Breast Cancer Conversations

Love the podcast? Send us a text!What if one of the most important breast cancer warning signs isn't a lump at all?When filmmakers Shelby and Nathan Slager discovered how few people knew about inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), they decided to do something unexpected: make a movie.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, host Laura Carfang sits down with Shelby, Nathan, and Shelby's mother, Mary, to explore the intersection of breast cancer, hereditary cancer risk, family relationships, and the power of storytelling to create change.Mary was...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!A breast cancer diagnosis brings far more than medical decisions. There are emotional challenges, treatment side effects, financial pressures, questions about clinical trials, and the ongoing need for trusted information and community. Yet many of these needs fall outside the traditional healthcare system.So who's filling those gaps? And how can we make sure people diagnosed with breast cancer can find the right resources when they need them?In this special roundtable episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, host Laura Carfang, co-founder and CEO of SurvivingBreastCancer.org...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Many people turn to CBD hoping for relief from pain, nausea, anxiety, sleep problems, and other side effects of cancer treatment. But CBD isn’t risk-free, and “natural” doesn’t necessarily mean harmless. It can be biologically active, product quality varies widely, and it may interact with medications used during breast cancer treatment.  magic-episode-02In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, we take an evidence-focused look at CBD and breast cancer: what research currently tells us, where evidence is still limited, and what patients should know before adding CBD to th...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!For many people with hormone receptor-positive breast cancer, taking a daily medication like tamoxifen can become part of life for years. But what does it actually feel like to live with the side effects day after day?In this candid episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura Carfang sits down with Lindsey, who was diagnosed with DCIS at age 37 after finding a lump herself. Following surgery and radiation, Lindsey began taking tamoxifen—and quickly discovered that the experience involved much more than simply taking a pill every morning....

