CancerTalks Podcast

This week, Claire writes about Palestine. As of yesterday, more than 30,000 have been killed by the Israeli occupying forces. What does the genocide in Palestine have to do with cancer?  When we think about cancer prevention, we think of things like clean air, food and water, access to routine screenings, stress reduction. None of those things are available anywhere in Gaza right now.  Please take a moment with me to honor everyone who has died from cancer in Palestine, everyone living with cancer in Gaza now, and everyone who will have to live and die with cancer as a result of the genocide.  

Deborah Bellen is a personal finance coach who helps people understand their emotional relationship with money. Although she is not professionally a hospice nurse, she has been on eleven hospice journeys with loved ones. From a very young age, Deborah saw that death was a very important part of life. In this episode, she shares many moving stories of what it means to walk with someone between life and death.  If you enjoy this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Megan-Claire Chase, a.k.a. Warrior Megsie, is a breast cancer survivor and advocate from Atlanta. Her blog, Life on the Cancer Train, details her experience as a young adult cancer survivor while advocating for better treatment and resources. It's known for being authentic, raw, and informative - with a twist of humor. Megan-Claire is a powerful public speaker, researcher, and published writer. Her work has been featured in various magazines, including Cure Magazine, Elephants and Tea, Cancer Today, and WebMD. She's a passionate advocate who uses her life on the cancer train to support and advocate for patients and survivors diagnosed with cancer.  Special thanks to our guest host, Lisa Nelson, for guiding this conversation!  If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This week's guest is Elizabeth Benedict - a bestselling author whose novels include Almost and Slow Dancing. Her most recent book is a cancer memoir entitled Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own. Elizabeth's nonfiction spans a range of themes from sexual politics to money to literature and includes The Joy of Writing Sex, which has been the classic reference for writing about sex in fiction for the past 25 years. In this episode, we explore many different ways of understanding the cancer journey, including the way a doctor's own emotional landscape affects the process of diagnosing a patient.  If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate. This episode was produced by Claire de Laszlo Marshall, with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan.  Elizabeth's Reading List In Gratitude by Jenny Diski The Anatomy of Hope by Jerome Groopman MD On Mortality by Atul Gawande Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag

Emma King is a midwife in the making, a clinical herbalist, almost a nurse, a birth doula for both postpartum and abortion, as well as a death doula. Emma is a white, monied New Yorker who grew up in Manhattan in a home marked by chronic/terminal illness. She is a big, soft-egoed Leo/emotive perverted Scorpio, sometimes a novice tattooer, a bi, incorrigibly contradictory girl, a lover, and a fighter.   

Our guests this week are Claire Jones and Amaranthia Sepia. Not only are Claire and Amaranthia mother and daughter, they are also sisters and soulmates. The episode follows the story of their life together, supporting each other through disability. Claire and Amaranthia's most recent project is called Sista Creatives Rising, a platform for events including their upcoming series "Art & Mind," which showcases creative folk who are underrepresented women and marginalized genders. Claire & Amaranthia's Resource List: "The world is what you make it" | Sadhguru | MotivationArk Audio book: Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav Audio: 10 Skills That Will Pay Off Forever Audio: The Positive Affirmation Meditation - Louise Hay Guided Breathing: Deep Relaxation Audio: Heal Your Body by Louise Hay If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate

Our guest today is Lisa Nelson. Lisa was born in Jamaica and raised in Queens, New York. She has worked for many years as an oncology social worker and is also an end-of-life doula. Lisa has a podcast of her own called Diary of a Black Social Worker where she shares diverse narratives of social work practice: Personal triumphs, challenges, education and reflections about the day to day life of an oncology social worker of color.  Lisa's Resource List Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey Couched in Color Podcast with Dr. Alfiee M Breland-Noble Dear Death: Finding Meaning in Life, Peace in Death, and Joy in an Ordinary Day by Diane Button A Comforted Heart by Kelly Grosklags The Bible Seinfeld episodes    

Our guest today is Sharon Finkel. Sharon is a New Yorker, born and raised. She is the mother of two young boys and the daughter of Soviet immigrants. Sharon has a long career as a lawyer but her true passion is in health and wellness. Her diagnosis and health care journey have been catalysts for exploration in functional medicine which she has found to be enormously helpful throughout treatment, recovery and the healing process.  Beyond Breast Cancer Speaker: Sharon Finkel If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

In this week's episode, Cheryl has a beautiful conversation with Molly Reno. Molly is a Somatic Coach with a long history as a Human Rights attorney. After her first encounter with breast cancer, she began leading support groups for cancer patients and became certified in a healing technique called Emotional Brain Training. Molly shares about her experience of staying awake to the cycle of life and death. Like all of us, she finds herself going back to sleep sometimes, but she always seems to find a way to wake up again and that is a true inspiration.  If you enjoy this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. To check out our upcoming community workshops, visit cancertalks.com/zoom. If you're moved to donate, we would be very grateful. Our work is funded by your generous contributions. For more information visit cancertalks.com/donate. This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. Cheryl Buck is the vision and heart behind CancerTalks, Kaitlyn Stein makes this work financially sustainable, and Nora Rice helps spread the word through social media direction. As always, we want to extend a special thanks to our donors and friends. We couldn't do this without you! Learn More Grace in Dying by Kathleen Dowling Singh The Way of Grace by Miranda MacPherson Meditations on Boundless Love (Audio) by Miranda MacPherson The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski Cured by Jeffrey Rediger A Matter of Death and Life by Marilyn Yalom, Irving Yalom Wintering by Katherine May In Love by Amy Bloom The Mindfulness Self-Compassion Workbook by Kristin Neff PhD and Christopher Germer PhD The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate Go In and In by Danna Faulds (or any book of hers) Feast of Losses: A communion of Grief and Gratitude spoken by Kim Rosen and accompanied by Jami Siebers https://jamisieber.com/feast-of-losses Card Deck: The Cultivating Grace Card Deck by Miranda MacPherson Podcast: Tara Brach particularly the interview of Roland Griffiths PhD on meditation and psychedelics in the face of stage IV cancer Podcast: Insights at the Edge (Tami Simon founder of Sounds True)

Claire invited Polly Hoppin on to CancerTalks to highlight the power and the potential of focussing on cancer prevention, in addition to treatment. Polly co-founded the national Cancer Free Economy Network. The Network shares our vision for a world where no one gets sick from toxic chemicals polluting the places they live, learn, work, and play.  CanerTalks just became an Ally member of the network and we're excited to be part of their amazing work. Polly is also director of the Cancer & Environment Initiative at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell and Senior Advisor to the Cancer and Environment Network of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Polly received her Doctor of Science degree from Johns Hopkins University, in the course of which cancer arrived at her family's doorstep—an experience which, along with her own cancer journey more recently—enriched her life and work. If you enjoy this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. To check out our upcoming community workshops, visit cancertalks.com/zoom. If you're moved to donate, we would be very grateful. Our work is funded by your generous contributions. For more information visit cancertalks.com/donate. This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. Cheryl Buck is the vision and heart behind CancerTalks, Kaitlyn Stein makes this work financially sustainable, and Nora Rice helps spread the word through social media direction. As always, we want to extend a special thanks to our donors and friends. We couldn't do this without you!

