Campfires of Hope: Stories of Cancer

When Sara Marian Lucking was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in 2022, she was on maternity leave from her career as a dermatologist. She shares that being a healthcare professional going through cancer had its pros and cons. While her background knowledge helped her get to a diagnosis faster, it was scary to know so much about the uphill battle she would face with her specific diagnosis and...

Brad Glassel, a stage three prostate cancer survivor, returns to the Campfires of Hope podcast for an episode of Keepin’ It Real. He discusses life following completion of cancer treatment and the difficulty of figuring out how to move on. After attending supportive communities like Epic Experience and local story slams, he discovered the importance of moving forward by embracing new c...

In the inaugural Keepin’ It Real episode on the Campfires of Hope podcast, we dig deeper into the mental and emotional side of a cancer diagnosis with Dana Shelton Lee, who is living with stage 4 colon cancer.

Dana discusses the impact that multiple recurrences, surgeries, and over 40 rounds of chemotherapy has had on her psyche. She keeps it rea...

Nils Palsson is a father, author, educator, and testicular cancer survivor. Nils was diagnosed in 2021 and by 2023 was declared to have no evidence of disease. He describes his cancer journey as dance, not a battle. Fittingly, the memoir he is currently writing is titled Cancer Dancer.

For Nils, the hardest part about cancer survivorship was...

Stephanie Luning was just 24 years old when she was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2005. Following surgery and treatment, she was in the clear for six years. Then, in 2011, her doctor noticed a suspicious spot on her regular scan. Stephanie details how she navigated getting several second opinions, all of which provided different options. With so much information to process and a very impor...

Manny De La Cruz was diagnosed with testicular cancer in January 2022. After several surgeries and four rounds of chemotherapy, he showed no evidence of disease in March 2023. 

Manny describes his cancer journey as “riding a wave”: every time something good happened, it was shortly followed by something bad. Through this wave-riding, Manny has gotten bette...

Gretchen Simpson was shocked when she was diagnosed with stage 2 triple positive breast cancer in early 2021. She ate healthy, exercised regularly, and had no family history of cancer. She was subsequently surprised by how much love and support she received from her friends and community throughout her cancer journey. Friends picked her up at 5 a.m. for the two-hour drive for treatment and docto...

Lena Rutherford was just 24 years old when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, in the prime of her social life. After receiving the news, she left Chicago with a moment’s notice and headed back home to her family in Colorado, leaving behind her apartment and friends. There, she started six months of chemotherapy. During that time, she often felt lonely and isolated, partly because she was stuc...

Emma Reese was two weeks from her 28th birthday when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2016. She had just been married the year prior and her daughter was six months old.

At first, she was numb to the news, but she pushed through and went into “go mode” because she had treatment to start and a baby to care for. After completing chemo and beating cancer fo...

Lana Boes, a.k.a Donut, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2007 and beat it. After six years of being cancer-free, however, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. As chemotherapy treatment eventually stopped being effective, Lana began to lose hope--until she qualified for a clinical trial and miraculously went into complete remission. 

Despite having no evide...

When Mike Scherer was 26, he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. After beating cancer, Mike and his wife, Megan, hoped to start their family. They went through infertility treatments during what became a difficult, isolating, and emotional journey. After two and a half years, they were happy to learn they’d be having a son!

The S...

Ronald Bye, a.k.a. Big Hoss, was 20 years old when he discovered that what he thought was a hernia was actually testicular cancer. Being that it was the 1970s, diseases with a “sexual” connotation weren’t openly discussed, particularly by a young male. As a result, Ron didn’t tell anyone other than his family and boss about his cancer. He kept this secret for 30 years and shut down all emotion. He fi...

Nicole Gleason and Jared Scorsone are both part of the training team at BFitBWell, a cancer exercise program offered by the University of Colorado Cancer Center. They detail how the program works and how it improves strength, stamina, and quality of life for cancer patients during and shortly after treatment. In addition, they describe the mental and emotional benefits that exercise can have, includi...

When Dr. Amy Rothenberg, a breast and #ovariancancer survivor, finished #chemotherapy in 2015, she pledged to do a sprint triathlon with her entire family just six months later. To this day, she still completes at least one each year. She focuses on regular exercise, eating an anti-inflammatory diet, working on her “head game," and being outdoors, enjoying nature as much as possible.

Her advice to a #cancersurvivo...

Asa Newell was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2020 when he was 17 years old. In response, he thought, “I can either curl up in a corner or I can be the most positive person I can be.” He chose the latter.

Asa details the challenges of being in high school as a young adult cancer survivor, primarily how others his age didn’t always know how to react when they fo...

Nancy Ferro, a.k.a. Mama Lou, founded Epic Experience after her son Michael was diagnosed with testicular cancer. She joins the Campfires of Hope podcast to share her experience as a caregiver and mother of a adult child with cancer. Mama Lou details how she coped and provided support despite being told by Michael, “I have cancer and we’re not going to cry about it.” Cancer affects the entire family, and Mama Lou describes how each...

Missy Burgess was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic. As a result, she spent many months physically isolated from others and had to get creative about finding support in her medical team, online cancer survivorship meetups like Epic Experience’s Campfire Chats, and Facetiming with her friends. Missy details how she was able to take advantage of her extra independent time to keep a positive...

Just as Edie “Blaze” Harrison was feeling as fit and healthy as ever, she tested positive on her Cologuard at-home colorectal cancer screening. In March of 2021, she was diagnosed with rectal cancer. Blaze went through chemo, radiation, and surgery before she was declared NED in January 2022. 

Despite a clean bill of health and a positive outlook on life, she was still new to the process of being a survivor. After finding E...

At first, Denny “Stretch” Williams chalked up his abdomen pain to a muscle strain. But the pain worsened over the next few months, and in January of 2022, Stretch was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Though difficult, Stretch and his wife were up front with their two teenagers and kept them in the loop each step of the way.

After five rounds of chemo and 28 radiation treatments, Stretch was declared NED, no evidence of disease,...