Cancer U Thrivers

TBD

Jen Rozenbaum is a portrait photographer, author, podcaster, and breast cancer survivor. Through her work, she is helping women celebrate their unique femininity and helping breast cancer patients and survivors put their lives back together after cancer.

• 03:03: I didn't know what it was, but it wasn't a lump.  
• 05:36: I could feel it and I'm very grateful for that because if it was lower, I wouldn't have known. 
• 08:41: When they removed my breast, they found my right breast was littered with cancer.  
• 10:45: I handled most of it on my own.  
• 12:12: I feel nauseous when I talk about it. 
• 14:15: The period between when they turn it on and you're numb is very difficult.  
• 16:40: You have to also continue wearing the cold cap two hours after chemo.  
• 18:20: In March of 2018 I had my first reconstruction surgery and it looked horrible.  
• 20:04: My boobs were so low they were touching my belly button practically. 
• 22:10: How were you able to get those surgeries in 2020 during Covid?  
• 25:05: They just wanted me to be a mommy so that they don't have to be scared.  
• 27:47: What's the solution to this problem versus sitting in the problem? 
• 29:24: I have a YouTube channel where I talk about my real-life experiences with breast cancer every day.  
• 31:27: I think that gratitude helps us get to a different place of happiness. 
• 32:35: What was your best moment?  
• 35:17: I think it's important as part of my mission to normalize what a breast cancer body looks like because we don't know what to expect.  
• 35:46: What is the one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning?  
• 36:51: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why? 
• 38:18: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions  
• 41:07: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Jen's website
• Jen's book What the F*ck Just Happened?
• Life After Breast Cancer Facebook group
• Jen on Instagram

Ira Hughes and his family went through two and half years of fighting pediatric cancer with their daughter Audrey before she passed away in 2017.

• 01:17: Can you take us back to the very beginning and what happened with your daughter?  
• 03:33: She progressed while we got some physical therapy, everything was looking like a normal kid.  
• 05:16: They went to do some research and found four documented cases that had ever originated in the spinal quarter before.  
• 07:16: She was getting chemo.  
• 09:20: The hospital we had gone to had partnered with MD Anderson in Houston. 
• 11:03: It's a very aggressive growing cancer.  
• 15:05: She always made people laugh, made us laugh.  
• 17:56: Phase one trial is a significant trial and it's mainly for safety at that point to see if the patient can tolerate the regimen.  
• 20:48: I can't imagine trying to fight cancer right now and having our families more separated than they were during that time. 
• 23:29: Do you mind if we talk about the after? 
• 26:01: We're going to be a strong family of four or a strong family of three when we get out of this.  
• 28:42: I try to read a book a week or listen to a book a week. 
• 30:13: I think my wife and I had done a good job of letting each other have the time that we need to have to heal. 
• 32:30: I felt like I was giving away my child. 
• 34:07: When did Audrey die? 
• 37:10: I felt like I was in a place where I generally would be happy, but I wasn't giving myself permission to be happy yet. 
• 39:08: I almost threw myself off the roof.  
• 41:17: Our battle through cancer was on social media. 
• 46:03: What is one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of Audrey's cancer journey?  
• 47:09: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why?  
• 48:37: Thriver Rapid Fire 
• 50:40: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you recommend for cancer patients and caregivers? 

Resources

• Ira on Facebook
• Ira on LinkedIn
• Email Ira
• Audrey's website
• Truth 365
• Children's Cancer Network (Arizona)
• Thinking Fast and Slow
• Man's Search for Meaning

RobinMcGee’s award-winning book The Cancer Olympics describes her fight for medical justice and fair chemotherapy policy after serious medical negligence. For her patient advocacy work, she has been decorated by the Governor-General of Canada.