Jimmy Maxwell is a pianist and band leader based in New Orleans who has played a central role in organizing the music of Mardi Gras for decades. He is also a lover of myth and has recently become the audio archivist for the Joseph Campbell foundation. Jimmy's Reading List: The Emperor of all Maladies by Siddhartha Murkherjee The Gene by Siddhartha Murkherjee The Hero With a 1000 Faces by Joseph Campbell Thou Art That by Joseph Campbell The Inner Reaches of Outer Space by Joseph Campbell The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing and the Future of the Human Race by Walter Isaacson If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.  This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. Cheryl Buck is the vision and heart behind CancerTalks, Kaitlyn Stein makes this work financially sustainable, and Nora Rice helps spread the word through social media direction. As always, we want to extend a special thanks to our donors, friends, and volunteers. We couldn't do this without you!

Mark Pingree is a PhD candidate in comparative literature with a background in philosophy. Inspired by his experience with cancer, his research explores the possibility that illness and disability offer new ways of thinking about what it means to be human in the age of ecological collapse. He has taught college courses in philosophy, film and literature and is currently also in training to become a psychoanalyst. Mark lives in queens New York with his orange tabby named Phaedo. The cover art for this episode is a photograph of the Mayak Power Plant in Russia. The surrounding area is one of the most radioactive regions of the world and, as you'll hear, plays an important element in Mark's cancer journey.  Mark's Reading List Illness as Metaphor by Susan Sontag The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde Plutopia by Kate Brown Notes from the Sick Room by Steve Finbow Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor by Rob Nixon If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate. 

Our guest today is Stacey Lawson. Stacey told me that at heart she's not just a business person or a politician, she's a change agent. She has been an advocate for climate solutions, the clean energy economy and climate justice across California and at the national level. Stacey also leads workshops on conscious business and leadership. She is currently Vice Chairman of Ygrene Energy Fund and an active board member of The Shift Network and the Institute of Noetic Sciences, among others.  Stacey's Reading List: Radical Remission by Kelly Turner Chris Beat Cancer by Chris Wark Crazy Sexy Diet by Chris Karr The Longevity Diet by Dr. Valter Longo (USC) Forks Over Knives (dir. Lee Fulkerson 2011) If you're listening on an iPhone, click the plus sign in the upper right corner to follow our show and get notified when a new episode is released.  If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.     

Maisie Sibbison-Alves is an artist and Shiatsu massage practitioner from Western Massachusetts. For the past ten years, Maisie has made home in many different cities up and down the Atlantic seaboard, organizing around wealth inequality and sharing skills and resources everywhere she goes. Above all, she is a phenomenal friend and one of my favorite people to turn over ideas with. This episode was recorded spontaneously and on an iPhone so you might notice a slightly different audio quality. Hopefully, you will also feel how much love was in the room. If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Sandra Marinella teaches writing as a tool for healing and transformation. For the past decade she has inspired hope among hundreds of veterans and cancer thrivers. Her book is titled: The Story You Need to Tell and is accompanied by storyyoutell.com where you can read dozens of inspiring stories and discover lots of writing tips and tools! This episode contains a reference to sexual assault. Please take care of yourselves and each other.  Recommended Reading Man's Search for Meaning by Dr. Viktor E. Frankel Opening Up by Writing It Down by James W. Pennebaker and Joshua M. Smyth The Story You Need to Tell by Sandra Marinella Radical Remission by Kelly Turner The Metabolic Approach to Cancer by Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley On Writing by Stephen King Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Wyatt Pickner is Hunkpati Dakota from the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe. He is currently the Research Manager at the American Indian Cancer Foundation whose focus is Healing with Culture and Reclaiming Indigenous Health. Wyatt grew up on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation, and now lives and works in Minneapolis, MN. He uses his masters in Public Health to improve the well-being of Native communities across the United States. For the past 10 years he has worked with tribes, tribal organizations, and Native-serving organizations at local, regional, and national levels on research projects, capacity building, training, and community engagement. Recommended Reading Be a Good Relative by Melissa Buffalo and Wyatt Pickner Connecting Traditional Values, Culture, and History to Battle Cancer in Indian Country by Wyatt Pickner If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

This is the final episode of 2022! We'll return in the New Year on January 13th.  Our guest is Jan Adrian. Many of you know Jan through our Community Workshops on Zoom, or maybe you had the joy of attending a Healing Journeys conference. Jan was our very first podcast guest. And now, more than two years later, we're continuing the conversation - touching in on how her own cancer journey has evolved and diving deeper into the story of how Healing Journeys came to be, as well as what it might look like to continue Jan's transformative work.  As we close out the year, it would mean so much to us if you would take a few minutes to leave a review in your podcast app. If you are wondering how you can support this work, you can make an end-of-year donation, for which we would be very grateful. Visit cancertalks.com/donate for more information. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. See you in the New Year! Jan's Reading List:  1. The Cancer Whisperer: Finding Courage, Direction, and the Unlikely Gifts of Cancer by Sophie Sabbage 2. Stones at the Crossing: Aiming True on My Journey from Scared to Sacred by Amy D. Webb 3. The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief by Francis Weller 

