Lessons from cancer & covid

This week's episode was such a powerful conversation for me! Tina Conrad, AKA host of the podcast DJ Breast Cancer, joined me to talk about her latest project, a book of poetry 'From C to C', and how her experience with breast cancer helped her during covid. Tina published 100 episodes of her podcast before focusing on a new dire

Tina Conrad, podcaster, poet, and cancer survivor

ction writing her book.

Recently, I've wanted to focus on how we heal after cancer in the interviews for the podcast. I'm at a point where I'm putting more energy into restoring parts of my life post-cancer. There really isn't a template for us to follow when treatment ends, so much goes into our treatment and destroying cancer. Post-cancer life has felt much

harder for me - it's almost like the reset to factory settings button was pressed and I'm having to figure out who I am all over again.

Writing through cancer

A few nights after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, Tina Conrad woke in the middle of the night with a story in her head. She jumped out of bed to write it down, scared it would be fleeting like a dream. Tina's story was about a magic potion and how cancer is like a poison yet at the same time a beautiful gift you could be given. Writing was something that helped Tina through the highs and lows of breast cancer - one poem that stood out to me was about crying in the shower. She talks about the shower being somewhere you can be alone and let out your emotions.

Faith, family and breast cancer

Tina was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013. Her mother had been through breast cancer twice so she had started getting mammograms in her early thirties. Tina noticed a change to her breast - her nipple started to invert and she knew it wasn't her norm. I asked Tina if her breast cancer diagnosis had challenged her faith. She reflected on her mother's breast cancer diagnosis which happened around the time of 9/11. Tina was in her mid-20s at the time and says it felt like the outside world had changed forever. And the stability of her internal family was changed and broken.

Her faith was challenged when her mother had a cancer recurrence three years after her diagnosis. She said it was a point where her faith was at its lowest, she felt bitter and angry. Tina remembers thinking it didn't make sense, she couldn't understand how it could come back when they'd got through it and life was starting to feel good again. She said it felt like it may never end, or her mum might really like die from cancer.

It was an entirely different experience when Tina was diagnosed with cancer. She's not sure why but Tina says she had a sense that things were going to be OK. Tina explains that she knew things were messed up and that she was confused about where life had taken her. Yet at the same time she felt this overwhelming sense that no matter what happens, she would be okay.

The gifts from covid and cancer

When Covid hit in 2020 Tina found a lot of emotions were stirred up. She describes herself as someone who is constantly busy but covid has forced her to slow down again. Tina talked about space opening up for her to hear and feel the presence of God more in her life. She says it was similar when she was diagnosed with cancer, she doesn't necessarily believe God gives people cancer. She does think cancer helped her learn to slow down and to reprioritize her life.

I loved my conversation with Tina, there's was a lot of her story I related to. Especially having learn to listen to my body and slow down.

Let me know how you have slowed down or what you have added to your life to nourish your mind, body, and spirit since cancer and/ or covid.

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