On popular podcasts “Messy,” Actors Christina Applegate and Jamie-Lynn Sigler have weekly chats about how they each live with multiple sclerosis, and the show often hosts guests like Will Ferrell, Katie Couric and Jimmy Kimmel.

Last week, the duo chatted with Napa baker Rory Kandel about his journey with the disease in a segment that made national headlines.

In a stimulating hour-long talk, Kandel said: Rory’s Bakery She spoke openly about how she managed her daily life and grew her business while living with MS by selling frozen, ready-to-cook treats in 2020.

Kandel, who has been a fan of the podcast since it launched in March, was invited to the program in September after sending a letter to “MeSsy” producer Allison Bresnick, thanking her and sharing a post. San Francisco Chronicle article about his own journey.

On December 1, 2023, after nearly three months of tests to determine why he felt pain and numbness in his body, Kandel was diagnosed with MS, an incurable chronic disease in which the immune system attacks the body’s nerves, causing pain and hindering mobility. feet and legs.

Kandel told The Press Democrat last week that it was a date he will never forget.

“When you get diagnosed with something, you start looking for information,” Kandel said. “Christina Applegate has been very open about her MS diagnosis, and Jamie-Lynn Sigler recently announced hers.”

Applegate publicly announced her diagnosis in 2021. Sigler, who has been living with the disease for 20 years, first went public about her struggles in 2016.

Kandel, who knew nothing about the disease before his diagnosis, began reading everything he could about Applegate and Sigler’s experiences in an effort to learn more about MS.

He said his podcasts were the first place he found information about the disease “not just from doctors, but from real people who have had it.”

Media outlets since the episode aired on November 5 People They reported on the podcast conversation largely because Applegate revealed that she sometimes lay in bed screaming with pain, which she said on the show had recently come to her.

In the program, Kandel and the two presenters talked about living openly with MS and their struggle to be seen as an inspiration to others, as well as how they cope with the fear of the inevitable progression of the disease and force themselves to keep going.

“I wake up every day and feel like I got hit by a bus,” Kandel told The Press Democrat. “Sometimes I feel like my body is like mismatched Lego bricks, like everything is crushing itself.”

But Kandel said she finds therapy in cooking.

“Baking has always been my escape since I was a kid,” Kandel said. “It puts me in a mental flow where I can let go of the pain.”

Kandel recently hired two assistants to help in the kitchen, but said she hopes to continue baking for as long as physically possible.

This month, it’s available for pickup in Napa and shipping to Yountville and St. Rory’s Bakehouse, which sells frozen treats for delivery in Helena’s Upvalley area, has launched Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies, its first product available for shipping nationwide.

“I love everything about it,” she said of the cookie. “I love the crispy edge, the center, the large size makes it the perfect chocolate chip cookie.”

Kandel is also preparing to open a retail storefront in its kitchen at 2766 Old Sonoma Road later this year, where customers can stop by and pick up frozen items as well as a few prepared treats. Right now, everything at Rory’s Bakehouse is available for pre-order only.

Since making the podcast, Kandel says people have reached out to her with their own MS stories, and she feels “a lot less alone” in her battle with the disease.

“I had the decision to decide whether to hide (about MS) or be open,” she said. “I was worried about how this would affect my business and all it did was create a sense of support that I could never have imagined. I’m so grateful for being on the podcast and for everything he’s ever done for me. I’d do this again in a heartbeat.

Listen to Kandel’s episode at: messythepodcast.com and learn more about her baked goods: rorysbakehouse.com.