Today I'm privileged to chat with Recreational Therapist and owner of Flow Recreation Therapy and Consulting, Danielle Scarlett, about the hard conversations no parent wants to have with their children. We work through every topic from how to tell our kids they have cancer, what to say when something is going to hurt, how to approach end of life conversations, and what to do when there are simply no words. Danielle shares practical guidance for starting these conversations in age-appropriate ways, inviting children into an open dialogue, and allowing space for uncertainty and emotion—both the child’s and the parent’s. From the power of saying “I don’t know” to the important distinction between "protecting" versus "supporting", this episode offers reassurance that there is no perfect script—only presence, honesty, and the willingness to keep the conversation going as children and parents process their cancer diagnosis together.

You can find Danielle here https://flowrecreationtherapy.ca/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I absolutely adore my guest today, Kirsten — and I know you’re going to feel the same way. Kirsten is a three-time childhood and young adult cancer survivor with so much honesty and insight to share about what survivorship really feels like.

Kirsten was first diagnosed with ALL at age 10, spending more than six years in treatment after a relapse — during the years when kids are learning how to make friends, belong, and be themselves. Finishing treatment didn’t mean life snapped back into place. Survivorship brought its own challenges, especially around reintegration, social development, and finding her footing after missing so much of childhood.

Later, in her 20s, Kirsten faced cancer again — this time during young adulthood, another critical stage of identity and growth. In this conversation, we talk openly about fear, uncertainty, stigma, bullying, and the long emotional tail of childhood cancer.

What makes Kirsten so special is how real she is about all of it — and how she’s used her experience to pave the way not just for herself, but for the survivors coming behind her. For parents, this episode offers a powerful glimpse into what survivorship can look like long after treatment ends.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recent research published in a pediatric journal confirms what cancer parents already know: the psychological impact of childhood cancer often lives longer and deeper in parents than in the children themselves. Anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and grief don’t end when treatment ends—they shape how parents live, who we become, and how we move through the world.

While we don’t need academic validation—because cancer parents already witness and confirm this truth for one another—it matters to see caregivers finally centered in research. That essential peer recognition is what led me to today’s guests.

Jon and Jenn Wall are the founders of Zach’s Bridge, a 1:1 virtual peer support program for advanced and bereaved pediatric cancer parents and caregivers. When their 16-year-old son Zach was in palliative care for osteosarcoma—a phase they call pre-bereavement—they longed to speak with other parents who had already been there. Not professionals, but peers. Parents who had planned funerals. Parents who had come home to empty bedrooms.

Those sacred conversations became the foundation of Zach’s Bridge—a place where families navigating pre-bereavement and bereavement can speak freely, honestly, and without translation.

In this episode, Jon and Jenn share how partners grieve differently and extend grace to one another, how community can help carry the weight of loss, and a powerful coping framework Jon calls Both/And—the ability to hold grief and joy at the same time.

As you listen, carry this quote with you: “We don’t need translators for our pain—we need people who speak the same language.” Parents who have lost a child deserve support from others fluent in the deeply specialized language of loss. Jon and Jenn have built something profoundly necessary for families walking this path, and I am deeply inspired by what they continue to offer those coming up behind them.

To learn more about Zach's Bridge, please visit zachsbridge.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The whole intention of this podcast is to give cancer parents a feeling of recognition - of knowing we’re not alone, and we do this by sharing our stories. Storytelling is how we connect at our most fundamental, primal selves - it’s the most ancient thread humans use to tie ourselves together and make sense of the world around us.

Now, when you add music to those stories - when you communicate through song - well, that’s when things get even more profound, more connected. Music transcends language, music cuts through all the logic and meaning and connects us on a cellular level.

And that’s what my guest today has done for the entire paediatric cancer community.

Anna Palfreeman, a singer & songwriter from Seattle, wrote the album Frontline when her almost 5 yr old son Emerson was diagnosed with B cell ALL in December of 2023. In a desperate state to process her shock and absorb her son's diagnosis, she found the piano in the chapel at Seattle Children’s hospital and started to pour her feelings out in the way she knew how - through song, and music.

