Episodes
July 6, 2021
You’re Stronger Than You Believe: Reflections on Limb Loss
Four young adults with amputations due to their cancer treatment reflect on their experience. They share what it was like to come to terms with the limb loss, adapting to the new reality, interacting with the public and much ...
June 15, 2021
Between Two Kingdoms Discussion
You finish cancer treatment and then what? Suleika Jaouad's memoir, Between Two Kingdoms, beautifully captures the young adult cancer experience. Traveling through diagnosis to discovering and creating a life after treatment,...
June 1, 2021
Twenty Years Later
What is life like twenty years after a cancer diagnosis? Does life ever return to ‘normal’? The Life on Pause crew talks with three different cancer survivors, who are twenty years post-diagnosis. Does scanxiety ever go aw...
May 18, 2021
The Boot Camp of Bone Marrow Transplant
A bone marrow transplant can be life-saving and changing for some oncological and non-oncological conditions. Terry Shapiro, CRNP, with 30 plus years of experience, talks with four young adults about their experience with th...
May 4, 2021
Social Media: The Public Side of Cancer
What to post? What to share? Social media can be tricky enough without a cancer diagnosis. Listen in as Sarah Daniels, AYA Child Life specialist and social media researcher from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, facilit...
April 20, 2021
Through Cancer with Video Games
How do you continue to connect to friends, keep your mind engaged and yet distracted from dark thoughts and pass the time in the infusion room? Through video gaming, of course. Three teens share their cancer experience and ...
April 6, 2021
Overcoming the impact of cancer treatment with exercise
Cancer treatment impacts greatly impacts the physical treatment. This podcast begins with young adults sharing their experiences of physical deconditioning, regaining strength and exercises role in helping cope with cancer. ...
March 16, 2021
Body image and how it is impacted during cancer treatment
Joined by Julie Larson, clinical social worker with a focus on cancer patients, the Life on Pause crew discusses cancer’s impact on body image. From the moon face from steroids, hair and limb loss to changes in body capabilit...
March 2, 2021
Pets as Medicine
Furry friends offer a lot in the way of medicine and therapy during cancer treatment. In this episode, young adults talk with Karen Casto of Canine Assistants about the role of animals as supports during cancer. From pure ent...
Feb. 16, 2021
Emily's story from diagnosis to life afterwards
Listen in to Emily’s story as she walks us through her cancer diagnosis which isn’t a straightforward one and done diagnosis. She also describes her experience with anti-mnda receptor encephalitis, life in a rehab hospital ...
Feb. 2, 2021
The Unmentionables
This episode, the young adults talk about some of the ‘unmentionable’ parts of the cancer experience. Join them as they discuss using a humor (including a dark sense of humor), pulling the cancer card, ‘cancer perks’, body fu...
Jan. 19, 2021
College and Cancer
In this episode, Life on Pause talks with Marcus about his experience with cancer and college. How do you attend college with a compromised immune system? What is studying like with the effects of chemo? Should I use accommod...
Jan. 5, 2021
The Teen vs Young Adult Cancer Experience
This week the group discusses what parts of their lives were put on pause when they received their cancer diagnoses. From friendships, to college and careers, to the stepping stones of life, the group reflects on how they fac...
Dec. 21, 2020
Tips & Tricks from Life on Pause
Life On Pause is a podcast for and by young adults living with cancer. Each month, young adult cancer patients from Penn State Health share honestly about their cancer diagnosis, treatment and life afterwards. As cancer cause...