The Burn

Our guest today is Erica Fitch. Erica was 12 when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two decades later at 30, she was diagnosed with DCIS: stage 0, estrogen positive breast cancer when her own daughter was 2.  She carries the BRCA2 mutation. Her story today is about growing up with intimate knowledge of illness and the parallels when you face it yourself. And how to write about deeply personal stories that have been sewn into the fabric of your identity. Erica is reading her piece “Memories in Color: Four Generations” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2020 “Family” issue, where she uses the structure of color to explore and write the hard stories in our lives. 

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More about Erica https://www.instagram.com/beeing_erica/.

Find more information about color symbolism here: https://www.writersdigest.com/prompts/the-color-of-ideas-color-associations-writing-prompt

Today’s guest is Stefanie LeJeunesse, who was diagnosed at 39 with stage IV lobular metastatic breast cancer.  She is reading her piece titled “My Jiminy Cricket” from Wildfire Magazine’s April/May 2021 “Grief & Acceptance” issue. It is a story that is on the one hand a eulogy and on the other hand asks some pretty big questions about the cancer experience.  Experience with cancer friendships, talking about death, writing eulogies to honor the ones we lose, and the need to make space to really acknowledge that being in the breast cancer community means facing loss. We are going to hear a story about cancer friends - the ones that walked the cancer path before us, and sometimes forge on into death before us as well.

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

More about Stefanie and Cancer for Breakfast at:

https://www.cancerforbreakfast.com/ https://www.instagram.com/cancerforbreakfast/

Twitter https://twitter.com/cancerbreakfast?s=20

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/359505152218690/.

Cancer for Breakfast Facebook group for caregivers https:/www.facebook.com/groups/447845883434998/.

Today’s guest is Stephanie Kinkel reading her piece from Wildfire Magazine’s February 2021 issue called “Bay Area Young Survivors.” Stephanie was diagnosed with breast cancer at 39. She carries the gene mutation ATM. Stephanie and her sister were quite young when they lost their parents to cancer. Thus, Stephanie says, she was not altogether surprised to discover her own lumps or the genetic predisposition. Her piece is called “Permanent.”  It’s about losing your hair to chemo; but, it’s never “just hair.” Today’s story is about a relationship between a mother and a daughter, and about loss - of identity, of hair, of a mom. And it’s about the discovery of a new identity and those astonishing chemo curls. 

More on Stephanie: https://www.instagram.com/skinkelstudios/ and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.kinkel.3.

More about Bay Area Young Survivors at http://www.baysnet.org/.

More about Wildfire Magazine: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/.

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

Today’s guest is Nikki Leigh Mckean from Canada. The piece she is reading is titled “I’ll Meet You in the Field'' from Wildfire Magazine’s 2020 issue “Identity & Aftermath.”  Nikki was diagnosed with cervical cancer at 34.  A second cancer diagnosis came two years later - stage II breast cancer. Nikki describes what it means to throw out the “Cancer Binder'', to become fully the hero of her own story, and to use inspiring words of others to feel whole. She purged her mind and physical space of the things that no longer served her in a post-cancer world. In the wake of this purge, she is now widly free and living a life where the main experience is love in a world of endless possibility. She’ll also talk about the difficult role of the caregiver to just be present and bear witness while the person they love is going through cancer.

More about Nikki: https://www.nikkimagic.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/nikkileighmckean/.

More about Wildfire Magazine: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/. 

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

More about Rethink Breast Cancer at https://rethinkbreastcancer.com/.

Our guest today, Anna Crollman, was diagnosed at age 27 with stage II breast cancer. Anna writes beautifully about post-cancer depression in Wildfire Magazine’s 2018 “Mental Health” issue.  Anna found herself enveloped in depression following her breast cancer treatment. Having faced depression in her life before, she knew the warning signs, but that didn’t save her from having to go through a rough time. Fortunately for us she learned some things along the way that made recovery easier. While people who haven’t experienced cancer might think otherwise, the time following active treatment can be extremely challenging both physically and mentally. How do you feel safe again trying to live in the aftermath?

More about Anna: https://www.instagram.com/mycancerchic/ and https://www.mycancerchic.com.

More about Wildfire Magazine: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/.

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

Today, Tracy Ward joins us from the United Kingdom to read a piece from Wildfire Magazine’s 2020 “Family” issue.  She was diagnosed at 36 with stage II hormone positive breast cancer. She shares her story about holding precious placeholders in the hopes of a post-cancer baby.  This is the story of one woman asking what her fertility path will ultimately reveal and does she have the strength to hang in for the waiting.

More about Tracy: http://www.tracyleeward.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/tracyleeward/.

More about Wildfire Magazine: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/.

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

We all want to know where we belong, where our people are: where are the ones who understand us and accept us completely? Since her diagnosis at 34 and in the 20+ years she’s lived with metastatic breast cancer, Laurie Ratliff has navigated many communities within breast cancer, searching for others like herself. At last she found her place in the so-called pink sisterhood.  When she found her home, she also found herself in the unexpected role of an advocate for a type of breast reconstruction called aesthetic flat closure.

Learn more about Laurie on TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@statisticaloddity? and https://www.instagram.com/statisticaloddity/.

More about Wildfire Magazine at https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/.

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

Today, Jasmine Souers is here to read a piece she wrote for Wildfire Magazine’s “Social” issue. We are going to hear about finding one’s place in the aftermath of being diagnosed young, when no one else you know has experienced what you have. How do you find others like you? Jasmine found her people at a breast cancer conference one weekend in Jacksonville, Florida. And from there began the work of helping others feel that they too belong. We hope today’s episode will inspire you to connect with the resources discussed, or to begin to form your own group.

More about Jasmine at https://www.instagram.com/jazzythebcbaddie/. 

More about Wildfire Magazine at https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/. 

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

Resources mentioned in this episode:

https://breastofus.com/

https://www.youngsurvival.org/

https://www.baysnet.org/

April wants to tell you a story from her own breast cancer survivorship. It’s a story that will shed light on why she focuses so much energy on the younger breast cancer community with her work with both Wildfire Magazine, her writing workshops, and this podcast. As always, she'll tie this together with a writing prompt at the end to help you use writing to heal your own story. Today, April shares a piece she wrote about what it’s like to be young and diagnosed, and finding your people. 

Additionally, here are a few resources designed specifically with younger breast cancer patients in mind:

https://www.youngsurvival.org/

https://rethinkbreastcancer.com/

https://www.instagram.com/breastcancerportraitproject/

https://www.breastcancerportraitproject.org

https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].

When Meghan Koziel was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was dating and knew she wanted a family someday. She was diagnosed at 26 with stage II, estrogen and progesterone positive breast cancer. Like many women diagnosed in their childbearing years, Meghan underwent fertility preserving measures. There are few heartaches like the one of holding space in your heart for a child that hasn’t yet, or can’t, come. Fortunately, there are women like Meghan who have been able to go on and welcome children after diagnosis. Ultimately today’s story is about one woman asking if she can trust her body again, and wondering if she can find something joyful in a body that had become the source of so much heartbreak. Today, Meghan is here to read a piece she wrote for Wildfire Magazine’s 2018 “Parenting With Cancer” issue, “She Sparkles On: Pregnancy After Cancer.”

Find Meghan online at https://shesparkleson.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/meghankoziel/. 

More about Wildfire Magazine at https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/.

Get the free Wildfire email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org

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

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

Send your voice recording testimonial to [email protected].