In this episode, Nandi Szabo shares what she's learned through decades of expressive art therapy. Nandi cultivates safe environments where people come together and discover what is seeking expression during the cancer journey. Nandi's workshops approach the cancer experience from many different angles, starting with an invitation to meet yourself where you are. All of them incorporate some element of movement - moving tension through the body. In her words, “we will think about it, feel about it, and then move about it.” Our conversation is full of beautiful resources including the concept of a “medicine bag.” The medicine bag is like a healing toolkit; when you find a certain practice or image to be supportive, Nandi will say “put that in your medicine bag!” as an invitation to remember this resource and return to it in difficult times. One of my favorite threads in our chat was about lightening up. Nandi lead a whole season of workshops on the theme of light. One of the questions she asked was, “What is the medicine of lightening up? This lead to a conversation about angels and flight and a beautiful answer emerged from the group: “Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.” Nandi's Reading List Art and Healing: Using Expressive Art to Heal your Body, Mind & Spirit by Barbara Ganim Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul by Shaun McNiff “Quotes About The Benefits of Art & Art-Making” “Art Therapy for People with Cancer” “Creative Arts Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy” “The Effectiveness of Expressive Arts Therapies: A Review of the Literature”

Our guest this week is Dorothy Paredes, author of the beautifully candid memoir, 26 & Fucked.  Dorothy is also the founder of The Atrium Foundation, an organization that supports people affected by cancer so they can thrive by covering expenses that aren't covered by insurance, including things that are outside of the realm of medical expenses. Dorothy and her team believe that mental health and wellness is as important as physical recovery. They have supported people with everything from rent, to alternative treatments, to school supplies for their children. Dorothy's long term vision with the Atrium Foundation is to build partnerships between therapists and oncologists so that people have built-in access to emotional support at every step of the cancer journey.  This conversation was extremely healing for me as the host, and I hope it will be the same for you as a listener.   

This week I talked to Lisa Gilmour who lost her brother to pancreatic cancer. Before he passed, she promised him she would do everything she could to make a difference. We talk about how his illness impacted their family and what it means to cultivate a sparkle of hope. To learn more about the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, go to pancan.org/. If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Karen Wonders is the Founder of Maple Tree Cancer Alliance, and a Professor of Exercise Physiology at Wright State University. She is passionate about advocating for exercise as a component of standard cancer care and a proud mom to her seven children. Karen's Reading List:  Moving Through Cancer: An Exercise and Strength-Training Program for the Fight of Your Life by Dr. Kathryn Schmitz The American Society of Clinical Oncology's Guidelines for Exercise, Diet, and Weight Management During Cancer Treatment If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Our guest this week is Elena Sonnino - a life coach, speaker, and yoga teacher. Elena's work is an invitation to unearth, attune to, and embody inner strength and wisdom so we can move through life with curiosity, purpose, and delight. She is the author of Inhabit Your Joy: A Book of Nudges. To get a taste of Elena's coaching work, enjoy this free guided meditation and connect with your truest self. You can connect with Elena and learn more about her work at elenasonnino.com Elena's Reading List:  The Alchemist by Paolo Coehlo Home Body by Rupi Kaur The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. We hope you'll join us for the next community workshop: Making Pease with Death. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Jade Sherer has devoted her life to showing up for people as they navigate life transitions, big and small. For more than twenty years, she has been a guide for nature-based transformation and holder of ceremonies, as well as a mentor to hundreds of people as they listen for what's next in their lives. Jade sees soul work and mindful self-reflection as crucial to community building, planetary care, and justice for the creatures of Earth. Jade lives with her four-legged significant other, Ubuntu, amidst the boulders of Prescott, Arizona. Jade's Reading + Resource List 1. Kellys Turner's Radical Hope and Radical Remission + the Radical Remission Docuseries 2. Cancer and the New Biology of Water by Thomas Cowan 3. Outmaneuver Cancer by Bob Eslinger 4. The Metabolic Approach to Cancer by Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate. 

This week, Claire speaks with Liz Butler whose practice is based on the idea that healing occurs when we are able to deepen our spiritual connection. She helps people with cancer and other serious illnesses connect to the wisdom held within our hearts. Informed by her training at the HeartMath institute in California, she has created a pathway to release emotional pain and make way for physical healing which she calls the 'The Heart's Path. She is currently writing a book about the heart that unites physiology, psychology and spirituality. Liz's Reading List “Cancer: A Connection Forgotten but not Lost” A blog post written this month by Liz herself! Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Kelly Turner The Cancer Whisperer: Finding Courage, Direction and the Unlikely Gifts of Cancer by Sophie Sabbage If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate. 

Mark Hancock co-founded Humanizing Medicine in Atlanta with the belief that everyone should have access to quality integrative healthcare. In addition to being board certified in family medicine, Mark has immersed himself in many different practices including painting, farming, and philosophy of medicine. Of painting, he says, “The absolute focus on receiving sense impressions in an awake, open, and scientific state of mind that occurs when painting a still life, portrait or landscape is also essential in medicine.” Mark lives with his wife and business partner Enid, and their six daughters on an urban homestead with chickens, goats, a food forest, and biodynamic-permaculture gardens. Mark's Reading + Resource List:  1. Radical Remission by Kelly Turner   2. Mistletoe and the Emerging Future of Integrative Oncology by Adam Blanning, Nasha Winters, and Stephen Johnson     2. This article by my mentor Maurice Orange: https://www.positivehealth.com/article/cancer/mistletoe-therapy-and-hyperthermia-for-cancer-turning-up-the-heat   3. This excellent video (subtitles in English) https://youtu.be/Pez2Uf-sU8k    If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate. 

Our guest Ellen Albertson is a psychologist and self-compassion teacher living in the Champlain Islands of Vermont. She brings over 25 years of counseling, coaching, and healing experience to her holistic practice and transformational work. As an author and radio host, she's known as The Midlife Whisperer™, helping women raise their vibration so they have the energy, confidence, and clarity to make their next chapter their best chapter.  When we spoke, Ellen had just spent the morning in her garden picking a bouquet for the radiation room and she zoomed off to treatment after we hung up. It's rare to be invited into someone's process when everything is still so raw. Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you find this candid conversation to be good company. Ellen's Resource List You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee Documentary: Fantastic Fungi Radical Remission and Radical Hope by Kelly Turner Anticancer Living by Lorenzo Cohen The Cancer Revolution by Leigh Erin Connealy The Metabolic Approach to Cancer by Dr. Nasha Winters

Our guest Sasha Soreff is a dancer, performance maker and creative community facilitator. These days she holds a workshop called “Mourning, Moving and Accompaniment” where she invites participants to explore grief in community through words, movement and stillness. If you're interested in signing up, visit sashasoreffdance.com Sasha created a short piece about her cancer treatment that incorporates film, dance and song called Sometimes I Sing.  Sasha's Reading + Resource List Podcasts: Tara Brach Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Imagined Life (great for learning about artists and leaders in very digestible, engaging ways when I didn't have a lot of energy) Books: The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo Anything by Madeleine L'Engle Anything by Annie Lammott The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon (Or anything fantasy/science fiction that would take me to another world).    

