I absolutely adore my guest today, Kirsten — and I know you’re going to feel the same way. Kirsten is a three-time childhood and young adult cancer survivor with so much honesty and insight to share about what survivorship really feels like.

Kirsten was first diagnosed with ALL at age 10, spending more than six years in treatment after a relapse — during the years when kids are learning how to make friends, belong, and be themselves. Finishing treatment didn’t mean life snapped back into place. Survivorship brought its own challenges, especially around reintegration, social development, and finding her footing after missing so much of childhood.

Later, in her 20s, Kirsten faced cancer again — this time during young adulthood, another critical stage of identity and growth. In this conversation, we talk openly about fear, uncertainty, stigma, bullying, and the long emotional tail of childhood cancer.

What makes Kirsten so special is how real she is about all of it — and how she’s used her experience to pave the way not just for herself, but for the survivors coming behind her. For parents, this episode offers a powerful glimpse into what survivorship can look like long after treatment ends.

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Recent research published in a pediatric journal confirms what cancer parents already know: the psychological impact of childhood cancer often lives longer and deeper in parents than in the children themselves. Anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and grief don’t end when treatment ends—they shape how parents live, who we become, and how we move through the world.

While we don’t need academic validation—because cancer parents already witness and confirm this truth for one another—it matters to see caregivers finally centered in research. That essential peer recognition is what led me to today’s guests.

Jon and Jenn Wall are the founders of Zach’s Bridge, a 1:1 virtual peer support program for advanced and bereaved pediatric cancer parents and caregivers. When their 16-year-old son Zach was in palliative care for osteosarcoma—a phase they call pre-bereavement—they longed to speak with other parents who had already been there. Not professionals, but peers. Parents who had planned funerals. Parents who had come home to empty bedrooms.

Those sacred conversations became the foundation of Zach’s Bridge—a place where families navigating pre-bereavement and bereavement can speak freely, honestly, and without translation.

In this episode, Jon and Jenn share how partners grieve differently and extend grace to one another, how community can help carry the weight of loss, and a powerful coping framework Jon calls Both/And—the ability to hold grief and joy at the same time.

As you listen, carry this quote with you: “We don’t need translators for our pain—we need people who speak the same language.” Parents who have lost a child deserve support from others fluent in the deeply specialized language of loss. Jon and Jenn have built something profoundly necessary for families walking this path, and I am deeply inspired by what they continue to offer those coming up behind them.

To learn more about Zach's Bridge, please visit zachsbridge.org

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

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