MORTAL AND STRONG - The Podcast

Another interview from a fiercely determined health advocate Roxy - also known as Multiple Sclerosis Fashionista. Roxy is the latest Voice in the 100 women sharing their story for the Scars of Gold campaign and talks about how her MS symptoms first began when she was 18 years old. Originally mis-diagnosed as Lupus and multiple other autoimmune conditions, Roxy spent 8 years feeling like something...

Our latest voice - and number 75 out of 100 - is the beautiful and bright smiling soul that is Pretti. Pretti shares with us her experience of invasive ductal breast cancer. We interviewed Pretti just as she was finishing active treatment - a very poignant moment where many people think/presume because active treatment has finished that the individual is 'finished' with cancer and ready to 'move o...

Introducing the latest wonderful Voice to share with us her experience of a chronic illness - Fiona G. Fiona was born with a rare (1 in 1 million) genetic disorder which causes an excess of tumours in the bones and tendons and has meant Fiona has had leg lengthening surgeries and debunking surgeries in her hands since the age of 4. Diagnosed at just 9 months old Fiona has only ever known a life wi...

Another honest and heart warming interview with another lovely human - Daniela. Daniela shares how whilst waiting for a risk reducing mastectomy (having tested positive for the BRCA gene mutation) she found a lump not long after having her third child. Daniela was diagnosed with breast cancer in both breasts and needed a double mastectomy and reconstruction, chemotherapy and removal of her ovaries...

Our latest Voice from the Scars of Gold campaign is Charlotte D sharing her experience of living her entire life with a life limiting heart condition. Charlotte is incredibly raw and honest about what it is like to have lived her entire life with a chronic health condition along with having experienced a cardiac arrest; having needed resuscitation and being in the small percentage of people to sur...

Introducing our latest Voice in the Scars of Gold campaign - the lovely and honest soul that is Cat B. Cat shares her experience of having two different primary breast cancers and how after two years on from thinking she had recovered from primary breast cancer in one breast she then had to go through the whole process again with a different type of breast cancer in the other breast. Cat shares ho...

In this episode we interview another beautiful human - Charlotte W. Charlotte is the latest Voice in our Scars of Gold campaign and talks to Dr Liz about how her diagnosis of cancer officially began at the age of 29 whilst 20 weeks pregnant. Charlotte had had pelvic pain since she was 15 and repeatedly dismissed as having IBS and even belittled for wasting GP time over her symptoms. When pregnant...

Introducing another wonderful voice and the bubbly and optimistic soul that is Tor. Tor shares how being a mum of two with her own business in her early 30's was brought to a halt with her primary breast cancer diagnosis. Each interview in this series offers a unique perspective and this interview shares how it was Tor's husband who first found the lump. We discuss the importance of having an open...

Another interview with Voice No. 67 out of 100 for the Scars of Gold campaign and in this episode we have Mev sharing her story of Endometrial cancer at the age of 31. Mev's experience is a poignant reminder of why knowing the red flags of even rarer cancers is important. When Mev began having new and unexpected heavy and painful bleeding, a routine procedure to remove polyps actually identified e...

Introducing our latest Voice in the Scars of Gold campaign; the beautiful and loving human that is Emma P sharing her experience of Glioblastoma (brain cancer), MS and borderline ovarian tumour. Emma shares with Dr Liz her incredible experience of having multiple major health conditions one after another. After first being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), when this went into remission Emma...

Another interview with another wonderful Voice - Jo who is the force behind the charity Preloved Reloved. Jo shares with our founder Dr Liz her experience of primary breast cancer. This is a really powerful interview talking about her decision to have a double mastectomy and decline reconstruction opting to stay flat. Jo shares how having gone from having larger breasts most her life it was actual...

Another lovely human being interviewed for the Scars of Gold campaign and in this interview we have the beautiful Laura CS. NB This interview was recorded 'on the road' and so the audio quality may reflect this however the content is as powerful as always! Today Dr Liz is interviewing Laura who truly knows what it is to have your life turned upside down by chronic health. Laura shares her 12 year...

Introducing our latest Voice to share her Scars of Gold… the beautiful and loving human that is Leanne.  Leanne shares her scars from spending the last five years living with incurable bowel cancer. 5 years ago Leanne found a lump in her neck which led to her bowel cancer diagnosis. Through the last 5 years Leanne has had over 72 rounds of chemotherapy; and opted to have a stoma rather than h...

