Embracing Life after Cancer: Andrea Della Mura Drip Bar Adventure

Imagine discovering a new purpose after surviving a life-altering challenge. That's exactly what happened to our incredible guest, two-time cancer survivor Andrea Della Mura. Andrea's story is a testament to resilience and reinvention, navigating the trials of chemotherapy and radiation, and emerging stronger, more determined, and with a surprising new passion - opening a drip bar in New York! This first-of-its-kind IV vitamin hydration company is Andrea's way of giving back to the community and sharing the health benefits that have been a lifeline for her and her family.

Inspired by her own survival and the strength she found within, Andrea refused to let retirement signal the end, but rather the beginning of a bold entrepreneurial journey. The drip bar has not only played a significant role in her life but also the lives of her family, acting as the driving force behind this new venture. Andrea's passion for the benefits of drip bars is infectious as she details how they enhance the quality of life and wellness. Andrea's transformative journey from survival to businesswoman is a tale of resilience and determination, a true testament to the human spirit's incredible capacity to bounce back. Join us as we uncover this inspiring story, and who knows, you might just discover your next health secret from the remarkable Andrea Della Mura.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

The following episode was recorded on location in a public setting. You may hear background noises, as this is related to the public setting. Please enjoy today's episode. Hey everybody, this is Jacob K Mead and this is the Buy Time podcast, where we discuss everything there is to know about buying back your time. Be sure to like and follow and share with somebody who needs to buy back their time. Enjoy today's episode. Welcome back to another episode of the Buy Time podcast. I'm your host, jacob K Mead. I'm excited that you're here today because I have Andrea Delamira and she is a two-time cancer survivor and her story is so inspiring. I'm really excited that you're here because you're not going to want to miss out on hearing this story and kind of how inspiring it is. I mean, she's an inspiration to me, she's all across social media and she is opening a drip bar in New York the drip bar right is what it's called, and I know she's super excited about that. So why don't you start with sharing us a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 2: 0:55

Some things our audience can know. Thank you, Jacob. So that's right. So Andrea Delamira and I am a two-time cancer survivor. I had cancer when I was 24 and then again when I was 39.

Speaker 1: 1:09

Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 2: 1:09

Yes, and two kids in between. So it's been quite a journey, to say the least, and here I am fast forwarding. Today I'm 54 and I probably have never felt better. I'm very inspired every day by how far I have come myself, and I'll tell you why. Because I could sit back and retire and I decided that that is not something that I am ready to do. I feel like I have served my family for so many years and now I'm ready to do something. As an empty nester, I'm ready to do something for myself and I'm looking to open a business in my hometown called the drip bar, which is an IV vitamin hydration company. It is a franchise and I'm excited to bring this to my own community because it has meant so much to myself and my family and our health, and I think it's time that I pay it forward as well.

Speaker 1: 2:15

You know that's awesome. I think so many people get to this mindset of let's just work until we're 60 and then retire, and you have the option to retire. But instead of just retiring, you're like let's get back to the community and especially someone that has survived cancer twice now, I mean and to sit there and say I'm not done yet, that's inspiring itself. So I love hearing that and I feel like that right there, it should just touch our audience like hey, listen, you don't have to give up just because you're getting ready to retire or still something else out there for you. So what does the drip bar do? What exactly is it?

Speaker 2: 2:46

So we're an IV vitamin hydration company and so, just to give you a little bit of a background, I've been doing drips for about seven years. No, not think about it, I'm 30 years from my first cancer. This year I'm 15 years from my second cancer. But I've only been dripping for about seven years because it was never an option for me and when I started doing it it was in a very clinical type of atmosphere, unlike what a drip bar is today. A drip bar is a true drip company and it is in a setting that is comfortable and welcoming, clean and professional. And I Got a drip this morning here in Nashville at the drip bar and honestly it's like I Waded a month to get this drip. I try to drip every month myself because it adds something to the quality of my life and now I mean I feel I feel pretty good since I've been up since 3 am. I Think I'm doing okay.

Speaker 1: 3:52

I tell you, when you're up all the time, it's like exhausted those, those trips can really help too. I've actually gotten one myself and I tell you the difference that you feel especially you can feel, almost feel it wearing off. It's crazy If you get them so frequently. You can almost feel I'm starting wearing off here, like I'm not myself, like I have to go get rehydrated. I get my vitamins.

Speaker 1: 4:11

So yeah it's awesome, so that's so cool they open up. So what made you want to go this route? Is it because you've seen the difference it made in your health, or what really drove you to want to open up your own drip bar?

