Cancer Actually F**king Sucks

This week we start out the episode with a big career update from Shannon and how she’s beginning to process this life shift. Then we go into our incredible interview with Jasmine Dionne Souers, breast cancer survivor and President and CEO of The Missing Pink Breast Cancer Alliance, which connects change agents to improve the lives of people of color affected by breast cancer. We start wi...

It’s our first episode of 2023!! Maddy & Shannon are going through the following prompts together to reflect back on 2022 and set intentions for 2023: What are 3 things you're most proud of accomplishing this year? What have you learned about yourself this year? What is 1 word to describe 2022? What do you wish you did more of? What are some health goals you have for 2023? By Spring 2023 how d...

Our guest on this week’s episode is Sara Lou. Sara is a breast cancer rebel and began writing during the dark days of chemotherapy, posting her work to Instagram. She developed a following and has since been featured in Psychology Today, Cancer Wellness Magazine & Wildfire Magazine. Sara also co-founded The Bloom Club which is a safe space for young women who have expe...

In this week’s episode Maddy and Shannon are talking to Elise Nonnenman, a Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor who has been done with treatment for exactly a year today! We get right into the episode where Elise talks about how the podcast helped her during treatment, her diagnosis story and what symptoms brought her to the doctor. We talk about medical and general anxiety, Elise’s issues with IVs during c...

Maddy & Shannon are back!! We’ll be releasing new episodes every other Thursday now so keep an eye out :) On this episode they give all of their life updates from the past few months: Shannon’s move & how she’s settling into her new city How embracing the discomfort of being out of your comfort zone is so important for growth Seasons changing and how that affects our energy New courses the...

On this week’s episode, we’re talking to Olivia Clarke, founder of @humorbeatscancer and Stage 4 Breast Cancer fighter. Get ready to laugh in this episode with Olivia as she walks us through her initial diagnosis and where she’s at now in her cancer journey. Why and how she started Humor Beats Cancer, a nonprofit that promotes using humor and writing as coping tools for dealing with cancer. We als...

We’re back and are having a little catch up on the pod this week. We talk about Shannon’s move to San Diego, how she’s settling in and finding community in a new place. Maddy talks about her plans for traveling this Summer, taking a break from social media and her current coaching programs. We both talk through our views on Roe v Wade being overturned, how setting boundaries with social media is s...

In this week's episode we're speaking with Koy Connors! Koy was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer in May 2021 when he felt a lump on one of his testicles and went to the doctor to get it checked out right away. He walks us through with his cancer diagnosis process, his treatment plan, getting into remission and then having the cancer come back. Throughout his whole experience, he made sure to be hi...

This week’s guest is Christina Bowers! Christina was diagnosed with Leukemia at 11 years old, and is now 33 and cancer free! Christina talks us through her symptoms when she first felt something wasn’t right in her body, how her parents and older sister supported her as a young kid going through cancer, having to switch schools while going through treatment and how it was really difficult to open...

Get ready for some giggles this week on the pod! Maddy and Shannon have a solo episode and are talking all things chemo! First, Shannon shares her experience with R-EPOCH, how she had to do all of her treatments in the hospital, her regimen before going and what she packed for the hospital, the side effects she experienced and how being in the hospital during Covid was for her. Maddy’s up next sha...

On this week’s episode Maddy and Shannon are talking to Matt Fumo, a spinal cord injury survivor and son of a Stage 4 Squamous Cell Carcinoma Survivor. To start the episode, Shannon and Maddy give a quick update and both have some exciting news to share! As they dive into the conversation with Matt, he discusses more details about how injury and how it happened, how medical professionals told him...

This week’s episode we’re talking to Rian Harvey, who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) at age 14 in 2013. He first found out something was wrong when he felt that he was becoming less active and social in his teenage years and was having horrible pain in his leg. Rian explains how he finally found out what was going on in his body and his journey to diagnosis, dealing with an intens...

On this week’s episode, Shannon and Maddy are speaking with Trauma Informed Psychotherapist, Jacklynne Marder. We start out the episode catching up, talking through why we wanted to speak with Jacklynne in the first place, and some of our experience dealing with trauma and PTSD after cancer treatment. Throughout the episode, Jacklynne explains how trauma affects our physical body and nervous syste...

