00:26:37 Resources and Support for Immunodeficiency
SPEAKER 03 :
welcome to the good news with angie austin now with the good news here’s angie hey there friend angie austin and jim stovall and we are talking about millionaire answers today and who doesn’t want to be a millionaire you know jim it used to be the big thing to be a millionaire and now billionaires like that’s the thing jim but you know being a millionaire isn’t too shabby either i must say
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, it’s a great thing. When the term millionaire was first coined, it was a lot of money. Now, it’s still a lot of money, but it is very accessible for most people. Millionaire Answers is the title of my new book. For 25 years, I’ve written this column, and they tell me 3 million people a week read it in North America, Europe, and Asia. I have my contact info in every one of those, and all of the 10 million books we’ve sold is. So I get a lot of questions from people. I try to answer them all, but some of them are so common questions that I write a column about it. So a lot of the columns I write are answers to people’s questions. And, you know, now being a millionaire is simply a matter of being disciplined and diligent. I mean, the fastest growing group of millionaires today in America are our school teachers. And everybody knows we don’t overpay our school teachers, to say the least. But these people participate in their 401k, or in their case, it’s a 403b for a nonprofit, but it’s the same thing. And they just do it with discipline and diligence, and it’s just a matter of time until you’re a millionaire. So You know, anyone can do this. Anybody can be a multimillionaire. Now, you mentioned the B word, becoming a billionaire. Yeah, that takes… A lot. That’s another thing. That takes… You’ve got to be an entrepreneur and create… You know, you’ve got to be a Bill Gates. You’ve got to be in the right place at the right time and do something because that’s $1,000 million. And that’s a serious, serious thing. But… Anybody listening to us now, if you have time on your side, you can be a millionaire and retire, and your money will work for you like you worked for it. It is really cool. I still work every day. I enjoy what I do, but for the last, I would say, 15 years, my money makes more money than I do.
SPEAKER 03 :
Isn’t that interesting? My real estate has made more money than I do in the last few years. Just in appreciation, I guess I should say.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, to have something out there working for you. I really recommend it, but to have a goal to be a millionaire is not enough. When people say, I want a million dollars, I say, why? It’s a lot of piles of dirty paper with dead presidents on it why do you want this million because the the the money’s not an end it’s a means to an end that that’s like saying you know i want a full tank of gas well why well i want to go somewhere well tell me where you want to go that’s what will motivate you so you know a million dollars may be a new home it may be sending your kids to college it may be taking care of your parents in their later years it may be all kinds of things and uh But you have to decide what it is. And, you know, in Millionaire Answers, we talk about all of those things. And we talk about the things that candidly disrupt things. You know, people either get distracted or derailed, and they don’t become a millionaire because they allowed bad advice or something to get in their way. And it’s just… Becoming a millionaire is very, very simple, Angie, but it’s not easy. I mean, climbing Mount Everest is very, very simple. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. You stand at the bottom of the mountain and you say, look up there. All you got to do is go up there. And that is a simple concept. Everybody understands the concept. Now, getting there is not easy. Becoming a millionaire is far easier than that. But it does involve setting up a plan. and being diligent, and now you can put it on autopilot. You can set it up, forget it, and just wait, and you will be a millionaire.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I that’s interesting to me that you talk about teachers, you know, being the largest group of, you know, millionaires, people becoming millionaires because of those great retirement plans. And what are some of the simple like when people say, you know, like, how did you do it besides, you know, hard work? And you always say to me, making money is easy, which I don’t necessarily agree with you. But, you know, once you’ve got some of your like your systems in place, let’s say, and there’s so many people have side hustles now. I mean, for goodness sakes my son i mean gosh what did he buy the other day oh i know a 10 hat and it was from like university of hawaii or some some hawaii hat 10 bucks and he knew he could probably get 80 for it but when he posted it so many people wanted it he ended up getting 350 for it so he has found a way that with his expertise in vintage wear, which is so big now. We were at a party last night, and all these adults were saying, like, well, who buys this vintage stuff? He’s like, kids my age. Like, it’s the in thing. When you see on his campus, like, they’ll say, what are you wearing? They do this thing, like, what are you wearing today? Your outfit’s so cool. And then they just ask a bunch of kids. Almost every kid says something like, oh, I thrifted this sweatshirt, and I thrifted the shoes, and then, you know, eagle whatever, American Eagle jeans, or