The Deep C

When we were in treatment, I was one of those parents who wanted to hear everything about every single paediatric cancer family I could. Not only because I was looking for support, but because these were my new people. This was my new community and I wanted to fully immerse myself into this world because I simply didn’t fit in my old one anymore. One of the ways I was able to dive in was listening to the podcast Help and Hope Happen Here hosted by the most lovely and biggest hearted human, Mark Levine. Mark has immersed himself in the paediatric cancer world for different reasons than most of us have - he is not a cancer parent, but instead a true, full fledged ally to oncology parents and children who is dedicated to raising awareness and sharing our stories. Mark is close to 500 episodes of Help and Hope Happen Here - FIVE HUNDRED! He speaks to families, survivors, organizations, and clinicians connected to paediatric cancer, and he does it with so much care and attention to his guests. I really wanted to speak to Mark to ask him about what HE thinks when he talks to cancer parents, what he takes away, and what he sees and hears after spending hundreds and hundreds of hours in deep and meaningful connection with us. So, let’s dive deep with Mark.

The whole intention of this podcast is to give cancer parents a feeling of recognition - of knowing we’re not alone, and we do this by sharing our stories. Storytelling is how we connect at our most fundamental, primal selves - it’s the most ancient thread humans use to tie ourselves together and make sense of the world around us.Now, when you add music to those stories - when you communicate through song - well, that’s when things get even more profound, more connected. Music transcends language, music cuts through all the logic and meaning and connects us on a cellular level.And that’s what my guest today has done for the entire paediatric cancer community.Anna Palfreeman, a singer & songwriter from Seattle, wrote the album Frontline when her almost 5 yr old son Emerson was diagnosed with B cell ALL in December of 2023. In a desperate state to process her shock and absorb her son's diagnosis, she found the piano in the chapel at Seattle Children’s hospital and started to pour her feelings out in the way she knew how - through song, and music.This turned into Anna writing an entire album that starts with Emerson’s first chemo and follows his frontline treatment. Songs like, Too Much, He’ll Be Ok, Breathe and The Tunnel are all songs that will SPEAK TO YOUR SOUL. I can’t emphasize this enough. That recognition we talk about when we hear each other's stories - well, the recognition you’ll feel when you hear Anna’s songs - it will go straight to your core.My advice is to listen to her album from start to finish as a catharsis, as a healing journey, and as confirmation that sharing our experiences is how we bear witness to each other - it’s how we feel seen, and how we see the people around us.You can stream Frontline wherever you listen to music, or support Anna through her website annapalfreeman.com and her Bandcamp https://annapalfreeman.bandcamp.com/album/frontline

Today I chat with my friend and fellow cancer mom Jenna about carrying her son through a 42 day bone marrow transplant this past summer. This episode is really important for so many reasons, BMT is a big and daunting procedure that so many of our families go through - so many parents are in complete isolation with their children for weeks and months, there are so many layers, so many challenges - we could talk about the isolation alone for 20 episodes - it’s just such a consuming and encompassing part of treatment. Jenna does a brilliant job of sharing their experience with so much accuracy, and she does it so families who have been through BMT or are going through BMT feel seen, and know that despite the intense isolation - they are not alone.But before we get to Jenna, I’m going to give you a little background on Jenna’s son Hendrix to set the stage.Hendrix was 3 when he was dx with B cell ALL. He endured the very long and intense treatment ALL requires - chemo, lumbar punctures, countless procedures - right when he started maintenance, Hendrix went into severe diabetic ketoacidosis, almost losing his life. This led to a type 1 diabetes diagnosis to his already intense and wildly unfair leukaemia diagnosis.And then, going into his 6th round of maintenance, Hendrix relapsed, forcing him to battle a second time, now as a type one diabetic. Relapse treatment was extremely challenging, Hendrix became chemo resistant and his cancer was still present even after his re-induction. He qualified for Car T therapy, which was also a long and VERY hard road, and unfortunately didn’t work as well, leaving a bone marrow transplant as the only option left. He did immunotherapy and spent seven months getting into remission for transplant, which miraculously worked, and that is where our conversation today with Jenna, Hendrix’s mom, begins.As someone who didn’t go through BMT with my child, this was part educational, part enlightening and honestly just left me pretty astonished at Jenna’s ability to disassociate, which you’ll hear us talk about as the main strategy she used to endure this really trying, really challenging experience.For any family going into BMT, Jenna’s story will be a reference and for any family who’s done BMT, Jenna’s story will be a recognition for what you did to support your child through one of the most harrowing experiences I think we can go through in oncology treatment.

