Liz McFarland was diagnosed with HER2+ breast cancer at 39. A realtor and proud choice mom to two young adults, Liz joins this episode to read her essay “Ready for Battle” from the 2025 Body issue of Wildfire Journal.

Her piece explores beauty and body image, the lasting impact of middle school shame, and the complicated realities of silicone, surgery, sensation, and sagging. At its heart, it’s about vulnerability — about what happens when we stop pretending to be warriors and simply tell the truth.

Liz and April discuss the need to control the small things during cancer, how adolescent experiences shape our emotional terrain, the persistence of body shame, and what survivorship looks like for Liz now, thirteen years after diagnosis.

More about episode sponsor Resensation: https://www.resensation.com/

Learn more about Liz:https://www.instagram.com/lizzymcfarland/

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Buy the Wildfire book Igniting the Fire Within: Stories of Healing, Hope & Humor, Inside Today’s Young Breast Cancer Community: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BJVJ629F?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860

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