It\u2019s always something.<\/p>\n
Amanda Dugger has a lot on her plate. She\u2019s CEO of DGR Systems, an IT consulting and solutions firm, Chair of Tampa Bay Tech and the founder and president of Genuine Human, a nonprofit connecting philanthropic gifts with those who need them the most.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also the busy mother of a 5-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n
And she\u2019s a two-time cancer survivor.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s that last identifier that led to Dugger\u2019s brand-new memoir, Finding Sparkle in the Sh*t Show (St. Petersburg Press). The book is honest, raw and devastatingly funny, the latter no small feat considering the lifetime of landmines (she was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma as a teenager) Dugger has been forced to navigate.<\/p>\n
Her conversation is peppered with a deep, throaty, Gomer Pyle sort of laugh. The Missouri native lays claim to inheriting her find-the-silver-lining sense of humor (and gentle way with sarcasm) from her father, Ed Carter.<\/p>\n
She was driven to chronicle her trials and tribulations, Dugger reports, \u201cin a way that I think kind of brings validity to the scars ya got, in a way that helps you feel like it all wasn\u2019t in vain. And that people can learn from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when I\u2019m recollecting things from 20-plus years ago, and the first cancer I had \u2026 I wish I had a copy of that old blog, before blog was even a term \u2013 I would almost want to go back and read it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes, all I could manage was a couple sentences. Other times, I was able to share reflections and occasionally even surprise myself by saying some\u00adthing close to profound. The word spread through my family, friends, and friends of friends. Occasionally, I\u2019d receive messages from complete strangers. The knowledge that there was a whole community out there rooting for me bolstered my spirits through the difficult days ahead. \u2013 from Finding Sparkle<\/p>\n
Dugger describes herself as a \u201cfixer\u201d in both her personal and professional lives. \u201cI\u2019m often people\u2019s first call when they\u2019re diagnosed, or when their friends are diagnosed,\u201d she explains. \u201cI want to help people know what to ask next. Where to go next.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsually, I preface each conversation with a newly-diagnosed person or family member with \u2018If you\u2019re calling for the sympathy, I\u2019m not your call. If you have questions that you want to ask me, or if you want to ask my advice, that\u2019s what you\u2019re gonna get from me.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd they usually feel better, but they might not be prepared for that conversation. So I always make sure to ask \u2018What do you need right now? If you need to unload and tell me, and have me give you the sympathy you deserve and desire, there\u2019s room for that too.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I will immediately go into problem-solving mode, because I just can\u2019t help myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dugger and her husband Jason moved to the Tampa Bay area in 2008. Her newly-widowed father (he\u2019s a prominent character in Finding Sparkle) followed a few years later.<\/p>\n
After he died, she made a surprising discovery about her heritage (no spoilers here) and disappeared down a lengthy familial rabbit role. \u201cIt became consuming in an appropriate way, and helped me get past some things I needed to get past,\u201d Dugger says. \u201cThe energy that needed to go somewhere had a place to go. Everything seems to be a project for me, apparently.\u201d<\/p>\n
She and Jason welcomed their first child in 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic was raging. And then, Amanda Dugger was diagnosed with breast cancer.<\/p>\n
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Having cancer for the second time is like a slap to the face. After ev\u00aderything I\u2019ve been through \u2013 losing my parents, infertility, That Other Thing \u2013 I felt like I\u2019d finally gotten my life on track.<\/p>\n
Typically, she went looking for the sparkle. \u201cWhen you\u2019re first diagnosed, you don\u2019t know any different. You don\u2019t know that there\u2019s 15 different types of breast cancer. Everyone thinks that breast cancer is breast cancer, and chemotherapy is chemotherapy. Well, it\u2019s not. Everything is very unique and different.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd some people, when they\u2019re going through it or after they\u2019ve gone through it, they just didn\u2019t seek out those details because they just didn\u2019t care. They just let their doctor make all the decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I wasn\u2019t that person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Genuine Human was a product of Dugger\u2019s \u201cfixer\u201d mentality. \u201cI feel like \u2026 even in our IT industry, if you can educate the customer, you\u2019re in a better spot, right? If you can educate the patient, they\u2019re going to feel better about being in control of their outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A Genuine Human is the salt of the earth, honest to a fault, human in the deepest sense of the word. When I chose to name my foundation Genuine Human, it was to honor every genuine human, but especially to honor my dad. Whatever stuff he was made of, the more of that we have on this planet, the better.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, you can point to the statistics from the American Cancer Society, or the American Heart Association or whomever else, and say that all the giving helped something be possible. But it really pulls at your heartstrings if you say \u2018Hey, these kids need to go to summer camp. They\u2019ve never gone to summer camp because they\u2019re sick and they can\u2019t board a commercial flight. So we\u2019re going to send them on an Angel Flight.\u2019 Which is pilots that volunteer their time and get these kids to summer camps. And all we have to do is raise enough money for the fuel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re showing people where their money went. And when you can do that, the flywheel really starts spinning. Because people really enjoy seeing what they donated to.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finding Sparkle in the Sh*t Show \u2013 A Memoir of My Dad, My Cancer, and Ham in the Fridge is available from St. Petersburg Press<\/a>, and at Tombolo Books<\/a> in St. Petersburg. <\/p>\n