blah, blah, blah. But you know, one or two items that they’re wearing that they’ve thrifted. And they go to the places like the bins that my son goes to where they weigh the whole cart and they subtract the weight of the cart. And then you pay by the pound for the clothes. So this is the end thing. So like, well, who’s paying all this money for these things? There is like this sect of society that is fascinated and totally into like the old Muhammad Ali fight shirts or uh tyson you know um boxing match shirts for like a famous match or a big you know football game that somebody got you know a certain t-shirt from and that there’s only a few of them or like nirvana i think i told you he paid 60 for a nirvana shirt and he sold it for 1100 i think he said 1.1 grand less and i’m like you mean 1100 and he goes yeah yeah yeah 1.1 grand and so um so you But I don’t necessarily think for everyone making money is easy. I think a lot of people get caught in that trap of like a minimum wage job like my mom did in a factory and she couldn’t get ahead per se. Like she never had savings until she started living with me. And so I’d say like the last, you know, 15 to 20 years, she actually started saving money, but she was done working. She was saving off of the money that she was getting from her social security and then able to live with me. So I think the mindset, I love your mindset if it’s easy to make money, but I don’t know that it is for everyone. But then it is easy to save money if you can make sacrifices. So when people ask you, what are your simple tips for growing money on a regular income? I know I’ve heard you say take money out of each check. What are the tips you give?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, simple and easy on making money goes back to Benjamin Franklin’s thing. A penny saved is a penny earned. And it doesn’t matter how much you earn, it matters how much you keep. And so the first step, I don’t care who you are, how much money you make, or how little you make, you can become a millionaire, but you’re going to have to live on less than you earn. And there’s only two ways to impact that equation. You either earn more or spend less. And and you’ve got to get out of debt. I mean, that is the number one thing. I mean, we all start at zero to climb the millionaire mountain. But some people got to get out of a little bit of a hole just to get to zero. And so you because it’s hard enough to climb the mountain on your own. With that kind of debt on your back, you can’t do it. You’ve got to pay off your debt. You’ve got to live on less than you earn. And there’s nothing fun or sexy about any of that.
SPEAKER 05 :
There’s nothing fun or sexy.
SPEAKER 06 :
Because they say, you know, hey, I don’t want to do that. That sounds like hard work or that sounds like sacrifice. You know, they’re looking for the get rich quick, something easy. You know, no, that doesn’t exist. Those things do not exist. You’ve got to get the equation working for you. But it doesn’t take that much. My sister-in-law, several years ago, and she’s had some mental problems, physical problems, a lot of different things. And she had to retire early. But for the last 10 years of her life, she was basically working at a call center for minimum wage. And they gave them a little bit of a bonus, a $1.10 an hour bonus if you were on time every day that week. And I said, okay, I’m now going to manage your money. Because people tell me all the time, Jim, you have no idea how hard it is to live on it. Yeah, I do, because I did it for 10 years with Amy. And so, you know, you’re now going to get like $13 an hour if you do this. And she had a nice condo she rented. And she had a decent car she drove. It wasn’t a brand new car, to say the least, but whatever. And she had all the things she needed. She didn’t have everything she wanted, but she had all the things she needed. And we paid off all her debt. And then a couple years later, I’ll never forget, she had $10,000. I love it. That was unallocated, just sitting there. And she said, where did that money come from? I said, from you. It’s all these things you’ve done. And then, you know, it’s just a matter of taking that money and keeping it going. I mean, as soon as you can pay off your debt and make that first dollar and save it and set it aside, you now have done everything you need to do. It’s called rinse and repeat. Do it again. Do it again and again and again. But it’s tough. I get that. Like I said, it’s simple. The concept is not that complicated, but it is not easy to do. It’s like losing weight, getting in shape, all the other things. Man, that’s simple. Not easy. You know, I mean, I was talking to a guy the other day. He said, man, quitting smoking is complicated. I said, no, it’s not. Just quit lighting those things. But it’s not easy. I will tell you, it is not easy to give up tobacco. But it is quite simple. I mean, there’s nothing terribly complicated about that process. It’s just a matter of do you want to do it. And so I always encourage people, you know, we’ve got to have the why. We’ve got to know why you want to do this. Otherwise, the sacrifice is too great. You know, I always tell people, I give them the example. If I put a, you know, a six inch wide plank on the floor of an arena and I ask people to come walk across it, virtually everybody could. If you have reasonable health, you can walk 10 feet across this board. Not that big a deal. Now, if we move it up, 50 feet in the air, how many people can do it? Not very many. Most people can’t do that. It’s the same board and