PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 294: Seven-Year Battle with Cancer, Part 3
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 294
: Seven-Year Battle with Cancer, Part 3
Arden is now building back his body. He is also beginning his new venture, along with Cal Calhoon, called UNDEFEATED MEN, in order to encourage men to rise up in courage to face their challenges and difficulties. Go to https://undefeatedmen.com. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! And young people, and even gentlemen! Whoever is listening. I hope there are many guys who are listening to this series with Arden and Esther.
We are back again for the third session because the story hasn’t finished yet. Today Arden and Esther are going to tell you how God has been leading them as he came through the stem cell transplant and had to get his health back from nothing . . . ack again, and what he’s been doing about it and then what they are doing now.
Arden: Absolutely. I hope you guys aren’t tired of listening to me.
Nancy: No, we are loving every minute of it!
Arden: Obviously, over the years, I’d developed a huge passion for health and a love for it. Then after the stem cell, it hit me that I really needed to focus on building my body back up because it was torn down. I applied everything that I had been learning over the years. I don’t eat sugar. I eat a very clean diet. I don’t eat wheat.
I’m a health freak. I’ve turned into my mother! I was a health freak! One day it hit me. I’m like, “Man! I’m like my mom!” Not as crazy a health freak as she is but people would say I am. All my cousins and people will go out and eat here or whatever. I’m like, “No, I won’t.” I’m crazy like that.
Nancy: Well, when you’ve been through what you have and your body’s been down to absolutely nothing, you’re not going to build it back up to just be weakened and open to infection and everything.
Arden: Exactly. I’ve come to the belief, to the realization, that pretty much everything that we go through as far as physical illness can be traced down to, the majority can be traced down to diet and what we eat. We eat so much . . . I’ve researched over the years. We eat so much crap! Even what awful food that’s in our diet as a western culture. A lot of other cultures eat a lot better than we do.
Esther and I went back to China in 2017. Their food is a lot better. The unhealthy people, the younger generation that was introduced to western food and stuff like that, their diets are a lot more balanced.
Our meals are huge. There are a lot of carbs and they’re not well-balanced. Obviously, like my mother, her whole plan and everything drilled into me. Everything clicked. I’m like, “Hey I need to. . . If I want to do this and live long . . .”
Nancy: So, what are some of the things that you’ve found that are just so normal that people are eating today? Every normal guy would be eating that you now would not eat.
Arden: Number one is gluten and fried foods. Trans-fats. Chips. Potato chips. A lot of fried food.
Nancy: I wouldn’t put a potato chip in my mouth!
Arden: Not good for you. Sugar, especially when you’re dealing with any kind of sickness. Especially cancer. Sugar in anybody, it’s not good for you, but with sickness it’s not good.
Nancy: I am amazed that people still have sugar in their houses! If you don’t have it, you’re not going to eat it!
Arden: I know that people had other health issues. There were other diseases back in the early 1800’s, late 1800’s, early 1900’s. But people back then, on average, had a pound of sugar a year. A pound of sugar a year! We have that probably almost on a weekly basis, as an American culture, on average. Or even on a daily basis. It’s crazy what we have.
It’s a fallen world. Humanity twisted foods, played with them, and tweaked them. “Hey! This is going to be better!” White flour, and all this crazy stuff, and processed foods. Stay away from processed foods. They’re not good for you. My diet has pushed all those things away. I haven’t touched a fast-food restaurant since this whole thing started.
Esther: That’s one thing we did do during his whole cancer journey and while doing chemotherapy. We did do a lot of work building his body back up. Making sure he has a clean diet to help support the conventional treatment as much as possible, so that his body could recover from it faster.
Arden: Exactly. If you’ve listened to the last two podcasts, and then to this one, don’t think that I’m an advocate for just traditional medicine, or unconventional. I think both. With the healthy diet. . . both sides of the fence can be like, “My way or the highway, just this, just that.” But I think it’s the well-balanced treatment.
Esther: That’s what worked.
Arden: That’s what worked for me, ultimately, because I believe God likes balance. He likes balance. We often tip over on one side or the other and take it to the extremes.