• 01:27: When I was 46 in 2008, I noticed rectal bleeding.  
• 03:28: Her referral was essentially one sentence which was rectal bleeding please assess.  
• 05:15: In retrospect, we know now that it was stage four. 
• 07:18: There was no kind of restorative justice approach where we could all talk and learn.  
• 09:16: The next step for my kind of cancer was radiation and chemotherapy.   
• 11:38: The oncologist said you need this chemotherapy right away.  
• 13:37: There's a national group that evaluates the evidence and makes a recommendation and expert recommendation.  
• 15:08: Did you go into remission? 
• 17:02: I lived that way, and I would remain in remission for about 56 years.  
• 19:24: I ultimately got five requisitions for a colonoscopy from her office.  
• 22:20: It's amazing how interesting this becomes when it's threatening your life.  
• 26:08: In Canada, there isn't private malpractice insurance. 
• 28:06: The survival outcomes of stage two are massively better than stage four. 
• 30:37: It was soul-crushing to live that way. 
• 32:23: March 2020 the world shuts down as we all know and unfortunately for me, so too was cancer care.  
• 34:02: They all lost their marriages.  
• 37:04: In Canada, it is extremely uncommon for patients to prevail in a malpractice action.  
• 38:52: What is one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of your cancer journey? 
• 41:57: I’d like to believe in 50 years, patient safety rights are a civil right. 
• 42:55: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 44:25: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource that you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• The Cancer Olympics website
• The Cancer Olympics book
• Robin on Facebook
• Contact Robin
• Live Ask The Author Interview with Robin
• Lots of Helping Hands (to get support from your community)
• Colontown

As a survivor of invasive breast cancer whose marriage dissolved as treatment ended, Susan draws upon her personal journey as well as her training as a life coach to provide mindsets and tools to assist others in rebuilding their lives in alignment with their deepest desires.

• 02:12: My mother is a cancer survivor also.  
• 04:07: I hadn't even had a biopsy yet, but I just went all the way to the grave and forgot.  
• 06:19: They didn't put enough numbness in me.  
• 08:19: I learned there we didn't get all the cancer.  
• 11:04: Why did you take your mother to the appointment knowing she's a glass-half-full kind of person.  
• 13:04: He struggled to keep it together for himself, take greater care of our child, make sure the house was running. 
• 16:00: He says, “I think I need to live alone.” 
• 18:02: We were sharing the same bed still but like roommates and we both loved our child.  
• 20:24: I had to call it Franken boob because it's still all stitched on. 
• 22:16: It was complete eggshell navigation, and I was a pro at it.  
• 25:12: I didn't know that applied to me and that was an eye-opener. 
• 26:40: What was your worst moment? 
• 27:22: What about your best moment?  
• 29:08: What is the one thing you wish you had known at the beginning of your cancer journey?  
• 31:40: The other word I like to use is the word circumstance. 
• 34:22: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why?  
• 36:08: I recommend not reading all about your disease. 
• 37:47: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions. 
• 38:56: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Susan's website
• Susan on Facebook

In 2014, while still an active cancer patient, Dean Hall decided to inspire other cancer patients by chasing his dream of becoming the first person to swim the entire 187-mile length of the Willamette River, never guessing it would heal his leukemia.

• 03:35: Well, I fell in love with soccer and so I played it constantly. 
• 05:52: I became a therapist and started my private practice in this tiny little town,
• 08:11: It never occurred to me that it came back bad because something was wrong with me. 
• 10:06: Dean, you've got leukemia. 
• 12:14: I was just in shock for about two weeks and devastated.  
• 14:28: You've got to be the boss of your journey and your body and your future. 
• 16:51: Did you ever do what would be considered traditional treatment? 
• 19:17: I would sleep 20 hours a day. 
• 21:20: Tell us about your first wife.  
• 22:56: Then August of 2010, she started acting kind of funny. 
• 25:52: I was astonished, and it is a real testament to her strength and her discipline. 
• 29:44: All the rest of the time I'm just by myself feeling miserable both inside and out. 
• 32:15: I started praying and meditating, asking every day for a purpose to just come forward. 
• 34:08: If I'm dying, I want to die swinging for the fence. 
• 35:30: The lymph system had pushed out all this poison that it had been holding and so I'd feel flu-like symptoms for about five hours after.  
• 37:59: I was born only four blocks from the Willamette, so I've always loved this river. 
• 40:17: After you did [do] this swim over three weeks, what happened? 
• 42:49: Being in that cold water threw me into something called Radical Remission.  
• 44:09: What is one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of your cancer journey?  
• 44:50: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why?  
• 45:49: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions.  
• 48:23: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Dean's website Swimming in Miracles
• Connect with Dean on LinkedIn

