“Reclaiming Myself the Second Time Around” with Shayna Welsh
Shayna Welsh represents the very young age group of breast cancer patients—those diagnosed in their early 20s. Shayna was first diagnosed at 23 with Stage II Triple-Positive breast cancer, and then again at 25 with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Shayna is a member of several breast cancer organizations, including the Young Breast Cancer Project, Living Beauty, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, and Under the Pencil.
Subscribe and Listen On…
Reclaiming Myself the Second Time Around
She was 23 the first time.
She was 25 the second.
In Reclaiming Myself the Second Time Around, Shayna Welsh writes from the space no one prepares you for: returning to treatment, returning to loss, and slowly—deliberately—returning to herself.
Diagnosed at 23 with Stage II Triple-Positive breast cancer, two years later, she was diagnosed again—this time with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer. What followed wasn’t just surgery, radiation, and ongoing treatment, but the harder, quieter work of learning how to live inside a body that had been changed again.
This essay doesn’t rush healing or offer tidy resolutions. Instead, Shayna shows us what it looks like to stop waiting for the “right time” and begin living anyway—scar by scar, photo by photo, moment by moment.
"I don’t know how much time I have, but I know I won’t spend it waiting for cancer to take my life away. I choose to live. For as long as I can, that is exactly what I will do."
This is a story about self-image, survivorship, and the courage it takes to believe you are still beautiful—even after cancer has taken so much.
Writing Prompt Inspired by Today’s Episode
Set your timer for eight minutes, write without stopping or editing yourself. There is magic in leaning into that time. The prompt is:
The version of me before it all began was…
I invite you to write to—or about—the version of yourself who came before diagnosis, before treatment, before everything changed.
What did you love about yourself? What were you afraid of losing?
Then shift your focus to your current self: What have you reclaimed? What do you see differently now when you look in the mirror?
It's not about perfection, it's about witnessing that transformation.
If you find that you write best with a good prompt, check out our free prompts and learn about our writing workshops.
Happy writing! Until next time, take good care.
Episode Links
Read a transcript of this episode.
Purchase the “The Second Time Around” issue of Wildfire Journal.
More about our episode sponsors: AnaOno and Young Survival Coalition
More From The Burn
