00:06 I remember one day a nurse calling me. She had some bad news for me. And I told him, “Ma’am, you don’t have any bad news for me. You might have some news for me, but nothing you can tell me is bad because anything you call to tell me today, God already heard it. So, it’s handled. It’s taken care of. I’m okay.” Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:44 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and each and every one of you that joins us every week. You know this is a space. It’s a venue where we lift up, we elevate, we celebrate the drivers that make Norton Transport what it is. And last week we had Erica Austin on and she was telling us about her passion for driving. She’s been doing it for 15 years. She joined us from Memphis and told us about all of her adventures on the road, how much she loves being on the open road, seeing the beauty that God has created. And Erica joins us now. Erica, how are you?

01:17 I’m great. Thanks for asking. How are you?

01:19 I’m good. I’m good. I’m very good. Not as good as you, but I’m good. I’m trying to get there. You’re inspiring me to do better.

01:25 All right. I love you.

01:27 Now, we were talking about at the end of last week, there was a lifealtering event that happened for you. It hasn’t been too long ago, but kind of lay out the story there of what happened and how you’ve been able to persevere.

01:40 Well, okay. I was diagnosed with hormic cell cancer and where this cancer starts is in your head. It was a tumor about the size of a grapefruit. I actually got diagnosed in 22 I believe October 22. The tumor was removed in December of 24, December 29th to be exact. Again it was the size of the breakthrough and the doctors everybody was so scared and I’m glad people are very very very you know concerned you know the love for me is just overwhelming even all the doctors the new doctors that I met I’m always the favorite however I was off work from December until the end of May of this year to be exact and when I came back to work I haven’t missed a beat. Don’t get it wrong.

02:41 But, you know, I just thank God because where the devil said I wasn’t going to make it and I wasn’t going to be here is proof he’s a liar cuz look at me. Not only am I here, I think I’m better than I was here. I remember one day a nurse calling me telling me about she has some bad news for me and I told her, “Ma’am, you don’t have any bad news for me. You might have some news for me, but nothing you can tell me is bad because anything you call to tell me today, God already heard it. So, it’s handled. It’s taken care of. I’m okay. And she paused and then she come back. She was like, “Your spirit.” She was like, “Your energy, this is not a spirit and it’s not an energy. This is truly who I am.” I also tell people, you would think this right here was just horrible. Oh my god, why did this happen to me? No. Why not me? I’ve never questioned God. I’ve never said, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” Why not me? Am I not worthy? Am I not worthy to be a vessel for God?”

03:44 Am I not worthy to tell people, be able to walk around and tell people what I know he done for me? The things I know about God, God can do all things. It’s one thing he can’t do. He never fails. Now—

03:57 So—

03:58 When you first when you were first diagnosed in October of 22, what kind of symptoms were you going through prior to the diagnosis?

04:08 Really, really bad. Headaches. Couldn’t figure out why does my head hurt so bad? Not only that, it was infectionist. So once you begin to have infection, it messes with your sugar, your diabetes. So, it caused me I was going to be a diabetic for the rest of my life. I’m here to tell you I have no symptoms. I don’t take any medicine. I was once on just during this duration I was on insulin. I was on metformin. I had to take 2,000 milligrams of metformin every day. I had to give myself a shot of Humalog every time I got ready to eat. And every morning a shot of lentin, you know, that works throughout the day. So I probably had to give myself five, six shots a day. And I’m here to tell you, I don’t take pills anymore. I don’t I’m not giving myself shots anymore. It’s done. It was handled.

05:10 I just had to go through the process.

05:12 That’s amazing. That is amazing. And you were telling me something when we were talking before we got on the air about the headaches. They put you on a prescription medication, but that’s something that you were kind of averse to. Tell us about what that was, what they put you on and how you deal with it now.

05:31 They actually put me on oxotas alone 30 30 milligrams and to me it’s a tranquilizer. It’s something you give animals, not people. I’m so serious. And I’ve never been the type of person that took medicine anyways. And I just, you know, begin to pray and now that’s how I control it. Prayer and Tylenol and like I said, I’m great. It was just to me things you will depend on those things and this is just me. I don’t see anything bad. You know, I hear people say sometime, “Oh, today is a bad day.” No, you’re having a moment. But maybe that’s the moment you need to take a little time and talk with God. I don’t see bad in any situation because you never know what God is covering you from. I call it covering and protection. I don’t question it. I don’t ask, “Well, why did you do this and why did you do that?” And now, like, prayer is my everything. I’m so serious. If I and I did this morning, honestly, got up so early, you know, to start my run and I didn’t pray.

06:35 I literally pulled off the road at the nearest exit and I stopped at a truck stop and I began to say my prayer because I always want to tell God, “Thank you.” I thank him for the things that I have no clue he’s going to do. But one thing about it is I know he’s going to do it again. God does all things but he don’t fail.

06:57 Do you spend a lot of time in prayer when you’re behind the wheel there? Just an open eye prayer.

07:02 I do all the time. And let me tell you something. A lot of times it’s very silent because you know I think the devil can hear us sometimes. You know, the situation with the cancer when I went through it. My kids, oh my God, it was horrible for them because in their and they call me their she wrote. I don’t think it’s anything special about me. I think God loves us, loves us all, but I used to tell my kids all the time, you know, once this is done, something else is going to happen. I did not share with you at first, and I did it on purpose because I kind of wanted to wait until we got here. I lost my dad June the 6. Me June the 8th. My dad was my best friend.

