Episode 1 Why Real Health Black Men Podcast: Empowering Black Men to Overcome Health Challenges

The journey toward health empowerment is deeply personal, filled with challenges, triumphs, and necessary conversations. Through sharing stories of cancer survival, chronic health issues, and the essential support of community, this episode dives into understanding health disparities in Black communities and the tools available for taking control of our health. 

• Personal stories of health challenges and survival 
• The significance of family health history 
• The impact of prostate cancer as a life-altering wake-up call 
• Distinction between health and healthcare, and the need for awareness 
• Importance of early detection and treatment options 
• Breaking the stigma around mental health within the community 
• The role of community support in fostering health education 
• Encouragement to seek knowledge and take control of health decisions

Chapters

• 0:11 Real Health Black Men Podcast
• 6:41 Empowering Black Men in Health
• 11:52 Support Real Health Black Men Podcast

Transcript

Grantley Martelly: 0:11

This is the Real Health Black Men Podcast, where we empower men to take control of their health. We provide vital information and build community support. Join us as we discuss everything from major health challenges to mental wellness to physical fitness. So if you're ready to level up your health and your life, you're in the right place. Let's get started. I'm starting this new podcast called Real Health Black Men and somebody asked why did you do this? Why is this important? It's important because I wasn't paying attention.

Grantley Martelly: 0:55

I wasn't paying attention to my health, I wasn't paying attention to the things that was going on around me and my family. I was living my life. Like most of you. Most of us live. We grow up, we have fun, we go to school and we go to college or technical school. We get jobs, we have a family, we try to keep up with church and community activities and children and jobs and businesses, and we just live in our lives. Sometimes we continue to play sports or we go to the gym, but many times we get sedentary to play sports or go to the gym, but many times we'd get sedentary. So I wasn't paying attention to some of the things that were maybe going on in my body or even in some of my family. But then I began to develop back problems later and I realized that movement was really important and that I wasn't really moving as much as I should and I wasn't exercising as much as I should and I wasn't exercising as much as I should. So I began to pay attention to those things to try to regain that control. It's amazing how many things you never thought about doing until your back hurts or your legs don't work like they're supposed to work, and then all of a sudden you begin to say, oh, I better pay attention to that. Same thing happens when you get cancer or diabetes or something happens in the family, and that's what happened to us. You know, cancer and diabetes began to show up in my family my sister and my mother, then my other sister and a brother and one more sister, then my other brother and then my father even eventually ended up dying of pancreatic cancer and my third oldest sister passed away at the age of 47, also from pancreatic cancer. Seven out of eight of us brothers and sisters have had some form of cancer in our lives, and two at least deal with diabetes as well. So now I began to pay attention. What's going on. Why are these things happening?

Grantley Martelly: 2:56

And then, in May of 2023, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and that was a wake-up call for me, because I never expected that was going to happen. I never thought about it happening, even though I was looking into why some of these things are happening in my family. I didn't think that I was going to have to deal with this at what I consider to be such a young age. But I had the blessing of having world-class medical treatments, very capable doctors, access to the best medical health care around, insurance to cover most of the costs, access to physical therapy, access to good foods and first-class hospitals, a world-class cancer center. So I was fortunate, I was blessed to be able to come through that, and I'm still having to deal with the issues, the post-operation issues that affect you after you have cancer. Your body is wrecked by this disease and the treatments can be just as tough. But I'm doing good. But some of the lingering effects are still there. But some of the lingering effects are still there, and even some of the mental issues that I was not prepared to deal with how my mind changes, how my thought changes, how I looked at the world differently. So I was able to join a black men's support group that meets around the country every two weeks and that has been such a help to me to dealing with some of the post effects of having to be a cancer survivor and I'm glad that I can say that I'm a cancer survivor.