Dr. Patrick Vickers is a chiropractor by training and founder of the Advanced Gerson Therapy Clinic in Rosarito, Mexico. The Gerson Therapy is one of the most heavily censored cancer treatments in the world. A therapy based in nutrition, it challenges many core assumptions of conventional medicine. Cheryl received treatment at Dr. Vickers clinic in 2016 and followed the Gerson protocol for a long time after. She encorporates many Gerson principles into her healing journey to this day. Dr. Vickers would like to offer free access to six informational videos listed privately on his website. Go to www.gersonclinic.com and enter the password “podcast” to watch! You can learn more about The Gerson Clinic at gersonclinic.com Gerson Reading List: 1. Death Be Not Proud by John Gunther 2. A Cancer Therapy: Results of Fifty Cases and the Cure of Advanced Cancer by Diet Therapy by Max Gerson 3. Film: Dying to Have Known directed by Steve Kroschel

Our guest Shannon Howard is a spiritual teacher, life coach, and parenting mentor. She has devoted decades of study to the fields of psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and holistic health.  In this conversation, we discuss her mother's cancer journey, the importance of emotional intelligence and how to become your own healer. Shannon's upcoming book, written with Lonnie Green and entitled Integral Emotional Intelligence: Keys to Creating and Extraordinary Life, will be available from Amazon on September 1, 2022. Further resources will be available on the website highestgroundinstitute.org after August 15, 2022. Shannon's Reading & Resource List:  1. Joyful Evolution: A Guide for Loving Co-Creation with Your Conscious, Subconscious and Superconscious Selves by Gordon Davidson 2. The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles by Bruce Lipton 3. Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine by Candace Pert 4. 90 Seconds to a Life You Love: How to Master Your Difficult Feelings to Cultivate Lasting Confidence, Resilience, and Authenticity by Joan Rosenberg 5. A Time to Heal by Beata Bishop 6. Longevity: The Healing Technique. A powerful 30-minute guided healing meditation. https://www.lazaris.com/shop-product/lazaris-series/accelerated-journey/longevity-the-healing-technique/ 7. Healing: The Nature of Health, Part I (Product #401) Audio of Lecture.  https://www.lazaris.com/shop-product/healing-and-well-being/health-and-healing/healing-the-nature-of-health-part-i/ 8. Mark Hyman on episode 546 of The Doctor's Farmacy: Making Your Body an Unwelcome Place for Cancer to Grow. https://drhyman.com/blog/2022/05/26/podcast-ep546/ 9. The Gerson Therapy—Revised and Updated: The Natural Nutritional Program to Fight Cancer and Other Illnesses by Charlotte Gerson 10. Change Your Genes Change Your Life: Creating Optimal Health with the New Science of Epigenetics by Kenneth R. Pelletier 11. The Burzynski Clinic Leading Integrative Cancer Treatment Center. Short YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2g0hXEjkao 12. Knockout: Interviews with Doctors Who Are Curing Cancer and How to Prevent Getting It in the First Place by Suzanne Somers If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate. 

Our guest Liz Curran is a holistic health coach and co-founder of Health Navigators. Alongside her partner Karla, who I interviewed for episode 25, Liz works with cancer thrivers and those seeking to heal from chronic or emotional illness. Her work is based on the 10 Healing Factors introduced in Kelly Turner's book, Radical Remission. In this conversation, we discuss how Liz's loss of her sister to cancer led her to the Radical Remission Project, and how she works to create space for people to share their stories and forge their own pathway to healing. Liz's Reading List:  1. Radical Remission by Kelly Turner 2. Radical Hope by Kelly Turner 3. Daring Greatly by Brene Brown 4. May Cause Miracles by Gabrielle Bernstein 5. Learned Hopefulness by Dan Tomasulo 6. The Story That You Need to Tell by Sandra Marinella 7. The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown 8. Setting Boundaries Will Set You Free by Nancy Levin 9. Self-Love Workbook for Women by Megan Logan 10. The Power of Purpsoe by Richard J. Leider 11. Calling Cards by Richard J. Leider 12. Mind Ovwer Medicine (Revised Edition) by Lissa Rankin, M.D. 13. Self Compassion by Kristin Neff 14. Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani 15. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert 16. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown 17. Anticancer Living by Lorenzo Cohen and Alison Jefferies 18. Life Over Cancer by Dr. Keith Block 19. RX for Hope by Nick Chen and David Tabatsky  If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Our guest is Dorothy Paredes, author of the beautifully candid memoir, 26 and Fu¢ked If you'd like to read, it write to us at info@cancertalks.com and we'll send you a copy! Dorothy is also the founder of The Atrium Foundation, an organization that supports people affected by cancer so they can thrive by covering expenses that aren't covered by insurance, including things that are outside of the realm of medical expenses. Dorothy and her team believe that mental health and wellness is as important as physical recovery. They have supported people with everything from rent, to alternative treatments, to school supplies for their children. Dorothy's long term vision with the Atrium Foundation is to build partnerships between therapists and oncologists so that people have built-in access to emotional support at every step of the cancer journey.  This conversation was extremely healing for me as the host, and I hope it will be the same for you as a listener.  Dorothy's Reading/Resource List:  1. Type A Guide To Cancer by Lauren Candies Tarpley 2. Cancer Support Community 3. Cancer + Careers: Free Publications If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Write to us at info@cancertalks.com if you have a story to share. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Jade describes herself as a spiritual midwife. She spent the first 20 years of her professional life building a consulting business. When her mother was diagnosed with cancer Jade redirected her timme and energy to support her mother. Following her mother's death Jade spent years grieving, healing and recalibratinng her life. She said goodbye to the Bay Area and goodbye to consulting. For the 20 years since then Jade has been deepening her spiritual practice and fine tuning herself as an instrument of healing in the death and dying process. Jade reminds us that healing is not a rush job. As she puts it “you cannot force the river.” In order to become an instrument of healing, Jade first had to let herself heal, and in order to let herself heal, she moved from the fast lane to the slower pace of the Big Island and asked the ocean to hold her grief. This conversation winds and circles back on itself many times, just like the process of grieving. Jade's Reading List & Resources:   AARP – Checklist for My Family: A Guide to My History, Financial Plans and Final Wishes; by Sally Balch Hurme, an Elder Law Attorney quoted frequently in NY Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNN, NPR, Kiplinger's Retirement Report. BJ MILLER, M.D. Ted Talks – What Really Matters at the End of Life https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&ei=UTF-8&p=ted+talks+youtube+bj+miller&type=E211US105G0#id=1&vid=68dfedc905fc29bab4f13e4ce08afdc0&action=click Ira Byock, nationally renown palliative care specialist, M.D. – The Four Things That Matter Most: A Book about Living https://irabyock.org/books/the-four-things-that-matter-most/ Atul Gawande, M.D. – Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End http://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/ Paul Kalanithi, M.D. – When Breath Becomes Air     https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp/081298840X Katy Butler, award winning journalist - Knocking on Heaven's Door, The Art of Dying Well Joan Halifax, Founder and Director of Upaya Zen Center: Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion & Wisdom in the Presence of Death. https://www.upaya.org/being-with-dying/ https://www.upaya.org/dox/Being_Dying.pdf Frank Ostaseski, visionary co- founder of SF Zen Hospice, Metta Institute - Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. This book is an evocative and relevant guide that points to a radical path for transforming the way we live. https://fiveinvitations.com/   the secret teacher hiding in plain sight, helping us Cathy Wurzer, founder of End in Mind: A movement that advocates to shift the fear-based cultural conversation about loss, death, dying, and provides curated resources to families and communities.  https://www.endinmindproject.org/resources/ If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate

