Second-time guest Katie Murray joins The Burn to share her story of being diagnosed at 41 with Stage II invasive lobular breast cancer. A writer, teacher, and mother of four, Katie reads her essay “Sleeping Snakes and the Lake” from the 2025 Living Well issue of Wildfire Journal.

Her piece offers a meditation on healing — not the kind defined by treatment end dates or clean scans, but the slow, quiet kind that arrives unexpectedly years later, in moments as small and tender as noticing baby eyelashes. April and Katie discuss healing versus recovery, the pressure of timelines, hope, and the shame Katie carried about her cancer diagnosis.

Learn more about Katie: https://www.instagram.com/1day_2019/

Listen to Katie’s previous episode on The Burn: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/e220fb14-d5bb-47d4-acb6-4c488df7d62f/

Purchase the Living Well issue of Wildfire Journal: `https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/print-body25

Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter

Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops

Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop

*Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free

More about Wildfire Journal: 

https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/

https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity

Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions