CancerTalks Podcast

This week, Claire writes about Palestine. As of yesterday, more than 30,000 have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces. What does the genocide in Palestine have to do with cancer? 

When we think about cancer prevention, we think of things like clean air, food and water, access to routine screenings, stress reduction. None of those things are available anywhere in Gaza right now. 

Please take a moment with me to honor everyone who has died from cancer in Palestine, everyone living with cancer in Gaza now, and everyone who will have to live and die with cancer as a result of the genocide.

Deborah Bellen is a personal finance coach who helps people understand their emotional relationship with money. Although she is not professionally a hospice nurse, she has been on eleven hospice journeys with loved ones. From a very young age, Deborah saw that death was a very important part of life. In this episode, she shares many moving stories of what it means to walk with someone between life and death. 

If you enjoy this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a story to share. If you’re moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Megan-Claire Chase, a.k.a. Warrior Megsie, is a breast cancer survivor and advocate from Atlanta. Her blog, Life on the Cancer Train, details her experience as a young adult cancer survivor while advocating for better treatment and resources. It's known for being authentic, raw, and informative - with a twist of humor.

Megan-Claire is a powerful public speaker, researcher, and published writer. Her work has been featured in various magazines, including Cure Magazine, Elephants and Tea, Cancer Today, and WebMD. She's a passionate advocate who uses her life on the cancer train to support and advocate for patients and survivors diagnosed with cancer. 

Special thanks to our guest host, Lisa Nelson, for guiding this conversation! 

If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a story to share. If you’re moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This week's guest is Elizabeth Benedict - a bestselling author whose novels include Almost and Slow Dancing. Her most recent book is a cancer memoir entitled Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own. Elizabeth's nonfiction spans a range of themes from sexual politics to money to literature and includes The Joy of Writing Sex, which has been the classic reference for writing about sex in fiction for the past 25 years. In this episode, we explore many different ways of understanding the cancer journey, including the way a doctor’s own emotional landscape affects the process of diagnosing a patient. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a story to share. If you’re moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This episode was produced by Claire de Laszlo Marshall, with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. 

1. In Gratitude by Jenny Diski

2. The Anatomy of Hope by Jerome Groopman MD

3. On Mortality by Atul Gawande

4. Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag

Emma King is a midwife in the making, a clinical herbalist, almost a nurse, a birth doula for both postpartum and abortion, as well as a death doula. Emma is a white, monied New Yorker who grew up in Manhattan in a home marked by chronic/terminal illness. She is a big, soft-egoed Leo/emotive perverted Scorpio, sometimes a novice tattooer, a bi, incorrigibly contradictory girl, a lover, and a fighter. 

Our guests this week are Claire Jones and Amaranthia Sepia. Not only are Claire and Amaranthia mother and daughter, they are also sisters and soulmates. The episode follows the story of their life together, supporting each other through disability.

Claire and Amaranthia’s most recent project is called Sista Creatives Rising, a platform for events including their upcoming series "Art & Mind," which showcases creative folk who are underrepresented women and marginalized genders.

Claire & Amaranthia’s Resource List:

1. "The world is what you make it" | Sadhguru | MotivationArk

2. Audio book: Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav

3. Audio: 10 Skills That Will Pay Off Forever

4. Audio: The Positive Affirmation Meditation - Louise Hay

5. Guided Breathing: Deep Relaxation

6. Audio: Heal Your Body by Louise Hay

If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a story to share. If you’re moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate

Our guest today is Lisa Nelson. Lisa was born in Jamaica and raised in Queens, New York. She has worked for many years as an oncology social worker and is also an end-of-life doula.

Lisa has a podcast of her own called Diary of a Black Social Worker where she shares diverse narratives of social work practice: Personal triumphs, challenges, education and reflections about the day to day life of an oncology social worker of color. 

1. Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

2. Couched in Color Podcast with Dr. Alfiee M Breland-Noble

3. Dear Death: Finding Meaning in Life, Peace in Death, and Joy in an Ordinary Day by Diane Button

4. A Comforted Heart by Kelly Grosklags

5. The Bible

6. Seinfeld episodes

Our guest today is Sharon Finkel. Sharon is a New Yorker, born and raised. She is the mother of two young boys and the daughter of Soviet immigrants. Sharon has a long career as a lawyer but her true passion is in health and wellness. Her diagnosis and health care journey have been catalysts for exploration in functional medicine which she has found to be enormously helpful throughout treatment, recovery and the healing process. 

Beyond Breast Cancer Speaker: Sharon Finkel

If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at [email protected] if you have a story to share. If you’re moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

In this week's episode, Cheryl has a beautiful conversation with Molly Reno. Molly is a Somatic Coach with a long history as a Human Rights attorney. After her first encounter with breast cancer, she began leading support groups for cancer patients and became certified in a healing technique called Emotional Brain Training. Molly shares about her experience of staying awake to the cycle of life and death. Like all of us, she finds herself going back to sleep sometimes, but she always seems to find a way to wake up again and that is a true inspiration. 

If you enjoy this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. To check out our upcoming community workshops, visit cancertalks.com/zoom. If you’re moved to donate, we would be very grateful. Our work is funded by your generous contributions. For more information visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. Cheryl Buck is the vision and heart behind CancerTalks, Kaitlyn Stein makes this work financially sustainable, and Nora Rice helps spread the word through social media direction. As always, we want to extend a special thanks to our donors and friends. We couldn't do this without you!

1. Grace in Dying by Kathleen Dowling Singh

2. The Way of Grace by Miranda MacPherson

3. Meditations on Boundless Love (Audio) by Miranda MacPherson

4. The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski

5. Cured by Jeffrey Rediger

6. A Matter of Death and Life by Marilyn Yalom, Irving Yalom

7. Wintering by Katherine May

8. In Love by Amy Bloom

9. The Mindfulness Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff PhD and Christopher Germer PhD

10. The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate

11. Go In and In by Danna Faulds (or any book of hers)

12. Feast of Losses: A communion of Grief and Gratitude spoken by Kim Rosen and accompanied by Jami Siebers https://jamisieber.com/feast-of-losses

13. Card Deck: The Cultivating Grace Card Deck by Miranda MacPherson

14. Podcast: Tara Brach particularly the interview of Roland Griffiths PhD on meditation and psychedelics in the face of stage IV cancer

15. Podcast: Insights at the Edge (Tami Simon founder of Sounds True)

Claire invited Polly Hoppin on to CancerTalks to highlight the power and the potential of focussing on cancer prevention, in addition to treatment. Polly co-founded the national Cancer Free Economy Network. The Network shares our vision for a world where no one gets sick from toxic chemicals polluting the places they live, learn, work, and play.  CanerTalks just became an Ally member of the network and we’re excited to be part of their amazing work. Polly is also director of the Cancer & Environment Initiative at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and Senior Advisor to the Cancer and Environment Network of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Polly received her Doctor of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University, in the course of which cancer arrived at her family’s doorstep—an experience which, along with her own cancer journey more recently—enriched her life and work.

If you enjoy this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. To check out our upcoming community workshops, visit cancertalks.com/zoom. If you’re moved to donate, we would be very grateful. Our work is funded by your generous contributions. For more information visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. Cheryl Buck is the vision and heart behind CancerTalks, Kaitlyn Stein makes this work financially sustainable, and Nora Rice helps spread the word through social media direction. As always, we want to extend a special thanks to our donors and friends. We couldn't do this without you!