Content Note: This episode includes discussion of breast cancer, medical trauma, and serious illness. Please take care while listening, especially if these topics are close to home. In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Jeana Anderson Cohen and Rachel Gillman Rischall sit down with Dr. Carlie Thompson, a breast surgical oncologist, mother of two, and breast cancer survivor, to explore how life’s hardest moments can become catalysts for clarity, connection, and profound transformation. Only days after her final breast cancer surgery, Carlie shares her story with extraordinary honesty: from receiving her own diagnosis as a breast cancer surgeon, to choosing to pause her medical career, homeschool her children, and take her family on a bold global reset. Together, they talk about grief, resilience, friendship, identity, motherhood, marriage, and the people who show up when everything changes. This episode is about what it means to stop, listen, and realign (and how connection becomes the foundation for healing). We discuss: ✨ Carlie’s diagnosis and the emotional impact of becoming both doctor and patient ✨ The wake-up call that led her to reshape her life and priorities ✨ How community and unexpected support became a lifeline during treatment ✨ Why she chose to step away from her career and begin a year of world travel with her family ✨ The courage to share her story publicly and the overwhelming response that followed ✨ Practical breast health guidance: when to start mammograms and who to see ✨ What true wellness really means — physically, emotionally, and spiritually ✨ The healing power of friendship and family connection during crisis Dr. Carlie Thompson is a board-certified, fellowship-trained breast surgical oncologist and associate professor of surgery at UCLA Health. She is also a breast cancer survivor whose personal journey has reshaped her mission: helping women reconnect with themselves and redefine what it means to truly be well. Follow Carlie’s journey and her work in women’s health at @drcarliethompson on Instagram & Facebook
