EPISODE 32

Parenting Through Cancer: Less Perfection, More Connection

August 27, 202550 min

About This Episode

When you’re diagnosed with cancer, everything changes — except your kids still need dinner, stories, clean clothes and someone to kiss them goodnight. In this episode, Faith shares how she and her husband navigated her stage 4 cancer diagnosis while raising two young daughters. With support from her care team and community, they worked to keep routines steady, emotions honest, and hope alive.

Joined by WashU Medicine gynecologic oncologist Andrea Hagemann, MD, and WashU Medicine clinical psychologist Amaris Tippey, PhD, we explore the emotional toll of parenting through illness, the power of honest conversations with kids, and how love, support and boundaries can carry a family through the unimaginable. This is an episode about resilience, community and the kind of strength that grows in the hardest places.

“This is Cancer” is brought to you by Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Wash U Medicine, and produced at Spot Content Studio in St. Louis, MO.

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EPISODE 33

A Novel Life: Writing New Chapters After a Childhood Cancer Diagnosis

September 24, 202538 min

About This Episode It’s hard not to compare Jenna’s life story to a novel. At age 15, she and her world were upended by lymphoma, a cancer of the immune system. As words like biopsy, chemo and radiation therapy became daily realities, her high school sweetheart, Colton, remained steadfast at her side, and her mother, Theresa, meticulously advocated for her care. Even after a relapse, Jenna was inspired by her  oncology team at Siteman Kids at St.…