We start the episode out with some updates from Maddy and Shannon. Shannon gives us an update about her egg retrieval process and how it went. Then we hop into Part 2 of our interview with Christie where she talks about recovering after her last transplant and how she has slowly been able to transition into life out of treatment.

She shares what’s been tough and the symptoms she’s experiencing through the transition and recovery, and what she’s able to do now. Christie also shares how having Leukemia has been such a unique experience and how it can be hard to connect with even other people in the cancer community because of this. Christie is now able to travel and be around friends so shares what exciting things she has coming up and what she’s looking forward to in the coming months! 

You can follow Christie on social media @fueling.your.soul and keep up with us and our guests on Instagram @canceractuallysuckspod, @shancury and @maddypollack_health!

This week we have Christie Finley back on the pod! Last time we talked to Christie was June 2021 and she has lots of updates for us. This will be a two part episode to first catch up on what’s happened in the last couple of years in Christie’s Leukemia journey and to chat through where she’s at now and how she’s feeling in the present moment.

In this week’s episode Christie opens up about relapsing after her first bone marrow transplant  and how she’s dealt with this long cancer journey both emotionally and physically. She talks about being in survival mode and how she’s coping, doing Proton therapy and what her symptoms were, how being super open and transparent about her experience on social media impacts her and so much more. 

Thank you Christie for sharing your story with us! You can follow Christie on Instagram @fueling.your.soul and keep up with us and our guests on Instagram @canceractuallysuckspod. 

You can also follow Shannon directly @shancury and Maddy @maddypollack_health. Don’t forge to rate, review and subscribe :)

We're back with another episode with just Maddy and Shannon this week giving all of their life updates. The biggest news is that Shannon has started the egg retrieval process. She walks us through her experience so far and why she decided to do it now. She shares how her body, emotions and mental health have been affected throughout and what she's been doing to help. We also talk about having all of the tools that we know help us feel better mentally, physically and emotionally, especially after cancer, but sometimes they just don't work and that's okay too.

Shannon also shares how she's resetting when it comes to personal boundaries and being intentional with her time. Maddy shares her own updates as well, how moving in with her boyfriend is going, getting used to new routines and her upcoming coaching program offerings.

Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast as well as check out our amazing sponsors: badgenes.co, docancer.org and btrnation.com (use code CANCERSUCKS20 at checkout for $$ off)!

And keep up with us on Instagram @canceractuallysuckspod, @maddypollack_health and @shancury.

This week we’re talking to Ashley, the CEO, Founder & Chief Snack Officer of BTR Nation, we’re so excited to have her stare her story with all of you!! After both of Ashely’s parents were diagnosed with rare Stage 5 cancers, she began to notice how little healthy, tasty food options there were in hospitals. She found that her and her parents were eating horribly while they were in the hospital getting treatment. Ashley then started to make her own snacks for her and her parents that had clean ingredients, tasted amazing and her parents both loved them even when they didn’t have an appetite.

After both her parents passed is when her mission began - to end mindless snacking and take the junk out of junk food so that anyone, no matter what your journey is, can have access to clean, yummy snacks and foods.

Ashley talks about her experience with being the caretaker of both parents and how she has dealt with such a huge loss. She shares about her background in food science and higher education, and how she started her own venture with BTR Nation. We also discuss how she’s grown BTR Nation to such a huge success and what’s coming up next for them. And so much more!!

And as Ashely’s parents told her - Stay Bold, Tenacious & Resilient. You can follow Ashely and BTR Nation @btr.nation on Instagram and visit the website at https://www.btrnation.com/. Use code CANCERSUCKS20 for 20% off your purchase!

On this week's episode, we have The Onc Docs on as our guests! Dr. Onyi Balogun, radiation oncologist specializing in breast and gynecologic cancers, is a domestic and global cancer disparities researcher and Dr. Folu Balogun is a medical oncologist specializing in pancreatobiliary and colorectal cancers; his research focuses on these cancers with an emphasis on underserved communities.

We're so grateful to be able to have spoken with Dr. Onyi & Dr. Folu and hear their perspective on cancer, survivorship and the patient experience from a doctor's point of view. We talk about how they connect and stay present with their patients, while also separating the emotional toll and attachment cancer can take on them in their lives after work. We discuss what type of research they're currently doing in the cancer space and their view on the cure for cancer. They share how they approach survivorship and scanxiety with their patients, what brought them into this field and why they're so passionate about the work they do and why they started their own podcast, The Onc Docs. 

This conversation is so special, we learned so so much from Dr. Onyi and Dr. Folu, we hope you enjoy! You can follow them on Instagram @theoncdocs and their website is theoncdocs.com.

Don't forget to rate, review & subscribe if you love the pod! Follow us on Insta @canceractuallysuckspod, Shannon @shancury and Maddy @maddypollack_health. 

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 with Jasmine’s diagnosis story, how it took about 5 months to finally get an answer and all of the different screenings she needed to do in order for her doctor to officially diagnose her. She shares how her oncologist decided on the treatment plan, which was to skip chemo and go right into radiation, and she just finished hormone treatment this year after 5 years!

Jasmine goes into how it feels to be done with her hormone therapy and how much her body has been affected. She also shares how she is now in a transitional space in the cancer community, moving on from being apart of certain aspects of the community and what this pivot from her original business to The Missing Pink has looked like so far.

She also shares how her goal is to use her power to change systems to help improve the lives of people of color affected by breast cancer by offering support and advocacy.

You can follow Jasmine on Instagram @jasglowsthruit & @themissingpinkbca. And check out The Missing Pink at themissingpink.org. Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the pod and follow us on Instagram @canceractuallysuckspod 

Also don't forget to check out our sponsors and partners docancer.org, badgenes.go and btrnation.com! 

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:

Shannon talks about how proud she is for moving to a new city, starting co-hosting the podcast and showing up for herself in ways that were challenging. Maddy talks about how proud she is for doing a lot of work around romantic relationships in therapy and was able to dive into a lot of relationship trauma that she hasn’t dealt with before.

They both discuss intentions and goals for 2023 and all the things they’re looking forward to in the new year. Shannon talks about how she wants to spend more time building and creating community in 2023, and Maddy discusses that she wants to tap into her spirituality more as well as further grow her health coaching business.

Maddy mentioned the amazing nonprofit docancer.org that offers free holistic health services to cancer patients & survivors.

Follow us on insta and keep up with us and our gusts @canceractuallysuckspod! Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the pod.

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 experienced cancer. They offer experiences, events, and retreats for the young cancer community.

We talk through Sarah’s experience getting diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and when she first felt the lump in her breast. We also discuss the importance of creating community within the cancer space so that nobody feels alone in their thoughts. Sarah opens up about how her mental health was affected by chemo, why that moved her to start writing and how her writings helped her to communicate with her friends and family who haven’t experienced cancer. Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahlou.writes and @the.bloomclub!

Don’t forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @canceractuallysuckspod.

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 chemo and how she’s been doing since treatment. Elise also talks about the importance of prioritizing certain tools in her daily life since treatment has ended in order to help with reducing anxiety and fears.

Elise also explains how she feels even healthier of a person after cancer, fears around the next phases of her life and how her partner has helped her through cancer and the recovery afterwards.

We’re so happy to have Elise share her story with us and all of you! You can follow Elise on Instagram @elisenon and the pod @canceractuallysuckspod. Don’t forget to rate, review, subscribe and share the podcast if you love it :)

And we have our FIRST SPONSOR! Go to badgenes.co and use code CANCERSUCKS for 20% off your order.

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:

Come laugh with us and let us know what your sign is we’ll read about it on the next episode 😂