The Burn

April Stearns
  • 4.9 (31)
  • Personal Journals
  • Weekly

Listen every other Wednesday when April Stearns and the writers of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community share their experiences of being diagnosed with breast cancer under 50. The Burn is about telling cancer stories like you’ve never read - or heard - before. We go way deeper than the medical facts to the transformation of survivorship, and in the process, we talk about the healing power of writing. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with cancer or not, you'll be inspired to write the stories in you that need to be shared. Come for the stories, stay to discover how to write your way back to yourself. #WeAreWildfire

  1. 6d ago

    The Architecture of Enough with Laura Carfang

    Today's storyteller brings us inside the architecture of a life built for achievement — degrees, titles, rooms where decisions are made, a carefully calculated climb through the ranks of academia. Breast cancer forced her to stop. This is a story about what happens when the scaffolding you've built your identity around suddenly can't hold you anymore — and what you discover when you stop climbing long enough to ask: what is worth, really, if it isn't this?  This conversation explores self-worth beyond achievement, identity shifts after cancer, redefining success, balancing ambition with self-care, navigating long-term survivorship challenges, and finding purpose and meaning in life after diagnosis. More about Laura: https://www.survivingbreastcancer.org/ https://www.instagram.com/laura_carfang/ More about AstraZeneca’s Beyond Pink platform: https://www.lifebeyondpink.com/ Buy the Worth issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/digital-worth Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    The Architecture of Enough with Laura Carfang

  2. Oct 14

    Naked in Bed with Cathy de la Cruz

    Today's storyteller brings us somewhere most breast cancer narratives don't go — into the messy, funny, vulnerable, and ultimately tender territory of sex after surgery. This is a story about a Frankenstein-ed body, a 24-year-old on OKCupid, naked takeout from a Taiwanese restaurant, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It's about the very specific calculus of figuring out what your new body can feel, and who you trust to help you find out.  This conversation explores sex, intimacy, and dating after cancer; learning to accept a changed body; realizing that other people aren’t judging us as harshly as we judge ourselves; cancer becoming one part of our identity rather than our whole identity; ongoing anxiety in survivorship; and the changing challenges of survivorship over time. More about Cathy:https://www.cathydelacruz.com/ https://cathydelacruz.substack.com/ https://www.instagram.com/cathydelacruz/ More about Amy Banocy Coaching: https://www.amybanocy.com/ https://www.instagram.com/amybanocy Buy the Worth issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/digital-worth Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    Naked in Bed with Cathy de la Cruz

  3. Sep 30

    Tiny Things with Lorie Kolak

    Today's storyteller brings us into the quiet, exacting world of tiny things — and what it means to build something beautiful when the larger story of your life has gone completely out of your control. This is a piece about chemo brain and lost words, about a miniature garden assembled with tweezers and a glue gun while a wound vac churned beside her, about what happens when you can no longer offer the people you love the story they want to hear.  This conversation explores chemo brain, finding comfort in small things, friendship, uncertainty, redefining health and wholeness, resistance, creativity, finding your own cancer story, and how cancer changes your perspective on life and the future. More about Lorie: https://www.instagram.com/lkolak/ More about Temple of Kinship: https://www.instagram.com/p/DdlycKqkdUf/ https://www.templeofkinship.org More about Paxman Cooling: https://coldcap.com/ https://www.instagram.com/scalpcooling/ Buy the Metamorphosis issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/meta25 Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    Tiny Things with Lorie Kolak

  4. Sep 16

    Proof I Was There with Adrienne Holland Hubbard

    Today’s storyteller recalls a particular grief of being edited out of your own life. Of watching the early years of motherhood blur and vanish under the weight of an aggressive diagnosis — and the slow, tender reckoning that comes years later, when the life you fought for is finally, undeniably yours again. But more than anything, it's a story about proof. The kind you find not in memory, but in the unexpected places you least expect it.  This conversation explores the lasting impact of cancer on motherhood, identity, and healing. It touches on the isolation of treatment, reclaiming connection with family, redefining life after cancer, quiet wellness, creativity, writing, and community. More about Adrienne:https://www.instagram.com/adriennehollandhubbard/ https://substack.com/@adriennehollandhubbard More about StyleEsteem:https://styleesteem.com/ https://www.instagram.com/styleesteem/ Buy the Metamorphosis issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/meta25 Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    Proof I Was There with Adrienne Holland Hubbard

