Why “Wildfire”?
In nature, a wildfire is one of the most devastating natural forces out there.
It burns hot and fast and leaves little behind but ash and char.
Or so it seems.
Very quickly after the fire passes through the forest life returns. Shrubs and weeds that clogged the forest floor have burned away, leaving space for new trees, grasses, and flowers to emerge and flourish in the sunlight that can now reach them. New habitats are created bringing new insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals.
I think of our bodies as being this new fire-clarified landscape. For some of us, cancer changed utterly everything. For others, cancer has brought greater clarity and purpose. And some of us are still searching for what life-after-cancer will look like.
From founder, April Stearns
Hey you, welcome!
I really appreciate you checking Wildfire out, and I know you'll love it when you see how beautiful and thought-provoking the stories told here are. As you'll see, Wildfire Magazine is much more than just a magazine.
The truth is, I created Wildfire out of my own desperation. I was diagnosed in 2012 with Stage 3c HER2+ breast cancer when I was 35. I found my own lump one night while breastfeeding my daughter. It would be three long, lonely years before I met another person diagnosed on the younger side who could relate to medical menopause, to having an asymmetrical chest, to the impact of cancer on money and career, not to mention the impact on intimacy and relationships, as well as living in the aftermath of diagnosis.
Coincidentally, we signed up for the same expressive writing course and were the only two in our 30s. When we discovered we had both been diagnosed, I felt whole in a way that is hard to communicate. I knew then that I needed to find more of us and to highlight our individual experiences.
Since then, I’ve come to believe that telling our stories - or reading the stories of others in a similar situation - can be the difference between a difficult cancer experience being traumatic and a difficult cancer experience being empowering.
I learned that first-hand.
Now it’s my privilege to tell you that you’re not alone in survivorship; I'm so glad you found Wildfire.
Warmly, April
Founder, Editor-in-Chief
The Magazine & Book
Since 2016, I have published a one-of-a-kind, beautiful narrative magazine to provide an age-specific resource to those diagnosed with breast cancer young(er). This is a full-length, community-supported, 100-page magazine produced every other month (6x a year) on themes related to young survivorship. Each issue is comprised of 20-30 contributors who have all faced a breast cancer diagnosis under the age of 50ish. Our writers come from all over the world and represent all stages of breast cancer. In October 2022, we gathered the cream of the crop, the very best of Wildfire Magazine, together into one anthology and called it Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor. Learn more.
The Writing Community
Steeped in the groundbreaking research of James Pennebaker on the healing power of expressive writing, our writing workshops are the support group you've been searching for. We get to know each other through our stories and our writing. Experienced writers and novices alike find the groups deeply enriching to their survivorship. Learn more.
The Burn Podcast
The Burn is about telling our cancer stories like you've never heard before. This is a storytelling podcast in which we go way deeper than the medical to the transformation of survivorship. Think The Moth meets WebMD. Writers read their own stories and then we chat about the healing power of writing. The goal is to inspire you 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. Available on all major podcast apps. New episodes each Wednesday and Friday. Learn more.
“Telling our stories can be the difference between a difficult cancer experience being traumatic and a difficult cancer experience being empowering. ”
— April Stearns
