Unbreakable Spirits Podcast

When someone you love gets a cancer diagnosis, what do you say? Manal Shurafa’s answer to Maryanne Haggerty is just four words: listen and don’t criticize. Not “if I were you.” Not “you should have.” Just listen, let them empty their heart, and make sure they know you’re there. Everyone faces it differently — and every way is valid. Want help building YOUR resilience? Call me at 215.280.3006 or go...

Some people think talking about your cancer is complaining. Manal Shurafa disagrees completely. You have to ask “why me?” she tells Maryanne Haggerty — because that question is how you find your reasons, and your reasons are how you finally make peace with it. Everyone’s answer is different. And everyone’s answer is right. Want help building YOUR resilience? Call me at 215.280.3006 or go to the li...

The mother at the parent-teacher meeting. The patient in a room full of patients. The wife. The woman in the mirror who lost her hair and her figure. Manal Shurafa tells Maryanne Haggerty how she split herself into distinct characters to survive two cancers — and how knowing which one to be, and when, may be exactly what carried her through. Want help building YOUR resilience? Call me at 215.280.3...

Her sons were eight and five. Manal Shurafa knew that hiding her cancer would cost her their trust — but telling them would break their hearts. She chose the truth. And then came the nights she’d wake to find them standing in her doorway, checking to see if she was still breathing. A raw, unforgettable moment with Maryanne Haggerty. Want help building YOUR resilience? Call me at 215.280.3006 or go...

Searching for a title for her cancer memoir, Manal Shurafa looked at the lilies in her home and saw herself. Beautiful, delicate, giving their beauty away freely — and yet so strong that even when they dry and the petals turn transparent, they endure. She tells Maryanne Haggerty why When Hard Lilies Cry is really a book about women, survival, and quiet strength. Want help building YOUR resilience?...

Author and two-time cancer survivor Manal Shurafa opens up to Maryanne Haggerty with a truth that reframes everything: nobody chooses to be unbreakable. Life makes you that way. And real strength, she says, doesn’t come from being hard — it comes from being soft. Soft enough to hug your children, strong enough to survive their rejection. Want help building YOUR resilience? Call me at 215.280.3006...

In this episode, Maryanne Haggerty sits down with her lifelong friend of over 20 years, Manal Suleiman Shurafa — a pharmacist, a Palestinian American, a mother of two, and the author of When Hard Lilies Cry , a memoir chronicling her 26-year journey battling two cancers and preventing two more. Manal opens with a truth that reframes the entire premise of this show: nobody chooses to be unbreakable...

Stop chasing the perfect workout. In this clip, exercise physiologist and aquatic therapy specialist Connie Jasinskas tells Maryanne Haggerty the one rule that outlasts every fitness trend: the best exercise in the world is the one you will actually do. If you dread it, you'll skip it. If it hurts, you'll quit. Find what moves you — literally. Listen to Unbreakable Spirits on Spotify: Subscribe on...

In this episode, Maryanne sits down with Connie Jasinskas from Canada — an exercise physiologist, aquatic therapy specialist, breast cancer survivor, and the woman behind the phrase that has stuck with Maryanne for 25 years: motion is lotion. The two met through the Aquatic Therapy and Rehab Institute in the early 2000s, and this conversation is a reunion of two kindred spirits who have spent thei...

In this episode, Maryanne sits down with her cousin Patricia Korey — a former child advocate attorney and classical pianist who has been living with metastatic breast cancer for over eight years. Patricia's story starts long before her 2017 diagnosis: a career-ending arm injury at 21, a pivot to law school, and then caregiving for her husband through his own terminal lung cancer battle before faci...

"Don't treat me like a statistic - I'll create my own statistic." 💪 Nick's journey with pancreatic cancer mirrors what we're watching at the 2026 Winter Paralympics: athletes refusing to be defined by limitations, creating their own path forward. There's no one-size-fits-all approach to overcoming challenges. Whether you're fighting cancer, managing chronic pain, or rebuilding strength after inju...

This week, I interviewed my longtime client and friend, Bill Rose. Bill was diagnosed with infantile paralysis (polio) at age 5, wearing a leg brace and facing bullying at school. A pivotal moment came when his nurse, Nurse McNamara, showed him a room full of children in iron lungs—making him realize he had to make the best of what he had. Through strict daily exercise routines and the support of...

In the first episode of Unbreakable Spirits, host Maryanne Haggerty sits down with longtime friend and collaborator Nick Pifani to explore what real resilience looks like over decades, not moments. Nick is a pancreatic cancer survivor, endurance athlete, and patient advocate who refused to let statistics or outside definitions determine his outcome. Diagnosed at stage three with a low survival pro...