In this episode you are going to hear a collection of short pieces we are dubbing “Flash Memoir” from our archives. These are little gems we’ve published in Wildfire Magazine, read for you by April Stearns. We have nine years of published stories in our archives that are just too good not to share. In the past we used to do a call for submissions for short-form stories with a very specific prompt in mind. We would get back some very impactful bite-size vignettes – not long enough to be a full essay. This collection of dense & sparkling flash memoir pieces comes from our 2020 “Survivorship” issue of Wildfire Magazine. The writing prompt was “Dear Pre-Cancer Me” with pieces written by Mackenzie Rockcastle, Tiffany Dyba, Kristie Vinopoll and Julie Gauvin.

Chelsee Wilson was diagnosed at 29 with Stage IIIa, Triple Positive breast cancer. She is now 5+ years out from diagnosis. Chelsee lives in Oklahoma with her husband and loves baking, crocheting, reading and writing. In this episode she reads her essay “The Power of No” from the 2022 “Identity & Aftermath” issue of Wildfire Magazine. Her story is about one woman’s quest to break cycles. April and Chelsee will discuss protecting mental health, mental health outlets, quality of life and the biggest challenges of long-term survivorship. They will also discuss what books they are reading.

Bethany Adair was diagnosed at 34 with Stage II breast cancer, and is now living with Stage IV metastatic disease. She is a mindset coach, speaker, MBC thriver and author of My Guru Cancer. In this episode, Bethany reads her piece “A Letter to My Greatest Guru” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2023 “MBC: Lesson Learned” issue. Her essay is about viewing a cancer experience as an opportunity to grow into an authentic version of yourself. April and Bethany will talk about how Bethany became a writer, reframing thoughts and the ongoing practice of living alongside cancer.

This episode’s guest is Wildfire’s own Angela Firman – back for a second visit! Angela was diagnosed initially at 33 with Stage III hormone-positive breast cancer and she is now living with Stage IV metastatic disease. Angela reads her piece “A Train to Nowhere” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Work & Career” issue. Her essay is about how sometimes cancer significantly changes a career path. April and Angela will discuss writing memoir in the third person when suffering brings joy and living with MBC versus dying from MBC.

Keri Smith reads her essay “Showing Up” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Work & Career” issue. April and Keri will discuss navigating mixed emotions of celebration and devastation, the ways cancer is a thief, scheduling time to talk about cancer and using writing to process through cancer.

Kassi Sullivan reads her essay “Authentically Me” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Work & Career” issue. April and Kassi will discuss the challenges of working with students while living with cancer, loving yourself through changes, things Kassi would tell her younger self and advice for those working while living with MBC.

Debbie Kerr reads her essay “Rosanne” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Work & Career” issue. April and Debbie will talk about working as a lifeline during treatment, using humor in hard times, long-term survivorship and the cancer related PTSD nobody talks about.

Returning guest Kate Rowbotham reads her essay “Finding Purpose in Paradox” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Work & Career” issue. Kate’s piece is about one woman’s career decisions following her cancer diagnosis. April and Kate will discuss masking, searching for a job during treatment, and what inspired Kate to email April about creating a work themed issue of Wildfire Magazine.

Returning guest Beth Gainer reads her essay “Trading Places” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Work & Cancer” issue. Beth’s piece is about cancer colliding with her work life. When her employer turned their back following her diagnosis, she took the scary leap into the unknown to change careers.

Stacy reads her essay “Snip, Surrender, Shine: A Ritual in Resilience” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Body” issue. Stacy’s piece takes us along on an act of intentional ritual when removing her hair before chemo, and giving herself a ceremony container to move through a part of her cancer journey. 

Tova Wolking reads her piece “Swim” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2021 “Bay Area Young Survivors” issue. In the wake of Tova’s mom passing away, breast cancer took root in her body. This is the story of one woman asking how to find the key to unlocking her own grief about her breast cancer when her mother took so many of those answers with her when she died.

In this episode, Laurie Ratliff reads her piece “Where Do You Go When You Don’t Belong Anywhere?” from the 2019 “Social” issue of Wildfire Magazine.

Erica Fitch reads her piece “Memories in Color: Four Generations” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2020 “Family” issue, where she uses the structure of color to explore and write the hard stories in our lives.  

Lorie reads her essay “Door Marked Danger” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Body” issue. Lorie’s piece slows down to take us into the moments surrounding her nipple tattoo experience following her mastectomy.

In this episode of The Burn, Claire reads her essay “About Damn Time” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Family” issue. Claire’s piece is about breast cancer being a genderless disease, and a bond that was strengthened with her father because of their shared experience of both receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.

This week we are sharing a favorite episode from the archives as we take a fall break from our regular podcast schedule.

When Katie Murray was diagnosed with breast cancer, she was surprised to discover that old traumas she thought she had dealt with were reawakened within her. She turned to writing to ground herself -- quite literally on the gurney going into and emerging from surgery -- and make sense of all she'd been through, prior to cancer, and then during her cancer treatment.

In this episode of The Burn, Jennifer reads her essay “Bra Hunting” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2024 “Body” issue. Jennifer’s essay is about bra shopping after breast cancer surgery told through the lens of buying bras throughout her life.