Our guest JJ Flizanes describes herself as an Empowerment Strategist. JJ shares her knowledge through podcasting, writing, speaking and coaching. Through JJ's extensive career as a personal trainer she's developed an acute awareness of the messages we receive from the body. One of the many resources JJ has created is The Invisible Fitness Formula, which I'll link to in the show notes. JJ's understanding of fitness goes far beyond the state of one's physical body to incorporate the ‘invisible' aspects of health. Invisible Fitness means cultivating balanced support structures of energy, nutrition, and emotional centeredness. In today's episode we talk about intuition's role in healing. Join us for the Strengthening Intuition workshop this June, 2022. Keep listening to learn more and visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you have an idea for a workshop or would like to lead one yourself. Please write to us at cancertalks.com/contact. Listen to JJ's podcast Spirit, Purpose and Energy here. JJ's Reading List:  1. Radical Remission by Kelly A. Turner 2. Biology of Belief by Bruce Lipton 3. Dying to Be Me by Anita Moorjani 4. Messages from the Body by Michael J. Lincoln 5. Whole Brain Living by Jill Bolte Taylor If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate

Karla Mans-Giroux is a holistic cancer coach, inspirational speaker, workshop facilitator, and cancer thriver. Karla works with other cancer thrivers to approach health with the whole person in mind. She knows that healing requires working with the body, mind, and spirit. In addition to developing food and exercise plans, Karla's coaching can include topics as diverse as news consumption, social media, stress management, and deepening your spiritual practice. For our regular listeners, it will come as no surprise that Karla is a big fan of Dr. Kelly Turner's works Radical Remission and Radical Hope. One of my favorite takeaways from our conversation was the idea that you can use your intuition as a foundation for working with the other nine healing factors. If we strengthen our intuition we can turn to it for guidance whenever we need help making decisions about our healing. On a related note, we have an intuition workshop coming up this June, so keep an eye out for an email with details about that. Karla's Reading List:  1. Radical Remission by Kelly A. Turner, PhD 2. Radical Hope by Kelly A. Turner, PhD 3. Mind Over Medicine by Lissa Rankin 4. Learned Hopefulness by Dan Tomasulo If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate

Our guest this week is Erica Rayner-Horn, a mindfulness-based psychotherapist, teacher, writer, and mother. As a Buddhist, Erica's first impulse upon receiving a cancer diagnosis was to go on retreat. She was disappointed to find there wasn't a mindfulness retreat for people with cancer, so she decided to create one! In this episode, Erica tells Cheryl about how she was shaped by her childhood in post-war England and how she met zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, back before meditation had become mainstream in the west. At the end of the episode, Erica offers a guided meditation. We hope you'll stick around to join us for that mindful moment. Erica's upcoming workshop is called The Power of Living Mindfully with Cancer. You can read more about the 5-week program and sign up here!  Erica's Reading List:  1. Radical Remission by Kelly A. Turner 2. Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh 3. Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Brach 4. True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart by Thich Nhat Hanh 5. Awakening Joy: 10 Steps to Happiness by James Baraz 6. 10% Happier by Dan Harris If you enjoyed this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. If you're moved to donate, please visit cancertalks.com/donate.

Our guest Evangeline Pesca is a speaker, humanitarian, entrepreneur and the founder and chief miracle-maker of withher.org. Most importantly, she is a beloved mother to three amazing young women. Evangeline's Reading List:  1. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle   2. The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz    3. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay   4. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche   5. Conversations With God I, II and III by Neale Donald Walsh   6. The Bible  CancerTalks is an interdependent community project with a production team of three and we count on your contributions. We'd like to thank Babara Young for her generous contribution. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider joining Barbara and becoming a donor. To support us starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks.  If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. 

Our guest today is Arlene Karole, lifelong learner, passionate journaler, and educator who has worked in healthcare for decades. Since her breast cancer diagnosis in 2015, she has been an advocate for patient empowerment and social support for women. Her recent book Just Diagnosed: What to Expect, What to Know and What to do Next is an invaluable resource for anyone with cancer. Arlene's Reading List:  1. Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Dr. Kelly A. Turner 2. The Blood Sugar Solution: The Ultra Healthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! by Mark Hyman M.D. 3. Love, Medicine and Miracles by Dr. Bernie S. Siegel 4. Eat Right for Your Type by Peter J. D'Adamo 5. Prepare for Surgery, Heal Faster by Peggy Huddleston 6. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl 7. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey 8. Nutrition and Breast Cancer Risk Reduction 9. The Well-Managed Healthcare Organization by Kenneth R. White, John R. Griffith 10. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - Healthy People 2030 CancerTalks is an interdependent community project with a production team of three and we count on your contributions. We'd like to thank Jarratt Applewhite for his generous contribution. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider joining Jarratt and becoming a donor. To support us starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks.  If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register.

