You can live a joyful and healthy life after cancer. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Most people think cancer ends when treatment ends. But that moment is often the hardest part of the journey. You’re left with a body you no longer recognize and a lingering fear that the cancer will come back. At the same time, you’ve been given the gift of insight and a deeper appreciation for what really matters.
That’s what this space is about.
It’s Cancer, Baby is a weekly publication about what life actually looks like during and after cancer.
Hi, I’m Alison.
I’m a former journalist and now the head of content at a Seattle startup, and a mom of two. I’m also someone who went through a year of chemo, a mastectomy, radiation, and now lives in the ongoing world of aromatase inhibitors, medical menopause, and preventive surgery.
I’ve told thousands of other people’s stories. This is the one I never planned to tell, but it’s turning out to be the most important.
What you’ll find here
Personal essays about my own journey going through breast cancer and what comes after, like this piece on living with the fear of recurrence or this one about counting my new collection of scars.
Practical insider info that I had to figure out alone, like foods that got me through chemo and the visualization that got me through some of cancer’s hardest moments.
How I live now, including what’s helping ease my menopause symptoms.
Other voices, like interviews with doctors, survivors, and experts.
A little bit of color — beauty, fashion, food, because we still want to feel like ourselves even when we’re going through the worst.
Why me
I was diagnosed with breast cancer one month after turning 40. When I first found the lump, I jokingly called it “my cancer boob,” without actually believing it was cancer. I had no family history of breast cancer, I’d breastfed both my kids, I ate well, I exercised. Cancer wasn’t supposed to happen to me.
And yet there I was, sitting across from a surgeon telling me I had Stage 3 breast cancer and that we needed to operate as soon as the following week.
In the days that followed, I joined every breast cancer Facebook group I could find. I scoured Reddit threads. I googled prognosis charts and mastectomy recovery tips. But I wasn’t finding what I was looking for. I wanted someone unafraid to get in the weeds and tell me exactly what I should expect.
I didn’t find her… so I became her.
Now I’m healthy and active, and I’m still figuring out what “after” means. I write from that place, not looking back at cancer as something that’s done, but looking forward to understand how I can best live my life going forward.
My most popular posts include:
How I Found Out I Had Breast Cancer
How I Told My Kids I Had Cancer
11 Cancer Substacks You Should Subscribe To
I Went on a Luxury Breast Cancer Retreat
Do You Believe In Signs?
Living With the Fear of Recurrence
Who This Space Is For
People who:
Are in treatment, newly diagnosed, or recovering
Want honesty without fear-mongering
Want practical advice from someone who’s lived it
Want to feel less alone
And for those supporting loved ones, the friends, daughters, sons, siblings, partners, you’re welcome here too.
Free vs. paid
Free subscribers get weekly posts—personal stories, practical tips, and whatever I’m thinking about that week.
Paid subscribers get the deeper stuff—the posts that go places I don’t share publicly, step-by-step guides, interviews, and early access to new projects.
If money is tight because of treatment, email me. I’ll gift you a subscription, no questions asked.
xo,
Alison
Ready to feel less alone? You’re in the right place.