Speaker 2: 4:23

Well, that's that's interesting, because I didn't know. I honestly didn't know. I Think that after after COVID and being home so much, but even before that, I was home for a very long time because my younger son was ill for a really long time and I was primarily the caretaker home. There was no ability to go back to work because he really needed to care, didn't even know if he would actually graduate high school and that's that's another story. But and it has something to do the drip bar. So put a pin in that for a second. So I'm gonna come back to that. But I really didn't know that I could actually do this as a business. This was not on my radar. I was looking for something, knowing that I would be an empty nester, and I was looking for something that I could do. But, being 54, I didn't want to go back to work. Nine to five I've been out, I've been now out of the work Environment outside the house for a really long time and I was thinking how can I possibly do this? Add a Quality to my family, add, you know, time to my family? That is Worth me leaving the house for. But also, I was looking to feed my soul because I felt, like you know, money is important, right, money makes the world go round, but that's not what was driving me. What was driving me was the almost the loneliness of being so isolated for so long, and I wanted to do something that I was good at, but I didn't really understand, other than being a caretaker. What I was good at, and it turns out that I'm pretty good at a few things. So, fast forward a year, you know, I had a family member of mine call me one night and they said hey, I want to run something by you. Have you ever heard of IV vitamin hydration? And I'm thinking to myself, well, yes, but I'm thinking why? What's going on? And they told me what they had in mind and that they had invested in this company. And I said send me everything about, let me take a look at it. And I did. And I did a deep dive and I said you know what? Oh my gosh, like the light bulbs that you know that. That aha moment was like holy cow. I can actually get into, I can get behind this because I believe in it. Now I'm going to bring my son back into it Right Now. My son was ill for a really long time and he had Lyme disease which really took him down, and we didn't even know he would graduate high school and so he started dripping, I guess about three, three and a half years ago, and he's currently a sophomore in college. And not only that, he's actually an athlete, he plays baseball for his college and it is remarkable to watch the progress that he has made over the years.

Speaker 2: 7:28

So not only can I contribute myself and my own health and I watched my numbers grow over the years in a better way because I have such bad gut health that I wasn't absorbing the vitamins that I needed, the nutrition that I needed. And listen, I'm not a good hydrator. I don't eat the way that I should, I don't exercise the way they should, like most people. Right, we try to fit it all in, but the truth is I needed help, and when I was able to start dripping and I watched my numbers literally watched my numbers change over time I knew I was on to something.

Speaker 2: 8:07

And then to be able to now open a business and bring this to my friends and my family and my community and show them that there is an option of staying proactive for your health, I mean, in a way thank you, covid for people to understand that it's not okay to sit back and wait for something to go wrong. So at the drip bar, we encourage people to come in to see us. Number one if you're not feeling well, why is that? If you are feeling well, let's help you maintain that. Let's see what your lifestyle is, because that's what this is. It has to be sustainable. Right For me, watching my son and being able to drip with him at times and opening this up in my own community. I mean, honestly, I feel like I'm just scratching the surface.

Speaker 1: 8:59

You're there for your community, and that's what matters. I can't wait.

Speaker 2: 9:04

I, just for me, it's like I will and getting back to like I could, I could retire and I am not going to do that and I'm going to have a big debt for building up this space. You know, I'm pulling out of, I'm pulling everything out of retirement that I have, but I just know that if I build this, they will come. You know, over time I feel like I've been a pioneer in a lot of things that I've done in my life. I've been told that many different aspects. I've always been on the forefront of something and pushing forward. This is no different for me. This is no different. I believe in it so much. I believe in it so much that I want people to be able to come in and experience it, you know, and to be able to say for themselves oh my gosh, like yes, I see the difference, I feel the difference. You know I'm not one to push anything on anyone. You decide, do your duty.

Speaker 1: 9:57

Oh, I know, I've seen the difference. It's crazy that the difference is how you feel Mental clarity. I mean it's astonishing Like you walk out and you're like a whole new person. And you're living proof of that, your son's living proof of that. It's worth for you guys and then for you to sit here and say like I'm not just going to sit around all day in retirement, I'm going to actually give back to my community. I'm going to take this risk. Yeah, that's amazing, especially with everything you've been through.

