines because that's where I was noticing a lot of my symptoms. So I was thinking, you know, maybe small intestine, maybe there's a growth in my stomach, whatever I would, that's where I was. That's where I asked for the MRI. And they kept saying you didn't need it. So it was about two years later. Finally is like yeah I'll order you one if you really want one, that's fine because he's probably just tired of me asking. And I went into the MRI and they were checking out and even when I went in there the technicians like looking at me and looking at my report and saying, I'm sorry, why are you here? What are we looking for? Like what's happened? I had to like make almost make something up to get the MRI so that I was afraid that they were gonna kick me out and say you don't need one.
Shawl
Well, thank goodness you advocated for yourself to do it because I mean it sounds like without that you wouldn't have you wouldn't have known or you would have known but it would have gone on for quite some time right? I mean, how long how long you've been there? Do they know how big was it?
Cameron
Well, not trying to toot his horn but I have a probably the number one kidney urologist specialist in the world named Dr. Indiber Guillen. He told me that they that these tumors usually grow, oh man now I'm gonna forget the math. But I think between one and two millimeters a year or between two and four millimeters a year, I can't remember. And so whatever the math came out to, they say that likely it had been there between probably like, the fastest growing probably six years but likely, you know, 10-12 years you never know. So it had been there a while but because I eat a very, very low sugar low carbohydrate diet and I'm active. And they really believe that because cancer feeds off of sugar feeds off of carbohydrate glucose. And so it didn't have the energy to grow as much as it probably normally would and spread. So they feel like that probably in many ways, was one of the things that, you know, saved my life.
Shawl
Oh my gosh, I'm so I'm, I mean, Cameron, I know, I've seen you in person since obviously, not now during the pandemic, but I just, you know, I'm so thankful and so happy to hear that you caught it, and that you were able to get the surgery and that, y for all intensive purposes, you've been been staying so healthy. You've been been doing that work on your body already. So that when you found out that news, I mean, your body was almost in a really good place to handle it. You know? Which is fantastic. So how did your wife take the news? How did your kids like? How do you even have that conversation with your kids. I don't even know how that would go.
Cameron
Man, it sucks. I mean, I know this, this, this podcast is all about feeling good and learning to be positive. And man, I gotta be honest, it was really tough. It was really tough too. So we didn't tell the kids. So the first call I made was to my wife, obviously. Yeah, and that was, I mean, I can't even, I can barely talk about it without like emotions coming up because here's two people who have no idea what that means. No idea. What if it's a death sentence? Like you know, all of a sudden I find the news I call my wife, she doesn't know but she was very supportive and loving and we're gonna beat this. Her dad passed away of cancer too. So she's got that her own personal triggers. Were coming up for that and, and then so we decided we know obviously we're making phone calls. I called my friend like I mentioned my friend who's a urologist and, and then we were going to wait until Monday like it's just like a Thursday or something. It's before we told the kids because I was going to have,I finally got in with this incredible doctor through the help of my other friend and got an appointment on Monday with this doctor Gil just literally like won the lottery. And so after that appointment is where we told the kids and I literally I know this sounds weird and I don't want to get the wrong idea but I literally rehearsed saying the words that I was going to say to my kids because I know how I am I like I know like when I did the announcement on Home and Family. I had done the same thing. I worked with Tracy, our executive producer. And we had literally rehearsed like said the words over and over again so that when I was saying the words in front of the lens in front of my family there, I wasn't going to I wasn't going to you know start crying and I did sort of the same idea even though this was before. I did the same idea with my kids. I wanted them to hear me say the words and not have my emotion dictate how they should feel, right? So I I wasn't trying to hide emotion but at the same time I wanted to give information. And I wanted to be honest, and I wanted to know, tell them what I did know and what I didn't know. And I wanted to be able to do it in a way that was strong and supportive, and accurate. But I was afraid that I was going to get emotional because of course, it was in a very emotional thing. And, and, you know, my daughter got emotional and my son was just kind of sitting there in shock. And anybody that's gone through something like this knows, it's, you know, it's one of the worst moments of your life for sure.
Shawl
How do you think though mentally...Do you feel like there were things that you did to pull yourself out of some of the dark moments that you had during that time?
