The Cancer Scare That Sparked a Movement—and a Podcast
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
By Marisa Stachelski
When Symptoms Become a Turning Point
My journey into podcasting didn’t begin with a dream and a microphon, it began with symptoms I could no longer explain away. At 37, a mom of two little boys, I was dealing with gastrointestinal issues that kept escalating. Twice, the pain was so intense I was keeled over, unable to function. Then came the moment that changed everything: blood in my stool.
That was it. I made an appointment with my gastroenterologist immediately, hoping for a simple explanation but knowing deep down something was wrong.
A colonoscopy revealed a large polyp, so unusual for my age that my doctor said she had never seen one like it in someone in their thirties. Two weeks later, pathology confirmed it was cancerous. Stage 1. Completely removed. My doctor told me that if I had waited even a few more months, the outcome could have been very different.
Surviving colon cancer gave me clarity, but the next discovery reshaped my entire future.
A Genetic Truth I Never Saw Coming
Following my diagnosis, I underwent genetic testing and learned I carried the BRCA2 gene mutation, placing me at high risk for breast, ovarian, and other hereditary cancers. As a young mother, the numbers were impossible to ignore. I chose to be proactive rather than reactive.
Over the next two years, I underwent five surgeries, including a preventative double mastectomy, reconstruction, and a salpingectomy to reduce ovarian cancer risk. Five recoveries. Five emotional resets. A physical and mental transformation I never imagined facing so young.
Finding Purpose Through Vulnerability
Somewhere within that experience, something shifted. I felt a deep, almost instinctive pull to document my journey, every fear, decision, and milestone. I felt so alone, and I kept wondering how many other women were suffering silently, navigating similar fears with no one to turn to.
So I began sharing my story online, piece by piece, even when it felt uncomfortable. My voice shook, but I spoke anyway.
The more I shared, the more women found me: women newly diagnosed, women terrified of their risks, women unsure how to talk to their doctors, women who felt exactly I did. Their messages told me everything I needed to know.
I had a purpose.
And i needed a platform that could carry it further.
That’s when BRCA & Beyond was born.
Where Advocacy Meets Audio
BRCA & Beyond is where my advocacy took on a heartbeat. It became a space where lived experience meets education, where honesty meets support, and where women navigating hereditary cancer risks feel understood, not lectured.
And it truly goes beyond BRCA.
Because a diagnosis doesn’t end with a lab result or a surgery.
It ripples into everything, your identity, relationships, motherhood, self-worth, body image, mental health, physical healing, and the way you show up in the world. The podcast explores all of it.
One of my biggest “mic-drop moments” came from messages like:
“You said the words I couldn’t say myself.”
“You made me feel less alone.”
That’s when I knew this wasn’t just a podcast. It was a community.
Turning Survival Into Support
Today, my mission is simple: use the hardest chapters of my life to make someone else’s path less overwhelming.
If my voice inspires even one woman to advocate for ther health, schedule a screening, or ask for genetic testing, then every one of my scars has a purpose.
Cancer changed my life - but helping others is what transformed it.
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