The Burn

By April Stearns

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Category: Personal Journals

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Episodes: 277

Description

Listen every other Wednesday when April Stearns and the writers of Wildfire Journal & Writing Community share their experiences of being diagnosed with breast cancer under 50. The Burn is about telling cancer stories like you’ve never read - or heard - before. We go way deeper than the medical facts to the transformation of survivorship, and in the process, we talk about the healing power of writing. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with cancer or not, you'll be inspired to write the stories in you that need to be shared. Come for the stories, stay to discover how to write your way back to yourself. #WeAreWildfire

Episode Date
I Might Be in Love with All My Friends with Emily Rau
Jun 26, 2026
Hope and Heartache, Hand in Hand with Caitlan Killian
Jun 24, 2026
Longing to Belong with Ash Davidson
Jun 19, 2026
Asymmetry with Julia D. Pereira
Jun 12, 2026
My Chemo Companion with Danielle Connor
Jun 10, 2026
My Life, and Being Wrong with Stephanie Millett
Jun 05, 2026
Sleeping Snakes and the Lake with Katie Murray
May 27, 2026
Ready for Battle with Liz McFarland
May 13, 2026
Still Here: On 15 Years in Cancerland with Dana Donofree
May 01, 2026
Swimming, and Changing Direction with Shalini Krishnan
Apr 22, 2026
Rosé-Colored Glasses with Susan Danenberger
Apr 08, 2026
The Life I Choose, Every Day with Vanessa Cuccurullo
Mar 18, 2026
The Gift of Koselig with Sarah Deer
Mar 04, 2026
The Second Time, My Way with Pye Pajewski
Feb 18, 2026
Fishkeeping with Liz Grissom
Feb 04, 2026
Reclaiming Myself the Second Time Around with Shayna Welsh
Jan 21, 2026
Through Her Eyes with Lilly Ribner
Jan 07, 2026
The Way It Felt with Erin Perkins
Dec 24, 2025
A Mother’s Biggest Problem with Julia Tabisz
Dec 10, 2025
My Pony-Tale with Lauren Bruns
Nov 26, 2025
Being Myself with Stephanie Marnocha
Nov 13, 2025
The Luckiest Sister with Tawny Rachelle
Oct 29, 2025
Hair Karma with Tabitha Holman
Oct 15, 2025
I Wish I Cared Less with Raina Kerman (explicit)
Oct 01, 2025
Shampoo Commercial Dreams with Bethany Zoe
Sep 17, 2025
Kintsugi with Tegan O'Neill
Sep 03, 2025
On This Mat with Shannon Gottesman
Aug 20, 2025
Dancing Myself Back to Life with Judith Cookis Rubens
Aug 06, 2025
An Open Letter to My Daughter, Layke with Gillian Lichota
Jul 23, 2025
A Mother’s Work is Never Done with Jennifer Gordon
Jul 09, 2025
Flash Memoir: My Body, My Choice with April Stearns
Jun 25, 2025
Decision Fatigue with Erika Giovanniello (explicit)
Jun 11, 2025
In Praise of Quiet Advocacy with Amy Austin
May 28, 2025
My Side with Shelley Moreno
May 14, 2025
For Now is As Good As Forever: Dating with Advanced Breast Cancer with Deltra James (Explicit)
Apr 30, 2025
Putting Flat Closure on the Map with Sondra Price
Apr 16, 2025
Where does the story end? with Emily Voreas
Apr 02, 2025
Flash Memoir: Dear Pre-Cancer Me
Mar 26, 2025
The Power of No with Chelsee Wilson
Mar 19, 2025
A Letter to My Greatest Guru with Bethany Adair
Mar 12, 2025
How is Your Body Today?
