Black Cancer

Welcome to Black Cancer. I’m creator and host, Jodi-Ann Burey. Today’s guest is Michelle Audoin. Her journey with her body and her breasts started when she was just 14 years old. How do those moments of fright and trauma come back to us years later? What do we learn about not only accepting our bodies, but defending our bodies against racism articulated as disbelief and erasure? Well, it’s a journey. And you can learn more about Michelle’s journey and how she created the Breast Recognition Project - a beautiful catalogue of the mastectomy scars of women of color… in just a few moments. But before we get started, I have to remind you to check the show notes for links to these amazing photos and the stories of the women.

Here’s an overview of our conversation:

More from this episode:

Follow Black Cancer at blackcancer.co and on Instagram at @_black_cancer.  Learn more about creator and host Jodi-Ann Burey at jodiannburey.com.

Transcripts will be available on the website a week after the episode airs.

Our guest on today’s episode is Dr. Kavita Jackson - breast cancer warrior M.D. We talk about her experience from launching her career as an emergency room physician to facing Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma - breast cancer. A mother of two small children, the daughter of immigrants from India. She draws on the strength of those who support her to navigate treatment and her relationship with her body. We work through understanding that our mind and our bodies - they’re fighting the same war. To heal ourselves.

After the credits, stay on for a few more moments to listen to Dr. Jackson and I discuss cancer swag, the concept of corporate pink washing, and negotiating potential silver linings - if we can call them that - to our respective cancer journeys.

Just a heads up. This conversation was recorded before the death of Dr. Susan Moore. The physician who, before she succumbed to COVID-19, posted videos online about the racism she experienced by the hospital team where she was being treated. I say this because we touch on a few topics in this conversation that we would have likely brought that up. We’re not NOT talking about it. When these conversations are recorded and when they’re posted may be achronological with current events.

You can follow Dr. Kavita Jackson on Instagram at @drkavitajackson.

Here’s an overview of our conversation:

Follow Black Cancer at blackcancer.co and on Instagram at @_black_cancer.  Learn more about creator and host Jodi-Ann Burey at jodiannburey.com.

Transcripts will be available on the website a week after the episode airs. 

Welcome to the 2nd Season of Black Cancer! I’m creator and host, Jodi-Ann Burey. Before we get started, I just want to thank you so much for being here. Seriously. This podcast is about you. It’s about giving yourself the space to maybe see yourself and your own experiences in new ways. It’s about finding new language to support the people you love. It’s about creating new spaces of vulnerability for us as Black and brown people to be ourselves. Imagine. So thank you for taking the time to be you.

Our guest on today’s show is Janice Omadeke, the Founder and CEO of The Mentor Method, who found herself accelerating her business and managing the grief of her mother’s passing to pancreatic cancer at the same time. In this episode, we talk about our duty as the children of immigrants to actualize more than what our parents dreamed of for our lives, how we at times must split ourselves to be strong, and arduous, but necessary processes of grief. Grief how it looks, feels, and sounds like to us. 

Learn more:

Transcripts will be available soon at blackcancer.co.

Learn more about Jodi-Ann at https://jodiannburey.com.

In this episode of Black Cancer, Jared shares a story layered with multiple narratives one on top of the other. An unprecedented public health crisis, an unexpected cancer diagnosis and Jared’s father’s unwelcoming reaction to his engagement announcement to his long time partner. There are a lot of questions that just don’t have answers in how to make sense of it all. That’s because this is Jared’s life. In real time. 

Oftentimes, survivors and “the survived” talk about cancer in the present tense because its impacts are always with us. But Jared’s story is happening now. His father’s battle with brain cancer is happening now. These unanswered questions, at the time of this recording, remain unanswered now. So why share it? Because we know there are a lot of people out there whose cancer journeys are just beginning and unfolding now. We want you to know that you are not alone. 

Post Show: Message from Jodi-Ann about the end of Season 1 of Black Cancer 

This episode was created during the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic and the movement for Black lives.

In this episode of Black Cancer, Frantz Berthaud, whose professional life as an Administrative Director at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and personal life collide.

This episode is titled “The Malignancy of Both” because Frantz and I discuss the malignancy of racism and what our world could look like if we attacked it with the level of rigor we do cancer. We also talk about his journey with his sister’s triple negative breast cancer, its malignancy, and the tools his sister sent for him to change the course of cancer for other women of color like her. Just like all the other episodes this season, we recorded this interview during the COVID-19 pandemic. This becomes our entry point into talking about racism in the workplace and in our healthcare system.

Here are Frantz’s listener recommendations:

Something to read:

Something to listen to:

Someone to know: 

Bonus Links

In this episode, photographer Erin Douglas shares a perspective we don’t often get to hear from when it comes to cancer narratives: the caregiver. Specifically, the family member who re-prioritizes their lives so that they can put the needs of their loved one first. That’s what Erin did for her mother, who is recovering from a recent, second instance of cancer. Between living at the hospital and staying by her side at home, Erin hadn’t slept in her own bed for six months.

There is one thing Erin did keep going during her stay at the hospital: The Black Burner Project. Check out Erin’s Burning Man photography on Instagram and do yourself a favor -  look up her feature about her work in Essence Magazine.

Black Burner Project:

Here are Erin’s listener recommendations:

Post Show Goodies: No post show this week!

The full transcript will be posted SOON on blackcancer.co.

In this episode, Sharon Eldridge tells Jodi-Ann about the history of cancer in her family and its impact on how she sees her own health and mortality. Sharon’s grandmother died from stomach cancer when she was just in her 50s. Sharon’s mother, although she beat breast cancer a decade prior, also lost her life to colon cancer in her 50s. How do we pursue living full lives when we expect cancer to find us along our paths? It just might free you more than you think.

This conversation explores the ways the process of understanding who we were when trauma entered our lives and how we can look back on ourselves with grace. Sharon also shares how having the bottom fall out from under you becomes the fuel for living a fearless life -- for yourself and others.

Here are Sharon's listener recommendations:

Post Show Goodies:

Jodi-Ann and Sharon talk about Sharon’s mother’s name and it’s connection to #sayhername advocacy for Breonna Taylor and other women of color who’ve been murdered by the police.

This episode was created during the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic and the movement for Black lives.

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The full transcript ---> on the website!

In this episode, Juliette Austin tells Jodi-Ann about what happened to her when she disclosed her thyroid cancer diagnosis at work nearly a decade ago and just how toxic a reentry process to work can be. This traumatic experience impacted how she, many years later, chose to disclose her cancer survivor experience to Jodi-Ann, despite Jodi-Ann’s own openness in publicly sharing her story. The two exchange tender moments, sharing for the first time what a difference it made in the growth of their friendship to fully see each other. This conversation explores different ways each has learned how to cope, how to decide what to share, and what people often get wrong in trying to help us through our recovery process. Even without chemotherapy and radiation, it can be painful and life-long, with its own path towards acceptance. Who shows up for you, and how you show up for yourself, makes a big difference on how you choose to survive. 

Post Show Goodies: Juliette encourages Jodi-Ann to trust that she’ll be okay. 

Here are Juliette’s listener recommendations: 

The full transcript at blackcancer.co

This episode was created during the 2020 global COVID-19 pandemic and the movement for Black lives.