07:42 In the whole wide world. Yes. Thank you. When it happened, I was actually in Macungie, Pennsylvania when I got the call on June the 8th.

07:52 And oh my god, my phone was just crazy. And people were like, “Are you okay? You have to understand.” Yes, I am okay. My daddy was very sick. He had many ailments. He was never going to heal on this side. And not that God couldn’t do it. He had did his time. He had paid his dues. And I kept telling people he had to transition so that he could be healed. They were like, “Where did you come from?” Like, “Are you even from the planet Earth? Listen to me.” When God takes you through things in our mind, cuz I’ve once been there. Seriously. Oh no. I can’t do it. First, second, third of all. God is never going to put more on us than we can bear. It seems like it cuz we’re human. We’re living in the flesh. But his word is so true. And any and everything that God is taking you through in life, it’s only to strengthen. Strengthen and teach. How can I tell you anything if I never been through anything? Did that make a whole lot of sense? Would you believe me?

08:53 No, you wouldn’t. How do— You’ve never been through anything. And again, I’m a firm believer. You can never have a testimony if you don’t have a test. You’re listening to Erica Austin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. She is sharing with us her battle and with cancer and she is, as you can tell, a great spirit and has come through and she’s on the other side, has been working with us since May coming back from having that tumor the size of a grapefruit removed from her head. Erica, how do you keep going? How do you every day when you know that that was there and when you hear your reports and your updates from the doctors?

09:34 Even my doctor actually going Monday for an appointment. I go to Cartire. They’re the best. He says to me all the time, “You’re not out of the woods.” I said, “Sir, I’ve been out of the woods. I’m kind of just walking through right now. It’s already handled. It’s done.” My kids, my children, when I look at what’s standing behind me like I want them to know, my son says it all the time. Oh my god, you just make life look so easy. Never trying to make it look easy. But I do want you to understand it’s doable. You just have to be willing. You have to be willing to say the course. You know, if you lay everything that happens to what people say is bad, the bad things. If you allow those things to stop you, how do you ever get to what y’all think is the good things? You got to be willing. You got to see it through. And I’m just— That’s just kind of who I am. Always have been. Got to see it through.

10:27 I was quiet there for a minute cuz I was still soaking it all in there.

10:32 Yeah. It’s nothing special about me. I’m just I pray who God created me to be and I pray every day that you know it is my prayer make me better today than I was yesterday. If there’s anything you have for me to do, please don’t let me overlook it. Don’t let me overstep it. And I’m never ever going to say no. Ask Mike Chandler. I hope he’s listening.

10:55 I’ll tell him tomorrow to tune in on this one. With your medical condition, does it present any challenges in the truck or does the prayer and Tylenol help you push through?

11:09 I am so serious. I can’t say that it does. The only thing that I think it does for me, it things that I never paid attention to, I pay attention now like I see for as challenges. No, when I first came back, it was kind of hard. I’m not going to lie. Just the getting up and down because again, I told you, it messed with a lot of things. My legs were sore, my arms, you know, stuff like that. So, at first, you know, you have to pull up to get up and every time I got to get in, whether it was just walking on the steps of the of a bus, I would say, “The devil is a liar. Devil, you a liar. You got to flee from here, baby, cuz we is going on.” Every day it gets better, you know. I used to have headaches 99.9% of the day. Every now and again, some days I don’t even have a headache, but maybe two, three days out of the week, I might catch a headache and if I stop, I eat, take a couple of Tylenol.

12:12 First thing I’m going to do is I’mma pray it gone anyway. And I take me a couple of Tylenols, give me something to eat, hey, I’m good to go.

12:18 I think I’m better now than I was then. And that’s just me being honest. It’s almost like I’ve been reborn. I’m renewed. I’m fresh.

12:28 That’s got to be a great feeling.

12:29 Yes, it is. The I mean, it’s unescribable, honestly.

12:34 How many days a week do you ride? Do you roll every day?

12:38 Every single day. You know, I tell the drivers when we talk, you know, I talk these guys are here. This one guy said to me, I mean, I don’t mean this in a bad way because you really don’t you don’t even look like you’re 50. And I was like, “Yeah, okay. Come on with it.” He said, “I don’t understand how you do it cuz it be taking a toll on me. I be ready to go home after two or three days cuz you are not me. Like your journey is not my journey. Your struggle is not my struggle. Your life is not mine. So, we’re not the same. That’s why it takes a toll on you. Keep living and live life. Lifeing, then you’re going to be just like me. I used to run for two and three months at a time. Now I don’t get to do it now because, you know, I have doctor’s appointments and things like that. But I’m out 2, three weeks at a time. And I’m almost sad when I got to go home other than the fact that I’m going to get some love, but you know, when I go home, I’m going home normally because I have an appointment that’s coming up and I won’t miss them no matter what.”

13:41 And I’m so glad Norton understands. I can’t miss one.

13:45 Erica Austin here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport sharing her touching story of overcoming a grapefruit size malignant tumor inside of her head. Now she’s still on the road with us. Came back in May. What a great story of recovery and coming through. And as you can tell, she’s a woman of deep faith. And it means a lot to her and she means an incredible amount to Norton Transport. Erica, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story with us.

14:13 Anytime. And thank you again for having me. Drivers, stay safe out there.

14:18 There you have it from Erica Austin right there on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Erica, thank you so much and be safe out there and share a lot of love with those babies of yours.

14:28 You know, I Hey, I don’t know nothing else to do. Thank you so much.

14:35 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.