CancerSurvivorMD®

In this Author Chat, Josie and Brad welcome Tim McDonald, stage IV colorectal cancer survivor, liver transplant recipient, patient advocate, and author of From Patient to Advocate: Turning Survivorship into Impact for Healthcare Advocates. Tim shares how his diagnosis led him from self-advocacy to broader patient advocacy, including the search for second opinions, coordination between cancer and t...

In this episode of Cancer Survivor MD, Dr. Josie van Londen is joined by Brad Buchanan, Colleen Dwyer Diehl, and special guest Janette Poppenberg, a cancer-certified personal trainer in the Pittsburgh area, for a practical and compassionate conversation about physical activity after cancer treatment. Focusing on survivors who are no longer in active therapy, the group discusses how to safely begin...

In this Author Chat, Josie van Londen and Brad Buchanan speak with pediatrician and writer Carolyn Roy-Bornstein about her new book, A Prescription for Burnout: Restorative Writing for Healthcare Professionals. Carolyn explores burnout not as a personal failure, but as a signal of disconnection from meaning, purpose, and the soul of medicine. Together they discuss how writing can help clinicians p...

In this final episode of The Essential Elements of Cancer Survivorship Care , we explore care coordination—the complex, often overwhelming task of managing life after cancer. From juggling medical appointments, work, family, and personal healing, to navigating uncertainty and shifting priorities, survivorship can feel like a full-time job. Dr. Josie van Londen, along with social worker Colleen Dwy...

Colleen Dwyer, Brad Buchanan, and Dr Josie explain in this episode that symptoms after cancer treatment can be physical, emotional, functional, or financial, and they often come in clusters. Some begin during treatment, some appear much later, and some problems such as bone loss or heart disease may stay silent until they become serious. Because evidence for symptom treatment in cancer survivors i...

In this episode of the Cancer Survivor MD podcast series on essential elements of cancer survivorship care, Dr. Josie van Londen is joined by Brad Buchanan and Colleen Dwyer to discuss lifestyle and health behaviors as tools for coping and healing after cancer. The conversation explores how survivors often turn to diet, exercise, and other habits to regain a sense of control, while emphasizing the...

We introduce Trevor Maxwell, founder of Man Up To Cancer, who shares his stage IV colon cancer diagnosis at 41 and how a rare MSI-high tumor type, immunotherapy, chemotherapy, and multiple major surgeries (including HIPEC) have helped him live with cancer for years and stay present for his family. They talk candidly about parenting through cancer, balancing hope with realism, and pushing back agai...

In this episode of Cancer Survivor MD, Josie van Londen and Brad Buchanan interview Dr. Fred Appelbaum of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center about his book Living Medicine and the history—and humanity—behind bone marrow transplantation, the breakthrough that paved the way for today’s cell and gene therapies.  Appelbaum explains what transplantation is and how it works, reflects on his path into the fie...

A 21-year-old pianist gets brain cancer, refuses chemo to save his music, survives 30 years, founds Stupid Cancer, and now wants to organize 20 million cancer patients into a political force. Josie and Brad sit down with Matthew Zachary to talk history, late effects, parents, creativity, survivor guilt, and his next act: We The Patients. https://wethepatients.org Relevant links pertinent to this e...

Brad Buchanan, Colleen Dwyer, and I will discuss an essential aspect of cancer survivorship care. In this episode, we’ll focus on the importance of screening for secondary cancers among cancer survivors. Relevant links pertinent to this episode: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/screening/american-cancer-society-guidelines-for-the-early-detection-of-cancer.html https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/prevention/sc...

Joelle Kaufman — cancer survivor, BRCA1 carrier, and author of “Crushing the Cancer Curve Ball: A Playbook for the Newly Diagnosed (and Their Family and Friends)” — joins Josie and co-host Brad Buchanan to talk about building a practical, compassionate “approach at the plate” for life with cancer. Joelle shares how writing helped her process, why her book is deliberately modular for foggy days, th...

In this episode, we sit down with social worker Colleen Dwyer from Cancer Bridges to talk about one of the five key parts of survivorship care: keeping an eye out for cancer coming back, also called cancer surveillance. We’ll share what surveillance really means, how it changes over time, and the emotions that can come with it. You’ll also hear tips for working with your health care team as your c...

