Kicking Cancer's Ass

Joelle Kaufman
  • 4.8 (6)
  • Self-Improvement
  • Updated Weekly

Kicking Cancer’s Ass is the weekly podcast giving cancer survivors, patients, and caregivers hope and power through stories, strategies, and science.

  1. 2d ago

    Childhood cancer: how to protect their childhood

    A pediatric cancer diagnosis comes with a plan for the body. It rarely comes with a plan for the child inside it, their identity, their autonomy, their childhood. That is the part families have to advocate for themselves. Kylee McGrane-Zarnoch founded A Moment of Magic to help them, and since 2017 it has reached more than 185,000 medically vulnerable children through 4,000+ trained college volunteers in children's hospitals nationwide, completely free. In this episode of Kicking Cancer's Ass, Joelle Kaufman and Kylee turn a childhood cancer journey into a self-advocacy playbook: what cancer really takes (autonomy) and how to take it back, why you get to choose your own labels instead of accepting “sick” or “fighter,” a simple deep-breathing trick (bubbles) for a child facing a port access, how to protect the well siblings, and what cancer survivorship really asks of a family once the bell is rung. You leave with one specific thing you can do to advocate for your whole self, or your child's. Topics Discussed What cancer really takes: autonomy, and how to take it backWhy your labels are yours alone to chooseThe 99-cent tool that calms a kid before a port accessProtecting the well sibling everyone forgets Why caregivers can carry the trauma hardestControlling your own story instead of reliving itJoy as an act of self-advocacy, not a distractionSurvivorship: the support that vanishes when fear peaksFor patients, parents, survivors, and anyone supporting a family through cancer. Learn more at amomentofmagic.org.

    Childhood cancer: how to protect their childhood

  2. Aug 12

    5 Daily Habits That Prevent Cancer

    Four in ten cancers are tied to risk factors you already control. Cancer cases are set to nearly double by 2050, and they are climbing fastest in younger adults. Joelle walks through five evidence-based habits that make your body a harder place for cancer to take hold: what to eat, how to move, why weight matters, the truth about alcohol, and what every oncologist she talks to fears about vaping. Prevention and early detection have saved more lives than treatment. This episode covers the science behind each habit so you can start today. Topics discussed: Cancer cases projected to nearly double by 2050Early-onset cancers rising in adults under 45Prevention and early detection saving 80% of avoidable deathsWhole foods and protein as cancer-fighting fuelThe social trick that makes exercise stickBody fat as an inflammatory, metabolically active organWhere GLP-1 medications help and where they fall shortAlcohol classified alongside asbestos and tobaccoVaping risks oncologists fear most

    5 Daily Habits That Prevent Cancer

  3. Aug 4

    The One Decision That Changed My Cancer Care

    Iraq War veteran Laura Pearson was low risk by every measure when she felt a breast lump her mammogram had missed. On this episode of Kicking Cancer's Ass, she tells Joelle Kaufman how she pushed past a doctor's reassurance to get the bilateral diagnostic mammogram and biopsy that found her breast cancer, and how she traced it to the toxic burn pits she was exposed to during her deployment in Iraq, an exposure now recognized under the PACT Act. Laura and Joelle talk about self-advocacy when your risk scores say you're fine, the higher cancer risk facing female veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, why women use VA services far less than men, and how the VA became the highest standard of care Laura has experienced even though she has excellent private insurance. She shares the private oncologist who dismissed the burn-pit link, how she chose a mastectomy with reconstruction, how she kept running through recovery, and how she told her two kids she had cancer without passing them her fear. This is essential listening for newly diagnosed women, female veterans, caregivers, and any clinician who has never asked a patient about military or environmental exposure. Search terms: breast cancer, veteran health, burn pits, PACT Act, VA cancer care, self-advocacy, mastectomy recovery. Topics Discussed Low risk on every score, cancer anyway Demanding the diagnostic test, not the screening The burn pit answer to “why me” Cancer among Iraq and later-war veterans The private oncologist who wouldn't listen Why the VA became her best care Women veterans who stop mentioning they served Telling her kids without handing them fear