Cameron
Definitely, um, you know, really meditating on compassion, just thinking about others just just really thinking about, you know, instead of, you can think about the odds and you can think about the numbers and you can think about Okay, well, the odds are in my favor and all that is very surface level feeling better. But if you really calm your mind and you get into a really true, you know, more in touch with you like your true self and then and then you know just love and have compassion for others going through what you're going through and a whole lot worse millions of people going through a whole lot worse than what I'm going through it immediately is an amazing, amazing powerful effect on the mind. And I think probably the body too They say the body to like they say when your mind is peaceful and full of love and compassion, it actually start helps to heal the body. But either way, even if that's not the case, you know, the emotional pain was the hardest part for me at that time. So I had to I had to work with my emotions.
Shawl
Oh my gosh, well, I'm again, I'm so grateful to hear that and you got the surgery. And I'm sure obviously your wife and your kids even though hearing the news, I mean, obviously they were there for you every step of the way. And I mean now with COVID is it that, are you like immunocompromised still? Because I know with cancer when you've had cancer that could be an issue. Have you been nervous about that at all with the pandemic?
Cameron
I have been, I have been and yeah I'm still immune compromised for sure. You know it's been a year man it's like yeah, I'm working I'm working on building my immune system in all the right ways of doing all great all sorts of good things both diet and also medicine wise--
Shawl
Well, you started All Health 360 which is super cool. Tell everybody what that is and because you just started it right? I mean, like a month ago, you sort of launched it.
Cameron
I did, I did. I started an Instagram and sort of a I think eventually like you know website and things called All Health 360. And it's really just that it's coming at like I've always been very involved in eating for you know, nutrition and also weight loss but also fitness and doing different types of workouts. And I've, as I mentioned them like I love the.spiritual aspect and meditation and how that is such a big part of our mental health and our emotional health and then everything from parenting advice and even relationship health. And so yeah, I just started airing like interviews and cooking segments and workouts and guided meditations and just posting them. I'm starting to send out emails to some of the followers about some of the food recommendations with discounts that I got from these companies and I'm just trying to get people involved in the, in the All Health 360 conversation.
Shawl
Yeah, that's so great, Cameron because I think we really, I mean, especially during this time, right, like we're, we're, we're talking about a pandemic, we're talking about health we're talking about, essentially, you know, it didn't make me even think about like, Okay, well, am I in the best, how can I be more healthy, you know, just in general like thinking about health and thinking about your family members, and so on. I think that's so amazing that you created that so that people can go and see sort of what's been working for you and what you vouch for. Because clearly, look how it's helped you right to have your body in a certain place where you were able to beat something. Right? And have that resiliency. Because you've been taking such good care of yourself.
Cameron
Absolutely. And it's what I was saying to people too, is that everything I do on All Health 360 I'm doing anyway. Like, everything I talk about everything. Like it's me anyway, I'm always researching things and trying things and, and so, so many people have told me that I should just share it. And so it's just an opportunity to, to share my own experience, but also share interviews with people who know a whole lot more than me about these topics, too.
Shawl
Well, I hope that's helped with a little bit with, I sort of interrupted you because I was excited about All Health 360, but with the pandemic and being immunocompromised, like just being nervous about that, at least you've got all of this sort of going on where you're putting out there sort of all the things that you're doing right now, to stay fit and stay healthy.
Cameron
It actually does. It kind of keeps me it's sort of an accountability thing, too. Because I've obviously like, you know, I'm far from perfect. As far as my, you know, my plan is, uh, but as far as you know what i'm doing things like this, and I know I need to post things. And I know, you know, it's, it helps my accountability helps me stay on track. So it's helpful for me, and hopefully, it's helping other people. It sounds like it, I get a lot of, I've been getting a lot of feedback from people that had been very grateful and that have received a lot of benefits.
Shawl
Oh, that's amazing. I'm so glad to hear that. Well, I mean, again, you know, I think our Hallmark Channel connection brought us together and you know, another way that you're so positive and uplifting, I think is in the work that you do there. And you know, obviously we talked about Home and Family. That whole group of people is just amazing the things that y'all are doing even with At Home with Our Family, which I was saying to myself, "how are they going to do the show during the pandemic, but you guys have done it and you're constantly coming up with fun ideas, to share with the audience fun crafts, fun ways to connect, you did a fun date night one with your wife that I remember that I wanted to recreate in our apartment and I tried it didn't go as beautifully as yours. Hence why you didn't see any pictures of it. (laugh)
Cameron
But I bet it was still great, bet it was still great.
Shawl
It was, it was and so I'm loving all those ideas that you guys are putting out there. And of course, the Hallmark movies that you do. I mean, come on The Christmas Ornament, The Christmas Club from last year. I mean, why, do you gravitate to that sort of storytelling experience to yourself, like do you make those because they're so positive?