Today I speak with Mel, an ALL survivor currently in her second year of university. Mel was diagnosed at 17, and just recently rang the bell this past summer, so her account of treatment is still really fresh and honest. Our talk today is from Mel’s lens as an AYA patient, and how we as parents can best support our teens and young adult children going through treatment at an age when they are fully aware of every single layer of their cancer diagnosis. Mel talks about what helped and didn’t help when it comes to support from her peers and family, and how the moments when her parents acknowledged how hard treatment was, rather than bright side it away, were the moments she connected the most. As a parent, all we want to do is take away our child’s suffering, so for her mom and dad to have the fortitude and strength to sit with Mel in her fear and discomfort is a level of love and commitment I am so deeply proud of in them. I also happen to know Mel’s parents, and want to take this chance to publicly acknowledge their strength and internal compass to know exactly how to best support their daughter. I adore Mel, and her family, and can’t wait to share her story. So, let’s dive deep with Mel.

Today I speak with Leah, a pediatric nurse and nutritional coach who has spent more than a decade supporting families through some of the most meaningful and vulnerable times of their life. She’s worked in pediatric intensive care and birthing centres, and later built her own practice — one that helps parents navigate those early years of nutrition and development with a more holistic, compassionate approach. Her goal was always to make a real difference — to help children heal not just from illness, but to help parents build a strong, stable foundation that would set their babies up for life.And then, when her third child, Etta, was diagnosed at three years old with neuroblastoma, everything destabilized. Leah suddenly found herself on the other side — in that upside-down world we all know too well — where it’s not someone else’s tragedy anymore, it’s your own.In our conversation, Leah speaks with such honesty and wisdom about what that transformation feels like — how our bodies go into motion to keep our children alive, while our hearts and souls have to step back to protect us from a pain too big to hold all at once. And we talk about how later, when treatment ends, there’s that quiet reckoning — when life asks you to come back to yourself, and how it feels to reenter a body that has just been through war. How turning on the washing machine feels impossible, because everything feels so broken. Leah talks about how she healed, and continues to heal, with such warmth, depth and grounded insight.She’s thoughtful, gentle, and I deeply trust her — she is someone who makes you feel safe just by being in her presence. I loved this conversation, and I think you’ll feel her steadiness and grace too.Leah's Cookbook https://www.amazon.ca/All-Organic-Baby-Food-Cookbook-Nutritious/dp/0593196759Leah's Website https://www.bloomingmotherhood.co/

Today I speak with Dr Jackie, a naturopathic doctor and mom to 3 beautiful boys. Jackie’s life was completely upended when her youngest son Spencer was diagnosed with high risk ALL at 13 months old. And when I say her life, I mean her entire foundation. As a naturopath, Jackie was consciously raising her family in alignment with her practice - this meant using things like natural remedies, tinctures, supplements and diet to not only help her kids through fevers, bumps and bruises, but to also work preventatively to prepare their little immune systems for a long healthy life. So when Spencer was diagnosed, Jackie had to embrace a type of intervention that was the complete opposite of what she had built her family and practice on. Western medicine and pharmaceuticals don’t typically have a place in a naturopathic practice, and within hours her baby was needing them to survive. Jackie talks about the rapid switch she had to make, which of course she did, and how it felt to accept and even find peace with what was needed to save Spencer's life.In our chat, Jackie shares the simple and gentle practices she brought into Spencer's treatment, and how she advocated and worked alongside their team to provide him with the support he needed. This is such a great episode for families, much like mine, who were raising their kids with natural and holistic treatments and had to instantly pivot and embrace the most toxic and harsh medicines being administered to their child’s body. I learned so much from Jackie's confidence and calm, assured belief that cancer is more than a physical disease and it's equally important to heal the body as well as our mind, soul and spirit.You can find Jackie at www.doctorjackie.ca and/or IG @doctorjackieND