As we head into season two of CancerTalks Podcast, Claire and Cheryl thought it would be nice to tell you a little bit about themselves and share the origin story of CancerTalks. Through this conversation, they arrive at a new realization of what CancerTalks is really about, namely, coming together to find ways to embody a world without cancer. If you find yourself unable to imagine a world without cancer, we invite you to listen to Cheryl and Claire's conversation as they try to describe what it might feel like.   One of the many people who we think is embodying a world without cancer is Rupa Marya, co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice. On a recent podcast, Rupa describes what she means by deep medicine and invites us to rethink our understanding of health. Her description aligns perfectly with our vision of a world without cancer so we decided to share the whole thing right here, edited slightly for flow: Deep medicine is recognizing that health exists beyond individuals. Health is an emergent phenomenon of systems within systems working in their optimum state. So we can try to get health as an individual, but we will not be as successful as [we would be] getting health for whole communities together… And by that, I mean the human and the more than human communities. I mean the water, and the air, and the microbes in the forest. So deep medicine is understanding how all of those things must intersect to create health, and that we have to open our perspectives and our ways of knowing to all the keepers of deep medicine, not just the doctors or the healthcare workers, but that our farmers, our frontline indigenous grandmothers standing up against Line 3 right now; that these are all people working for health. And when we work together and collectively and across disciplines together, we can create a different kind of reality. We can create a health for everybody. When we start imagining food as a right as it has been for thousands of years before capitalism, where our food and medicine have always been coexistent. They haven't been separated from each other—and it's still that way in many cultures around the world. When we insist upon our medicine, being outside of the tiny vocabulary of pharmaceuticals, not that we abandon science, Western science, or we abandon even those pharmaceuticals, but we abandon the logic of domination that they have been structured by and that we take back our right to have access to these things to be healthy when we need them. And that we incorporate the full range of languages and vocabularies of medicines, be they plant medicines, medicines of song, medicines of relationships, in order to achieve a vision and a reality of our health. So these practices are not… I'm not just talking about things that don't exist. These are things that are an active practice in communities around the world today. CancerTalks is an inter-dependent community project with a production team of three and we count on your contributions. We'd like to thank Karen Richmond for her generous contribution. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider joining Karen and becoming a donor. To support us starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks.  CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us for free workshops on Zoom. Visit cancertalks.com to register.

Happy new year and welcome to CancerTalks season 2! Our guest today is Ricki Pollycove, a doctor who founded San Francisco Integrative Gynecology with a commitment to listening carefully to women's health concerns, mood issues, and past experiences with health care. She is a mother and now a grandmother of two little girls. Ricki's Reading List:  1. Just Diagnosed by Arlene Marie Karole 2. Peace is Every Step and The Art of Living by Thich Nhat Hanh 3. Into the Magic Shop by Jim Doty 4. The Five Invitations by Frank Ostaseski 5. Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying by Stephen and Ondrea Levine 6. Goddesses in Everywoman by Jean Shinoda Bolen  7. The Wounded Healer by Linda Leonards 8. Drama of the Gifted Child by Alice Miller CancerTalks is an inter-dependent community project with a production team of three and we count on your contributions. We'd like to thank Barbara Striebel for her generous contribution. To support us starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks. If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us on Zoom for community workshops. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register for the next one.

This week, Claire speaks with Valarie Iosue (pron. yo-sway), a mother of four, a beloved friend to many, and one of the most inspiring examples of what it means to be a cancer thriver. Valarie shares how she's redefining the Wonderwoman archetype as something that every woman already is. Valarie wore her Wonderwoman suit on the last day of treatment to call attention to the power that is always inside us and also constantly changing shape. One of Valarie's main sources of strength is remembering that all we have is now. Her approach to cancer, friendship, motherhood, and pretty much everything else in life is inspired by her favorite quote… “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain” Valarie has her own podcast Dancing in the Rain with Valarie where she talks about her cancer journey, rape culture, resilience, trauma, dance, and much more. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts! You can follow Valarie on Instagram @DancingInTheRainWithValarie and on Twitter @Valarie429 Valarie's Recipe for Thriving Friends, family, my kids, dance, crocheting, Buti yoga, staying active (rock climbing, walking, kickboxing, gym), staying in the present moment (not getting overwhelmed by looking too far ahead), starting a podcast to use my experiences to inspire other people, having fun!! Valarie's Reading List Radical Hope by Kelly A. Turner Ph.D. and Tracy White When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön Space-Time and Beyond by Bob Toben with Jack Sarfatti and Fred Wolf Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living your Dreams by Mike Dooley The Akashic Records: Unlock the Infinite Power, Wisdom, and Energy of the Universe by Sandra Anne Taylor Leave us a review to help others find the show! We are committed to sharing a new story every two weeks. As a listener-funded community organization, we count on your contributions. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider becoming a monthly donor. To support the show starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo, Annie Murnighan, and Cheryl Buck with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. As always, a special thanks to our donors, friends, and volunteers. We couldn't do this without you. The photo used in the cover art is by Bill Kendzierski. See more of his work on Instagram: @wkendzierski

Doniga Markegard is a wildlife tracker, regenerative rancher, speaker, and author of Dawn Again: Tracking the Wisdom of the Wild and Wolf Girl: Finding Myself in the Wild. In this episode, Cheryl and Doniga talk about the connection between our health and the health of the soil.  Doniga's teen years in nature school started her on a path that led to a career in animal tracking and then permaculture and ranching at her farm in California, Markegard Family Grass-Fed, where she works to regenerate both soil and community through farming. Using the innovative, carbon-storing methods of regenerative ranching, she's restoring the land she tends, bringing native grasses and wildlife back. Doniga is a consultant and guest instructor at nature awareness programs around the country, has led retreats in places such as 1440 Multiversity, Canyon Ranch, and is a regular speaker at events such as the Bioneers Conference, Food Inspiration Trendsummit, and The Grassfed Exchange. She is a certified educator with Holistic Management International. Most recently, she has been featured in the film Kiss the Ground which is available on Netflix.  If you enjoy this conversation, please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us on Zoom - every other Thursday at 5 pm Pacific. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. CancerTalks is an inter-dependent community project with a production team of three and we count on your contributions. We'd like to thank Carolyn Buck-Luce and Rob Evans for their contribution. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider joining Carolyn and Rob and becoming a donor. To support us starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks. Doniga's Reading List:  Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer     Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert    Grow Wild and Move your DNA by Katy Bowman 