    The One Decision That Changed My Cancer Care

  4. Jul 28

    I Went Flat and Never Missed a Beat

    Drummer April Samuels was 41 and playing professionally when she was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive type that had already run through her family screening history. In this episode of Kicking Cancer's Ass, April tells Joelle Kaufman how she went from diagnosis to double mastectomy in two weeks, why she chose to go flat and has never doubted it, and what she wishes every woman with fibrocystic or dense breasts knew about how often to get screened. She also shares how she built Breast Cancer Can Stick It, the nonprofit she started by selling t-shirts out of her car, and Drumathon, the event that has helped raise nearly $700,000 for treatment assistance, mammograms, and research. April hosts three shows for the cancer community: The Beat, the monthly Mighty and Metastatic, and the annual Triple Negative Breast Cancer Broadcast. If you or someone you love is facing triple negative breast cancer, weighing a mastectomy or reconstruction, or looking for a community that leads with hope and humor instead of pity, this conversation is for you. Topics Discussed: • Diagnosed at 41, flat by choice • The screening most dense-breasted women never get • Selling “Breast Cancer Can Stick It” from her trunk • Drumathon: strangers on stage with rock stars • Why survivors confide in each other, not family • Foobies, chicken cutlets, and cancer humor • Triple negative: aggressive, but chemo-responsive • The odd blessing of a cancer year

    I Went Flat and Never Missed a Beat

  5. Jul 22

    Episode 54: He built cancer surgery. Then told us to stop.

    Dr. Charles Balch, professor emeritus at MD Anderson Cancer Center, helped make surgical oncology a specialty, led ASCO, and now runs ISOPT, the International Society of Oncology Prevention and Treatment. On this episode of Kicking Cancer's Ass, he tells Joelle Kaufman why the future of cancer care is prevention and early detection, not bigger surgery. They cover how immunotherapy works (and why it treats the immune system, not the tumor), how six weeks of treatment now clears most stage 3 melanoma without an operation, and why cancer is rising fast in people under 50 who fall outside standard screening guidelines. Balch explains the difference between immunotherapy and chemotherapy, the link between obesity, processed food, vaping and cancer risk, and why a simple FIT test, an AI-enhanced mammogram, or affordable genetic (NGS) testing can catch disease while it's still curable. If you or someone you love has been told “you're too young,” has a family history of breast, colorectal, or melanoma cancer, or wants to understand personalized risk and screening, this conversation is a practical, hopeful roadmap. Balch's advice comes down to three words: know your risk. Topics Discussed:  Know your risk: family history, lifestyle, genes Why “early” cancer isn't early: the billion-cell dime Age-based screening is missing younger patients Immunotherapy that treats you, not the tumor Stage 3 melanoma cleared without a scalpel The cheap FIT test your doctor skips New blood tests: promise, and their limits Why knowing your risk is a gift, not a sentence

    Episode 54: He built cancer surgery. Then told us to stop.

  6. Jul 14

    Episode 53: She Was Asked to Be the One They'd Hate

    Most people have never heard of a hospitalist until they meet one. Dr. Monique Nugent practices hospital medicine, the specialty that meets you in the five days when you’re sick, scared, and moving fast through a parade of specialists. In this episode of Kicking Cancer’s Ass, Monique and host Joelle Kaufman talk about the conversations that happen at the edge of serious illness and end of life, the ones the oncologist often doesn’t have and the hospitalist does. They cover what a healthcare proxy really means, how to ask whether a decision is truly life-or-death before you panic, why “medical time” confuses newly diagnosed patients, and how to have advance care planning conversations with your family before a crisis forces them. Monique, author of Prescription for Admission, also explains why the warrior language around cancer (“fight,” “beat it,” “don’t give up”) can quietly harm the people we love most. Honest, funny, and unguarded, this is a conversation for cancer patients, caregivers, and anyone who has ever sat in a hospital room not knowing what to ask. Released concurrently with Joelle’s guest appearance on Monique’s podcast, Prescription for Admission. Topics Discussed: The doctor you never choose, who holds your hardest hour Why we hide the truth from the people we love most The mercy of being asked to be the villain “Medical time,” and the question that stops a panic decision Proxy, not decision-maker: honoring beats guessing Why “keep fighting” can quietly harm The dining-room conversation that releases your family from guilt You are not cancer: before, during, and after Prescription for Admission - https://drmoniquenugent.com/podcast/

    Episode 53: She Was Asked to Be the One They'd Hate

  7. Jul 8

    Solo Episode 13: What Does It Really Mean to Kick Cancer's Ass?