the same thing. But now I’m going to change one thing. Your kid is on the other side of the board and they’re going to die if you don’t go save them right now. Everybody scrambles across that board. And I didn’t change the height. I didn’t change the difficulty. I didn’t make the board wider. The only thing I did was I changed the why. Why are you doing this? So We gave out my scholarships the other day. My committee met. We decided. And then we got all the way to the end, and we ran out of the money for this year. And I always do the same thing at the end of every year. Okay, give me the next application. Here is the young lady that did not get a scholarship because we ran out of money. And I don’t care how many scholarships we give. There’s always somebody we ran out of money. And she’s the young lady that will motivate me for the next year.
SPEAKER 05 :
I love it.
SPEAKER 06 :
That is my why.
SPEAKER 05 :
That is so cool.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I am no longer motivated by a bigger house or a newer car. I mean, the travel, we’ve been everywhere we want to go. And if there’s somewhere else we decide to go, we’ll go. But there’s always some more people to help make a difference in that. And that’s one of the big things you can do with your money.
SPEAKER 03 :
I love that. I love it. What a cool motivation. I’ve never heard you say that. That’s pretty cool. I mean, I knew you liked giving, but what a cool thing that you just grabbed that next kid and you’re like, all right, you know, I’m going to do this for Susie next year. Maybe she’ll get one next year. Maybe she’ll still be applying next year. I… I just think that your plan, you know, like you said, it’s simple, and I’ve never thought of it like that. You say exercise. You come up with a plan first, like your roadmap. You know, you don’t get to Florida from New Jersey without a map. So, you know, come up with your plan, your map. Exercise patience and remain persistent. Just keep doing it every week. I love that. And you can also, on Jim’s column this week, you can click here. to get a copy of Millionaire Answers. And my mom’s been reading your newest book, and so she thinks you guys are good friends now, too. JimStoval.com. Thank you, friend. Always a pleasure.
SPEAKER 06 :
Thanks to you and your mom.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 03 :
Hey there, friends. Angie Austin here with the good news. You know, we like to talk a lot about health and longevity on the show. And, you know, sometimes you’ve got something and you keep getting a little ill, but you can’t quite figure out why you keep getting sick. And maybe why you keep getting more bouts of it or it’s lasting a longer time. So overall general health is so important. But as World Primary Immunodeficiency Week approaches, we’re going to learn more about primary immunodeficiencies. Joining us is Susan Scarborough. She is currently living with a PI. And Laurel Cherwin. Laurel is a senior immunology clinical nurse educator with OctoPharma. And they are here to help us be healthier and to learn more about primary immunodeficiencies. There are over 400, maybe even over 500. Welcome, ladies. We mentioned that it’s World Primary Immunodeficiency Week in the intro. So, Laurel, I’m going to start with you. Just explain to us, I hear there are over 400 PIs. What is a PI?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, so there’s actually over 550 PIs that have been identified there. So a primary immunodeficiency is one that is part of either your genetic structure or something that you’ve evolved into. It means that some of your antibodies are not enough in volume or they’re not functioning properly. So as a result of which, then you become susceptible to infection because you don’t have the protective antibody coverage.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, Susan, you’ve been navigating this and I understand, you know, something like a COVID quarantine could even complicate it more. Can you tell us, Susan, about your journey? Because I understand you’ve lived a really healthy lifestyle.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I was extremely healthy for quite some time as far as not getting sick. And then I started getting sicker and sicker where I would catch something and I would have several rounds and bouts of it as well as medication to fight it. And it just wasn’t happening. It wasn’t helping. And as far as COVID is concerned, it was kind of scary for me because I moved to a new state about five days before the whole world stopped. And I knew that I needed to have my immunoglobulin. And the ideology was, well, we’re going to switch from one state to the other state as far as doctors are concerned. But everything was closed and no doctors were going to see me at that time until a lot of the restrictions were lifted. So it was a huge panic mode for me. But I was able to, my old doctor actually had off-licensing in another state. So I had to go four hours to get my immunoglobulin every two weeks, but it was worth it for me during that time because of course we had no idea about what COVID was or how it affected us. And so for me to be able to at least have my normal coverage made me feel like I would be okay. But honestly, I didn’t go anywhere for probably six to eight months, because at that time we were supposed to be very susceptible. So it was very lonely because we moved into a new house and a new state. And I knew no one. In fact, when I finally went out and started meeting people, they’re like, Oh, did she just move here?
