Not You, Too! - Time for the Mothers to Share Cancer Journeys, too!

Ever wonder what it's like for both a mother and daughter to experience and navigate a breast cancer diagnosis at the same time? What about when both thirty-five year old daughters are the ones with Stage Four Metastatic Breast Cancer and their mothers are the ones with Stage 1 breast cancer, and Wren’s mother who’s also been living with Metastatic Ovarian Cancer for the last eight years.Join Wren and Brittany as they share two inspirational, yet very deep and educational conversations had with both their mothers who were also diagnosed with breast cancer, but early stage breast cancer. We always talk about how unbelievably different an early stage diagnosis is from a late stage diagnosis; but you never think you’ll have to share that very complicated space with a person whom you love most. One example is listening to how Brittany and her mom navigate and talk about the difficulty of “ringing the bell” as an early stager completing treatment when a late stager with MBC will never complete treatment or have the opportunity to ring that bell. Listen how Brittany and her mother talk about how important open communication is, along with the sensitivity levels that are needed when supporting one another on these very different journeys. “We were each a cheerleader for one another, but at the same time, you could tell we were on two entirely different teams. We have two separate journeys here, but we have to respect each others journeys and the different hardships they each bring”The very different perspectives are severely eye opening for anyone listening, and we are so grateful that our mothers graciously offered to join us on the podcast! Wren and her mother’s shared experience of living with a lifelong diagnosis is what allows them to lean on one another in times of need. It’s a very crucial conversation involving the importance of advocacy and what you can do to advocate for yourself, especially having the BRCA mutation.It's not necessarily the mother/daughter shared experience the four women had been longing for, but you'll be amazed at the level of physical/ emotional/ psychological/ and spiritual strength you feel when listening to both of these very different conversations. Having a positive attitude, being able to find laughter in the most uncomfortable of situations, and ultimately, having unconditional faith and belief in God is what will see you through this.