In this episode of Tales from the PROS, please welcome Matthew Bergens who was commissioned as an Officer in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Bragg, NC with the infamous 82nd Airborne Division. In late 2015, Matt was diagnosed with cancer. He went through multiple surgeries and radiation, and was later medically retired from the Army. Matt seeks to attend Medical School with hopes of helping children fight cancer as he did himself, which takes us here today on how founded BailaCura, which is presents a "one of its kind" dance festival connecting the power of dance to cancer patients and the medical community. The proceeds from BailaCura gets donated to the University of North Carolina’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center for cancer research and treatment.
Me and Matt discuss his cancer journey and how he overcame it, Cancer research and progress, starting the BailaCura one-of-a-kind dance festival and its sole purpose, and much more.
Questions Asked:
Matt, me and you have been good friends now for over two years and met in the salsa dance scene. So, in this episode I want to take a deeper dive in letting the world know your journey to BailaCura. So, can you tell us what happened leading up to finding out you were diagnosed with Cancer?
What were the emotions you had when finding out the bad news?
Can you explain to us the process of what you went through during your Cancer journey and treatments?
From you overcoming Cancer, can you give any advice to people experiencing that struggle?
What was the initial trigger you had to start BailaCura? Talk to us about that inspiration.
Let's jump a little into the the future of BailaCura, what are your plans to take the event to the next level?
In your journey and experience in creating this yearly event and also dancing for years, how do you feel dancing helps people more than just getting the benefit of exercise? I want people who always wanted to dance, but haven't taken that step to also be inspired by this.