This turned into Anna writing an entire album that starts with Emerson’s first chemo and follows his frontline treatment. Songs like, Too Much, He’ll Be Ok, Breathe and The Tunnel are all songs that will SPEAK TO YOUR SOUL. I can’t emphasize this enough. That recognition we talk about when we hear each other's stories - well, the recognition you’ll feel when you hear Anna’s songs - it will go straight to your core.

My advice is to listen to her album from start to finish as a catharsis, as a healing journey, and as confirmation that sharing our experiences is how we bear witness to each other - it’s how we feel seen, and how we see the people around us.

You can stream Frontline wherever you listen to music, or support Anna through her website annapalfreeman.com and her Bandcamp https://annapalfreeman.bandcamp.com/album/frontline

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I chat with my friend and fellow cancer mom Jenna about carrying her son through a 42 day bone marrow transplant this past summer. This episode is really important for so many reasons, BMT is a big and daunting procedure that so many of our families go through - so many parents are in complete isolation with their children for weeks and months, there are so many layers, so many challenges - we could talk about the isolation alone for 20 episodes - it’s just such a consuming and encompassing part of treatment. Jenna does a brilliant job of sharing their experience with so much accuracy, and she does it so families who have been through BMT or are going through BMT feel seen, and know that despite the intense isolation - they are not alone.

But before we get to Jenna, I’m going to give you a little background on Jenna’s son Hendrix to set the stage.

Hendrix was 3 when he was dx with B cell ALL. He endured the very long and intense treatment ALL requires - chemo, lumbar punctures, countless procedures - right when he started maintenance, Hendrix went into severe diabetic ketoacidosis, almost losing his life. This led to a type 1 diabetes diagnosis to his already intense and wildly unfair leukaemia diagnosis.

And then, going into his 6th round of maintenance, Hendrix relapsed, forcing him to battle a second time, now as a type one diabetic. Relapse treatment was extremely challenging, Hendrix became chemo resistant and his cancer was still present even after his re-induction. He qualified for Car T therapy, which was also a long and VERY hard road, and unfortunately didn’t work as well, leaving a bone marrow transplant as the only option left. He did immunotherapy and spent seven months getting into remission for transplant, which miraculously worked, and that is where our conversation today with Jenna, Hendrix’s mom, begins.

As someone who didn’t go through BMT with my child, this was part educational, part enlightening and honestly just left me pretty astonished at Jenna’s ability to disassociate, which you’ll hear us talk about as the main strategy she used to endure this really trying, really challenging experience.

For any family going into BMT, Jenna’s story will be a reference and for any family who’s done BMT, Jenna’s story will be a recognition for what you did to support your child through one of the most harrowing experiences I think we can go through in oncology treatment.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I speak with Mel, an ALL survivor currently in her second year of university. Mel was diagnosed at 17, and just recently rang the bell this past summer, so her account of treatment is still really fresh and honest. Our talk today is from Mel’s lens as an AYA patient, and how we as parents can best support our teens and young adult children going through treatment at an age when they are fully aware of every single layer of their cancer diagnosis.

Mel talks about what helped and didn’t help when it comes to support from her peers and family, and how the moments when her parents acknowledged how hard treatment was, rather than bright side it away, were the moments she connected the most. As a parent, all we want to do is take away our child’s suffering, so for her mom and dad to have the fortitude and strength to sit with Mel in her fear and discomfort is a level of love and commitment I am so deeply proud of in them. I also happen to know Mel’s parents, and want to take this chance to publicly acknowledge their strength and internal compass to know exactly how to best support their daughter. I adore Mel, and her family, and can’t wait to share her story. So, let’s dive deep with Mel.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I speak with Leah, a pediatric nurse and nutritional coach who has spent more than a decade supporting families through some of the most meaningful and vulnerable times of their life. She’s worked in pediatric intensive care and birthing centres, and later built her own practice — one that helps parents navigate those early years of nutrition and development with a more holistic, compassionate approach. Her goal was always to make a real difference — to help children heal not just from illness, but to help parents build a strong, stable foundation that would set their babies up for life.

And then, when her third child, Etta, was diagnosed at three years old with neuroblastoma, everything destabilized. Leah suddenly found herself on the other side — in that upside-down world we all know too well — where it’s not someone else’s tragedy anymore, it’s your own.