Speaker 2: 10:23

In addition to that, even with the dripping, I decided that one day a week we're going to stay open. We're going to have events. One day a week I'm going to give the community the opportunity to come to me and to tell me what it is that they want to gather for. What do they want to talk about? What do we need? I want to be able to give. There's local charities that mean the world to me, anywhere from the Ronald McDonald house to cancer societies of any kind. I want to be able to allow them to come into my space as a safe space, whether for them to be able to gather themselves or to come and drip. Someone wants to bring their book club in. Come and drip. They want to gather.

Speaker 2: 11:07

We're not just about, and a lot of people will say oh yeah, I was hungover and that's why I came to get a drip. It's like I hear this all the time. That's the only time that they've gotten a drip and I'm like well, listen, can you imagine if that's how good you felt after that? Can you imagine if there was really something wrong with you or something that you were fighting? I feel like we all have.

Speaker 2: 11:28

We all fight a monster. It doesn't have to be cancer. We all have something that is going on in our life, and so it's kind of twofold. For me it's let us help you figure out what's going on with you, let us help you support your health and lifestyle. But also for me, it's that space. I want to be able to give my community that space to be able to do something where they feel again about back to that word that they feel safe, that they have a space that they can gather and then they can grow. Because that's what this is With everything that I'm doing. Yes, it's a lot of energy, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of money.

Speaker 1: 12:07

It is yeah, and you know I can hear it in your voice and just see your passion for this and it's really.

Speaker 2: 12:14

But you just want to help people and I understand that you can't take the camera out of me, sorry, as much as I want to run from it in a way, it's like it's sort of like it's sort of what God has given me, it's my superpower, yet yet I mean, on the other side of that is that and I think we spoke about this a little bit privately is that there is a guilt that comes with it, because we as parents, right, we have responsibility, and for myself, as having adult children, now your responsibility to them shifts and so you sort of dysregulate things in your family. So, and people don't talk about that, you know, and it's been hard, like everybody sees in the things that we post right and they see a lot of sunshine, you know, and people call me sometimes sometimes, sometimes we well, I was like I look up and I see the clouds.

Speaker 2: 13:11

We look like, are you sure about that? But honestly, it is a. This is a whole transformation for me. I feel like I'm getting back to my own grassroots. I am getting back to.

Speaker 2: 13:23

My mom has said to me even in this past year, she sees this fire that I had as a kid coming back. I love that and she used to say, like no, your fire wasn't even red, it was blue, it was so hot, it was blue. I would challenge everything and I am. I think what it is is that I am regaining and and I'm not playing small anymore because I found my voice. I always had my voice, but I didn't it down a little bit and I lost a little bit of confidence.

Speaker 2: 13:55

And, and I think, with wellness, it's not just about health, it's about that mental clarity, like you said to, and I'm telling you it's all connected. For me it's all connected and I again I go back to like I'm finally starting to feel more myself than I ever have been in my entire life and I want to share that. I want to share that with the people that I love and the people that I know, and I want to show people that if I can do it, so I love that you're following a passion and your passion is helping people and you know sometimes it's very tough.

Speaker 1: 14:28

You know we're always out there helping people and it can be tough on us, but instead of just retiring, you're doing this anyways. You're doing it for your community, you're doing it to help other people and I really love that.

Speaker 1: 14:39

I always like to say time is so short, so time when we look at it, you know we have so much time in our life and we don't know when the last day is going to be. But if you can help prolong that with the people's health, if you can help, you know, get their health better, where they can spend better quality time with their family, or spend better quality time with their coworkers, or just get their health better, you're helping in that way and that's amazing Just to hear that story. So I know you talked a little bit about this, but you survived cancer twice the first time. Let's go back a little bit. So the first time we got cancer, what was that like? Tell us, kind of, what was that like for you?

Speaker 2: 15:23

So I was 24.

Speaker 1: 15:25

So if you, remember, I was 24 years old, so it's 30 years.

Speaker 2: 15:29

This is my 30 year anniversary from my first cancer, which is so bizarre to me that it's like 30 years ago, but so much has changed. 30 years ago, honestly, I was naive, and I think that I was naive for a reason because I had no idea what was about to happen. And so I remember. I remember going into the hospital because I found this lump and I had a few doctors pretty much say well, you know what? It's probably just a five word, we'll watch it. And something inside of me, this voice inside of me, just said no, I don't think so, because I've always been that too.

