Life on Pause

A bone marrow transplant can be life-saving and changing for some oncological and non-oncological conditions.  Terry Shapiro, CRNP, with 30 plus years of experience, talks with four young adults about their experience with the ‘boot camp’ of bone marrow transplant. From a review of what the procedure is to its impact on daily life, this episode covers it all.

What to post? What to share? Social media can be tricky enough without a cancer diagnosis.  Listen in as Sarah Daniels, AYA Child Life specialist and social media researcher from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, facilitates a lively discussion with a group of young adults about the choices they made regarding social media and their cancer experience.

How do you continue to connect to friends, keep your mind engaged and yet distracted from dark thoughts and pass the time in the infusion room?  Through video gaming, of course.  Three teens share their cancer experience and how their video-gaming provided needed support through treatment.

Cancer treatment impacts greatly impacts the physical treatment.  This podcast begins with young adults sharing their experiences of physical deconditioning, regaining strength and exercises role in helping cope with cancer. (13:30) Natalie Burse, cancer exercise researcher and breast cancer survivor. (18:40) Dr. Pooja Rao and Jared Heitzenrater discuss the AYA UNITE exercise and oncology study. (...

Joined by Julie Larson, clinical social worker with a focus on cancer patients, the Life on Pause crew discusses cancer’s impact on body image. From the moon face from steroids, hair and limb loss to changes in body capabilities, the young adults review how they navigated their relationship to body image in the midst of the physical changes that cancer treatment brings. To learn more about Julie,...

Furry friends offer a lot in the way of medicine and therapy during cancer treatment. In this episode, young adults talk with Karen Casto of Canine Assistants about the role of animals as supports during cancer. From pure entertainment to incentive to exercise to quiet, non-judgmental companionship, the young adults speak of their own pets and the Penn State Health therapy dog trained at Canine As...

Listen in to Emily’s story as she walks us through her cancer diagnosis which isn’t a straightforward  one and done diagnosis.  She also describes her experience with anti-mnda receptor encephalitis, life in a rehab hospital as a young adult and shares what it’s like to re-enter life afterwards.

This episode, the young adults talk about some of the ‘unmentionable’ parts of the cancer experience. Join them as they discuss using a humor (including a dark sense of humor), pulling the cancer card, ‘cancer perks’, body functions, fears, ugly thoughts, survivor’s guilt and more.

In this episode, Life on Pause talks with Marcus about his experience with cancer and college. How do you attend college with a compromised immune system? What is studying like with the effects of chemo? Should I use accommodations from the college for support? Marcus weighs in on these questions and more.

This week the group discusses what parts of their lives were put on pause when they received their cancer diagnoses. From friendships, to college and careers, to the stepping stones of life, the group reflects on how they faced these rising obstacles and found a positive spin to life on pause. The group breaks down how they navigated having cancer as a part of their identities and how they dealt w...

Life On Pause is a podcast for and by young adults living with cancer. Each month, young adult cancer patients from Penn State Health share honestly about their cancer diagnosis, treatment and life afterwards. As cancer causes the group to reflect on issues both large and small, surprisingly relatable stories and themes emerge.  From relationships to body functions, nothing is off the table.