Mar 05, 2025
Revenge with Jen Pogue
Feb 26, 2025
A Train to Nowhere with Angela Firman
Feb 19, 2025
Showing Up with Keri Smith (Explicit)
Feb 12, 2025
Authentically Me with Kassi Sullivan
Feb 05, 2025
Rosanne with Debbie Kerr
Jan 29, 2025
Finding Purpose in Paradox with Kate Rowbotham
Jan 22, 2025
Trading Places with Beth Gainer
Jan 15, 2025
Snip, Surrender, Shine: A Ritual in Resilience with Stacy Conlon
Jan 08, 2025
Swim: Searching for Answers in Memoir with Tova Wolking
Jan 01, 2025
Where Do You Go When You Don’t Belong Anywhere? with Laurie Ratliff
Dec 25, 2024
Memories in Color: Four Generations with Eric Fitch
Dec 18, 2024
Door Marked Danger with Lorie Kolak
Dec 11, 2024
About Damn Time with Claire Lemiski
Dec 05, 2024
Naked Narrative with Katie Murray
Nov 27, 2024
Bra Hunting with Jennifer Bringle
Nov 20, 2024
The Story About My Body with Shangrong Lee
Nov 13, 2024
The Deformed Woman with Hannah Haworth
Nov 06, 2024
Patient & Caregiver: When Cancer Worlds Collide with Megan-Claire Chase
Oct 30, 2024
Barbershop Quartet with Erin Weiss (Explicit)
Oct 23, 2024
The Hidden Struggle of Secondary Infertility with Susan DiGregorio
Oct 16, 2024
Lucy’s Long Journey with Lauren Tarpley
Oct 09, 2024
Mama with DeDe Drake
Oct 02, 2024
Longing to Belong with Ash Davidson (Explicit)
Sep 25, 2024
Asymmetry with Julia D. Pereira
Sep 18, 2024
Anniversary Special: Unexpected Truths (from inside today's young breast cancer community) (Explicit)
Sep 11, 2024
March 13 with Kate Rowbotham
Sep 04, 2024
The Power of the Unsent Letter: Dear Spirit Baby with Tracy Ward
Aug 28, 2024
The Longest Goodbye with Mila Knight
Aug 21, 2024
Stay Visible with Stephanie Millett
Aug 14, 2024
Finding My Breath Poem & Meditation with Justine Egan-Kunicki
Aug 07, 2024
The Least Terrible Option with Saroj Tharisayi (Explicit)
Jul 31, 2024
Paper Aeroplane with Emma Jarrett
Jul 24, 2024
The Light Within the Darkness with Sally Joy Wolf
Jul 17, 2024
Learning to Break Open with Julie Stonefelt
Jul 10, 2024
Erin go Braugh with Gretchen Stelter (Explicit)
Jul 03, 2024
Going At It Not So Alone with Miranda Gonzales
Jun 26, 2024
You Were There with Mardi Kaplan (Explicit)
Jun 19, 2024
Scan, Treat, Repeat with Cheri Henderson
Jun 12, 2024
The Aftermath: Facing Lymphedema with Jaclyn Chung
Jun 05, 2024
Strange Bedfellows with Catherine Sumner (Explicit)
May 29, 2024
Dating After a Mastectomy with Juni Bucher (Explicit)
May 22, 2024
Fearless by Kelley Franks
May 15, 2024
Toplessness Transformed by Kathleen Moss (Explicit)
May 08, 2024
Why Not Me? With Sheryll Jalbuena
May 01, 2024
Lymphedema with Desi Maldonado
Apr 24, 2024
I Thought All Love Was Off the Table with Chiara Riga
Apr 17, 2024
ITFW: Hair by Rebecca Hall
Apr 12, 2024
Reintroduction with Brittany Johnston
Apr 10, 2024
ITFW: Just Hold Me with AnnMarie Giannino
Apr 05, 2024
We Can Do Hard Things with Deb Ontiveros (Explicit)
