Kicking Cancer's Ass

How do you handle watching cancer touch three generations of your family? Benjamin Kaufman found out when his mom received her stage two breast cancer diagnosis during his junior year of college—3,000 miles away. As the son of host Joelle Kaufman, Benjamin shares the raw experience of being a college student when your parent has cancer. His response reveals three powerful insights for building con...

How do you make doctors see you when they keep saying “don’t worry” and you know something’s wrong? Michelle Audoin asked her surgical team to show her what reconstruction looks like on a Black woman’s body. They had nothing. When she pushed for a CT scan, her “stage zero” diagnosis became stage four. Her invisibility in the medical system nearly cost her...

How do you know if that supplement your sister swears by will help you—or interfere with the chemo that’s supposed to save your life? Dr. Lise Alschuler, board-certified naturopathic oncologist and breast cancer survivor, breaks down what most oncologists won’t tell you: killing cancer cells isn’t enough. Your body creates a tumor microenvironment—and conventional treatment often...

Are you hiding your cancer symptoms because you think that’s what tough guys do? Paul learned the hard way that the biggest mistake men make isn’t physical—it’s emotional isolation. After beating stage four colorectal cancer once, Paul thought he had it figured out. Exercise through chemo, stay positive, power through. Then cancer returned, and he discovered something that change...

Why do men with cancer have lower survival rates than women? Paul Apodoca thought he knew what “fighting like a man” meant until stage four colorectal cancer taught him otherwise. When a routine colonoscopy turned into a death sentence conversation in a single afternoon, Paul discovered the most dangerous myth about masculinity and cancer. Paul went from CEO managing teams to patient l...

What if most cancer isn’t about bad luck, but about inflammation you can control? Dr. Mary Ann Martin, endocrinologist turned “Dr. Hormone Hacker,” reveals how four lifestyle changes can slash your cancer risk by 78% naturally. In this conversation, she shares the shocking truth about why less than 10% of doctors order the one test that catches diabetes earliest, why your morning...

What happens when cancer defines your family for 40 years—and you’re still finding reasons to laugh? Richard Willmore was seven when his father’s cancer diagnosis turned their family from “the neighborhood hub where everyone hung out” into “the sad family getting dinners delivered.” Thirty-eight years later, his dad is still fighting, and Richard has become some...

What if the way we’ve been treating metastatic cancer is completely backwards? Dr. Dawn Lemanne, an oncologist who’s revolutionizing treatment resistance, challenges everything standard oncology accepts as inevitable. After decades of failed large randomized trials, she’s proving that resistance can be reversed using evolutionary biology principles borrowed from agriculture. &#82...

When a marathoner chose the cheapest health insurance because she “never planned to use it,” she had no idea cancer would teach her that the healthcare bureaucracy is the hardest race of all. This runner’s journey from healthy athlete to cancer navigator reveals the shocking financial realities patients face: surprise $416 bills, geographic prescription restrictions, PT session l...

What if your oncologist’s advice to “just take it easy” could actually harm your recovery? This episode challenges everything you think you know about cancer and exercise. Dr. Jay Harness spent 35 years as a breast cancer surgeon before stumbling into research that made his jaw drop. The sports medicine journals were hiding decades of clinical trials proving that cancer patients...

What if cancer didn’t have to stop your plans—what if you could weave travel into your treatment timeline instead? Julie Bach lost both parents to cancer before age 55, then pivoted from her Harvard MBA track to create something revolutionary: a way for cancer patients to experience joy, relaxation, and normalcy through travel. After 20 years battling industry resistance, she’s transfo...

When your doctor says 3D mammograms are “perfect” for dense breasts, they’re wrong. Dangerously wrong. Sheila Mikhail learned this the hard way when her bilateral breast cancer went undetected until she DEMANDED supplemental screening. Now she’s fighting for the Save More Tatas Act and the Find It Early Act because: ✓ 50% of women have dense breast tissue ✓ Up to 50% of tum...

Most people hear “stage 4 cancer” and assume it’s the end. Cindee Nicole chose to make it a beginning. In this raw, real, and unexpectedly uplifting episode, Joelle Kaufman sits down with Cindee—a mother of three, fierce traveler, soccer player, and self-declared badass—to talk about: How she redefined stage 4 cancer as a chronic condition, not a death sentence Raising toddlers while recovering fr...

👩‍⚕️ Featuring Dr. Harriet Borofsky, Medical Director of Breast Imaging, Riverview and Bayshore Medical Centers, Hackensack Meridian Health  🚨 Why You Must Listen: If you have breasts—or love someone who does—this episode could save a life. Joelle sits down with Dr. Harriet Borofsky, a breast imaging pioneer, to cut through the confusion and tell you what your doctor might not about screeni...

Triple-negative breast cancer wasn’t on Ami Tully Lotka’s calendar—but neither was giving up. In this powerful episode, the seasoned entrepreneur and financial services consultant shares how she applied 25+ years of leadership to navigate one of life’s hardest curveballs. Ami opens up about: The moment she almost skipped the mammogram that saved her life. Her radical choice to lead her cancer jour...

In this emotional and mind-expanding episode, Dr. Peter Kuhn—a physicist turned cancer researcher—joins Joelle Kaufman to talk about his mission: eliminating the surprise of cancer. They dive deep into: Why current science fails patients (and how to fix it) What AI + physics can teach us about cancer detection The overlooked signals hiding in our blood What you can do right now to help advance res...

After 40 years of cancer experience across three generations, host Joelle Kaufman reveals why she created the podcast nobody asked for—but everyone needs. From her mother’s recurrence in her childhood to her triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis, Joelle shares the roadmap she wishes existed for everyone to navigate cancer with power and hope. Key Takeaways Why the 99% survival rate for ear...