Breast Cancer Conversations

Love the podcast? Send us a text! When we hear that a new breast cancer treatment has received FDA approval, we often see the headline, but rarely the years of research, difficult decisions, and clinical trials that made that milestone possible. So what actually happens behind the scenes? In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , Laura Carfang, EdD, Founder and CEO of SurvivingBreastCancer....

Love the podcast? Send us a text! What if one of the most important breast cancer warning signs isn't a lump at all? When filmmakers Shelby and Nathan Slager discovered how few people knew about inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), they decided to do something unexpected: make a movie. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , host Laura Carfang sits down with Shelby, Nathan, and Shelby&a...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! A breast cancer diagnosis brings far more than medical decisions. There are emotional challenges, treatment side effects, financial pressures, questions about clinical trials, and the ongoing need for trusted information and community. Yet many of these needs fall outside the traditional healthcare system. So who's filling those gaps? And how can we make sure...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Many people turn to CBD hoping for relief from pain, nausea, anxiety, sleep problems, and other side effects of cancer treatment. But CBD isn’t risk-free, and “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean harmless. It can be biologically active, product quality varies widely, and it may interact with medications used during breast cancer treatment.  magic-episode-02 In this...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! For many people with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, taking a daily medication like tamoxifen can become part of life for years. But what does it actually feel like to live with the side effects day after day? In this candid episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , Laura Carfang sits down with Lindsey, who was diagnosed with DCIS at age 37 after finding a...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Your scans came back. The portal posted results before anyone called. There are four appointments on the calendar and a vocabulary nobody taught you — and underneath it all, the feeling that you're already behind. Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval spent 25 years treating women's breast and gynecologic cancers, much of it at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Her first p...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! When Vic Clevenger's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, he and his brother had a thought that many men probably share: At least we're not women. We don't have to worry about breast cancer. Years later, Vic learned firsthand just how wrong that assumption can be. It started with what looked like a stain on his shirt. When Vic realized fluid was...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! What happens emotionally after you've spent months—or years—focused on simply surviving cancer? Treatment may end. Scans may look good. Life may begin moving forward again. But that doesn't necessarily mean you've processed what happened to you. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , Laura Carfang sits down with visual artist, therapeutic...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Listen to hear three very different perspectives on what radiation for metastatic breast cancer can really look like and what these women want others to know before starting treatment. Radiation can play a very different role in metastatic breast cancer than it does in early-stage disease. It may be used to treat a specific metastatic site, help control cancer in...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! What if a blood test could detect signs of breast cancer at the molecular level? Circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA , is generating growing interest among people diagnosed with breast cancer, particularly those wondering about recurrence, treatment response, and what may be happening in the body before something appears on conventional imaging. One test you may have...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! What does life really look like five—or even ten—years after a metastatic breast cancer diagnosis? For many people, the initial diagnosis is filled with uncertainty, fear, and countless unanswered questions. But thanks to advances in treatment, more people are living longer with metastatic breast cancer than ever before, and with that comes an important conversati...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Somewhere between the diagnosis and the last appointment, most of us stopped breathing all the way down. Not on purpose. The body braces, the jaw clenches, the shoulders come up — and then treatment ends, everyone tells you congratulations, and nobody mentions that your nervous system never got the memo that the emergency is over. In this episode, host Laura Carfa...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! When you're living with breast cancer, the medical team treats the cancer — but who takes care of everything else? The fear that won't quiet down at 2 a.m. The diarrhea you're not sure is "bad enough" to call about. The FMLA paperwork, the school pickup, the light bill, the strange grief that shows up right when everyone expects you to fee...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Palliative care is one of the most misunderstood parts of cancer care. Many people hear the term and think it means hospice, end-of-life care, or giving up. But palliative care, also called supportive care, can be offered alongside active cancer treatment and is focused on improving quality of life. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, we hear from Kaci...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! When many people hear the words "clinical trial," they immediately think of a last resort. But that's one of the biggest misconceptions in breast cancer care. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , host Laura Carfang sits down with Dr. Ada Waks , breast medical oncologist and clinical investigator at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to demyst...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! When you're diagnosed with breast cancer, your first thought is often survival. But what about everything that comes after? For many young adults diagnosed with breast cancer, questions about fertility, family planning, hormone health, identity, and future possibilities quickly become part of the conversation. Yet too many patients never learn about their opt...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Getting a mammogram should not feel complicated. Yet many women face delays, confusion, long wait times, and unanswered questions when navigating breast cancer screening and follow-up care. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura Carfang and William Laferriere sit down with Dr. Ryan Polselli, radiologist, entrepreneur, and founder of Mammolink, a mob...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! What happens when breast cancer survivors and thrivers come together to celebrate 300 episodes of Breast Cancer Conversations? In this special milestone episode, host Laura Carfang welcomes members of the SurvivingBreastCancer.org community for an honest, heartfelt discussion about diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, metastatic breast cancer, advocacy, and finding...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! What happens when you give yourself one year to “get through breast cancer” — only to realize that the timeline is much longer and more complicated than you imagined? In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , I’m joined by Jessica Thomas, who was diagnosed with ER/PR-positive, stage 2B breast cancer with lymph node involvement. After finding a lump herself,...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Hair loss during chemotherapy is often talked about as if it is expected, inevitable, or even superficial. But for many people diagnosed with breast cancer, losing your hair can affect identity, privacy, confidence, and the way others see you. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , Laura talks with Jen Fernandez about her experience being diagnosed with...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , host Laura Carfang speaks with Annick Pyfferoen about her experience being diagnosed with de novo metastatic breast cancer and navigating several lines of treatment including targeted therapy, chemotherapy, a clinical trial attempt involving tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, Enhertu, and Xeloda.  She speaks openly abo...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , Laura Carfang speaks with Kacie Flaherty and Joyce Dini about life with oligometastatic breast cancer. They share how their diagnoses unfolded, what treatment decisions looked like, and how they’ve learned to navigate uncertainty while staying grounded in what matters most. Together, they discuss: The differences be...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations , Laura speaks with Virginia Rodriguez, who was diagnosed with stage 4 de novo metastatic breast cancer  after experiencing progressive weakness, digestive issues, dehydration, and a dramatic decline in her ability to walk and function. Virginia shares what it was like to go from hiking the Camino de Santiago to strug...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Jennifer Tipton was in her mid-forties, running a yoga business in California, teaching indoor cycling classes, and training clients when she was diagnosed with stage 3 estrogen-positive breast cancer at the start of 2021. Her entire year — AC chemotherapy, then Taxol, then a lumpectomy, then a double mastectomy with a DIEP flap reconstruction, then 33 rounds of r...

Love the podcast? Send us a text! Every breast cancer treatment plan is highly personalized, and understanding potential side effects can help patients feel more prepared, informed, and empowered throughout care. In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura speaks with Debbie Ciak, a breast cancer survivor diagnosed with Stage 2B ER/PR-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer with lymph node...