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Christine Handy--"Walk Beside Me" and "Hello Beautiful"
29 Plays5 months ago
Christine Handy's book "Walk Beside Me" is a story of a breast cancer patient, Willow, who had painful feelings and difficulties as she struggled with her terrible health complications. It is a story of triumph and hope. The movie "Hello Beautiful" follows the story and will give viewers a look into Willows healing journey.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host's Personal Connection
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Breast and Plant Illness Hope for Healing. This is Cecily Henderson, your host. Thank you for joining us today. I have a very special guest I would like to introduce you to. She is a remarkable woman spreading hope, faith, and a strong message of self
Discussion of Guest's Book
00:00:19
Speaker
-love. So if if you don't mind, I'd love to talk a little bit about your book. Yes. i when i So I purchased it and I thought, okay, this is like a 318 page book.
00:00:33
Speaker
And I'm like, Okay, can I get through this? And my husband, you know, I was reading it took me one day, I didn't put it down, I could not stop reading it. I, the main character Willow, I connected with her and all of the the things that she was going through, you know, her darkest thoughts, because when I had cancer, and I had breast implant illness, and I was paralyzed, I just remember thinking these very deep dark you know, hopeless thoughts. And, you know, am I going to live? Am I am I going to continue to be here? And then am I going to be able to take care of my family? And all of those emotions were going on as I was reading your book. And I i was going along with the story. I'm like, Oh, my gosh, this, this relates to me. This is what something I went through. And
00:01:23
Speaker
And it was so healing. By the time I got to the end of the book, I had so much gratitude in my heart for the people that had helped me. And then, of course, for God getting me through what I went through because it was, you know, and what the character and what you went through. And he does. He gets you through it. And it was just, it was a very healing experience.
Inspiration and Societal Commentary
00:01:47
Speaker
So please, I want you to tell us a little bit about your book and and share, you know, why you decided what inspired you to write it. Yeah. Well, I wrote it because when I was going through breast cancer, I sought out, this will come up with a movie too, sought out media, sought out books about what I was about to embark on. I was so fearful.
00:02:09
Speaker
But if I could read about it and I could read a story that somebody lived, I could read or watch a movie about a cancer patient breast cancer patient that walked off the set and they were alive and they were goingnna they were happy. Those are the things that I wanted to watch. Because I was young, I didn't have any contemporaries that had breast cancer. The only person I knew that had breast cancer was my mother's best friend and she died. And so I was seeking out stories of hope, right? That's unifying. That's like making us feel less alone. and so People gifted me beautiful books, faith-based books, faith-based books, self-esteem books, self-help books, beautiful books. But none of them were a fictional depiction of a story that I was about to go through. So I watched my friends show up month after month. I went through 15 months of chemotherapy. And I was like watching at the same time. That was probably the height of the housewives of every city now. And I was thinking to myself,
00:03:05
Speaker
Why is everywhere I'm looking in society tearing women down? And why is the community around me shoring me forward? What's the difference? Well, we the world isn't showing that, right? That's not what we're showing to the world. So what if I wrote a book about that? What if I showed women championing for for each other and saving a life? Would that matter? And would that allow somebody who's come after me to have a guide of a story of hope and survival? And so I started to take meticulous notes during my journey and and really my my goal was to write a book about a hopeful story.
Book's Impact and Future Adaptations
00:03:45
Speaker
And so then after it was published, i you know people were saying the same thing. They read it in a day and they were very touched by it because they had similar experiences, which propelled me
00:03:58
Speaker
to do more. i want Then I became a public speaker. Then I went on social media to be part of the social media club that actually bears witness to hope and bears witness to ah promoting a ah positive message. And then ultimately, i my book was bought to become a film, and and that has taken over the last six and a half, more maybe more now, years of my life because I thought, wow, Okay, if I can share this message in a book and I can share this message on a stage and I can share this message in social media and on podcasts and on interviews, what kind of what kind of storytelling, what kind of uniting can happen if it's in a film? And so that's what that's ultimately the greatest goal that I've had and it's coming to fruition. Just need a little bit of help right now with God to get it out there and off we go.
Guest's Mission and Achievements
00:04:53
Speaker
Well, i I believe in what you're doing. this that We need this. you know And i I really think that God's going to make this work because this is exactly what we need, especially as women ah you know in the breast cancer and breast implant illness and and these difficult illnesses that women go through. We need to unite. And yeah so thank you for doing this. I mean, oh my goodness, all this work. reading everything that you've accomplished. I'm like, oh my goodness, this woman went back to Harvard. She's a movie producer. She's, you know, a philanthropist. She's got like two or three different, you know, nonprofit organizations. I'm like, wow, you are doing so much plus that with the modeling and, you know, having to having this having your arm hurt all the time and you're still there helping others. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Encouragement really helps.