With all that said, it’s always been on my heart to encourage people. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know if I was able to, or capable of it. I was shy. I’m not good at being on podcasts. I’m an extrovert. My wife is giving me faces. [laughter] I’m not shy one-on-one. I just don’t like big crowds, like talking in front of people. But this is doing things that make you grow, being uncomfortable.
Esther: Not only that, we have quite a history behind us. I always thought that if we were able to bless even one other person, help one other person, it would make it worth it. To encourage them, because God never lets us go through something without refining us. Then our job is to share that with other people as best as we can. If we were to not learn from this, and move on, we’d be wasting all of it.
Arden: Exactly. Exactly. For a number of years I was like, “Why me? Why am I going through this? Why do I have to be the one? I’m Serene’s son. I’m healthy. I grew up eating healthy food. Why? Why? Why me?”
Then I came to the realization, “Why not me? Why not me?” I’ve actually gotten to the point where I’m thankful for what I went through because I've been able to encourage other people. My wife has been able to encourage other women. It’s been really great. The Bible says: “In this world, you’ll go through trials and tribulations, but have comfort. I’ve overcome the world.”
That’s always comforted me. We go through hard things, but God hammers us out to refined gold. It’s something beautiful. It’s always been on my heart. I’ve always wanted to encourage other people, and not just men, but really, real men. It’s been on my heart.
In this day and age, there are not a lot of good men out there. It’s not encouraged. There should be good men. My dad always pushed me. He’d wake me up in the morning, and he’s like, “Hey, do this job. Do that. Oh, you didn’t do it right. Get out there.” We don’t push ourselves as men. We don’t. Really as people too, as a society. We’re so comfortable with being comfortable.
Over the years, it hit me. I’m like, “No, I need to be a man. I push myself to my limits. My wife deserves the best man I can be. My family does. I need to . . .” Then I dig into the Word of God. The whole reason we’re here on this earth is to glorify God.
I was going through the motions. I was like, “Oh, I can’t do this, because I’m sick.” No! No, I don’t want that to be my life. I want to glorify God now! I can do that by living my life, and leading by example, and by being the best man I can be.
We’ve come up with this. It’s been in my heart for a number of years now. It’s just now come into fruition, which is “UNDEFEATED MEN.” It’s a health company, but it’s more than that. Right now, we have some products, some health products that can help you on your fitness journey if that’s what you’re interested in. I really strongly encourage you to work on fitness, whoever you are. We’re coming out with a podcast and with a book.
I really want to encourage men to be real men, to push yourself to your limits. To encourage other men, to hang out with young men and teach them things that young men haven’t been taught. Not even young. Some older men don’t even know how to do some things. I’ve been around. We hold some events on our property. I’ve been around all over the place. Some men don’t know how to do things!
Nancy: No. It’s so sad.
Arden: I grew up doing things.
Nancy: In that, you were so blessed with your father. I can remember when you were young boys, in fact little boys. I don’t know whether you remember yourself. In those days, your father was out painting and doing all those kinds of things. Four o’clock in the morning, he’d be ready to go into a job in the city. He’d say, “OK, Arden! Your turn today! Come on! Get out of bed!” Out of bed at four, and out you went with him to work for a day!
Arden: I don’t know if you remember this too, but even when I was four years old, and some people might think this is extreme, or that my dad was being rough and overbearing. But he wasn’t. He literally made me better. God made him be my father. I came over to your house to do something, and he told me to run straight home.
Nancy: You had to run over to the Johnson’s, to get something. It was dark.
Arden: No, I had to come over to your house to get something. But you drove me back over to the house. He said, “No, I wanted you to walk.” He made me walk back to your house, and then you gave me a flashlight. He said, “No, I wanted you to walk without a flashlight.” I walked back to your house, and then I had to come back without a flashlight.
Nancy: I remember that.
Arden: All through my life, doing things like that.
Nancy: I thought, “That poor little boy!”
Arden: My mom was like, “Sam, you’re being too hard!”
Nancy: But he was training you.
