Contributors

Kelly Irvin

Kelly Irvin is a multi-published novelist and former newspaper reporter who worked in public relations for more than 20 years. She retired from her day job in 2016 after being diagnosed with primary lateral sclerosis, a degenerative motor neuron disease, and stage 4 ovarian cancer. She spends her days writing and loving her family.

Shira Zwebner

A native New Yorker, Shira Kallus Zwebner is a communications consultant and writer living with her husband and three children in Jerusalem, Israel. Diagnosed in 2017 with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, she's fighting her cancer battle and blogging about the journey at hipstermomblog.com

Jen Sotham

Jen Sotham is a freelance journalist and screenwriter/director. She was working as a university professor in Busan, South Korea, where she lived for almost a decade, when she was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in 2014. Still doing battle with the beast, Jen has since returned to New York, where she has been using her voice to share her story through film, essays and her blog, jenvscancer.wordpress.com

Jean Di Carlo-Wagner

Jean Di Carlo-Wagner, M.A., E-RYT500, yoga therapist is a 12-year colorectal cancer survivor (2003). She used yoga to help herself regain a 'new normal' and then became a yoga teacher to help other survivors. Her work is free to cancer patients at YogaBeing.net. Jean attends cancer conferences and speaks on the benefits of yoga for cancer survivors. Survivor, advocate, activist, teacher and friend.

Carrie Corey

Carrie Corey was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer at age 29 and with a stage 4 recurrence in 2012 at the age of 31. As wife and new mom living in Dallas, she frequently reported on her cancer experiences.

Georgia Hurst

Georgia Hurst is a fierce patient advocate for those with Lynch syndrome. Her advocacy work has afforded her opportunities to write for medical journals, various websites, books and genetic testing companies, and collaborate as a stakeholder for the National Academy of Sciences: Genomics and Population Health Collaborative. She is the co-creator of #GenCSM (Genetic Cancer Social Media) on Twitter. 

Lisa Machado

Lisa Machado is the founder of the Canadian CML Network (cmlnetwork.ca), a national patient support organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She has been living with chronic myeloid leukemia since 2008. She can be reached at info@cmlnetwork.ca.

Kimberly Brandt

In early 2010, Kim Brandt was diagnosed and treated for stage 1 rectal cancer. However, in 2013, the cancer was discovered to have metastasized, which then required aggressive treatment. Her education and professional career have been focused on urban planning and local government, and she has found her own patient experience eye-opening in respect to understanding the health care community’s physical needs. In her free time, she enjoys walking her dog, swimming and a weekly yoga class or two.