Lorie Kolak is a wife and a stay-at-home mom from Illinois.  She was diagnosed at 41 with Stage II breast cancer, and also carries the pK71 genetic mutation.  Lorie has worked in university libraries, book sales and distribution, copywriting, and copy-editing. When not writing or reading, she enjoys arts and crafts.  In this episode, Lorie reads her essay “Door Marked Danger” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Body” issue.  Lorie’s piece slows down to take us into the moments surrounding her nipple tattoo experience following her mastectomy.  April and Lorie will discuss the storytelling fairy tales buried inside of us, cold capping, talking about cancer with children, and the times when you do get to have a choice in the cancer experience.  

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