Arden: He was like, “Hey! Let me teach him how to be a man!”
Nancy: Yes, he was training you.
Arden: I did it. When I was younger, I thought, “Poor me! My dad!” But no! Actually, it’s funny, because my dad has told me recently, and my dad’s my best friend now. That’s something I love. I’d rather hang out with him than most any other guy.
Nancy: I think that’s with all your brothers, isn’t it?
Arden: It’s interesting. My dad’s like, “Now you’re an adult, and you realize.” Over the years I didn’t realize the necessity, and the good things that came of that, and why he did that. Now I realize that I love that he did that. I love that he did that.
All that said, I’m a huge advocate, and I want to push other men, encourage other men, that when you’re going through something, big or small, whatever it is, small challenge, big challenge, it’s not a problem, it’s a challenge. Don’t look at your life as, “Oh, I’m going through this,” and let it define me. “I’m a sick person. Or my job this, or my job that. My broken leg this.”
Yes, I understand. I’m not trying to be insensitive. But think of it as a challenge. Rise to the occasion. Everyone goes through their issues. Everyone has issues. I’m not saying that, hey, just because I’m saying, “Undefeated Men,” that guys don’t fall down. We all fall down. We are meant to get back up again. Get back up again. That’s what it’s all about. That’s what I mean by that. “Undefeated Men” In God, in Christ, we are undefeated. That’s what it’s about. Like Granddad Bowen, that saying, “A good man is never stuck!” Always, my whole life, that’s been in my head.
Nancy: I love that, that you have taken that phrase as part of the . . .
Arden: Mantra. The main . . .
Nancy: The mantra for “Undefeated Men.” Oh, Arden, it’s so wonderful. Let me tell you a little bit more about that phrase. My father, that was one of the most common things he would say. “A GOOD MAN’S NEVER STUCK!” We’d hear him say that more than once a day. Anything that was a challenge, anybody else, they were saying, oh, they couldn’t do it. No, he would tackle it. “A good man’s never stuck!”
But the interesting thing is, Arden, that didn’t come only from him. He got it from his father. So, it has come down the generations. He would always tell us of his father. Like you were telling of your father, my father would often sit down and, oh, how he loved his father, because his father was a real man. That’s what he would talk about. “Oh, he was a real man, and he raised us to be real men!”
Arden: The thing is, it’s not just Granddad Bowen’s . . . It’s like, “Hey, we’ve got to get this job done right! We’ve got to get it done now!” He always instilled that, working with Granddad. It’s all passed on. It dies if you don’t pass it on. It dies if you don’t feed it, feed into that.
There’s something I heard a while back. If you had a wolf in the darkness, and a wolf in the light, which one survives? Which one grows? Some people will say, “The one in the light, obviously.” No, it’s the one you feed, the one you cultivate, the one you nurture.
We nurture sometimes our feelings, “Oh, I’m feeling bad. Oh, I’m this,” or “I can’t do this job,” or “Poor me!” But we need to be nurturing to decide, “Hey, no. I’m a man. I’m a son of God. I can overcome this.”
Nancy: Yes. Yes, that’s so true. So, you are blessed that you’ve got this spirit coming down from your father, and also from our side of the family. In fact, my father would say that his father would also tell him, “You can’t put a good man down!”
He’d say, “Never throw in the towel!”
He’d say, “We were raised on those statements.”
He raised all his five sons to be great men, tough men, godly men, but who knew how to be real men. In fact, at my father’s funeral, many people came to me. I remember someone getting up at one of the speeches. There were many speeches there. They said, “Well, this is the last of the men who were a breed like this.” We don’t even have them today.
Arden: The thing is, it’s sad, because I know there are good men out there. I know there are. So, I’m not saying there aren’t any. But really, in my generation, and younger than me, it’s almost extremely rare. They’re not getting raised that way. That’s what it’s about.
Nancy: And to be raised to be men!
Arden: They’re not being encouraged by other men, father figures, even if their dad, grandfather. Granddad Bowen died, I believe, when I was like nine or ten, right?
Nancy: Yes.