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re like almost a year ago. That reminds me of, yeah, right. That reminds me of grand grand. My mom, I kind of sequestered her and she has a basement apartment at my house. And She’s 83, so I just kept her down there and fed her. She actually lost a lot of weight because I’m not pretty healthy either. But, yeah, she was pretty lonely because I was keeping her away from all of my teenagers as well. All right, so, Laurel, can you talk about that treatment that Susan was just talking about? I mean, I want to know because I understand that we might be able to help people with immunodeficiencies.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, sure. So IVIG, or immunoglobulin therapy, is a plasma-derived therapy, one of many. And essentially what it is is that the antibodies are gathered from the donor, and there’s a manufacturing process that… It goes through multiple viral inactivation stages and then adjustments as well for pH control, et cetera. It is thousands of donors. Antibodies are then pulled into a batch, let’s just say, and it’s in a vial. And it’s provided to a patient that receives it either via IV or you can also do it subcutaneous, which would be small needles under your skin. It’s a smaller, more frequent dose with that. So as a result of which, you know, like Susan had talked about, it’s like filling your tank with gas. And then you are able to then have a very broad spectrum of antibodies available to protect you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, in terms of us helping out, I was actually talking to my son, who’s a college student, about blood donation, plasma donation. Is that something that we can do that would help people with primary immunodeficiencies?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, donating plasma because each batch takes well over 1,000 donors. Wow. Yeah, so it does require a lot. And it’s not like you can just turn on the tap and get more antibodies out. It fully relies on the donation of the plasma from the patients. And it’s all sourced within the United States as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Oh, wow. Okay. We rely on the generosity of donors for sure. Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, no, no. It’s interesting because I just looked up yesterday, oddly enough, before I even confirmed your interview, I looked up what’s the age limit because my mom said, well, I always used to donate. I’d like to see if I could. And some, I know blood banks, I don’t know about a plasma. I haven’t looked into that yet, but I know that some blood banks will take um you know blood from uh older people and then my son’s 19 so i knew he’d be fine but the three of us were going to do it like and then go out to lunch you know kind of like a little mommy daddy or you know mommy son grandma day kind of thing but uh it’s just so coincidental that now we’re talking about this the next day so i already put it on my to-do list to look into for us to help out today because i would love to help someone now in terms of this this is obviously um you know a thousand donors you said and a lot of people have to help out with this but we What can you do, Susan, like on your own? What do you do health wise in general to make this situation better for you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Aside from plasma donation, or aside from getting plasma from other people, I definitely have to make sure that I live healthier than I ever have. So the normal things, eating well, staying away from anti-inflammatory foods, making sure that if I go anywhere, it’s outdoor and I constantly check the flu or the COVID. or the RSV map that’s out there in my area to see if there’s been any recent outbreaks. I have to isolate myself definitely in January and February, which is the height of cold flu season, which is very, very lonely. And I also, if I’m in an area where it’s indoor, like a concert, I either have to say no or, Or I have to just reside myself to the fact that I’m going to be having to wear an N99 or N95 mask, which, you know, we all hate masking. But, you know, it’s kind of that risk ratio of, well, do I really want to go and be part of this or do I want to be miserable? What’s worth it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, you know, I I’ve been in news for 30 years and I do. I’ve interviewed thousands of people on I worked in Los Angeles for, you know, 20 years. I’ve worked all over the country in TV and radio. I’ve never, I had no idea that there was a mapping system to find out where they had outbreaks of RSV and other things. Cause I think I just had it. I was sick for a month. And so all of this is very interesting to me. Like I’ve never been sick for a month with something that felt kind of like a cold and a cough. So I didn’t know there were maps like that. And very important. You mentioned the type of mass that it’s not just like a cloth mask. This is the real deal.