In our conversation, Leah speaks with such honesty and wisdom about what that transformation feels like — how our bodies go into motion to keep our children alive, while our hearts and souls have to step back to protect us from a pain too big to hold all at once. And we talk about how later, when treatment ends, there’s that quiet reckoning — when life asks you to come back to yourself, and how it feels to reenter a body that has just been through war. How turning on the washing machine feels impossible, because everything feels so broken. Leah talks about how she healed, and continues to heal, with such warmth, depth and grounded insight.

She’s thoughtful, gentle, and I deeply trust her — she is someone who makes you feel safe just by being in her presence. I loved this conversation, and I think you’ll feel her steadiness and grace too.

Leah's Cookbook https://www.amazon.ca/All-Organic-Baby-Food-Cookbook-Nutritious/dp/0593196759

Leah's Website https://www.bloomingmotherhood.co/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I speak with Dr Jackie, a naturopathic doctor and mom to 3 beautiful boys. Jackie’s life was completely upended when her youngest son Spencer was diagnosed with high risk ALL at 13 months old. And when I say her life, I mean her entire foundation. As a naturopath, Jackie was consciously raising her family in alignment with her practice - this meant using things like natural remedies, tinctures, supplements and diet to not only help her kids through fevers, bumps and bruises, but to also work preventatively to prepare their little immune systems for a long healthy life. So when Spencer was diagnosed, Jackie had to embrace a type of intervention that was the complete opposite of what she had built her family and practice on. Western medicine and pharmaceuticals don’t typically have a place in a naturopathic practice, and within hours her baby was needing them to survive. Jackie talks about the rapid switch she had to make, which of course she did, and how it felt to accept and even find peace with what was needed to save Spencer's life.

In our chat, Jackie shares the simple and gentle practices she brought into Spencer's treatment, and how she advocated and worked alongside their team to provide him with the support he needed. This is such a great episode for families, much like mine, who were raising their kids with natural and holistic treatments and had to instantly pivot and embrace the most toxic and harsh medicines being administered to their child’s body. I learned so much from Jackie's confidence and calm, assured belief that cancer is more than a physical disease and it's equally important to heal the body as well as our mind, soul and spirit.

You can find Jackie at www.doctorjackie.ca and/or IG @doctorjackieND

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Todays talk with my friend Lindsay hit so close to home, in many ways. I first connected with Lindsay because our kids were diagnosed with the same cancer, rhabdo. It felt really good to talk to another parent who knew all the same things I knew - like meeting someone in a foreign country who spoke the same language AND also knew all the same people. She was comfortable, familiar and we instantly connected.

So it was a matter of minutes before Lindsay told me that ON THE SAME DAY she found her son’s cancer, 32 years prior when she was 7 yrs old, SHE was diagnosed with Wilms. Lindsay was now a child cancer survivor AND a cancer mom - I don’t need to highlight what a unique and complicated journey it’s been for Lindsay, but also a journey where her insights are already baked in, giving her a vantage point that not many of us have.

I had a million questions for Lindsay about what it’s like ushering your child through a treatment you yourself had, and this is where our chat got even deeper, because hearing Lindsay share her memories of treatment, especially integrating back into her life post treatment, felt like I was listening to my own daughter share her exact same experience. Lindsay talked about the shame of having cancer and what it felt like to be different from her peers, and how she went to extreme lengths to hide her scars and bald head - and it was all just the same for us.

Hearing Lindsay share her stories of shame and wanting to hide her cancer went straight to my core because not only was I witnessing this exact same struggle with my child, but I knew there had to be other parents out there feeling the same helplessness watching their child desperately try to blend in post treatment. This prompted our episode today where Lindsay goes deep into her feelings of being different, of looking sick and getting sad pitiful eyes from strangers, and how complicated it was to feel embarrassed about her cancer when everyone was telling her it was something to be proud of.

This talk will resonate so deeply with parents whose kids were a little older during treatment or maybe more self aware and who struggle with the whole idea that children with cancer are celebrated as being brave and warriors when really, they want to blend in and not be recognized at all - until, as you’ll hear Lindsay say, she came through her teen years and realized that she was, in fact, tremendously brave and she decided to truly embrace her cancer. But that had to be on her terms, in her own way, and not because everyone told her so.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.