I'm Still Here: Real Conversations About Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer25 Maalis

Episode 267: Sensational Survivor: 14 Years, Twin Boys, and a Life Built on Purpose — Janelle Slavik

Janelle Slavic was 24 years old when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer. A year later she was told it had spread. She has now been living with metastatic breast cancer for 14 years — and somewhere in the middle of all of it, she became a mom to 20-month-old twin boys via surrogacy.

In this episode of the Sensational Survivor Series, Janelle shares what it was like to be diagnosed young, how she advocated for her own scan that revealed her metastatic diagnosis, and why she believes cancer saved her life. She talks openly about the surrogacy journey, the financial reality of building a family with MBC, parenting through IV chemo and a seizure, and what it looked like to ask her medical team whether she was safe to care for her own babies alone.

Janelle is warm, honest, and deeply human. She talks about hope not as a cure but as proof of life — and she is living proof of exactly that.

If you are newly diagnosed, long-term, or somewhere in between — this one is for you.

Heather was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer at 26 and has now been living with the disease for more than 25 years. Through this podcast she shares perspective, lived experience, and conversations that help people navigate life with metastatic cancer.

Sensational Survivor SeriesIf you have been living with metastatic breast cancer for 10 years or more and would like to share your story on the podcast, you can apply here:https://forms.gle/6H9K7NXMAeN1QEv87

Listener QuestionsHave a question you'd like answered in a future episode? Submit it through the contact form:https://heatherjose.com

Connect with HeatherInstagram: https://instagram.com/heatherbjoseWebsite: https://heatherjose.com

MusicIntro and outro music for the podcast was created by Heather's son, Ty. You can find his music here:Instagram: https://instagram.com/tyjosee

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Episode 278: When October Doesn't Feel Like Yours

Heather's solo this week, getting ahead of Breast Cancer Awareness Month before the pink shows up everywhere. This one's less a tidy takeaway and more her thinking out loud — the complicated feelings ...

16 Syys 25min

Episode 277: Beyond the Pink with Dr. Eleonora Teplinsky

This week I'm joined by Dr. Eleonora Teplinsky, a medical oncologist specializing in breast and gynecologic cancers, for a conversation about what actually helps people live well with metastatic disea...

9 Syys 30min

Episode 276: We're Back!

Heather and Larry are back after a summer break, and they're kicking off the new season with a little reflection. After 275 episodes, Heather opens up about why the podcast started in the first place ...

2 Syys 26min

Episode 276: Encore Episode: Gillian Burles — 20 Years Living with HER2+ Metastatic Breast Cancer

Gillian Burles was 39 years old when her breast cancer metastasized to her spine — so severely that her T10 vertebra had to be replaced with a titanium alloy cage. She was living in the Northwest Terr...

24 Kesä 40min

Episode 275: This Is the Good Stuff

Heather and Larry are back together, and they're catching up on a full couple of weeks. First up: Larry's first time volunteering at a Little Pink Houses of Hope retreat on the Outer Banks — what he e...

3 Kesä 26min

Episode 274: Just a Tuesday

What do we actually want when we go into a scan? When we make the hard choices about treatment and energy and how we spend ourselves? We want a Tuesday. An ordinary, unremarkable, nothing-special day ...

13 Touko 25min

Episode 273: You Asked, I Answered

You had questions. Heather answered them. In this episode, Heather pulls from questions submitted on Instagram to talk about where her mets were, the treatments she's been on since her 1998 diagnosis,...

6 Touko 33min

Episode 272: When the Scan Isn't Clear — and That's Okay

Scan results don't always come back clean. After 28 years living with metastatic breast cancer, Heather has learned that "okay" doesn't always mean "clear" — and that learning to trust the process whe...

29 Huhti 26min