Iran Brugueras, the proprietor of Hip Stop clothes and shoe retailer in Hartford, Conn., is occurring a journey. Actually, Brugueras is on three completely different journeys.
Right now, Brugueras and his spouse, Nora, are on a 40-day trip, with stops in Australia, Bali, Thailand, Maldives, Egypt and someplace in Europe they haven’t selected but. Iran and Nora named their trip “You Only Live Once.”
They’re on that YOLO journey because of a journey Brugueras began within the fall of 2021, when he was recognized with stage-four gastric most cancers. The prognosis led Brugueras to retire, to take pleasure in his life, household and nevertheless a few years he has left.
Brugueras is also on a mission to assist individuals converse overtly about their bodily and psychological well being. He “came out” as a most cancers affected person to confide in his neighborhood and provides buddies and clients the prospect to speak about their very own anxieties.
“I want to be transparent talking about cancer. I want to talk about the stigma of it. The stigma is why it took me a year and a half to come out publicly,” he stated.
“I don’t want this diagnosis to have been in vain,” he stated. “If someone is in a dark place, I want them to be able to talk about it.”
Nora, a longtime counselor for most cancers sufferers, needs to assist Iran break by these cultural stigmas.
“In our culture, Latin culture, people don’t want to talk about cancer. They don’t talk about feelings, especially men,” she stated. “We want people to say, it’s OK to be scared. Whatever your feelings are, let’s talk about them.”
At first, his outreach was grassroots, speaking to whoever got here to his store or bumped into on the road, about his prognosis, remedy and psychological state. Then he “came out” on social media.
“After that, a number of people, especially men, approached him to talk, whether about themselves or a family member struggling with a chronic disease,” Nora stated. “It fueled him in a way you wouldn’t believe. It reassured him that this is his path.”
Now, he has created an internet site, hipstopcancer.com, the place he plans to weblog with updates on his well being and wellness.
Mental well being
Iran and Nora aren’t any strangers to mental-health initiatives. In 2020, the couple donated $25,000 to Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to start out a fund to make mental-health assets accessible to younger individuals within the interior cities.
The fund is named the S.P.L.A.S.H. Project, which stands for Special People Looking & Aiming for Success & Health.
It was created in honor of Iran’s son and Nora’s stepson, Iran Brugueras Jr. The hip-hop up-and-comer in Waterbury struggled with mental-health points, which he referred to in his music, earlier than dying in 2016 in a automotive accident at age 20. SPLASH was Iran Brugueras’ skilled identify.
Despite the stresses of the pandemic and Iran’s prognosis, Iran and Nora have given some grants by S.P.L.A.S.H. Project. Recipients embody Hartford’s Toivo Center, which affords various mental-health therapies, and the NAMIWalks, sponsored by National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Iran Brugueras Jr.’s motto was “no excuses.” It’s turn out to be his father’s motto, too. Iran Sr. used that motto, at first, to maintain up his each day work grind regardless of his medical remedy.
“I didn’t change my lifestyle. I still came to work every day, same schedule, same hours. I’m a grinder. I thought to myself, I have no excuses,” Iran stated.
Now that motto has motivated him to let go of Hip Stop — he bought it to his Park Street enterprise neighbor, Roberto Luis Martir — and give attention to therapeutic and wellness.
Family shops
Iran’s wellness and happiness was tied to Hip Stop. He began it in 1994 by establishing a mix-tape sales space outdoors his mom’s Park Street retailer, Fiesta Time Florist and Party Shop.
“Ever since he was a little boy he liked to sell stuff. He went to New York and bought cassettes. In two days they were all sold,” stated his mom, Maria Sanchez. “He went back and bought more cassettes, and CDs. He sold them all. Then he started to sell clothes.”
Iran labored on that spot for 15 years. “It looked like a hot dog cart, with an umbrella, with speakers playing hip-hop,” he stated. He grew to become well-known within the neighborhood, the place buddies and clients name him Pooch.
“I came to work on rainy days. I was outside at 5 below in the winter, all geared up,” he stated. “That inspired me to work indoors.”
In 2010, he took a emptiness subsequent door to Fiesta Time. Years later, each shops moved to their present places, just some hundred toes down the road, at 693 and 697 Park St.
Brugueras lower a gap within the wall, to construct a door connecting the outlets. While Sanchez chatted with clients shopping for flowers and decor for weddings, birthdays, quinceañeras and different events, she may see her son by the door, promoting his personal wares.
In the store, Iran’s merchandise expanded to what Hip Stop sells at present: athletic attire and footwear, jerseys, sports activities hats, backpacks, watches, sun shades, neck chains.
Feeling unwell
Then, in mid-2021, a couple of yr after launching the S.P.L.A.S.H. Project, along with his enterprise buzzing alongside efficiently, Iran began feeling unwell.