Digital marketing strategist and founder of the boutique agency, Social Abundance Marketing, Wendy Manganaro knows that the best social media doesn’t start on a specific platform or with a marketing tactic, but instead, consistently marketing where your target market hangs out at.

• 00:59: Wendy is going to share her story of having childhood leukemia for many years.  
• 03:10: We've never gotten a real answer to why I was born with it, but I was born with it, which is very rare.  
• 06:02: How long were you in remission? 
• 08:17: Do we really have to open her up if we don't know? 
• 10:52: My father, unfortunately, died of melanoma about 13 years ago.  
• 13:56: What kind of impact do you think it had on your relationship that you were in the hospital so often those first couple of years? 
• 16:52: Having that diagnosis such a young age and surviving it did that have any impact on your childhood? 
• 20:19: I had to go through this kind of like metamorphosis to get to a point in my life. 
• 23:22: I was completely hallucinating. 
• 25:16: What that would have been like if my sister had gotten better? 
• 27:45: If I get one shot at this life, I want to bring as much love to other people in my work, in my personal life, and my family as I was given. 
• 30:45: It's easy to be a victim.  
• 32:12: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S. what would it be and why?  
• 33:25: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions. 
• 36:53: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Wendy's website Social Abundance Marketing
• Connect with Wendy on LinkedIn

David Metzger is a father, pediatric oncology nurse, podcaster, and author. His book, Nurse Papa, explores the strange intersection between his life as a father and his role as a nurse caring for sick children.

• 02:07: I picked adult acute care which seemed like an obvious place to start.  
• 04:11: Why did you have to drop out of your program?  
• 06:21: One of the things that she did that no one else did was she really prepared us to go home.  
• 08:49: Do you think nurses form stronger bonds than doctors? 
• 11:10: The thing that people don't really realize about pediatric oncology is that you may have a child who's 14 gets leukemia.  
• 13:21: I could really feel like what would be like to have a child who was five years old because I have a five-year-old who was dying.  
• 15:27: I will show up and take care of a child no matter who they are.  
• 18:37: You got to put yourself in uncomfortable situations constantly, that's what parenthood is.  
• 20:03: You are going to have a nurse mentor for the first couple of months who is watching you, watching you and guiding you, and making sure you don't kill anybody. 
• 22:30: With children, they will not usually engage with the actual phenomena of dying, but there are so many ways that they will tell you that they're ready to go.  
• 24:40: The ventilator is the next step to prolong life.  
• 28:05: When we got him back in bed, he was like a new boy.  
• 30:10: As a parent and as a caregiver, I had to live in a very healthy state of denial. 
• 32:46: I will talk to absolutely anybody and I love having conversations with strangers and especially with strange kids. 
• 33:59: If a child is in distress next to me, I will help that child.  
• 35:42: What is one thing you wish you had known at the beginning of nursing school?  
• 36:56: If there's only one thing you could do to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why?  
• 37:39: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions  
• 40:45: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• David's podcast
• David's book Nurse Papa

Two-time breast cancer thriver, Carol Wyllie, offers real insight, encouragement, and a few laughs to those facing cancer, illness, or any of life’s challenges. Her voice is authentic and sometimes irreverent as she shows us how to lead with faith and gratitude in the face of our toughest battles.

• 01:23: Take us back to the beginning of breast cancer. 
• 03:15: They showed me the X-ray and it looked like somebody had dipped their fingers in paint and splattered them on.  
• 05:37: I've never seen someone try so hard to get out of chemo. 
• 07:28: I could go down the rabbit hole of bitterness and blame. 
• 09:41: I don't want to say or even imply that we give ourselves cancer.  
• 11:37: It was four rounds of chemo, and it was delivered through an I. V. 
• 14:02: A lot of the Western doctors won't even acknowledge that this is a thing. 
• 15:55: What was your worst moment? 
• 18:43: Once your head gets to the right temperature, they begin your chemo. 
• 21:01: Is your hair back to normal now?  
• 23:20: I kept my eyebrows and my eyelashes the whole time, strangely enough.  
• 24:19: What was your best moment? 
• 26:02: What is the one thing you wish you'd known at the beginning? 
• 27:12: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why?  
• 30:14: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions  
• 31:11: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Carol’s website
• Email Carol
• Chemo P!ssed Me Off: A Breast Cancer Roadmap: Navigating with Faith, Gratitude, and a Little Bit of Attitude
• Carol on Facebook
• Carol on Twitter
• Chris Beat Cancer Square One

Kenn Edwards lives in rural Utah with his father. Kenn was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in October 2020. To remove the cancer, Kenn had twenty percent of his tongue removed as well as lymph nodes in his neck. Approximately three months later Kenn's father was diagnosed with melanoma.

• 00:35: Kenn was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in October 2020. 
• 02:55: It got inflamed and I thought if this doesn't go down in like two weeks, I'm going to go see a doctor. 
• 05:57: I had zero idea how to answer people's questions.  
• 08:02: In my surgery, they took out 20% of my tongue. 
• 10:58: By the time he made it to the doctor, it was protruding.  
• 13:03: He'll have to have plastic surgery after.  
• 15:30: They would have taken almost the whole top of his head off, so it would have been super invasive.  
• 18:15: I kind of forgot the emotional part, taking time to just sit. 
• 21:56: I do not try and self-diagnose because I feel like for me that just leads to me spinning out. 
• 24:04: I didn't realize how important it was to me to be able to use my voice.  
• 24:53: What was your worst moment? 
• 26:22: What was your best moment?  
• 27:52: What is one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of your cancer journey?  
• 29:14: If you could only do one thing, just one to improve health care in the US, what would it be and why? 
• 32:30: I think it started with a donor.  
• 36:46: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions  
• 39:03: Aside from Cancer U, what's one resource that you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Kenn on Facebook
• Kenn’s website
• Email Kenn
• Call Kenn at 503.575.0073
• No One Has Time For Death Podcast

Faith Wilcox believes writing leads to healing. Faith learned these truths when her 13-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed with bone cancer that took her life. Faith’s journey from grief and despair to moments of comfort and peace taught her lessons, which she shares through her writing.

• 02:39: The orthopedic doctor took an x-ray of her knee. 
• 04:57: She started to go into the rooms of children who had recently been brought into the hospital. 
• 07:08: I had the support that I needed, and my daughters had the support that they needed.  
• 09:13: She also started to feel very alienated from others in the school. 
• 12:35: Was there a moment when things got worse?  
• 13:58: What was your best moment?  
• 16:10: We came home, and she had an oxygen machine for about three weeks and that helped her to breathe. 
• 18:11: What is the one thing you wish you had known at the very beginning of Elizabeth's cancer journey? 
• 21:19: If you could only do one thing to improve health care in the U.S., what would it be and why? 
• 31:05: I experienced denial during Elizabeth's time of her illness.  
• 34:58: Thriver Rapid Fire Questions 
• 35:56: Aside from Cancer U, what is one resource you would recommend for cancer patients and caregivers?  

Resources

• Faith’s website
• Faith on LinkedIn
• Email Faith
• Faith’s books
• Hope Is a Bright Star: A Mother’s Memoir of Love, Loss, and Learning to Live Again
• Facing Into The Wind: A mother’s healing after the death of her child
• Centering Corporation
• Compassionate Friends