This week we are sharing a favorite episode from the archives as we take a break from our regular podcast schedule for the winter holidays. Wildfire editor, Angela Firman, selected this episode from April 2023 to reshare.
Anne Ferrier Crook was diagnosed at 48 with Stage I hormone-positive breast cancer. A few years later, cancer came again in the form of Stage Ib melanoma. Anne has worked in many facets of healthcare doing what she calls “holding space for life’s sacred thresholds.” She is a certified integrative health coach, medical interpreter, birth doula, consultant with the Institute for The Study of Birth, Breath, and Death, and a co-founder of The Breast Connection: Prevention & Healing Community. In this episode, Anne reads her essay “Surviving to Thriving After Breast Cancer” from Wildfire Magazine’s 2022 “Identity & Aftermath” issue. It is a piece about the influence of one woman’s mind on her body following two cancer diagnoses. April and Anne will discuss addressing our inner child with love and kindness to heal, finding opportunities to learn and grow after a cancer diagnosis, and how cancer prompts us to make shifts to slow down and find balance. They will also discuss how Anne uses writing to get in touch with her inner voice to access her inner healer.