Speaker 2: 16:16

I've always been curious, I've always pushed the limits on a lot of things that I've done, and this was thank goodness. I did that because this was another occasion when, thank God, I did not sit on that, by the grace of God, I found a doctor, a female doctor, who understood my concerns and she was a surgeon, and they tried to access it and it was a solid mass which I knew at that point that was probably not a good thing. So I went into the hospital that day and I just remember waking up and I remember the doctor saying to me basically remember, she pulled her mass down and she was like I'm sorry, kiddo, but it's cancer. Well, I could say, was okay, like I had.

Speaker 1: 16:58

No, I'm 24 years old.

Speaker 2: 17:00

My oldest son now is. He'll be turning 23 and I think about holy.

Speaker 1: 17:05

Like that was your age.

Speaker 2: 17:06

That's how this is this is the mindset, this is the you know and um, I'm not sure how exactly I survived um in a family and friends that looked at me like wow, like we're.

Speaker 1: 17:20

You got that fight in you. I know you do.

Speaker 2: 17:22

I never, I never. The funny thing is, I look back and I never thought that I die from this. I never thought I would die. I never did. Um, you know, after having the tumor removed, um, having to go through chemotherapy In radiation, I thought that would kill me. Obviously, I thought that the chemotherapy would kill me. It was, um, it was pretty awful back then. It's still awful for a lot of people. It has gotten a little bit better because they're able to target different cancers. Back then you would cancer, you got this treatment and so they, basically they took you down to death and then they brought you back up and I had, I remember, having blackouts. I remember hiding Pricus sets from my my mom at the time who was caring for me. So I'd go back to my childhood home and my mom would care for me part of the time and I just remember, like, okay, I don't know how I'm ever going to survive this, but I'm going to try. And once chemo was over and the radiation started, you know, the hair started growing back and Um, and it was, it was better, you know.

Speaker 2: 18:23

But then where do you go from here? All I wanted to do is go back to work. I wanted to go back to work. I wanted to go back to what I was good at. I'm a social person, um, I had the ability to travel as I was a buyer for, for a company for a very long time and and I liked my job. You know, I liked what I did. But you know, I was naive and I think I was grateful for that, looking back now, because it was a scary time back then. It really was.

Speaker 2: 18:50

And then Um, and then fast-forwarding to um, you know, having having two kids now, um, and then going in for a mammogram and um, and it's sort of a unique story as well.

Speaker 2: 19:05

So so, just so, you know, it's kind of a unique story. So I went in for a mammogram and at the time had my older son with me. He was in first grade and he had broken his arm, playing in the basement with a buddy of his and, um, I bored him with me because I thought, in and out mammogram, take him to the pediatrician, have his arm Rechecked and looked at and thought, you know, let's get this done. And I had the mammogram done and I remember watching the radiologist walk in the room and I could just look on her face and I knew, and I knew, and I, I literally put my hand up and I was like, because my son was now sitting in the room with me and I was already redressed, we were heading out the door and I just said to her I'm gonna need a few minutes, and she understood the miss, she understood what I was asking, um, and so I come back and the good news was my son's arm was was healing.

Speaker 2: 19:58

The bad news was that, um, something was definitely going on because it was Because of my history, I needed to go back in, and so we did what they call a scoop, right, and so I went into the hospital. They did a scoop and they went to go see what was Happening, and so I remember getting the call and the call said well, we have good news and bad news. So the good news was that what they saw In the mammogram happened to be a calcification. And I said, okay, great. And they said, but the bad news is, when we put it under the microscope, there were that was surrounded by one millimeter cells. I said, okay, well, that really sucks, because in my mind now, I know.

Speaker 2: 20:37

What one million millimetre cells means. And so an MRI, a mammogram and ultrasound exams, all of this, all of this did not matter, because it was still cancer and the only thing that helped me Was that it went under a microscope and that's how it was discovered. If it wasn't discovered from that calcification that day, I would have went a whole nother year without Going through a mammogram, and that would have metastasized, without a doubt, because there would have been no other reason why for me to go back. So it would have been a whole different Vlogging.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Oh, that is crazy. You know, I thank you so much for coming on the podcast and just sharing that story. My pleasure powerful and I'm super excited for you to open up your location. I can't wait for it. I think it's going to be a great benefit for your community I mean really just everyone there and around there. It's going to be great for them, thank you. So if people want to find out more about you, how can they go about doing that?

Speaker 2: 21:43

Sure so they can go to wwwthedripbarcom slash rye or find me on social media at the drip bar dot rye.

Speaker 1: 21:54

Thanks for listening to today's episode. My name is Jacob K Mead, and until next time.