- If you have followed any part of my career,
you probably recognize my long-time music director
Jason Halbert.
I can remember his devastation seven years ago,
when he and his wife, Rhonda,
learned their then 16-year-old daughter,
Kennedy, had cancer.
I have literally known Kennedy since she was five.
As a parent, I still can't imagine, like,
having those conversations with him were so hard.
'Cause I can't imagine anything scarier,
you know, you'd rather take it on
than have your baby go through something like that.
So, thankfully, today Kennedy is cancer-free,
and she's working hard to give back
to the other kids battling cancer as well.
(audience applauding)
So let's say hi to Kennedy, everybody!
(clapping hands) (audience claps and cheers)
- Hi!
- Your career was taking off
when you were diagnosed with cancer, right?
- Yes.
- I have always known you kind of,
so, singing, like, since you were young.
- Right, I mean, I sang before I could talk,
so that's like always been my way of communicating,
and I know, you know all of this,
of like you build your muscles throughout your life,
you do all the training, you do all the things.
- Yeah.
- And it had turned out that
I actually had cancer three years
before I even knew about it.
So for three years, I was singing through this giant tumor
that I didn't even know about.
And so I built all of these muscles
kind of around this thing.
And I noticed when I was 16, like,
every time I was doing a show,
I felt like I was singing through a pile of bricks,
and I'd have to sleep for two days,
which doesn't make sense.
Like, that's not normal.
And then one day, I took a shower,
and when I got out, my neck just swelled up,
and we ended up having to,
they still can't explain why that happened
in the first place, but that was the only thing
that made us even look for the cancer to begin with.
- And to be so young,
that's why no one would even guess that.
Like, to be 13 like you said,
and have had that three years prior
to them even catching it. - Exactly.
- That's unheard of.
- And especially, there's only 14 other cases in the world
like mine, for being diagnosed with the final stage
of thyroid cancer at 16, and how far it had spread.
And so, it is very, very rare.
- You underwent two extreme surgeries.
And can you tell us about that?
'Cause like, I do remember there being a decision,
like a pretty big decision, and your parents,
I just remember him talking about it briefly,
and then I think you took on the call.
- Yeah, so basically the first surgery,
that was to remove my thyroid,
and just kind of check everything out.
- [Kelly] Whew.
- They really thought, 'cause they hadn't
given us the full diagnosis at that point,
and they thought this was just gonna be routine,
it's gonna be easy, it's normally like a four-hour surgery.
It's gonna be fine.
And they got in there and it was just everywhere.
So, that four-hour surgery
turned into an eight-hour surgery.
And so, that happened, and they were like,
we think we got enough though,
for you to be able to do radiation.
And like, you're gonna be fine, it's not a big deal.
They kept trying to always say it's not a big deal,
'cause it really was.
- And right, when someone says that, you're like,
it's a big deal. - Right, like,
It's a big deal. - Yeah.
- And so, we thought that I would be cleared
to do radiation, and so I did the body scan for that,
and just, my body lit up like a Christmas tree again.
And so, we met with my surgeon, and the whole team.
And the night before my surgery,
we got a call from him and he was like,
I don't know what's gonna kill you first,
the surgery that it's gonna take for you to survive,
or the cancer itself.
And we got to the morning of the surgery,
and they asked us, what do you wanna do?
And there's no, how could you make that decision?
You either kill your daughter or you kill your daughter,
there's not a better answer to it.
And so, I raised my hand in my hospital gown,
and I said, I wanna go through with it.
I'd rather say that I tried,
than to just sit here and let it defeat me.
And luckily, I actually survived a 12-hour surgery
where they took apart my entire neck,
and I have a crazy scar all the way around it to prove it.
And yeah, still here somehow. (laughs)
- It's incredible, actually.
And you recovered, and then had a second cancer diagnosis.
And I remember being livid when your dad told me about that.
(Kennedy laughs)
'Cause I was like, are you, I remember literally praying
that night, and I would cry at night,
'cause I was so angry.
- (mmhmms) We all were, and it was so unexpected.
I was actually here in LA. - Yeah.
- And I had just had this like random growth on my ankle
that I'd had for just as long
as I had apparently had the tumors before,
and just went in to get it removed 'cause it was annoying.
And we got a call while we were at the airport,
and they were like, you have melanoma in your ankle.
And so, we had actually, you were touring in Australia
at the time, and we were planning on taking a side vacation
afterwards to go to New Zealand for two weeks.
'Cause it was like a celebration of life afterwards,
after all the thyroid stuff.
And so, we told our doctors
that we were planning on doing this trip,
and do we need to cancel it to just start treating this?
And every time, 'cause I was in the room,
they'd be like, no, you need to go take that trip.
And we'd be like, okay,
that doesn't really make any sense, but okay.
And go to another doctor, and he'd be like,
no, you need to take that trip.
So we finally called our friend, who's an amazing doctor,
and we're like, what's actually going on?
I say we, my parents did that,
I was not a part of the conversation.
They're like, why are we going on this trip?