In this powerful conversation, G [Josie] Van Londen, MD, shares her journey with primary mitochondrial disease and the life-changing impact of the investigational drug elamipretide. She describes the invisible toll of her condition, the relief of a long-awaited diagnosis, and the real-world improvements she’s experienced on treatment. As she urges the FDA to reconsider its recent denial, Josie hig...

In this episode, Dr. Josie welcomes Colleen Dwyer Diehl, LCSW, a clinical social worker at Cancer Bridges, to introduce an exciting new mini-series on cancer survivorship.  Colleen shares her journey, the mission of Cancer Bridges, and the impactful programs they offer to support cancer patients and survivors. Together, they explore the Living Life Post-Cancer Treatment program, a structured initi...

In this episode, we sit down with Patrick Bringley, MA, author of All the Beauty in the World, to explore his profound journey from working at The New Yorker to spending a decade as a museum guard at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Patrick shares how the loss of his brother to cancer led him to seek solace in art, offering him space for reflection, healing, and a deeper appreciation of life’s bea...

Caregiving is a journey that touches many of our lives in profound and often unexpected ways. It is a role that demands resilience, compassion, and adaptability.  In this episode, I have the pleasure of speaking with Gary Marzolf, whose lifelong experience with caregiving began at a very young age and has evolved through decades of personal challenges and triumphs. Gary’s story offers wisdom, insp...

“A Life Beyond Reason: Chris Gabbard on Loss, Caregiving, and Spiritual Growth” In this deeply moving episode, Chris Gabbard, PhD, MA, professor and author of A Life Beyond Reason , shares his profound journey as a caregiver to his son August, who was born with severe disabilities due to a mismanaged birth. Chris reflects on the emotional and philosophical challenges he faced during and after Augu...

Discover the essential tools and wisdom to empower yourself or a loved one through a cancer journey in our latest episode. Featuring author Jill Squire, BSN, RN, OCN,  and her groundbreaking book " Cancer Journey Guide and Journals: Empowerment in Diagnosis and Treatment and Beyond ," we explore practical strategies to support cancer patients from diagnosis through long-term survivorship...

Could you endure the excruciating pain of cancer therapy complications and still find gratitude in the experience? Join us as Brad shares his gripping story of survival following a stem cell transplant in early 2016. Brad takes us through the agonizing process of total body irradiation, chemotherapy, and the harrowing reality of developing severe acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). His gut-wre...

Join us as Brad and I dive into the unspoken challenges related to cancer therapies. We share our personal experiences with honesty and vulnerability.  We had so much content that we split it into two parts. This is the first part, in which we tackle the often-overlooked subjects of fertility, intimacy, bone health, accelerated aging, and the emotionally taxing effects of stigmas associated with c...

I sit down with Kate Washington to discuss her compelling book, "Already Toast," which delves into the profound and multifaceted caregiving journey. Kate shares her deeply personal experience of caring for her husband as he underwent a stem cell transplantation for lymphoma. We explore the highs and lows, the triumphs and challenges, and the emotional and physical toll that caregiving ca...

How do you navigate the turbulent waters of cancer recurrence and its treatment?  In this emotionally charged episode, we share deeply personal stories of battling persistent abnormal cells, undergoing numerous medical procedures (surgery, radiation, and stem cell transplant), and the heart-wrenching decision to opt for treatments that come at large risk of loss of fertility, loss of life, and los...

In this second part of the podcast episode, hosts Brad and his co-host delve into Brad's harrowing experience with aggressive cancer treatment. Initially diagnosed with an indolent form of cancer, Brad's condition rapidly worsened, leading to an emergency hospitalization due to a burst tumor in his lung. The episode details the intense therapeutic measures taken, including aggressive che...

Discovering cancer during a prenatal checkup was a curveball I never saw coming. Listen closely as I open up about my battle with HPV-related cancer, diving into the emotional rollercoaster from the initial diagnosis of low-grade dysplasia to the eventual necessity of treatment for high-grade dysplasia. Brad joins me, offering a unique lens through his own fight with lymphoma, casting it as an unw...

In this episode, we will be speaking about our personal experiences with the diagnostic part of our journey for our initial diagnosis, such as delay in workup, needing more tissue for diagnostic purposes (multiple times being biopsied, etc.), being a rare case,  getting a second opinion,  talking with our children,  and a bit about feeling gaslighted. Here are a few helpful links relevant to this...