What does it really mean to live with a BRCA1 gene mutation? How do you make life-changing decisions when hereditary cancer runs through your family?

In this episode of BRCA & Beyond, I sit down with Kristen Jordan (@sheinheritsstrength), a wife, mother, nurse practitioner, and BRCA1 previvor, who shares her deeply personal journey through genetic testing, hereditary cancer risk, and preventative surgery.

After experiencing devastating loss within her family, Kristen learned she carries the BRCA1 genetic mutation, significantly increasing her lifetime risk for breast cancer and ovarian cancer. She opens up about the emotional impact of discovering she was BRCA positive, navigating survivor's guilt, making difficult decisions about preventive surgery, and finding purpose through advocacy.

Together, we discuss:

• Living with a BRCA1 mutation

• The importance of genetic testing and knowing your family history

• Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk

• Preventive mastectomy and hysterectomy decisions

• Family history, grief, and survivor's guilt

• Finding hope, resilience, and community after a hereditary cancer diagnosis

Whether you've recently tested positive for BRCA1 or BRCA2, Lynch Syndrome, PALB2, Chek, ATM, or other genetic mutations; have a strong family history of cancer; are considering preventive surgery; or simply want to better understand hereditary cancer, Kristen's story is an honest reminder that knowledge is power—and that you don't have to walk this journey alone.

Connect with Kristen:

Instagram: @sheinheritsstrength

If this episode resonates with you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone navigating a hereditary cancer journey. Together, we can raise awareness, encourage early detection, and help others feel seen, informed, and supported.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this solo episode of BRCA & Beyond, Marisa talks about a message she received from someone in her past suggesting that because she is healthy now, she should move on from talking about cancer, genetic mutations, BRCA, surgeries, and the emotional weight of it all.

That message opened up a much bigger conversation about what it really feels like to live with a genetic mutation, hereditary cancer risk, and cancer survivorship. For previvors, survivors, and genetic mutation carriers, there often is no clean finish line. The cancer may be gone. The surgery may be over. The scans may be clear. But the impact on your body, mind, family, children, relationships, and future does not simply disappear.

Marisa shares why “healthy now” does not mean “done,” why being a cancer survivor continues to shape your life, and why choosing risk-reducing surgery can be one of the deepest ways someone chooses to live fully. She also talks about the pressure to stay positive, the hurt that comes from uninformed opinions, and how to protect your peace when people misunderstand what you are still carrying.

This episode is for anyone who has ever been told to move on, stop talking about it, focus on the positive, or make “non-cancer related” memories. It is a reminder that moving forward does not have to mean staying silent.

Topics discussed: genetic mutation, BRCA, hereditary cancer risk, cancer survivorship, previvor life, risk-reducing surgery, double mastectomy, salpingectomy, scan anxiety, family risk, motherhood, mental health, body image, boundaries, and life after cancer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this deeply personal episode of BRCA & Beyond, Marisa Stachelski takes listeners behind the scenes of her experience participating in the Dear Body Project through BRCAStrong, a powerful initiative that brings together twelve women impacted by hereditary cancer, BRCA mutations, breast cancer, and life-changing surgeries to celebrate their strength, resilience, and stories.

What began as a boudoir photoshoot became so much more. Through shared conversations, tears, laughter, vulnerability, and connection, twelve women who entered the room as strangers found a community built on understanding, courage, and healing.

Marisa opens up about her lifelong struggle with body image, being teased as a child, years of dieting and trying to make herself smaller, and how those invisible wounds followed her through her colon cancer diagnosis, BRCA2 mutation, preventive surgeries, double mastectomy, reconstruction, and recovery.

She shares the powerful moment of watching each woman walk out of her private photography session transformed—not because anything about her body had changed, but because she had rediscovered confidence, pride, and a connection to herself that may have been buried beneath years of fear, medical appointments, scars, and survival.

Marisa also reads her emotional “Dear Body” letter and reflects on what it means to finally move from criticism to gratitude, recognizing the very body she spent years trying to change was the same body that carried her through motherhood, cancer, surgeries, and healing.

This episode is for every survivor, previvor, and woman who has ever struggled to see herself with kindness.

Topics discussed:

• BRCA & hereditary cancer awareness

• Breast cancer and cancer survivorship

• Colon cancer survivorship

• Preventive mastectomy and breast reconstruction

• Body image after cancer and surgery

• Self-love, confidence, and emotional healing

• The power of community and shared stories

Follow BRCAStrong on Instagram: @BRCAStrong

Learn more about the Dear Body Project and BRCAStrong at BRCAStrong.org.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.