And they were like, well, you need to take her on this trip
because this could very well be the last trip
that you ever take with her.
So go make it the best two weeks of her life,
and hope for the best on the back end.
And I didn't know this,
so we did a two-week trip to New Zealand,
where I didn't know that.
And mom and dad are having to process that,
but they truly made it the best two weeks of my life.
- Well, I actually heard about that vacation.
It sounded epic.
Jason has been my musical director for almost two decades,
and his daughter, Kennedy, has spent years
fighting multiple cancer diagnoses.
I'm happy to say she is now cancer-free,
and working with a nonprofit called Rally Foundation.
So, can you tell us about Rally Foundation?
- So, what's crazy is, Rally has been with me
my entire process, and a mutual friend of ours
actually pulled me in for a fundraiser of theirs
four months before I was diagnosed.
So I was already raising funds for them,
for a childhood cancer organization,
not knowing what I was about to have to go through.
And they just partnered up,
and became the family that I needed to feel understood.
And especially in survivorship,
'cause that's been one of the craziest things,
and what's just so amazing about them
is 93 cents to every dollar goes directly
towards the research of what they are doing.
And what I'm extremely passionate about is
I often say that life after cancer
has actually been harder than life during,
because life during, you don't really have an option,
you're just do the treatment, do whatever it takes.
Life after cancer, they give you a stamp of approval
once you're in remission, and they say, go live your life,
go do some amazing things, you're all good now.
And you're given this shell of a body that's not your own.
Like, I live on synthetic hormones for the rest of my life,
I lost my ability to sing.
So much radiation killed my brain cells
that I lost my ability to play piano
that I learned when I was seven years old
for that performance with you. - Whoa.
- And so, I lost everything,
and then was told you're better now,
go live this amazing life.
- [Kelly] But you don't feel better.
- And I was like, I don't feel better,
I don't know what to do with this.
I have so many side effects,
my life is the furthest thing from normal.
And that's where survivorship is so important.
And that's what Rally is also specializing
in getting research for is programs that help you
navigate this new life, and this new body,
and your mental health in it, and therapy behind it,
and for your family.
Like, it, survivorship is easily as important.
- It's the aftermath.
- Right. - Yeah.
- And I'm so passionate about working with Rally,
because we need more research so that kids
don't have to go through what I went through.
- Yeah, and parents. - And parents, yes.
- Yeah, and the whole family, that's oof.
- Yeah. - And Jason, like,
you and Rhonda must have faced some really tough moments.
And I remember you kind of speaking on that a bit.
- Yeah, I mean, I think you were there
for a lot of the tough moments.
I mean, how many times did you turn around,
and catch me crying on stage, like during "Stronger?"
And I'm like, it's supposed to be a fun song,
but it's weird talking about this part of it publicly.
'Cause I'm very aware that
we're all dealing with stuff like this,
and I'm sure if everybody raised their hands,
over 50% of everybody's dealing with somebody
that's had cancer, or a loved one,
and you know what I mean?
I mean, the producers wanted me over on the couch.
The reason I'm right here is
because this isn't my emotional fortress,
'cause- - Yeah.
- [Jason] I'm not the strong one.
I mean, see?
(Kennedy laughs)
- No, it's obviously, no, he is.
We did try and get Jason,
my producer was like, I tried to get him on the couch,
and then I was like, good luck.
(Kennedy laughs) - Yeah.
- Because it's already, first of all, not everybody is,
it's not easy to express yourself, you know?
It's not easy to do that.
- I was fortunate,
I'm surrounded by strong women everywhere.
And Kennedy was the strong one in this process,
and my wife really held it together for us.
- Oof, all right, so you have this thing,
is it on March 13th?
- Yes, so I pledged to raise $25,000 for Rally
in just nine weeks, because of the COVID year,
they can't do any of their fundraisers.
And there's been over two million dollars' worth of funds
that have not gone towards research this year.
- Wow. - And which is devastating.
So, I pledged to raise at minimum $25,000 in nine weeks.
And so what I've been doing is I do livestreams,
from literally our living room,
a full-blown lights, projection, my band, the whole thing.
And we are doing a donation-based ticket,
so you can go to rallyteamwarrior.org,
and literally you can donate a dollar,
or a thousand dollars is preferred for them,
(Kelly laughs)
but all of it goes straight to Rally.
And just by donating whatever you feel is best,
you'll get a link, like a private link to the concert,
and it happens March 13th.
- Is this your Nashville home?
- [Kennedy] Yes.
- Now that's a rad living room, y'all.
(Kennedy laughs)
That's not an ordinary living room.
- [Kennedy] No, it is not.
- Their house, of course,
has to be spectacular and storybook.
I'm like, it's an amazing living room as well.
It's a cool venue. - (laughs) Yes.
- Well, y'all gotta check out that concert.
March 13th, right? - Yes.
- Well, to donate to Kennedy's team,
go to rallyteamwarrior.org,
or visit our website at kellyclarksonshow.com
for more information.
Remember, the concert is March 13th,
and all money raised goes directly to Rally Foundation
for Childhood Cancer Research.