Annah Taylor Phinny is a Priestess of Avalon, author, and psycho-spiritual healer whose mission is to support the remembrance of the divine feminine in all beings. Her forthcoming book titled “Lady of the Lake, Rise: Breast Cancer as a Path to Wholeness Through the Eyes of a Priestess of Avalon” is poised for release in 2022. Please follow her on Instagram @avalon.calling and read more at avaloncalling.org Annah shares with Cheryl about the way she reframed surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy so she could receive them as sacred medicine. If you're an interested publisher, please contact Annah's literary agent Faye Atchison at fayeatchison@mcbridelit.com If you enjoy this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. If you'd like to be in community with other cancer thrivers seeking personal transformation join us on Zoom - every other Thursday at 5 pm Pacific. Visit cancertalks.com/zoom to register. CancerTalks is an inter-dependent community project with a production team of three and we count on your contributions. We'd like to thank Vivica Taylor for her contribution. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider joining Vivica and becoming a donor. To support us starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks. Annah's Reading List: The Cancer Revolution by Leigh Erin Connealy MD Spiritual Bypassing by Robert Augustus Masters PhD Loyalty to Your Soul by H. Ronald Hulnick Ph.D., Mary R. Hulnick PhD Breasts: the Owner's Manual: Every Woman's Guide to Reducing Cancer Risk, Making Treatment Choices, and Optimizing Outcomes by Dr. Kristi Funk The Book of Lymph: Self Care Practices to Enhance Immunity, Health, and Beauty by Lisa Levitt Gainsley Living Foods for Optimum Health: A Highly Effective Program to Remove Toxins and Restore Your Body to Vibrant Health by Brian Clement and Theresa DiGeronimo Food is Medicine volumes 1-3, by Brian R Clement Ph.D., NMD, LN,  Farmacy Kitchen Cookbook: Plant-based Recipes for a Conscious Way of Life by Camilla al-Fayed Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley Crossing to Avalon: A Woman's Midlife Quest for the Sacred Feminine by Jean Shinoda Bolen Mary Magdalene Revealed by Meggan Watterson Anything by my teacher Kathy Jones available at https://kathyjones.co.uk/bookstore,  The Podcast "Breast Cancer Conqueror" hosted by Dr. Veronique Desaulniers aka Dr. V.    

Our guest Ian Becke started his career as a family physician. He went on to co-found Hospice of the Verde Valley in Arizona, and served as the director of Group Health Hospice Kitsap County in Washington State. Claire chats with Ian about the history of hospice and the need for holistic cancer care, even (or especially) when the cancer isn't curable. Ian was born in Sydney, Australia in 1948 and migrated to the United States with his wife Bonnie in 1973, where they have resided ever since. In 2020, he was diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme.  He has three boys and five grandchildren and he speaks with us today from his home in western Washington. Ian's Reading List:  Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, MD. On Death and Dying and The Five Stages of Grief by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Our guest Christine Chen teaches humanities at St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is a professional violinist and less professional wrangler of 2 kids.  Claire talks to Christine about picking up the pieces after cancer and trying to let go of the desire to return to the way things were before. Christine's Cancer Lit: Anne Boyer, The Undying Nina Riggs, The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying Paul Kalanathi, When Breath Becomes Air Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved Christine's Fiction List: Herman Melville, Moby Dick; Leo Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilyich Albert Camus, The Plague Rachel Cusk, Kudos, Transit, Outline If you enjoy this conversation, we'd love it if you could leave a review in your podcast app. If you're moved to donate, please visit https://www.patreon.com/cancertalks. For subtitles, you can watch on Youtube.  CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Visit https://cancertalks.com/mystory to share your story! You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.  This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo, Annie Murnighan and Cheryl Buck, with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. We want to extend a special thanks to our donors, friends, and volunteers. We couldn't do this without you.

CancerTalks es un podcast que comparte historias personales de transformación de personas cuyas vidas han sido tocadas por el cáncer. Este es el primer episodio de CancerTalks en español!  La Dra. Marili Leopold es egresada de la Universidad Anáhuac, con Maestría en Ciencias Médicas y Diplomado en Nutrición. Con especialidad en Medicina Integrativa en el Dr. Weil Center For Integrative Medicine en la Universidad de Arizona. Es co-autora de varios artículos científicos publicados en el extranjero y tiene su práctica clínica enfocada en medicina Integrativa, estilo de vida y medicina ambiental.  Victor Saadia es empresario, autor, consultor, speaker y profesor. Es Licenciando en Economía por el ITAM y tiene una Maestría en Pensamiento Social Interdisciplinario por la Universidad de Nueva York. Ahora cursa su segunda maestría en Medicina Regenerativa y su Doctorado en Pensamiento Crítico en Suiza. Es fundador de BioCenter, una agrupación de negocios relacionados a la medicina regenerativa; y de ALIVE, una consultora de bienestar. Victor es curador de contenidos en La Ciudad de las Ideas, profesor de tiempo parcial en el ITAM y autor de artículos científicos relacionados a la educación, la epistemología y filosofía de la ciencia. Es Presidente Fundador de la Asociación Mexicana de Medicina de Estilo de Vida, autor del libro: “Estilo de Vida: En Consciencia” y creador del Podcast: “Volver al Futuro”. CancerTalks es un proyecto comunitario interdependiente con un equipo de tres personas y contamos con tu contribución para poder operar. Si haz aprendido de estas conversaciones o te han inspirado, por favor considera convertirte en un donador mensual. Para apoyar el programa a partir de 5 dólares al mes, o para hacer una mayor contribución deducible de impuestos, visita Patreon.com/cancertalks. Si disfrutaste de esta conversación, por favor deja una reseña en tu aplicación de podcast. Este programa es una plataforma para cualquier persona que haya sido tocada por el cáncer. Ve a cancertalks.com/mystory para unirte a la conversación. Este podcast fue producido por Claire de Laszlo y Annie Murnighan. Annie también proporcionó música original para el episodio. Como siempre, queremos extender un agradecimiento especial a nuestros donantes, amigos y voluntarios. No podríamos hacer esto sin cada uno de ustedes.