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Your scans came back. The portal posted results before anyone called. There are four appointments on the calendar and a vocabulary nobody taught you — and underneath it all, the feeling that you're already behind.Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval spent 25 years treating women's breast and gynecologic cancers, much of it at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Her first piece of advice is the one nobody expects: slow down. Breast cancer treatment is urgent, she says, but it is not an emergency. It does not have to be solved in the next thirty-seven se...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!When Vic Clevenger's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, he and his brother had a thought that many men probably share:At least we're not women. We don't have to worry about breast cancer.Years later, Vic learned firsthand just how wrong that assumption can be.It started with what looked like a stain on his shirt. When Vic realized fluid was coming from his nipple, he initially assumed it was probably a cyst, pimple, or something minor.His fiancée...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!What happens emotionally after you've spent months—or years—focused on simply surviving cancer?Treatment may end. Scans may look good. Life may begin moving forward again. But that doesn't necessarily mean you've processed what happened to you.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura Carfang sits down with visual artist, therapeutic arts practitioner, author, and cancer survivor Nerissa Balland for an honest conversation about the emotional aftermath of cancer—and why healing and surviving aren't necessarily the same thing.Nerissa was diagnosed with m...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Listen to hear three very different perspectives on what radiation for metastatic breast cancer can really look like and what these women want others to know before starting treatment.Radiation can play a very different role in metastatic breast cancer than it does in early-stage disease.It may be used to treat a specific metastatic site, help control cancer in the brain, liver or bones, relieve pain, or—as you'll hear in this episode—become part of a much larger treatment strategy.In t...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!What if a blood test could detect signs of breast cancer at the molecular level?Circulating tumor DNA, or ctDNA, is generating growing interest among people diagnosed with breast cancer, particularly those wondering about recurrence, treatment response, and what may be happening in the body before something appears on conventional imaging.One test you may have heard about is Signatera.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura Carfang talks with Shannon and Erin, two women...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!What does life really look like five—or even ten—years after a metastatic breast cancer diagnosis?For many people, the initial diagnosis is filled with uncertainty, fear, and countless unanswered questions. But thanks to advances in treatment, more people are living longer with metastatic breast cancer than ever before, and with that comes an important conversation about what it means to continue living while navigating an incurable disease.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, host Laura Carfang is joined by Paula Bouckhuyt and...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Somewhere between the diagnosis and the last appointment, most of us stopped breathing all the way down. Not on purpose. The body braces, the jaw clenches, the shoulders come up — and then treatment ends, everyone tells you congratulations, and nobody mentions that your nervous system never got the memo that the emergency is over.In this episode, host Laura Carfang sits down with Brett Aldrich — Ayurvedic health counselor, breathwork facilitator, and former social services practitioner specializing in trauma awareness and domestic violence — for a conversation about what it takes...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!When you're living with breast cancer, the medical team treats the cancer — but who takes care of everything else? The fear that won't quiet down at 2 a.m. The diarrhea you're not sure is "bad enough" to call about. The FMLA paperwork, the school pickup, the light bill, the strange grief that shows up right when everyone expects you to feel grateful.In this episode, host Laura Carfang sits down with Dr. Julia Frydman, palliative care physician and medical director at Thyme Care, and Dr. Stephanie Broussard, director of...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Palliative care is one of the most misunderstood parts of cancer care. Many people hear the term and think it means hospice, end-of-life care, or giving up. But palliative care, also called supportive care, can be offered alongside active cancer treatment and is focused on improving quality of life.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, we hear from Kacie Flaherty, Joyce Garber, Paula Bouckhuyt, Hillary Stackpole, and Aimee Hoes, who are living with metastatic breast cancer about their unique experiences with palliative care.  Some were o...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!When many people hear the words "clinical trial," they immediately think of a last resort.But that's one of the biggest misconceptions in breast cancer care.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, host Laura Carfang sits down with Dr. Ada Waks, breast medical oncologist and clinical investigator at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, to demystify clinical trials and explain how they are shaping the future of breast cancer treatment.Dr. Waks cares for patients across all stages of breast...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!When you're diagnosed with breast cancer, your first thought is often survival.But what about everything that comes after?For many young adults diagnosed with breast cancer, questions about fertility, family planning, hormone health, identity, and future possibilities quickly become part of the conversation. Yet too many patients never learn about their options until after treatment has already begun.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura Carfang sits down with Kara Bendle, RN, MSN, CPN, CNL, Fertility Preservation and Adolescent & Young Adult (AYA...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Getting a mammogram should not feel complicated.Yet many women face delays, confusion, long wait times, and unanswered questions when navigating breast cancer screening and follow-up care.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura Carfang and William Laferriere sit down with Dr. Ryan Polselli, radiologist, entrepreneur, and founder of Mammolink, a mobile breast cancer screening company designed to bring mammography directly to women while reducing barriers to care.Dr. Polselli shares how his own experience as a medical student facing a potential cancer...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!What happens when breast cancer survivors and thrivers come together to celebrate 300 episodes of Breast Cancer Conversations?In this special milestone episode, host Laura Carfang welcomes members of the SurvivingBreastCancer.org community for an honest, heartfelt discussion about diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, metastatic breast cancer, advocacy, and finding connection after cancer.Together, they reflect on the stories that shaped them, the support that carried them through difficult moments, and what they wish every newly diagnosed patient knew.Whether you're newly diagnosed, living with metastatic breast...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!What happens when you give yourself one year to “get through breast cancer” — only to realize that the timeline is much longer and more complicated than you imagined?In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, I’m joined by Jessica Thomas, who was diagnosed with ER/PR-positive, stage 2B breast cancer with lymph node involvement. After finding a lump herself, Jessica moved through the overwhelming sequence of imaging, biopsies, chemotherapy, double mastectomy, radiation, reconstruction delays, implant complications, DIEP flap reconstruction, tamoxifen, and Verzenio.But as Jessica shares s...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!Hair loss during chemotherapy is often talked about as if it is expected, inevitable, or even superficial. But for many people diagnosed with breast cancer, losing your hair can affect identity, privacy, confidence, and the way others see you.In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, Laura talks with Jen Fernandez about her experience being diagnosed with breast cancer twice. The first time, Jen lost her hair. The second time, after a local recurrence, she decided to try cold capping.Jen shares what the process was...

Love the podcast? Send us a text!In this episode of Breast Cancer Conversations, host Laura Carfang speaks with Annick Pyfferoen about her experience being diagnosed with de novo metastatic breast cancer and navigating several lines of treatment including targeted therapy, chemotherapy, a clinical trial attempt involving tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, Enhertu, and Xeloda. She speaks openly about what it felt like to experience rapid progression and why having a plan, even one that may change, helps her navigate uncertainty.This episode is a reminder that metastatic breast cancer care is not only about what i...