Cameron
Well, the first one that I did for Hallmark anyway, because I'd done some other TV, movies and things so All My Children had ended and I was kind of moving into different aspects I was on Good Morning America at the time. And the first I did a small part and one of the Hallmarks as a favor to the producer who I knew. And, and I guess it went well. And then they had offered me this other role on The Christmas Ornament with Kellie Martin. And it was literally one of my favorite experiences ever of any job I've ever had. Not only I love working with Kellie, but just the whole, like the whole Hallmark family, even even, you know, people that are daily hired onto these projects, in the scripts, the people who write the scripts, the directors, the producers, it's such in general wonderful group of people. And the story was fun and the character was like you said, so positive and uplifting. Like I wanted to be this guy. His name was his name is Tim and he owned a Christmas tree lot. And I I dove into that character with such enthusiasm because he just was such a great guy. Like I was like, man, I want to be more like Tim. And so it was from that experience. I'm like, man, if they asked me, I will do one of these movies as often as possible. They're not easy to make, you know, it's an intense three weeks, but it's such a positive. I mean, I guess it is what you make it, but in my experience, it's an incredible experience, you know, developing new friends and family and being part of these characters in these scripts. It's pretty cool.
Shawl
Yeah, it's really it's such, it's so feel good. It makes people I mean, I know, for me, it's like such comfort food, or it's like, it's a happy place. So you're really doing that. When you're a part of those projects. I mean, that's what you're giving to people, which is really very special. Um, so, what's next for you, I mean, in terms of, obviously, All Health 360, you launched, we talked about that. Is there anything else that you see, like goals that have? Beacause gain, I feel like spreading positivity is like your thing. You're very upbeat, you're just a content guy. So is there going to be anything with that?
Cameron
Well thank you. I'd love to, I'd love to start potentially producing some projects for Hallmark.That would be a lot of fun being on that side of the camera. But I think I'd also be really curious to see where All Health 360 goes, it's, you know, I'm literally doing the entire thing myself. So like shooting it and posting it and coming up with content. So it's kind of going a little slower than I would have, like I sort of saw in my head. But once maybe I get a little bit of help. And I'd love to see where that can go. And maybe that can get into like a sort of a YouTube sort of format. But um, you know, and then obviously, I've said this to so many people, I'm 50 years old. I'm co hosting Home and Family and I get to do these movies. But if I rode out my career co hosting Home and Family with Debbie and the incredible family members, I would have I just considered my career like my work life so fufilled. This is my favorite job, like I've worked in done so many, luckily so many different things and this to get to this point. I love that job. And I love those people and I love working with Hallmark. It's the most authentic fit for me of any place I've ever been. And I know you're a fan of All My Children and I really enjoyed All My Children. But, this is, this to me, this to me is, is even better.
Shawl
I'm so happy to hear that. It's always so wonderful to hear when somebody has found their place. You know what I mean? Like, where they feel the most, it's like a puzzle piece, you know, and like that piece just fits right in and it shows. It shows with your energy And, when when I get to watch you hosting or, again, when I watch the movies or anything, you know, that you're doing now it really shows that you've got this sort of that you've found sort of a happy place, you know?
Cameron
Thank you, I'm really happy to hear that.
Shawl
which is really lovely. Um, the way I like to end out these episodes, speaking of what we were talking about with active empathy and, and thinking of others and spreading good, I'd love to ask my guests if they have a charity or a nonprofit, well, you know, one or two that they want to share with our listeners so that we can support that or at least know about it or spread awareness about it. So do you have one or two that you want to share?
Cameron
Yeah, I've been working with Gateway for Cancer recently, for obvious reasons, and they've been wonderful. And then also for many years, I've worked with Child Help, a wonderful organization to help kids that are in environments that are, I guess abusive, I'll say that, in different forms, like, you know, it can be emotional, it can be physical, whatever. And it's a, it's a really massive and powerful organization. And then I also proud to be a part of Perthes.org which is the leg Perthes disease, which is what I had as a kid. And that's a very rare disease that doesn't get a lot of press and I was I was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and played for them to get some awareness to and so those are, those are three organizations that I'm proud to be part of.
Shawl
Amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that. And finally, I do something called Feel the Five where I'm gonna give you five words and you just have to tell me the first thing that comes to mind.
Cameron
Oh, boy, okay.
Shawl
Feel the Five. Home.
Cameron
Family
Shawl
Joy.
Cameron
Peace.
Shawl
Fear.
Cameron
Wasted time.
Shawl
Regret.
Cameron
Can be powerful
Shawl
Hope,
Cameron
Faith.
Shawl
Thank you so much Cameron. This was such a wonderful conversation again, I just, I, I want to bottle all of your, your energy and after this conversation I sort of have some ideas of how I can do that for myself. But also I'm so again, I'm going to say like, so thankful that you're well and that you're healthy.
Cameron
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Cameron
And that you're also able to use your platform now to also speak to that experience and help others in that way too. So, and you're doing that and that's just so powerful. So again, I can't thank you enough. Thank you for giving me your time. I know how busy you are to getting All Health 360 off the ground also Home and Family so really appreciate that.
Cameron
Okay, well thanks for doing what you're doing. You're doing a great job and you know I'm a fan of yours and I think this is a great podcast to get the word out and spread the positivity so good for you.
Shawl
Well, thanks so much. All right, well, I will talk to you soon.
Cameron
Okay, talk soon.
Shawl
(OUTRO) Such a great guy y'all. Cameron was so open with us in this conversation and it was so much fun actually at the top of it hearing you know about his career, working on All My Children and all all the fun there and also, the acting tips that he gave us as well and hearing The Carol Burnett story was so neat. So that was I felt like a lot of fun in this conversation, but some of the really big takeaways that resonated with me, I wanted to share with all of you.
Shawl
When he was speaking about the beginning of his life and his childhood and the physical disability that he had, and, and the challenges that he had with that, I mean, he even says in this conversation, and I think, really the parts of his life story that he shared, this could apply, which is challenges don't define you, and you grow from them. And, you know, even his journey with kidney cancer, as we heard, you know, there are definite challenges that he shared with us that he's had in his life and the whole time that I was talking to him, I felt like he was always sharing something of how he grew from them or how he changed from them. So again, challenges don't define you, you know, you can grow from them, you can move forward from them. And I thought that was really something that was highlighted here in our conversation.
Shawl
Obviously talking about his with kidney cancer, be your own health advocate. I'm so thankful and impressed that Cameron advocated for himself with his doctor about pushing for an MRI and not that our health professionals aren't amazing and our doctors aren't amazing. Look, I'm the daughter of a doctor. I would never say that, You know, doctors don't know what they're doing because they have studied for a long time and they have expertise that none of us will ever have, but they aren't in your body, and No one is in your body. You're the only person that is feeling within your body knows what's in your body. And so good for Cameron for listening to that and advocating for it. And you know, there's nothing wrong with telling your doctor or healthcare professional like, Hey, I'm noticing this or like, what do you think about this? Like, do you think we could do this and opening it up and having that conversation so I just love that Cameron you know, promoted that and said, you know, be your own health advocate, and is constantly saying that on his platforms, you know, when he talks about his journey with cancer, or with All Health 360, which we talked about where he's actually giving us direct tips that work for him, which is another takeaway that I got from him a very basic, simple one. Eat healthy, take care of your body, he started All Health 360, which I will tag in the episode notes so that you guys can find it. But, you know, he started that where he's giving us his tips and his secrets to doing what he's doing and how he keeps his body so fit, which clearly helped a lot with his kidney cancer and his journey through that.
Shawl
One of the most beautiful things that came out of this conversation was our talk on meditation. And I know, I know if you're somebody who's listening right now, who, who has told me, Shawl you need to meditate. I know. I need to do it. I even told Cameron that I need to do it. So I'm going to get on it.
Shawl
Because so many people have said it. I've had a lot of artists and creatives, like my artistic friends, my actor, friends, writers, etc be like, Oh, it's just so amazing creatively, but to hear Cameron take it a step further and say, you know, with his meditations, he actually thinks about others. And that's how he rises. And that's how he stays positive is, is thinking about others, and utilizing that act of empathy, which is just, again, so beautiful, and something that is a big takeaway. And finally, you know, I think the ultimate thing that that he said, that I just loved was when your mind is full of love and peace, It will apply to your body too. And your body follows in kind to what your mind is, is thinking and so I just would love for all of us after this conversation, to strive for that. To have a mind full of love and peace and active empathy and a healthy body, and we can really conquer anything with that, I think in mind, so I really, really appreciated that. And to spread the good, I have tagged all of his charities in the Episode Notes, so please go check them out. You do not have to donate if you can't, just advocating for them, supporting them, going on their website, seeing ways that you can get involved if you can't monetarily get involved. You know, there are so many ways to help so do check them out and support in any way that you can. I hope you enjoyed this conversation. I hope you left it feeling the good and as always, all the love and light. Have a great week. (OUTRO END)