    On the one-year anniversary of Kicking Cancer's Ass, host Joelle Kaufman answers the question the show's name keeps provoking: what does it actually mean to kick cancer's ass? A lot of people hate the warrior language around cancer, and Joelle thinks they have a point. In this solo episode she makes the case that kicking cancer's ass has nothing to do with winning. You can do it and still die of cancer. It's about authorship: deciding what role the disease gets to play in your life and how you respond, on the good days and the hard ones. Joelle tells her own story: a BRCA1 mutation, a surgery meant to prevent cancer that instead found it, twelve rounds of chemotherapy, and a clinically complete response she refuses to credit to her attitude. Then she plays back the advice of 52 guests, patients, survivors, caregivers, oncologists, scientists, and therapists, who almost never answer with fighting. They talk about staying the quarterback of your care, building a team, being good to your body, and finding the joke. For anyone newly diagnosed with breast cancer or living with hereditary cancer risk, this is a year of hard-won wisdom in one place. Topics Discussed: Why the host agrees with her own criticsAuthorship, not outcome: the real definitionA surgery to prevent cancer that found itVoldaPort, and naming what scares youWhy she won't credit the good scan to attitude52 guests, and how few said "fight"Softness and laughter as survival tacticsHope that used to be a poster, now data

    Solo Episode 13: What Does It Really Mean to Kick Cancer's Ass?

  8. Jun 30

    Episode 52: Don't Bounce Back. Get Ahead of It.

    Naturopathic oncologist Dr. Jessa Landmann joins Kicking Cancer's Ass to make the case that most cancer-treatment side effects, from fatigue to joint pain to poor sleep, are easier to prevent than to fix. She explains why cancer-related fatigue lingers long after chemotherapy ends, the role of inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction, and why her head-to-toe approach starts with nutrition and movement before sleep. Dr. Landmann breaks down high-dose IV vitamin C, including the difference between oral and pharmacological vitamin C (building on Dr. Lise Alschuler's earlier episode) and the first 2025 meta-analysis showing improved survival alongside chemotherapy and radiation. She covers acupuncture for the joint pain caused by breast cancer medications like Tamoxifen, an approach endorsed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and shares how one patient doubled her energy through a simple change in meal timing. Host Joelle Kaufman, a multi-generational cancer survivor, adds the prevention-first strategy she used during her own Stage 2A breast cancer treatment, and connects the exercise-and-recurrence research from Dr. Jay Harness's episode. A practical conversation for anyone navigating chemotherapy, radiation, hormone therapy, survivorship, or life after treatment. Dr. Landmann's book, Beyond Cancer Fatigue: A Path to Reclaiming Energy, arrives April 2026. Topics Discussed: Why fatigue outlasts the chemo that caused it Nutrition and movement before sleep, on purpose High-dose IV vitamin C, minus the myths The 2025 survival data, finally enough to pool Acupuncture for joint pain, endorsed by ASCO The meal-timing fix that doubled one patient's energy Why "just rest" is bad medicine Prevention during treatment, not rehab after it

    Episode 52: Don't Bounce Back. Get Ahead of It.
See All (73)

Ratings & Reviews

4.8
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Kicking Cancer’s Ass is the weekly podcast giving cancer survivors, patients, and caregivers hope and power through stories, strategies, and science.

Information

  • Creator
    Joelle Kaufman
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    73
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Joelle Kaufman
  • Show Website
    Kicking Cancer's Ass