Introducing the next Voice in the campaign; the beautiful and gentle human that is Emma H. Emma joined us in Leeds to share her story of primary breast cancer. After incidentally knocking her chest Emma noticed one breast was bigger than the other with a subtle lump. Emma tried a watch and wait approach for 6 months and shares how with hindsight she wishes she had been seen sooner. Through treatme...

Introducing our latest Voice - the lovely Josie who shares a very touching, honest and deep insight into a living a life rife with hospital appointments and the exhaustion of having multiple chronic illnesses, many of which are rare. Josie shares a unique insight into how isolating a life with rarer conditions can be; less support from the charity sector, less community support available and even...

Another wonderfully bubbly Voice from the campaign - Mags sharing her fiercely optimistic approach to life and her experience of Type 1 diabetes and Primary Breast Cancer. Mags first shares how being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at a time where syringes were glass and had to be re-used, and her journey through the change in technology and the enormous benefit this has had, along with the risks o...

Another wonderful episode with a beautifully light hearted and life-affirming soul that is Nikki. Nikki shares how her life as a mum, teacher and wife was turned upside down by her breast cancer diagnosis. Nikki is such a vibrant soul who is honest about the side effects of chemotherapy, how she took a holiday to Disneyland Florida in between chemo and radiotherapy, and how she approached limiting...

Introducing our latest Voice - the lovely Tash. In this episode (one of our first recorded) Tash shares her experiences of Endometriosis. Tash has had so much of her life dominated by this gynaecological disease in which uterine tissue grows outside of the uterus into the abdomen causing organ damage, chronic pain and a very debilitating disease. Tash shares her journey and how she felt she experi...

In this episode we share our latest Voice to the Scars of Gold campaign; Georgi. Georgi shares two insights within one episode as her story begins with how she was a carer to her husband who died of a rare cancer (chemotherapy resistant, gastrointestinal stroma tumours). Following the traumatic experience of caring for him, Georgi was then diagnosed with Focal Nodular Hyperplasia, benign tumours w...

Our latest Voice sharing her story and the wonderfully witty and beautiful soul Trish. Trish has multiple myeloma (extra medullary) which is a rare form of (incurable) blood cancer. After feeling unwell and then developing a non blanching rash Trish found herself under haematology being diagnosed with the rare form of blood cancer and needing a stem cell transplant. Trish shares with us how she na...

Introducing our next wonderful Voice, the lovely Emily sharing her journey with secondary breast cancer. Two years after being given the all clear following a lumpectomy for primary breast cancer, a trip to A&E led to an unexpected secondary (metastatic breast cancer) diagnosis. Emily is now 5 years on living with secondary breast cancer and has a very pragmatic approach to the journey. Emily...

Introducing our latest thought-provoking Voice providing a spotlight on more important topics of conversation; the wonderful and bubbly Maria. Maria first had primary breast cancer which responded well to treatment. A few years later Maria was found to have lung cancer which had already spread beyond the pleura of the lungs during the surgery and so was Stage 4 (NSCLC). Maria talks so much about s...

*This episode was recorded on location at the start of the campaign before we had professional audio equipment* Introducing another wonderful Voice to the campaign, and Sophie is sharing her journey with secondary breast cancer. 6 years ago Sophie was a mum, working and after feeling tired for a year then went on to find a craggy lump. Initially diagnosed as primary cancer and told a double mastec...

Voice No. 51 is also our Scars of Gold photographer and campaign co-director - the wonderfully bubbly and positive Sammy Weston. Sammy's journey with chronic illness began when she was 11 years old and is a story that until recently Sammy has struggled to talk about publicly because of the social stigma of disease. Sammy was still only a child when she developed meningitis which then led to signif...

Introducing Voice No. 50 as we hit the halfway point through Season 1 of the Scars of Gold health campaign. At the half way point we share the founder of Mortal And Strong - Dr Liz Murray - and her story. Liz's chronic health issues began at the age of 18 when, just as Liz began University to study Medicine, on the road to becoming a doctor, Liz lost the ability to walk and found herself in a whee...