Apr 03, 2024
ITFW: Unbreakable Bonds: Lifelines for a Lifetime with Cathy Parker
Mar 29, 2024
I Want My Daughter to Know with Holly Taylor
Mar 27, 2024
ITFW: SOS with Vesna Zic-Côté
Mar 22, 2024
Ready for Love with Carrie Kreiswirth
Mar 20, 2024
ITFW: Fighting Pretty Again with Kara Frazier
Mar 15, 2024
Let the Mirror Shatter with Wang Shein
Mar 13, 2024
ITFW: Privilege with Christi Salcedo
Mar 08, 2024
Mermaid with Tara Coyote
Mar 06, 2024
ITFW: I Call Her Mother with Diana Mae Vega
Mar 01, 2024
Learning from Regrets with Tasha Carlson
Feb 28, 2024
ITFW: The Lemonade Date with Danielle Thurston
Feb 23, 2024
My Body is a Changing Landscape with Anna Wassman-Cox
Feb 21, 2024
ITFW: Love. At Last. with Leslie Martin
Feb 16, 2024
I Might Be in Love with All My Friends with Emily Rau (Explicit)
Feb 14, 2024
ITFW: Heat Lightening with Emily Helck
Feb 09, 2024
18% Chance of Light with Laurie Pomeranz (Explicit)
Feb 07, 2024
ITFW: Lice Doesn't Care if You Have Cancer with Melanie Masterson
Feb 02, 2024
Hair with Rebecca Hall
Jan 31, 2024
ITFW: Puberty in Purgatory at Thirty-One with Lauren Elise Oxenhandler
Jan 26, 2024
Listening to the Trees with Alyssa Tsagong
Jan 24, 2024
ITFW: This is Cancer. with Meghan McCallum
Jan 19, 2024
Traveling With Pets with Emma Jarrett
Jan 17, 2024
ITFW: Don't Call Me a Survivor with Brooke Perry
Jan 12, 2024
Fast Will Make Me Furious with Ann Camden (Explicit)
Jan 10, 2024
ITFW: A Guest Room for MBC with Erin Weiss
Jan 05, 2024
10 Years Learning to Love a New Body with Dana Donofree (Explicit)
Jan 03, 2024
ITFW: No. with Melanie Childers
Dec 29, 2023
Slideshow: Writing Stories in Scenes with Kelley Franks
Dec 27, 2023
ITFW: Living in the In Between with Amy Schnitzler
Dec 22, 2023
Surviving to Thriving After Breast Cancer with Anne Ferrier Crook
Dec 20, 2023
ITFW: The Cancer Gene with Whitney O'Connor
Dec 15, 2023
Frayed Jeans and Roses with Tina Conrad
Dec 13, 2023
ITFW: Love in the Time of Chemotherapy with Christina Zajicek
Dec 08, 2023
Quebec Beckons with Anita Saesing
Dec 06, 2023
ITFW: The Moments Between with Erin Stodola
Dec 01, 2023
AKA Trouble with Patti Duncan
Nov 29, 2023
ITFW: Let Me Hear Your Body Talk with Gretchen Stelter
Nov 24, 2023
Together We Are Thriving, Celebrating, and Reflecting with LaTonya Davis & Jayden Holmes
Nov 22, 2023
ITFW: From Mom I Got Strength, Led Zeppelin and PALB2 with April Renn
Nov 17, 2023
SOS with Vesna Zic-Côté
Nov 15, 2023
ITFW: We Release with Mackenzie Lives
Nov 10, 2023
Cristina with Marissa Thomas (explicit)
Nov 08, 2023
ITFW: When the Return on Your Dollar is Intangible with Kim Harms
Nov 03, 2023
Chest Inclusivity with Dana Donofree
Nov 01, 2023
ITFW: Bindis & Bangles, Onions & Shame-ectomies with Vanessa D'Souza
Oct 27, 2023
Pressure, Pause with Kellie Chouinard
Oct 25, 2023
ITFW: Paying Tolls with Jessica Fox
Oct 20, 2023
The Water Spirit with Vikki Pedigo