“There was discomfort, a lot of acid reflux, bloating. I’d wake up in the middle of the night with a stomachache. From time to time I’d get a spasm in my lower back,” he stated. “I went to the hospital a couple of times. They didn’t find anything. Later they thought it was H. pylori.”
He pushed to have a colonoscopy and endoscopy. The assessments ended with a prognosis of gastric most cancers. He was 48.
“The symptoms are so common that most people with gastric cancer wait to get checked so they usually get diagnosed at a higher stage,” he stated.
At first he was scared to ask a couple of “timeline,” Nora stated.
“The doctor initially said, ‘we can’t cure you, but we will treat you. We’re just going to have to manage and balance your quality of life,’ ” she stated.
“Based on the conversation, I did my own research. We thought, five years tops. Then he got up the courage to ask and the doctors confirmed that.”
Iran had 23 classes of chemotherapy. “I saw the direction my body was heading, how fragile I was becoming. My immune system was weakening. I felt I didn’t have a shot if I continued to go down that road. So I decided to just continue without chemo and with immunotherapy,” he stated.
He centered on meditation, yoga, understanding on daily basis and altering his food plan. “I am pretty much a vegan now. I stay away from sugar and alkaline. No pasta. Nothing that comes in a box. Nothing too acidy,” he stated.
He was feeling stronger and nonetheless working. Then Iran had an epiphany whereas mourning the dying of his cousin’s husband, who died unexpectedly at age 63.
“On his property I observed his beautiful retirement home and all his beautiful vehicles and his boat. And he couldn’t enjoy it. All that hard work and he’s not able to enjoy it,” he stated.
“He postponed retirement to save more money. That’s what hit hard. He was focused on working so he could live a comfortable life but you just never know when your time is up,” he stated. “That’s how I was able to completely let go of the attachment I had to my business.”
New period at Hip Stop
Martir owns Hip Stop now, amongst his different companies. Martir owns Celebrations At Wolfies, which rents celebration provides corresponding to bounce homes and rents out a storefront for occasions. In March, Iran had his fiftieth celebration at Martir’s storefront. More than 100 individuals got here. “Everybody loves Pooch,” Martir stated.
Brugueras approached Martir about taking up Hip Stop. At first he hesitated. “He put in his sweat and dedication and built this store from the ground up,” Martir stated. Brugueras lastly persuaded Martir to purchase the enterprise.
Martir is now excited to place his mark on Hip Stop. A local of the North End, Martir shopped his entire life at Salvin Shoes, which opened in 1927 and was in enterprise for 93 years, closing in December 2020.
“The atmosphere here is like Salvin,” he stated. He even employed a longtime Salvin worker, Bobby Alves, to be the “face” of the shop.
In just a few months, Martir will develop Hip Stop when Sanchez, who’s 74, retires and closes Fiesta Time. That door within the wall that connects the outlets will turn out to be useful.
“We’re going to use her space as a boutique for the more high-end shoes, Jordans, like that,” Martir stated.
Time to retire
Sanchez, a local of Puerto Rico, got here to Hartford for a two-week trip to go to household when she was 21 years outdated.
“It was time for me to leave. They said, ‘please don’t go, stay a few more weeks.’ So I stayed. I stayed for 53 years,” she stated.
Her small store is jam-packed with a wide range of decorations and provides. Sanchez enjoys her place locally, promoting cake toppers, garlands, candles and flowers, making customized celebration favors with shiny satin ribbons, coloured mesh and cute surprises inside. But she needs to retire.
“My son is not leaving me. We are leaving together,” she stated.
Sanchez stated “I know I will get involved with something else after I retire.” But first — like she did 53 years in the past when she determined to remain in Hartford close to her kinfolk — she is dedicating herself to her household. Like Iran, Sanchez’s daughter additionally has severe well being points.
“She needs me right now,” Sanchez stated. “I have to be strong for them, but I know it is in God’s hands.”
Community
When Iran and Nora come again from their YOLO world tour, they may give attention to his well being, their household, his weblog and increase neighborhood connections to start out conversations.
“It’s become part of my life story, talking about how I deal with cancer,” he stated. “I want people to know that cancer doesn’t define you. It’s not the end of you and there is hope. You can heal.”
That may be arduous for individuals to grasp, Iran stated.
“People hear the word cancer and they immediately tie it to death. People might not know how to act or what to say around me. It might make them feel uncomfortable to talk to me. They might feel sorry for me,” he stated.
Iran’s most up-to-date CAT scan was in February. The most cancers has not unfold. He finds power in that. Now, with Nora by his aspect, he needs individuals to see him proceed his well being journey.
“Cancer is not a death sentence for sure. You have to do your work. You have to be committed to a healthier lifestyle for sure. You can have hope,” she stated. “He has to be able to find that silver lining, regardless of the prognosis he has been given. He is eager to continue to live life to its fullest for as long as he can.”
Susan Dunne may be reached at [email protected].
Source: www.bostonherald.com”