Arden: The last time I saw him, I was like six or seven. He hadn’t come back to the States from New Zealand. But he instilled all that. The thing is, some of the things that I do, my passions in my life, came from him. My father and my grandfather don’t even do it. Like I love hunting.
Nancy: Yes, he was a passionate hunter.
Arden: Naturally he instilled that. My father and my grandfather never taught me.
Nancy: That gift has come down.
Arden: Passed down, yeah.
Nancy: Yes, I remember when he, of course, he was a world champion shearer. The day that he broke the world record, he cut his hand on the second sheep.
Arden: I love this story.
Nancy: Many men would say, “OK, that’s it.”
Arden: It was a big gash.
Nancy: He just kept on. He put his hand out while they stitched it up, and he kept on shearing, and broke the world’s record.
Arden: I love that.
Nancy: Because “A good man’s never stuck!
Arden: This is something that Cal and I say, and this is the intro to our podcast. It’ll be launching soon. It’s not about win or lose. It’s about win or learn. Oftentimes we think losing is sad, so we don’t get back up. But nobody starts off great out of the gate. Nobody starts off a master at something, or super-skilled at something. It’s getting up.
It’s falling down and getting back up again, learning to go through the rough times, the hard times, and getting back up. That’s something that’s definitely not taught. I do. I take it to the extreme. I do cold plunges.
Nancy: Now tell us, what do you do these days to keep your body fit?
Arden: I work out three to four times a week, mainly heavy weight training, and some high-intensity cross-fit style thrown in there. I do cold plunges. I’ve been doing cold plunges for over a year now.
Nancy: You’ve been doing them through the snow?
Arden: Actually, no, because I was getting over a bug.
Nancy: That’s right! You got what I got, the bug, and you got the bug.
Arden: I got two bugs, but yeah. Doing cold plunges, which is incredible for circulation, and inflammation, and a plethora of other issues. But as for me being a health freak, I’ve got to do everything.
Nancy: Do you like them better when it’s freezing in the wintertime?
Arden: I do. You get more health benefits.
Nancy: You get more out of them then.
Arden: It’s funny, because I’ve coaxed my dad into fitness and health. My mom was trying for years to get him to adopt it and love it like I do. His health took a turn for the worse and he’s not very healthy. Then over the last two years, I’ve really got him to dig down deep, and he loves it. We do it together now.
Nancy: Oh, that’s so amazing, because you’ve got the big gym in the house there, in your mom and dad’s house. That is so cool. Oh, boy, but they say that cold plunges are not really good for women.
Arden: There are a lot of studies out there.
Nancy: What do you think about that?
Arden: From what I’ve studied into, and I’ve studied a decent amount, it is not the best for women. Now, I’m not an expert on that. I haven’t done a huge amount of research on it, but my mom has. It’s not the best for women’s hormones.
Nancy: Although I like to have a cold shower at the end of my shower.
Arden: I think that’s good.
Nancy: I read somewhere that 30 seconds cold after your shower turns on the vagus nerve, so I usually do that.
Arden: I think that’s fine. That’s good for you.
Nancy: What would you, and Esther, you and Arden, what do you do in your diet to keep healthy, the two of you? What’s your daily diet?
Arden: There’s a lot that goes into that. She and I eat similarly, but I obviously eat a lot more. A lot of healthy, whole food. No processed foods. Raw milk.
Esther: Well, very few as possible. Very few processed foods as possible. I don’t buy very many at all. A lot of greens when we can get them. We love your mom’s sourdough bread. She makes sourdough bread, and we literally live off that.
Nancy: Oh, you live off her sourdough? You are spoiled!
Esther: Yes, I’m so spoiled!
Nancy: Because her sourdough is the best in the world!
Arden: It’s incredible.
Nancy: Mine’s second best. [laughter]
Arden: I love yours too, Nana. But yes, sourdough bread, grass-fed meats.
Nancy: Which you shoot yourself.
Arden: A lot of venison, a lot of beef, eggs, farm-fresh eggs. I do eat non-farm-fresh eggs, but I prefer them. I have the others on occasion if I don’t have access. But the majority of the time, I eat farm-fresh, farm-raised eggs. Brown rice.
