Combating Cancer

Gwen Kelly
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Education
  • Updated Weekly

Join Gwen Kelly, Host and Founder of Combating Cancer, a podcast focused on strength, resilience, and hope. Creating a space where people can share their personal cancer journeys—whether that involves navigating treatment, celebrating remission, or honoring the memory of a loved one.

  1. Aug 12

    The 90-Day Countdown: What Scan Day Really Feels Like

    Episode 66- Show Notes: Host Gwen Kelly of Combating Cancer shares that her latest scans were stable with no evidence of disease and explains what "scan day" is like for her as a stage III astrocytoma survivor on a 90-day MRI cycle. She walks through her routine from the night before (removing jewelry) to the early Monday morning hospital visit with her dad, intake paperwork, changing into a gown and grip socks, waiting, getting an IV for contrast, and completing the ~20-minute MRI amid loud noises and intrusive "what if" thoughts. She describes contrast sensations, the emotional intensity of waiting for results, and the exhaustion afterward. Gwen advises against reading MRI reports in the patient portal before a doctor explains them and acknowledges that while she celebrates good news, others may receive difficult results. Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer Stable Scan Update What Scan Day Covers Night Before Routine Morning Drive Mindset Check In and Paperwork Changing Room Wait IV and Scanxiety Inside the MRI Contrast Sensations After the Scan Waiting for Results Good News Crash Portal Results Warning Holding Space for Others Wrap Up and Share More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

  2. Aug 12 ·  Bonus

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  3. Aug 5

    24 Things Cancer Taught Me Before 24

    Episode 65- Show Notes: In this delayed birthday episode of Combating Cancer, host Gwen Kelly, diagnosed with Stage 3 astrocytoma brain cancer at 19, shares the list she wishes someone had handed her in that hospital room: 24 things five years of survivorship taught her before turning 24. She walks through what nobody prepares you for, from a brain tumor diagnosis that may never come with the word "remission," to scanxiety, redefining what "healthy" even means now, and holding hope and realism at the same time. She talks candidly about the body side of things: lifelong seizure medication, losing her license after a seizure, fatigue that never fully lifted, and learning to advocate for herself in appointments. From there she gets into the people around her, who stayed and who didn't, letting others help, and the quieter fear her caregivers carried. She's honest about the identity work too: not letting cancer become her whole story, grieving an old life while building a new one, and rebuilding confidence on its own timeline. Gwen also names the part rarely talked about: the loneliness that shows up after treatment ends and everyone else has moved on, along with the practical reality of becoming the "CEO" of your own healthcare and finances, and learning to protect your energy. She closes with faith, how it held her without erasing the fear, anger, or unanswered "why," and with the bittersweet meaning birthdays carry now, marked by a donut cake that's really just proof she's still here to blow out the candles. Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer The List I Needed Birthday Episode Setup Redefining Healthy Living With Side Effects Advocacy and Support Identity After Cancer Confidence and Perspective The Quiet After Treatment Control and Practical Survival CEO of Your Healthcare Faith and Anger Purpose and Birthday Close More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

  4. Jul 29

    Young Warriors: A Conversation with Onnaka Gerloff

    Episode 64- Show Notes: Host Gwen Kelly, diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma at 19, welcomes 14-year-old Onnaka Gerloff, who was diagnosed with astrocytoma brain and spine cancer at age seven. Onnaka shares her current life as a high school sophomore and volleyball team manager because she can't play contact sports, and her interest in becoming a child life specialist to support patients through shared experience. She describes diagnosis symptoms (severe headaches, light/sound sensitivity, vomiting), an ER CT scan, transfer to Children's in Milwaukee, receiving a programmable shunt for fluid buildup, and later a port for weekly chemotherapy, including hair loss and varied side effects across five different chemotherapies. Now stable, she has MRIs every three months, often sedated due to anxiety and long scan times, and explains her GJ feeding tube history. Onnaka advises finding supportive people, hobbies, setting "ground rules," and advocating for oneself during care. Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer Meet Onnaka School and Volleyball Life Dream Job in Hospitals Diagnosis at Seven Shunt and Early Procedures Starting Chemo and Port Hair Loss and Memories Five Chemo Regimens Stable Scans and Scanxiety Feeding Tube Explained Advice and Ground Rules Final Takeaways and Goodbye More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

