Wildfire Magazine
Welcome to Wildfire Magazine.
You’re stepping into a place unlike any other: we are the first magazine BY and FOR young people with breast cancer. That means the images and stories you find here matter. A lot.
“The most beautiful, poignant, poetic, important magazine! ”
— Marianne Duquette Cuozzo, diagnosed at 49
Subscription Options
Enjoy a lush experience of Wildfire Magazine by opting for print along with full access to our complete digital archives. Our magazine is sized perfectly for on-the-go, or on your bedside table. A portion of each new subscription is donated to support Stage IV / MBC research. We support METAvivor and The Cancer Couch Foundation.
Enjoy a paper-free, digital subscription to Wildfire Magazine. Read wherever, whenever. Receive the latest issues as they come out as well as the complete archives. A portion of each new subscription is donated to support Stage IV / metastatic breast cancer research. We support METAvivor and The Cancer Couch Foundation.
Wildfire is a magazine specifically designed with you, the young breast cancer survivor and thriver, in mind. Our contributors are all diagnosed under the age of 50 — a growing population decades younger than the average person to experience breast cancer — with few age-appropriate resources available.
Our belief is that reading the stories of others diagnosed young provides a much-needed community and support network. We go further than that, though, and help you learn to tell your own story to the survivors coming up behind you. This has the dramatic effect of turning a traumatic cancer experience into an empowering one!
Each issue of Wildfire contains written and visual work from younger survivors just like you from all over the world, including all stages of diagnosis from DCIS/Stage 0 to metastatic breast cancer/Stage IV. Each issue of the magazine is on a theme related to survivorship, which we define as every day (every minute) you face following diagnosis.
Our Latest Issue
FAMILY: GENETIC LEGACY, PARENTING & (IN)FERTILITY
Vol. 9 Issue No. 2
Cover Star: Lauren Tarpley
Contents:
Ripped Jeans & Cracked Screens a poem by Maila Gray | Letting Go artwork by Amanda Gray | Dramas and Traumas by Ann Camden | About Damn Time by Claire Lemiski | At the Edge by Jaclyn Chung | The Hidden Struggle of Secondary Infertility by Susan DiGregorio | Cycle Breaker by Nikki McCoy | The Cancer Family Tree a poem and artwork by Stephanie McLeod-Estevez | March 13 by Kate Rowbotham | Of Cancer and Little Boys a poem by Kim Harms | Cancer Is What Happens While You’re Making Other Plans by Steph Tubman | Family Recipe by Shandy Bearman | It Was Only But a Dream by Tina Conrad | Cancer at the Hands of a Man by Shasha Nyaker | Where Does the Story End? a poem by Emily Voreas | The Ripple Effect by Lauren Lopriore | She Could Be a Previvor Instead by Laura Remus | Dear Malakai by Tabitha Holman | How to Miss Something You’ve Never Had a poem by M. Patel | Lucy’s Long Journey by Lauren Tarlpey | Postcards From Sicily by Rachel Bennett Steury | Paper Aeroplane by Emma Jarrett | Mama by DeDe Drake | Hurry Up and Wait a poem by Stacy Meisel
PLUS: Editor’s Note and Tell Your Story Writing Prompt by April Johnson Stearns
Underwriters:
AnaOno | As We Are Now | Bright Spot Network | Bryght | Might and Bright | Pickles Group | Shine Retreats | The Boobie Queen Company | Young Breast Cancer Project
What We Are All About
Wildfire Magazine is published six times a year and is available via either subscription or single-issue purchase in both digital and print. We publish on various themes related to survivorship issues faced by people diagnosed with breast cancer in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Although our contributors were all diagnosed under 50, we are proud to have readers of all ages finding hope and solidarity within our pages.
While each issue is different in content (see our upcoming themes here), all include:
approximately 100 pages in a compact 4.5” x 5.5” format (perfect for tucking in a bag)
both long-form and short essays as well as poetry
beautiful photography and artwork
tips and writing prompts for using writing as a healing tool
stories from all stages of breast cancer from all around the world — each issue is comprised of 20-30 contributors
See For Yourself
Take us for a test drive. Here is a full issue from our digital archives:
What People Are Saying
“I read Young & Stage IV cover to cover. After a month of pink ribbons that did not feel like me, I truly heard my voice in Wildfire.”
— Susan Berdine, diagnosed with MBC
“More than a breath of fresh air, this magazine is a lightening bolt! I’m in awe of the honesty, insight, knowledge, creativity, and beauty of this publication!”
— Emilienne Rebel, diagnosed at 31
“I look forward to each issue. You have created something truly amazing.”
— Kim Santoianni, diagnosed at 34
Our Pledge to the Stage IV / Metastatic Breast Cancer Community
We believe all breast cancer stories matter. That is why every issue includes stories from individuals diagnosed early stage (Stages 0-III) as well as stories from those diagnosed with Stage IV / metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
Each October/November, we dedicate a full issue to stories specifically from our MBC community. Our writers have experienced both de novo diagnoses as well as metastatic recurrences.
As advocates of conscious business, we give back to our community by donating a portion of each new and renewing subscription to METAvivor and The Cancer Couch Foundation to support their funding of research to end the deaths from MBC.
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It's a good question. Some organizations follow the Adolescent & Young Adult model of cancer care and define young as being diagnosed with breast cancer between the ages of 15 and 39. Others move the mark slightly to encompass ages 20 to 45ish. April created this magazine when she was diagnosed at 35 in 2012 and there were next to zero resources for her: someone diagnosed with a nursing baby, someone facing menopause early, someone diagnosed without significant savings or retirement and still trying to work, etc. She said, “I feared not seeing my child enter high school and mourned the loss of my fertility. I wanted a space to hear stories from others in the same stage of life (20s, 30s, 40s) who could relate to my grief.” Over the years since then, although we publish people diagnosed 50 and below (who can be any age now), our readers and workshop participants are a mix of ages who can relate to the “younger” issues we discuss here. Breast cancer at 25 is different from being diagnosed at 55. We believe we need places to talk about the differences. No matter your age now, if you were diagnosed under 50 or can relate to the “younger” breast cancer community, we encourage you to join us.
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You can find Wildfire Magazine through a subscription, in our online shop, and at select stockists and cancer libraries/resource centers.
(Already a subscriber? Click here!)
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It's true, there is a lot of free "information" available on the Internet. A Google search on the topic of breast cancer will turn up hundreds of thousands of hits from medical sites to blogs to marathons to pink spatulas. It can be overwhelming, and also hard to sort through the BS. At Wildfire, we aren't interested in contributing to the noise. We are, instead, interested in getting straight to the truth: sharing deeply personal, 100% real, heartfelt stories and experiences that will inform and validate your own experience. In order to create a safe place where contributors can bare themselves this way (sometimes quite literally), it is necessary to put a lock on the door. Just as you would to protect any precious possession.
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Yes! You can find more information on how to submit essays, poems, art and photography here.
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