Oct 18, 2023
ITFW: A Beggar in a Red Beret with Borah Lee
Oct 13, 2023
Intimacy Without Nipples with Lisa Cassenti (explicit)
Oct 11, 2023
ITFW: My Life is a Movie with Jen Pogue
Oct 06, 2023
I Call Her Mother with Diana Vega
Oct 04, 2023
ITFW: A Fragile Invincibility with Kira Hodgson
Sep 29, 2023
Never Assume with Lisa Jones Christensen
Sep 27, 2023
ITFW: There Can Be Joy with Meghan Nathanson
Sep 22, 2023
Time with Rachel Van Stratton-Kirk
Sep 20, 2023
ITFW: Body Map with Claire Millet
Sep 15, 2023
The Kittens with Janelle Tellone
Sep 13, 2023
ITFW: Each Body Part Has a Story to Tell with Shelley Moreno
Sep 08, 2023
Heat Lightning with Emily Helck
Sep 06, 2023
ITFW: #GucciTrackSuit with Margaret Loniewska
Sep 01, 2023
Surviving Via a Creative Outlet with Denise Archer (Explicit)
Aug 30, 2023
ITFW: Car Battery with Dawn Amodeo
Aug 25, 2023
Well, Let’s Start a Podcast by Danielle Hernandez with Violeta Wall & Heather Higginbotham
Aug 23, 2023
ITFW: A Eulogy to the Person I was Before with Saskia Lightstar
Aug 18, 2023
Mommy’s Boobs Are Different with Dory Kashin
Aug 16, 2023
ITFW: My Inner Voice with Clare Li
Aug 11, 2023
Life With You: In Three Parts with Dorothy Parades (Explicit)
Aug 09, 2023
ITFW: After Death Leaves Its Calling Card with Julie Stonefelt
Aug 04, 2023
Combatting Post-Cancer Depression with Anna Crollman
Aug 02, 2023
ITFW: The Chocolate Chip Cookie That Broke the Camel's Back with Madison Hager (Explicit)
Jul 28, 2023
The Hate I Gave with Ashley LeQuesne (Explicit)
Jul 26, 2023
ITFW: I Still Love You with Jessica Wajda
Jul 21, 2023
The Chrysalis with Tatiana Berger
Jul 19, 2023
ITFW: How a Foob Saved the Day with April Johnson Stearns
Jul 14, 2023
Stories of Resilience and Healing - Reflecting on 100 Episodes (Explicit)
Jul 12, 2023
ITFW: Can I See? with Juni Bucher
Jul 07, 2023
Finding My Breath Poem & Meditation with Justine Egan-Kunicki
Jul 05, 2023
ITFW: Dear One with Meaghan Calcari Campbell
Jun 30, 2023
The Power of Being Vulnerable: I Was Alone Until I Wasn’t with Jessica Lynne
Jun 28, 2023
ITFW: Street Light with Natalie Bello Silva
Jun 23, 2023
From Impossible to Possible with Di Keen
Jun 21, 2023
ITFW: My Jiminy Cricket with Stefanie Le Jeunesse
Jun 16, 2023
When Two Worlds Collide with Roberta Lombardi
Jun 14, 2023
ITFW: The Day My Nipple Fell Off with Laurie Hessen Pomeranz
Jun 09, 2023
Puberty in Purgatory at Thirty-One with Lauren Oxenhandler (Explicit)
Jun 07, 2023
ITFW: Linda: My Hero, My Tamoxifen Tester with Tamira Jubber
Jun 02, 2023
This Is Cancer with Meghan McCallum
May 31, 2023
ITFW: Dynamite for the Dinner Table with Denise Archer (Explicit)
May 26, 2023
A Guest Room for MBC with Erin Weiss (explicit)
May 24, 2023
ITFW: Permanent with Stephanie Kinkel
May 19, 2023
Healing Ink Cancer Changemaker with Tara Dunsmore
May 17, 2023
ITFW: Riding Shotgun with Ann Camden
May 12, 2023