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, yes, yes, you definitely have to. Because obviously, we found out through COVID that some masks don’t work. But you know, there are so many other viral diseases out there that also have those very fine droplets, you know, we always talk about the flu yes to be um but there’s so many out there that scientists don’t even know they just call it a mystery virus but it can get you just as sick if not sicker so yeah you have to and it’s hard because i live in a warm climate and it really stinks sometimes when you have to have that very heavy face covering on there so you know again it’s the risk benefit um but i yes And I definitely want to participate in my life and live my life as much as I can while I feel well. Days that I don’t feel well, I already miss out. So I don’t mind masking just because that allows me to participate.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, to live your life. All right, either of you can answer this, but Laurel, I’m assuming this might be something I should ask you. We only have a couple minutes left here. How would we know that we might be dealing with an issue like this? How would we figure it out?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, so you have to wait 10 years of misdiagnosis. No, I’m just kidding. So essentially what you would look at would be frequent or chronic repetitive infections. And I’m not talking like a sniffle. Some of them are really complex where they require multiple doses of antibiotics or IV antibiotics as well or hospitalization. Pneumonia, more than having pneumonia one time, it can also present with other factors with an autoimmune presentation, meaning a dysregulated immune system. That would primarily be… You know, I would say to give a heads up. And the initial diagnosis, even just to look at, you would look at a comprehensive IgG panel. So to see where’s your IgG. IgG is your number of, that’s your antibody that we’re actually receiving through the donation. You can kind of see where that is at. And that’s a simple blood test. simple blood test yeah i mean it can go into further further go deeper into um you know much deeper into the into the the lab work and then ultimately what they do is then they do they give what we have called the pneumovac challenge where they give you a vaccine and then they challenge your immune system to go and check to see your titers did you indeed make titers to the the um the the pneumovac vaccine that you received. And that could be you could maybe did not make any titers, or you could have made titers, but then they fell off, meaning that you have some problems with your memory B cells, like 10-second Tom. You know, they forgot what they were exposed to, so they’re not going to hold the memory of either the infection or the vaccine or something along those lines. It would show that there was an inherent issue with the immune system.
SPEAKER 04 :
And the organization that I volunteer for, it’s a nonprofit organization called the Immune Deficiency Foundation. They actually have on their website, primaryimmune.org, an online assessment tool that talks about, you can answer different questions, and it talks about your specific condition. immune system so that is something that if you’re like you know i’m sick all the time you know we keep on trying to see what’s going on i’m being misdiagnosed or even just dismissed this is something that you can take and you have those answers then in front of you where you can have a conversation with your doctor to be able to look into it more and to take that simple blood test first yeah
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Susan and Laurel, I have to tell you, you’ve taught me a lot today, and I want to make sure we have any website or websites that you’d like to refer us to before we end the interview. Thank you.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure. So if you’re interested in the plasma donation information, octopharmaplasma.com will give you more information about the process, also help you identify locations where you can go to be that plasma hero and donate the plasma.
SPEAKER 04 :
And then there’s the idea. And then, yes. So again, the Immune Deficiency Foundation, for anybody who has PI and they would like to have some support, because there’s nothing better than people there that get it. It is a rare disease, but there’s also… tons of education. And I always believe that knowledge is power. And if you can feel powerful in a powerless situation, it’s everything. And that website again is primaryimmune.org.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, Susan and Laurel, thank you so much for all you’re doing to help others. I know today you certainly educated me, so I’m sure everyone’s listening on education as well. Thanks to both of you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you for allowing us to talk with you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
