On today’s episode, I am speaking with Alison Tierney, MS, RD, CD, CSO. Alison is a board certified oncology dietitian and cancer thriver who empowers those affected by cancer to conquer fears, take back control, and fully support their body before, during, and after cancer treatment. In 2022, Alison was diagnosed with breast cancer at age of 33. On today’s episode, she talks about how her background and oncology nutrition knowledge base helped her throughout treatment. We talk all about nutrition in general and touch on alcohol and cancer as well. Alison provides excellent tips and advice for those navigating a cancer diagnosis, treatment and survivorship. You can find Alison on Instagram or on her Website.

On today’s episode, I am answering your questions! Here is what we cover:

1. Signatera (circulating tumor DNA) in Breast Cancer (1:45)

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Tara Jones. Tara was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer 12 years ago at the age of 35. She talks about the treatment that she has received and she now has no evidence of cancer recurrence! She talks about living with breast cancer, fertility, mental health and coming to acceptance with her diagnosis and its long term impact.

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Michelle Cleave. Michelle Cleave was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in December 2022 and she is about to enroll on a TNBC vaccine clinical trial. I will be sharing her experience throughout the trial on the podcast and today is Part 1 where Michelle talks about how she found the trial, her decision to explore it, what happened when she went to the Cleveland Clinic for the trial and some hurdles that have occurred along the way.

On today’s episode, I am answering your questions! Here is what we cover:

1. Dairy and breast cancer risk (1:25)

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Nasreen Shahi. Nasreen is the writer of HeyNasreen, a blogger, and a fashion and beauty creator. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and three kids. Two years ago, she was diagnosed with stage IV triple positive breast cancer. On today’s episode, she shares her story — those initial moments of her diagnosis, treatment, and what life looks like now. We talk about how she chose to continue working, navigating social media and sharing her story, mental health, parenting during treatment and more.

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Nediva Monroe. Nediva was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer in 2014 and right around the time of her 5 year cancerversary, was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer to her bones. On today’s episode, she takes us back to those moments of finding out she had metastatic disease in 2019 and shares what her treatment has been like — discussing the challenge of never being done with treatment and balancing the really hard moments and grief with the joy of living. We talk about mental health, financial toxicity, pink washing and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the importance of research and much more. October 13th is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day and despite all the progress made in breast cancer, approximately 43,000 women will die of metastatic breast cancer in the United States in 2023. This episode offers a glimpse into what it is like to live with MBC and if you are looking to donate, Metavivor and Breast Cancer Research Foundation are incredible organizations that support MBC research.

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Lisa Orr. Lisa Orr is a proud wife and mother of two boys, ages eight and six, who lives just north of Boston, Massachusetts. She is a four-year triple negative breast cancer survivor (diagnosed at age 31) and the Director of Marketing for Elephants and Tea and the Steven G. Cancer Foundation. Elephants and Tea is a magazine for and by adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients, survivors and caregivers telling their stories. On today’s episode, Lisa talks abut her diagnosis and treatment, where she was when she got the call with her biopsy results, and how she has spent that day each year going forward. We talk about relationships and parenting during treatment and beyond, communication and the importance of caregiver support.

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Betty Dicker. Betty was diagnosed with a BRCA2 mutation when her sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. Betty had a prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy (removal of fallopian tubes and ovaries) to reduce her ovarian cancer risk. She had been planning on a bilateral mastectomy but life got in the way. She was undergoing breast cancer surveillance with MRI and mammograms but in 2021, she was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ. As she was undergoing planning for her breast reconstruction, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On today’s episode, she talks about being a previvor, her cancer treatment, survivorship, survivor’s guilt, mental health and more.

On today’s episode, I am speaking with Terri Conneran. Terri was diagnosed with stage 3 non small cell lung cancer in 2017 and has had multiple recurrence since then. Several years after her diagnosis, she found out that her cancer expressed the KRAS biomarker (KRAS mutation) and she went looking for a group or community of other people who also had the KRAS mutation but she didn’t find any — and so, she created KRAS Kickers to bring them together. What started initially as a Facebook group is now a global non profit. Their mission is simple: KRAS Knowledge + Research + Advocacy = Survivorship. The goal is to connect people to current research, resources & a community in order to Kick Cancer’s KRAS! Today, Terri shares her story, talks about cancer biomarkers in general and focuses a lot on patient advocacy and finding your community, which is of utmost importance.