  5. Sep 2

    I Can Still Feel It with Cassandra Umbriaco

    Today’s storyteller reflects on receiving a breast cancer diagnosis at 28 and the lasting emotional imprint of survivorship more than a decade later. Moving between past and present, she explores the survival mindset that carried her through treatment and the gradual return of feeling after years spent simply trying to stay alive. This conversation explores memory, identity, inner resilience, and the relationship between who we were before cancer and who we become afterward — revealing how pain and love can coexist in the same story. More about Cassandra:https://www.instagram.com/cu.therapy.ont/ https://www.cutherapy.ca/ More about AnaOno Intimates: https://www.instagram.com/anaonointimates/ https://www.anaono.com/ Buy the Survivorship issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/survivorship Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    I Can Still Feel It with Cassandra Umbriaco

  6. Aug 19

    My Grandmother’s Grandchildren with Esther Yumi Ko

    Today’s storyteller reflects on her relationship with her grandmother against the backdrop of a family deeply marked by cancer. As relatives fall ill and pass away, truths are hidden and grief moves quietly through generations. This conversation explores memory, cultural silence, substitution and survival, what it means to be mistaken for someone who is gone, and how presence itself can become an act of love. It’s a meditation on mortality — and on what it means to remain. More about Esther: https://www.instagram.com/estheryumiko/ https://paragraphsandpixels.substack.com/ More about iRise Above Foundation: https://www.iriseabovefoundation.org/ https://www.instagram.com/irise_above/ Buy the MBC: Paradox issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/digital-mbc25 Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    My Grandmother’s Grandchildren with Esther Yumi Ko

  7. Aug 5

    Be Bold. Be Beautiful. Be Confident. with Hannah Morales

    In this episode, today’s storyteller, Hannah Morales, shares a vivid account of the days surrounding her mastectomy and the moment she first saw her changed body in the mirror. Expecting grief and resentment, she instead discovered pride, relief, and a deeper sense of identity that extended beyond appearance. This conversation explores body image after cancer, surgical loss, motherhood, scars as story, and what it means to define boldness, beauty, and confidence on your own terms — not society’s. More about AnaOno: https://www.anaono.com/mates/ https://www.instagram.com/anaonointimates/ Buy the Body issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/digital-mbc25 Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    Be Bold. Be Beautiful. Be Confident. with Hannah Morales

  8. Jul 22

    Biopsies and Baristas with Laurie Pomeranz

    In this returning guest episode, today’s storyteller, Laurie Pomeranz, shares a vivid and surprising account of the day her metastatic recurrence was confirmed through a spinal biopsy. What unfolds is not only fear and dread, but humor, music, connection, and an unexpected act of kindness from her care team. This conversation explores how patients experience medical procedures from the inside out, the power of levity in hard moments, and how small gestures of care can become unforgettable anchors inside life-altering news. Learn more about Laurie: https://www.instagram.com/lauriepommie/ More about Triage Cancer: https://triagecancer.org/ https://www.instagram.com/triagecancer/ More about Cancer Kicks: https://cancerkicks.org/ Buy the MBC: Paradox issue: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop/p/digital-mbc25 Shop Wildfire merch & more: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/shop Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 Get the free Wildfire “Hot Flashes” email newsletter: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/newsletter?rq=newsletter Learn about Wildfire writing workshops: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/workshops *Free* Get Wildfire and The Burn freebies here: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/free More about Wildfire Journal:  https://www.wildfirecommunity.org https://www.instagram.com/wildfire_bc_magazine/ https://www.facebook.com/wildfirecommunity Information on submitting your story for consideration to be published in Wildfire Journal: https://www.wildfirecommunity.org/submissions

    Biopsies and Baristas with Laurie Pomeranz
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About

Listen every other Wednesday when April Stearns and the writers of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community share their experiences of being diagnosed with breast cancer under 50. The Burn is about telling cancer stories like you’ve never read - or heard - before. We go way deeper than the medical facts to the transformation of survivorship, and in the process, we talk about the healing power of writing. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with cancer or not, you'll be inspired to write the stories in you that need to be shared. Come for the stories, stay to discover how to write your way back to yourself. #WeAreWildfire

Information

  • Creator
    April Stearns
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    286
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 April Stearns
  • Show Website
    The Burn

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