Esther: A lot of whole foods, whole grains. We try to get things in their natural state because that’s how God created them.
Nancy: That’s right. That’s the basic way to eat, isn’t it?
Arden: A good balance of your carbs and proteins and fats.
Nancy: The other thing is, oh yes! You know, we were talking the other day. How much time do we have left in this session? (Talk with helper recording the session.) We were talking the other day, Arden. When you get married, and you guys have been married how many years now?
Arden: Eight.
Nancy: Wow, isn’t that amazing?
Arden: Before we get into that, can I say one more thing?
Nancy: Yes.
Arden: It’s about “UNDEFEATED MEN.” Listeners, if there are any men, or, women, tell your men. It’s a call to action. You don’t have to subscribe to the “Undefeated Men” although I’d love to see you all there. You don’t have to have our products to have that mentality and live that life. I just wanted to make that clear now. Our products are amazing.
Our dream and our mission are encouragement and helping guide men along their health, spiritual fitness, and mental journey. Mentally, spiritually, and physically help them with that. Right now, it’s products because we can do that, but we have a lot of awesome ideas for the future.
Go to: https://undefeatedmen.com where we have several products. But we have a lot more coming for encouragement.
Nancy: And I will list that exactly in the transcript.
Arden: And we have a Facebook and Instagram too.
Nancy: Yes. Yes. That will be so good. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that you and Cal are doing that together. Cal is married to my niece, my brother’s daughter. The interesting thing is that Granddad Bowen really has influenced what you are doing, because not only did he influence you, just as a young boy, but he’s influenced the whole family.
“A GOOD MAN’S NEVE STUCK” is just part of our vocab in our family life here on the Hilltop.
Arden: Granddad Bowen is the reason why Uncle Cal became a Christian.
Nancy: Yes, that’s right. On his honeymoon, Melissa took him to meet her grandparents. He believed in God, of course, but he didn’t really know him personally. Granddad was able to lead him to know the Lord personally. It’s all very special, isn’t it?
Arden: Yeah, I’m so excited to work with him. He’s such a great man, an awesome man, a man of God, a great husband and a great father. He’s encouraged me.
Nancy: Yes, they have 11 children.
Arden: We have a lot of great stuff. If you guys are interested, feel free to keep an eye out.
Nancy: In the last few minutes, we were talking of how important it is, when you get married, to bring into your marriage the strength of each family. Many families have weaknesses, and they have strengths. Sometimes all the weaknesses can come in.
We were thinking, yes, it’s quite something to really think about this. To think about the strengths of each one of your families and how important it is to make them part of your married life that becomes even stronger again, doesn’t it? Have you got any thoughts there, on things you brought from either of your families?
Arden: This has been something that Esther and I have agreed on. We talked about it before we were married. But really in the beginning of our marriage, going through everything . . . I believe that every generation is meant to be better than the last.
Esther: Better than the last one.
Arden: Better than the last one.
Nancy: We should all be growing, and learning, and strengthening, yes!
Arden: I want to help my daughter, and if we have any other children to come, to encourage them to become even better believers, that is, stronger people. With that said, we decided, “Hey, we want to take the best qualities from each family and cultivate them in our marriage and our family.”
You can see every family has strengths and weaknesses. You take the weaknesses, and you put them aside. You pool the strengths. It’s really a beautiful thing when you can see the weaknesses, and you can see the strengths. Lots of people don’t want to see. “Oh, we can’t see that. We don’t want to see the issues.” I’ve learned a lot from her family, and from her. It’s beautiful, pulling the great things from her side, and pulling the great things from my side, and meshing them into one.
Esther: What you’re giving, when it comes to parenting, I think a lot of the core values were the same, but there were different methods of addressing them and applying them to their lives. I think, especially, because we’re still rather new parents too. Our daughter’s only four. We’ve really gone over the way we grew up, and taking the best of both worlds, and combining them together to raise our daughter, who we really love.
Nancy: Any particular thing that you would think of?