Grantley Martelly: 4:31

So I started to pay more attention and I started to do some research as to why these things were happening, not just to me but to other people, and I came to realize that certain chronic diseases are more prevalent in communities of blacks and people of African descent and even of Caribbean descent than in the rest of the population, and that built my curiosity as to why that's happening. You know these include things like cancer, heart disease, hypertension, glaucoma and a number of other illnesses, and I came to realize that there's probably social, environmental and other concerns that are causing these things to happen. I came to realize that it was more than genetics, because people of color, people of African descent and people of Caribbean descent don't have genetics much different from the rest of the population. We don't have different genes and different composition than anyone else. The genetics are pretty much the same and the research is bearing that out, and things of race and ethnicity are not, and I came to realize that it was not just a genetic issue, because genetics of people of color are not that much different from the rest of the population, and it didn't have much to do with race, because race is a human construct and it is not reflected in our genes. So what were some of the social, economic and other determinants that were going into causing these things to happen? And I came to realize that there was lots of research going on and there were many people out there besides me who were curious about this, who were a lot smarter, a lot more technical and who were doing some really good research that I wanted to share with other people. And as I told my story to other people and to other friends, I had more people coming and asking well, how did you deal with this? How did you deal with that? Who did you go to Talking about different aspects of pre-diagnosis and diagnosis and post-diagnosis and living life after having had cancer.

Grantley Martelly: 6:41

And I realized that there was a void in our community about the knowledge that we need to have to take control of our health care and take control of our health and health is different than health care and we're going to talk about that in our episodes coming up. What does it mean to be healthy and what does it mean to have health care? Two different things. But I also came to realize that some of these illnesses can be avoided or slowed down and many can be treated successfully if diagnosed early and if access to high quality medical treatment and health care was available. And if access to high quality medical treatment and health care was available no-transcript. I also realize that many in our community were not aware of these factors and were also not aware that there are options available to them and that every day, new treatments are being discovered that could save our lives and extend our lives and help us to live fully. In spite of the fact that we may find, or a family member may find, that they're dealing with a serious illness. We don't have to die from things that are curable if we can detect them early and if we can get good treatment.

Grantley Martelly: 8:03

I also came to realize that mental health issues were prevalent in our community, but we're not openly talking about it and it's frequently not spoken about and there's still some shame about it. I also came to realize that it's more common than I thought. So, with all the questioning, with all the learning, with all the conversations that's been going on with people. I decided to start this podcast to share that information, to create a sort of a repository and a community and a place where people can come and talk about these things and can refer each other.

Grantley Martelly: 8:38

You want to get the message out that there's hope, that we can live full lives, that, even though we may have a medical situation, even though we may face a challenge, there are options and there are people out there to help us, and there are things that we may not even know about until we talk to each other. To build the strength of the community, use the strength of the community to help us deal with the situations that we face. You want to increase awareness and we want to improve knowledge and to reduce stereotypes that we might have been brought up with or we might have heard about. And yes, there have been some challenges in the medical community when it comes to people of color, but there are many people out there addressing these and today is not like it was in the past. We still have a long way to go, but today there's hope and there's treatments and there's support and there's opportunities for us to be able to deal with these things in honest and ethical ways. So we want to encourage our brothers and sisters to take control of our health our physical health and our mental health and to become educated in the options available to us that can literally save our lives and of our children and our grandchildren.

Grantley Martelly: 9:56

We're going to hear stories of men who have are are about to journey into looking at some serious illnesses and learning how to manage these things within the community, within the structures that are available to them, and some of them many of us are thriving in spite of having to face these challenges. We'll also talk to medical professionals on all aspects, from doctors to surgeons, to oncologists, to sociologists, psychologists, sex therapists, social workers, patient care advisors, so that we get a full picture of everything that's out there that's available to us. So join us on Real Health Black Men as we discuss these topics, and we hope that by doing this we'll be able to possibly save a life or to help people get knowledge so that they can start seeing their doctors, they can find out things early, they can understand the numbers that are given to us so that we can know what it is to be healthy and what it is to thrive, what it is to be successful and when we face medical challenges, that we know there are people out there and there are resources out there available to us. By becoming knowledgeable and better equipped, we'll hopefully be able to understand also better how to modify our lifestyle so that we can live fully and do all the things we want to do. So join us on Real Health Black Men as we seek to equip you for the long and happy life ahead of you. Write us at realhealthblackmen at gmailcom. Realhealthblackmen at gmailcom.

Grantley Martelly: 11:52

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