  5. Jul 22

    Care Without Carrying

    Episode 63- Show Notes: Host Gwen Kelly, diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma brain cancer at 19, reflects on something she's noticed in herself over the past couple of years: cancer didn't make her less compassionate, but it did teach her that emotional capacity is finite. Gwen explains that trauma resets your baseline — even on good days, a quiet background fear about the next scan never fully disappears, and that constant weight changes how much emotional energy is left over for everything else. She shares how she used to believe loving people meant always being available to fix their problems, until she realized she was carrying burdens that were never hers to carry. Drawing on a season when a seizure took away her driver's license, and friends simply showed up to sit with her instead of trying to fix anything, Gwen distinguishes between helping and fixing, and argues that presence, not solutions, is the deeper form of love. She closes by encouraging listeners to protect their peace without guilt, to care deeply without carrying everything, and to keep believing that boundaries and love can coexist. Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer Something I Couldn't Put Into Words The Radio That's Always On Finding My Limit Helping vs. Fixing Three Months I Couldn't Drive Protecting My Peace Without Guilt Care Without Carrying Final Takeaways and Goodbye More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

  6. Jul 15

    Living Beyond the Prognosis

    Episode 62- Show Notes: Host Gwen Kelly, diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma at 19, welcomes Anna Monastero to Combating Cancer to discuss young-adult cancer, advocacy, and navigating treatment. Anna, diagnosed at 29 with rare, terminal heart angiosarcoma on October 7, shares seeking multiple second opinions (including Memorial Sloan Kettering) and the challenges of finding specialists for angiosarcoma subtypes. She outlines her treatment course: inpatient gemcitabine/docetaxel for about six months; progression in lung metastases; two cycles of doxorubicin; an attempted clinical trial; and then starting AIM (doxorubicin/ifosfamide) at MD Anderson in Houston. Cycle one brought severe ifosfamide neurotoxicity, with cycle two upcoming. They discuss uncertainty, grief over interrupted life plans, coping with insensitive comments like "you look great," and maintaining purpose through routine, relationships, and sharing stories—anonymously if needed—while emphasizing hope, kindness, and selflessness. Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer Meet Anna Monastero Young Adults and Cancer Why Advocacy Matters Sharing Your Story Online Diagnosis and Second Opinions Chemo Changes and MD Anderson Side Effects and Mental Load Coping With Uncertainty Perspective Gratitude and Purpose Advice and Final Thoughts Wrap Up and Goodbye More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

  7. Jul 8

    See You Next Year

    Episode 61- Show Notes: Host Gwen Kelly, diagnosed with stage three astrocytoma brain cancer at 19, reflects on a message from a terminally ill girl that the scariest part isn't dying but that people stop talking about the future, making every goodbye feel final. Gwen explains that patients already carry heavy physical and emotional burdens, and that loved ones' unspoken fear—hesitation, pity, avoidance of plans—can add to that weight. She emphasizes that caregivers are allowed to be scared but shouldn't make the patient responsible for comforting them, and urges people to keep speaking about life and future plans. Sharing her family's approach, she describes feeling emotions without letting statistics define her, borrowing others' hope, and continuing to live, dream, and plan. She closes by encouraging listeners to keep believing, praying, and saying "I'll see you next year." Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer A Video That Hit Home When Future Talk Stops Support Without Burden Why Patients Must Be Strong My Family's Mindset Shift Feel It Then Move Forward More Than the Statistics Don't Bury Them Alive Final Takeaways and Goodbye More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

  8. Jul 1

    A Caregiver's Perspective: Balancing Faith and Reality Through Cancer

    Episode 60- Show Notes: Host Gwen Kelly welcomes caregiver Rick Osteen to Combating Cancer to share his experience supporting his wife through a colon cancer diagnosis and treatment. Rick discusses navigating radiation and chemotherapy, advocating during medical appointments, the emotional weight of caregiving, and the challenges of the healthcare system. Grounded in his Christian faith, he reflects on how prayer, community, and trusting God sustained him through uncertainty. He also opens up about the financial impact of cancer, including missed work, medical debt, and why he turned to GoFundMe while rebuilding after treatment. Discussed in this episode: Welcome to Combating Cancer Meet Rick the Caregiver Diagnosis and Treatment Timeline Hospital Stay and Hardest Days Caregiver Advocacy Mindset Faith Under Pressure Doctor Decisions and Pushback Learning to Trust God Treatment Uncertainty Frustrations Prayer as Daily Practice Advice for New Caregivers Financial Toll and GoFundMe Final Takeaways and Goodbye Help Rick's Family:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-ricks-family-during-cancer-treatment?lang=en_US More from Gwen:  Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com Follow and join the community:  Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Join Gwen Kelly, Host and Founder of Combating Cancer, a podcast focused on strength, resilience, and hope. Creating a space where people can share their personal cancer journeys—whether that involves navigating treatment, celebrating remission, or honoring the memory of a loved one.

Information

  • Creator
    Gwen Kelly
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    67
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    Combating Cancer