The Bottom Line Podcast

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with bowel cancer, we're here for you.

This informative chat with Bowel Care Nurse, Fiona, and Psychosocial Support, Hannah, discusses the importance of supportive care and provides a snapshot of the pivotal role Bowel Cancer Australia’s Specialist Telehealth Support Services can play throughout the care continuum.

“Let people with experience walk with you so you can focus on living as well as you can during treatment. We help you fit cancer into your life not fit your life into cancer.” ~ Hannah

From stoma management and how to treat side effects, to emotional and peer-to-peer support, Fiona and Hannah share their wealth of experience as they help patients find their new normal.

This New Year make exercise a priority.

The benefits of exercise are well documented. Bowel Care Exercise Physiologist, Kailey, provides tips to help keep you motivated before, during and after treatment.

Joining Kailey on this episode is bowel cancer advocate, Jon, who shares his lived experience and discusses how exercise empowered him to take control of his diagnosis and the positive impacts on his mental wellbeing.

“Being able to exercise gave me a sense of control back … and the benefits were not just physical, the mental health benefits have also been enormous.” – Jon.

Stephanie chats with Bowel Care Nutritionist, Jo and advocate, Jemima to help demystify nutrition throughout treatment, living with a stoma, and life beyond bowel cancer. 

Jemima shares her lived experience and explains how Jo empowered her to implement some small changes that have enabled her to navigate her “new” normal, returning to work and travelling abroad.

An episode where Jo and Jemima discuss easy to implement nutritional tips that can assist with sustainable lifestyle changes.

“I trusted Jo’s expertise and advice, and she gave me the confidence to jump straight in, and the results started to show immediately. There is no way I could have done this without her guidance.” - Jemima

Josh and Ant chat with Stephanie around the importance of raising bowel cancer awareness and the difficulty and pain of losing their loved ones far too young - Josh’s brother Mitch and Ant’s friend Dean.

Both long-time supporters of Bowel Cancer Australia’s Decembeard campaign, Josh and Ant discuss the positive impact of honouring their friend and brother through their fundraising initiatives and urge others to have the conversation around bowel cancer awareness.

“If you tell one person, it’s like a tree as each person shares the message, the tree continues to sprout.” ~ Josh

This episode is a heartwarming nod to Dean and Mitch, as Ant and Josh honour them both through their fundraising and awareness initiatives.

If you want to raise money in honour of a loved one, please register now at https://decembeard.org.au/

Bowel Cancer Australia advocates, Jenny and Peter join Stephanie to share their Call on Canberra 2025 experience and discussions with policy makers about the living with early-onset bowel cancer.

Impacted heavily in the rush-hour of their lives, Jenny and Peter are both deeply passionate about seeing the landscape change for early-onset bowel cancer and discuss the power of the collective voice in making meaningful change.

“I consider attending Call on Canberra a true privilege.” ~ Peter.

New attendee Jenny discusses her surprise at how warmly she was welcomed by politicians.

“I was touched by how embraced we were on the day, being acknowledged in the House was so special and it really cemented the reason we are doing what we are doing and why I became an advocate.” ~ Jenny

A conversation about the importance of sharing your story and how rewarding advocating with authenticity can make a meaningful difference.

Fundraising in honour of loved ones is hugely rewarding but event planning can also be incredibly time consuming. 

In this episode Stephanie chats with childhood friends Sara and Amy, co-founders of Time is Precious, about the impact of losing a loved one to bowel cancer and how they have leant into their youth and desire to give back.

“We are definitely trying to find ways to create a point of difference and because we are young women ourselves, we are aligned with Bowel Cancer Australia’s Never2Young campaign.”

Enthusiastic, driven and passionate, Sara and Amy, share their tips and tricks to a successful fundraiser.

Melbourne University’s Professor Mark Jenkins discusses his team’s latest research which highlights excess deaths due to the rise in early-onset bowel cancer between 1990 and 2020, as well as the disparity of bowel cancer research funding in Australia.

Mark also discusses the burden early-onset bowel cancer on those who are in the rush-hour of their lives – building careers, developing relationships and raising families.

“The increase in early-onset bowel cancer is a major problem. If we knew the WHY then we could perhaps prevent it in the first place. Finding the WHY would be a huge leap.”

It's Dry July and Stephanie chats with two passionate fundraisers Justin and Conor who are raising funds for Bowel Cancer Australia in memory of their Dad and Mum, respectively.

Funds raised through Dry July help support the Charity's specialist in-person Bowel Care Nurse Program, which aims to improve equity of access to personalised care and tailored support, allowing more people to access coordinated care closer to home.

“My Dad passed away from bowel cancer aged just 54 and I am raising money to put back into an organisation that supports people going through what we did. We are called the Goldfield Grogstoppers!” ~ Justin.

A new Dad, Conor explains the impact of losing a loved one on the family and how he keeps his Mum’s memory alive for his son.

“I think about her every day in those quiet moments. I talk about her as if she is still here and that helps keep her alive.” ~ Conor

Walkley Award-winning author, investigative journalist and author, Lucie Morris-Marr chats to Stephanie about her lived experience.

From her initial stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis to undergoing a groundbreaking liver transplant, Lucie discusses her roller coaster ride.

“I am lucky to be here. I’m very grateful for that and I want to give back, because people have really given generously to me.”

A strong believer in advocating for your own health, Lucie discusses the importance of seeing a stage 4 cancer diagnosis not as being terminal but managing a chronic illness.

“See yourself as a freelance patient. We care most about ourselves so keep asking questions.”

Lucie’s vivacious brand of humour and honesty is a must listen.

Danae shares her “good news” cancer story, highlighting her proactive GP who ultimately saved her life.

“I became the good luck story of 2022. Instead of dismissing my symptoms due to perimenopause my GP wanted to be thorough and sent me for a CT scan that ultimately revealed stage 2 bowel cancer.”

Danae discusses the importance of a positive outlook and how finding her “tribe” and the bowel cancer community helped her through her diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.