Esther: I think both families did a really good job of, first of all, being very vocal about their love. We love that. We feel that it’s really important to openly show your love. Especially as they grow up, because I’ve heard the stories where they’ll say, “I know my dad loves me, but he never said that to me.” Thankfully, both our parents were incredible in showing that and vocalizing it. We’ve really tried to do that with our daughter.
Arden: We took that. Like my family, everyone. . . some people might say, “I love you” is over the top,” but we all say, “I love you.” Also, another thing from my family is communication.
Nancy: I think that’s a big thing in your family. They won’t let one thing go. You’ve got to talk it out!
Arden: If you have an issue, you can’t go hide in your room, or this, or that. You talk about it. You have to get it out in the open and air out your dirty laundry. It creates a really good environment.
We don’t want to walk around on eggshells in our own house. We don’t want to . . . Like, “What’s going on in here?” “I don’t know.” If my wife is upset, she’s going to tell me. We talk about it. If I’m upset, I’m going to tell her, and we talk about it, instead of being like, “Hey, what’s going on?” “Nothing.”
Nancy: I think that’s very, very common, isn’t it? Nobody wants to bring things to the surface. That’s one thing in your family. You won’t let anything, nothing, hide! Nothing’s hidden!
Arden: Dad would just echo, “Family meeting!” It’s about me. Everyone’s involved in my issue. It allowed for a really good, healthy environment. That was good. Then with her family, they were very good at . . . I was never good at debating. This is on the lighter side. I was never good at debating, even theologically.
They really challenged me that way. I love that, because I was always like, “Oh, I believe this in my family. I read it here,” but my father-in-law really challenged me. He was like, “Hey, do you believe this? Do you know this?” And “Why do you believe that?” I was like, “Oh, wow!” So, I actually had to dig.
That was like during the whole dating process with Esther, and early marriage. That was something I learned from them. Whatever I believe, whether theologically, I had to back it up. You back it up, because their whole family is built off huge amounts of logic. That was something I learned. In any argument, or even a fun argument, you have to have logic. You have to have something to back it up. That was something.
Esther: Vanderlaan’s are known for saying what they mean.
Arden: Saying what they think.
Esther: Yes, saying what we think. I want to teach my daughter that. I want her to be able to be concise, be clear. I want her to be like what Arden was saying, to back up what she says with logic and the Bible.
My father was an excellent spiritual leader. He was really big on that, and my mother was very good at co-casting to that. He was really good about doing devotions. He was good about catechism. He was really good at teaching us how to, like Arden was saying, be clear and concise. And always back things up with biblical truth. It’s not how you feel, it’s what the Bible says!
Nancy: Amen!
Esther: That was a really, really great thing, especially when I’m becoming an adult. I’m so glad my father and my mother taught me to push out the emotion. It’s all about Bible truth. Who cares how you feel?
Arden: And I’m not saying my family was bad at that. It’s just that was Esther’s family’s strength.
Nancy: Some have more strengthening, yes.
Arden: It’s their strength. They were great at it. There’s a lot of more of that.
Nancy: These have been three wonderful sessions. Thank you so much, Arden and Esther.
Arden: Thank you for having us.
Esther: Thank you for having us.
Nancy: It’s been so wonderful. I know you’ve all enjoyed them. They’ve bared their hearts and you’ve become part of their lives. Men will be able to get involved with “Undefeated Men.”
Arden: I have a book coming out, with my whole journey, and things that I’ve learned from God. God’s really spoken to my heart. I really want to encourage other men on a lot of the journey.
Nancy: That will be great. And, of course, if you haven’t got Esther’s cookbook yet, well, you’ll just love to get that.
“Lord God, we thank You so much that, Lord, You are in the journey of our lives. Lord, everything we go through, You are there. Lord, You are always with us. We thank You that we’ve been able to hear what You have done in Arden and Esther’s lives.
“Lord, we pray Your blessing again today on everyone listening. Pour out Your blessing, Your peace, Your unity, Lord, all Your beautiful Presence upon their homes. We ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen. Amen.”
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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