Our guest this week is Terri Tate - humorist, memoir coach, and author of A Crooked Smile. Terri has lived many lives: psychiatric nurse, therapist, hypnotherapist, speaker, consultant - but her favorite work of all is teaching memoir writing classes. Check out Terri's website for more info!  Terri's Reading List: 1. I Am the Word by Paul Selig 2. Love, Medicine & Miracles by Bernie Siegel 3. A Course in Miracles  4. When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris 5. Hallelujah Anyway by Anne Lamott • • • Leave us a review to help others find the show! We are committed to sharing a new story every two weeks. As a listener-funded community organization, we count on your contributions. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider becoming a monthly donor. To support the show starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks

Our guest this week is Rev. Nancy McKay, a feminist Christian minister in the United Church of Christ who offers spiritual direction. Nancy taught healing prayer for years and these days, she participates in expressive writing classes. Nancy attended the first Healing Journeys conference in 1994 and has been committed to that work ever since. This conversation will be guided by Cheryl Buck. Leave us a review to help others find the show! We are committed to sharing a new story every two weeks. As a listener-funded community organization, we count on your contributions. If you've learned from or been inspired by these conversations please consider becoming a monthly donor. To support the show starting at $5 a month, or to make a larger tax-deductible contribution, visit Patreon.com/cancertalks  

Naturopathic doctor Chris Holder invites his patients to explore everything that led up to their cancer diagnosis - medical, spiritual, emotional - in order to empower patients to make changes in their lives that might prevent cancer recurrence. Chris talks with Claire about the power of educating patients so they can make their own health decisions without fear. His healing practice centers around trust - whether a patient is working to stay on this planet, or making peace with death. The process of building trust requires a lot of listening - taking the time to understand a person's belief system and any trauma that might be getting in the way of healing. If you enjoy this conversation, we'd love it if you could leave a review in your podcast app. If you're moved to donate, please visit https://www.patreon.com/cancertalks. For subtitles, you can watch on Youtube.  This podcast is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Visit https://cancertalks.com/mystory to share your story! You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.  This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo, Annie Murnighan and Cheryl Buck, with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. We want to extend a special thanks to our donors, friends, and volunteers. We couldn't do this without you.

Morhaf Al Achkar MD, PhD, is a family physician and associate professor at the University of Washington. After migrating to the U.S. from his birthplace of Aleppo, Syria in 2006, he obtained his PhD in Education from Indiana University. He is the author of three books, including Roads to Meaning and Resilience with Cancer and Being Authentic.  In 2016, in his early 30s, Morhaf was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. Since then, his research has focused on the experience of people living with cancer, exploring how these patients find meaning, cope, and build resilience.  Morhaf's Reading List:  1. The Phenomenology of Spirit by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 2. The Theory of Communicative Action by Jürgen Habermas 3. Making It Explicit by Robert Brandom If you enjoyed this conversation please leave a review in your podcast app. CancerTalks is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Go to cancertalks.com/mystory to join the conversation. If you are moved to donate, please visit patreon.com/cancertalks. This podcast was produced by Claire de Laszlo, Annie Murnighan and Cheryl Buck, with editing and original music by Annie Murnighan. We want to extend a special thanks to our donors, friends, and volunteers. We couldn't do this without you.

This week we talk with Pauline Koinis, a medical intuitive who incorporates many different healing modalities into her work. Her forthcoming book, Cancer is Personal, tells the story of her cancer journey and how she forged her own path to wellness.  Pauline is a force of nature. A “motorcycle mama,” as her kids call her, Pauline has faced two near-death experiences head-on. Rather than closing her eyes and wishing illness away, she believes in inviting it in as you would a guest in your home. When not writing, counseling, and speaking, Pauline enjoys traveling, singing, dancing, walking on the beach with her dog, Poe, and riding her motorcycle down long winding roads. If you need subtitles, you can view the episode on our YouTube page. Pauline's Reading List 1. Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Kelly Turner 2. Dying To Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing by Anita Moorjani 3. Plant Spirit Medicine by Eliot Cohen 4. Awakening to the Dream by Leo Hartong 5. Sacred Contracts" Awakening your Divine Potential by Carolyn Myss 6. Why People Don't Heal and How They Can by Carolyn Myss 7. Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings by Pema Chodron 8. Welcoming the Unwelcome: Wholehearted Living in a Brokenhearted World by Pema Chodron 9. Tripping over the Truth: The Metabolic Theory of Cancer by Travis Christofferson 10. How to Starve Cancer by Jane McClelland Pauline also holds these two poems close to her heart: The Guest House by Rumi and The Invitation by Oriah. If you enjoy this conversation, we'd love it if you could leave a review in your podcast app. If you're moved to donate, please visit https://www.patreon.com/cancertalks. This podcast is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Visit https://cancertalks.com/mystory to share your story! You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.

This week we talk with author Melissa Alvarado Sierra about personal, intergenerational, and communal trauma. Melissa paints a vivid analogy between herself and her homeland, Puerto Rico. Just as cancer uncovered her personal trauma, hurricanes in Puerto Rico have exposed millions of pounds of war chemicals dropped by the U.S. Navy. Melissa turns towards her cancer, towards the pollution in her homeland with optimism and a belief that healing is always possible. Melissa's writing has been published or is forthcoming in The New York Times, ZORA, Catapult, The Caribbean Writer, and The Puerto Rico Review. Her newest book La Narrativa Activista de Rosario Ferré: Feminismo e Identidad is a critical reading of the work of poet/essayist Rosario Ferré. Ferré suggests that women have suffered the same fate as Puerto Rico itself: colonized, mistreated, and forgotten. Through her writing, Melissa is healing this violent past: de-colonizing, caring for, and remembering the power of Caribbean women. If you need subtitles, you can view the episode on our YouTube page. ••• Melissa's Reading List 1. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle 2. Cured by Jeffrey Rediger, MD 3. The Empath Experience by Sydney Campos 4. Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards 5. The Undying by Anne Boyer 6. The Invisible Girls by Sarah Thebarge 7. Reading and Writing Cancer by Susan Gubar 8. Energy Work by Robert Bruce 9. Saving My Neck by Timothy McCall, MD 10. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk 11. I Am Diosa: A Journey to Healing Deep, Loving Yourself, and Coming Back Home to Soul by Christine Gutierrez Melissa's Watch List Conquering Cancer 101: https://youtu.be/vLu9lS1thG8 Cancer and Exercise: https://youtu.be/ffgAVrANmS4 Nausea Meditation: https://youtu.be/TMHzN_W9-GM The Power of Now: https://youtu.be/Xeuj93J0Z3Y ••• If you enjoy this conversation, we'd love it if you could leave a review in your podcast app. If you're moved to donate, please visit https://www.patreon.com/cancertalks. This podcast is a platform for anyone who has been touched by cancer. Visit https://cancertalks.com/mystory to share your story! You can also follow us on Instagram and Facebook.