The 30 Stories Podcast

Yesenia’s Story: If Something Feels Wrong, Keep Pushing for Answers

When Symptoms Are Dismissed as Anxiety Yesenia shares how her thyroid cancer journey began with symptoms that felt alarming but were repeatedly dismissed as anxiety. She describes hair loss, air hunger, mood changes, irregular periods, hot flashes and extreme fatigue, yet says multiple providers told her she was young, healthy and simply stressed. After seeking support through online thyroid communities, she learned about thyroid ultrasounds, pushed for one and eventually discovered thyroid nodules that led to surgery and a cancer diagnosis. The Toll of Not Being Believed A major theme in the conversation is the emotional toll of not being believed. Yesenia explains that her diagnosis, radioactive iodine treatment, isolation from her young son and long-term health issues left her feeling angry, overwhelmed and underprepared. She speaks candidly about the lasting physical and mental effects of treatment, including difficulty adjusting after thyroid removal, dental problems, fatigue, inflammation, brain fog and the ongoing frustration of having had to navigate much of the process on her own. Listen to Your Body & Keep Asking Questions Yesenia’s central message is the importance of self-advocacy, community and being taken seriously. She credits her mother, her son, her faith and thyroid cancer support groups with helping her through the hardest periods. She also pushes back against the phrase “good cancer,” explaining that thyroid cancer can still carry serious, lasting consequences. Her advice to others is to listen to their bodies, seek multiple opinions when something feels wrong and find people who understand what they are going through.

Wendy’s Story: Rare Cancer, Deep Trust and Self-Advocacy

A Doctor Who Felt Right Wendy opens the conversation by reflecting on a life she genuinely enjoys: retirement, travel and reading anything she can get her hands on. That sense of fullness makes what came next feel even more jarring. After noticing a small lump in her cheek, she found herself moving from doctor to doctor without real answers. One of the most interesting parts of her story is how clearly she trusted her own instincts. Even before she had a diagnosis, she knew she needed someone who would not dismiss her and that search led her to a surgeon whose kindness, honesty and attentiveness immediately stood out. Choosing Care With Intention Once Wendy learned she was facing a rare cancer connected to her parotid gland, the uncertainty of it all could have made her feel powerless. Instead, the episode keeps returning to one important insight: care is not just about expertise, it is also about trust, clarity and how a doctor makes you feel. Wendy talks about major surgery, time in the ICU, the discomfort of a trach and a wired jaw, and the difficult decision to forgo radiation after an insurance delay pushed treatment past the original window. What makes the episode especially memorable is how she frames these experiences. She does not tell her story as a string of setbacks. She tells it as a process of learning who would really stand beside her, listen to her and respect her choices. Faith, Support & Self-Advocacy The warmest moments in the episode come from Wendy’s reflections on support. She describes how deeply held she felt by her son, her sister, her church and friends praying for her from Barbados and beyond. She also shares small moments that took on huge meaning, including a nurse whose name felt like a sign that she was exactly where she needed to be. By the end, Wendy’s message feels both practical and reassuring: know your body, keep asking questions, follow your intuition and do not settle for care that leaves you feeling unseen. The episode lands on a hopeful truth that feels earned: even in a frightening and uncertain chapter, it is possible to find steadiness, speak up for yourself and move forward with grace.

Maureen’s Story: Rare Jaw Cancer, Resilience and Rebuilding Life

A Life Changed By One Unexpected Call Maureen reflects on how a rare osteosarcoma diagnosis began with jaw pain that did not initially raise concern. What followed was a long and difficult path through surgery, chemotherapy, recurrence and proton radiation. One of the most affecting parts of her story is how quickly life split into two versions, the life she had before diagnosis and the life she has had to rebuild ever since. Strength, Support & The People Who Carried Her Through Throughout the conversation, Maureen returns again and again to the role of family, especially her husband, children and sisters. She speaks with honesty about the emotional weight of visible changes to her appearance and how much she worried about what her children were seeing and feeling. She also shares how support came from unexpected places, including online survivor groups and the simple but powerful act of asking for help when things felt too heavy to carry alone. What Survivorship Really Looks Like What makes this episode especially compelling is Maureen’s perspective on life after treatment. She talks about frustration, adaptation and the daily work of finding ways forward, whether through new routines, prosthetics, counseling or mindset shifts. Her message is not about pretending everything turned out easy. It is about slowing down, focusing on what can be controlled and continuing to find purpose, meaning and hope even after years of loss and change.

Jay’s Story: Returning to the Stage After Cancer

When Life Changed in an Instant Jay’s story begins with a moment so ordinary it feels almost impossible in hindsight: noticing a lump on his neck in the shower, then hearing just days later that it was squamous cell carcinoma. What follows is the kind of shock many listeners will recognize, where life narrows quickly into tests, decisions and the need to keep moving before there is even time to process what is happening. One of the most striking parts of the conversation is how clearly Jay remembers that early blur of fear, uncertainty and the instinct to act. An Actor’s Body, Voice & Identity What makes this episode especially compelling is the way Jay talks about survivorship through the lens of performance. He is not only recovering from treatment. He is also trying to return to a profession where the face, the mouth, the neck and the voice are central to how others see him and how he sees himself. His reflections on scars, asymmetry, self-tapes and the quiet grief of physical change give the episode unusual depth, especially because he is honest without becoming self-pitying. He keeps returning to the same hard truth: survival is not the end of the story, it is the beginning of learning how to live inside a changed body. Even with all of that, the episode never loses its warmth. Jay speaks with real gratitude about the people who carried him, the goals that kept him moving and the ways he slowly found meaning in what happened, from support groups to helping train clinicians as a standardized patient. What lingers most is not just that he survived, but that he kept building a life, a career and a sense of purpose after experiences that could have easily narrowed all three. It is a conversation about fear, adaptation and endurance, but also about humor, honesty and what it means to keep showing up for your life.

Hanley’s Story: A Father’s Perspective on Caregiving & Hope

Diagnosis, Shock & the Start of a New Reality Hanley shares the story of his son Duke’s neuroblastoma diagnosis with the kind of detail only a parent can carry for decades. What begins as a snapshot of family life and a multigenerational business quickly shifts into a moment that changed everything, when Hanley noticed something was wrong and a frightening diagnosis followed just before Duke’s third birthday. From there, he walks listeners through the shock, the uncertainty and the sudden need to make life-altering decisions fast. Treatment, Caregiving & the Long Middle As the episode unfolds, Hanley reflects on the long stretch of treatment that followed, including chemotherapy, major surgery, relapse, stem cell transplant and radiation. What makes the conversation especially moving is not just the scale of what Duke endured, but the way Hanley remembers it through the small human details: early hospital mornings, the search for the right surgeon, the role of humor, SpongeBob tapes and the exhaustion that comes with loving a child through crisis. He also speaks candidly about fear, trust and the emotional toll that remains even after the hardest chapter has passed. What gives the episode its power is Hanley’s perspective now, more than two decades later. He speaks with deep gratitude about the life Duke has built, and with humility about how the experience changed him as a father, a husband and a person. The conversation becomes not just a story about survival, but a reflection on instinct, family, faith and the quiet ways hope keeps showing up when people choose to keep going.