We’re back with Season 2 and so excited to welcome our new co-host Shannon Cury!! Shannon is a 30 year old Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor and has been out of treatment and cancer free for officially 1 year today! We talk about anxiety after treatment, how just because treatment is over your cancer journey isn’t, scanxiety, PTSD, grief over your previous self and so much more! Shannon also gives an...

In this week’s episode Maddy is speaking with Katie Day, who on November 19th 2021 is officially 1 year in remission from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma! Katie discusses the first symptoms she experienced while in her senior of college and what led her to go get checked and ultimately receive the official diagnosis. She talks about doing REPOC chemo treatment and how she had to be hooked up to chemo 24/7 f...

On today’s episode I’m chatting with Jessa de la Morena, cervical cancer survivor, Global Director of the Transformational Leadership program at Amadeus, and founder of U Are The Hero. Jessa and I talk about some similarities between quarantine in Covid and being in treatment, how she was first diagnosed with a rare form of cervical cancer, parenting two children while going through treatment...

On this week’s episode Jen Delvaux joins me to talk about her experience as both a caregiver to her husband, who has been fighting brain cancer since 2009, and a cancer fighter herself. Jen was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma breast cancer in February 2021. We discuss how her and her husband’s mindsets around their diagnoses are super different, but how they help each other along the way,...

This week’s guest is Howie Saavedra, caregiver and husband to Christina Marie Saavedra Paisley who passed away on June 16, 2021 after battling ALL for 16 months. I’m beyond honored that Howie was willing to share his and Christina’s story and be super vulnerable during our whole chat. Howie opens up about how him and Christina met, how Christina found out she had Leukemia, their difficulties with...

This week’s guest is Cody O’Connor, Ewing Sarcoma survivor and founder of Champions do Overcome, an organization that raises money to help with the families affected by childhood cancer. As a young kid diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, Cody witnessed firsthand how cancer not only affected him personally, but all of his younger siblings and his parents throughout his experience.  Co...

This week we’re speaking with Kiki Wooten, breast cancer fighter and advocate with Know Your Lemons. Kiki is the sweetest, most genuine human and I’m so happy she was able to share her story with us! She was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Stage 2A on October 1st, 2019, ironically the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Kiki talks us through how she first felt her tumor, finding o...

This week’s guest is Justin Seddon, an Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia and kidney cancer survivor, and marine, who’s mission has been to influence and motivate other people with cancer by showing them that anything is possible post cancer. “My whole purpose of joining the military was to highlight that. As much as I appreciated all the volunteers helping me, they were unable to directly relate to any...

This week’s guest is Amanda Kelly, 31 year old breast cancer survivor. Amanda was diagnosed with breast cancer at 29 after finding a lump in the shower. She walks us through the process of deciding on whether to do a mastectomy or chemo first, how she dealt with the waiting in between having surgery and the start of chemo, and the difficulty of making all of these different decisions that come wit...

I am SO EXCITED about this week’s guest, Emily Schmookler, Yoga, Meditation and Pranayama Guide and Ayurveda Health Counselor. Emily was diagnosed with Grade 1A Endometrial cancer in June 2020. She shares how thus far she’s taken a conservative, integrated approach to her cancer as opposed to the traditional treatment of a hysterectomy and is still in the decision making process. Emily opens up ab...

I’m so thankful to have Lauren Gilley on the episode today to share her experience and story as a first time mom to Ruby who recently completed treatment and is in remission from stage 4 Hebatoblastoma! Lauren talks about how they first discovered Ruby’s diagnosis, how even during chemo Ruby was hitting milestones like walking, gaining weight, and starting to talk and how absolutely resilient Ruby...

On this week’s episode Maddy is talking to Matt Ode, Stage 3C Testicular Cancer Survivor and now keynote motivational speaker and cancer advocate. At 24 years old, Matt was a personal trainer and super healthy, but one day he started throwing up blood and discovered after a long line of tests that he had testicular cancer that had spread throughout his body. Matt opens up about how his body reacte...