Looking Beyond the Veil with Angela Firman
May 10, 2023
Igniting the Fire Within Trailer
May 08, 2023
Remember Who The F! You Are with Dana Roske (explicit)
May 03, 2023
Re-Release: Revisiting Fertility Loss 10+ Years Later with Melanie Childers (Explicit)
Apr 26, 2023
Surviving to Thriving After Breast Cancer with Anne Ferrier Crook
Apr 19, 2023
Inviting Conversations About Death with Kim Angell
Apr 12, 2023
Re-Release: Revealing the Moments Between with Erin Stodola
Apr 05, 2023
First Comes Cancer Then Comes Divorce with Beth Gainer
Mar 29, 2023
Let Me Hear Your Body Talk with Gretchen Stelter
Mar 22, 2023
Re-Release: A Family Narrative of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome with Whitney O’Connor
Mar 15, 2023
From Mom I Got Strength, Led Zeppelin and PALB2 with April Renn (Explicit)
Mar 08, 2023
Using My Story to Fight for Equality in Breast Cancer with Jamil Rivers
Mar 01, 2023
My Life, and Being Wrong with Stephanie Millett
Feb 22, 2023
Quilt, Blog, Advocate: Legacy Made Tangible with Ann Camden
Feb 15, 2023
I Want My Daughter to Know with Holly Taylor
Feb 08, 2023
You & I with Ashley Blair Doyle
Feb 01, 2023
When the Return on Your Dollar is Intangible with Kim Harms
Jan 25, 2023
Using Your Personal Story to Create Large-Scale Change with Ricki Fairley (Explicit)
Jan 18, 2023
My Story in Ink with Pye Pajewski
Jan 11, 2023
Re-Release: Pregnancy After Cancer with Meghan Koziel
Jan 04, 2023
Re-Release: Legacy Writing with Lisa Laudico
Dec 28, 2022
Re-Release: Words to Live By with Nikki Leigh McKean (Explicit)
Dec 21, 2022
Lost and Lines with Amy Austin
Dec 14, 2022
Paying Tolls on the Breast Cancer Road with Jessica Fox
Dec 07, 2022
Slideshow: Writing Stories in Scenes with Kelley Franks
Nov 30, 2022
Re-Release: My Life is a Movie with Jen Pogue
Nov 23, 2022
How to Be the Main Character of Your Life with Stori Nagel (Explicit)
Nov 16, 2022
Telling Your Story with a Slant with Elizabeth Reed (Explicit)
Nov 09, 2022
A Beggar in a Red Beret with Borah Lee
Nov 02, 2022
What a Pen Name Can Unlock with Jenny Collins
Oct 26, 2022
Together We Are Thriving, Celebrating, and Reflecting with LaTonya Davis and Jayden Holmes
Oct 19, 2022
Broken is Not a Dirty Word with Kate Crawford
Oct 12, 2022
How Million Dollar Boobs Led to a Million Words with Jean Criss
Oct 05, 2022
Rip Curl with Maya Kini (Explicit)
Sep 28, 2022
Using a Body Map to Find Forgiveness with Claire Millet
Sep 21, 2022
A Journalist Embedded in Cancerland with Aisha Chowdhry (Explicit)
Sep 13, 2022
Re-Release of Episode 1: Talking to Kids About Cancer with Sara Olsher
Sep 07, 2022
Cancer’s Lesson (Part 2 of 2): 6 Truths Anniversary Special with April Stearns and Monica Haro
Aug 31, 2022
Cancer’s Lesson (Part 1 of 2): 6 Truths Anniversary Special with April Stearns and Monica Haro
Aug 31, 2022
Bindis & Bangles, Onions & Shame-ectomies with Vanessa D’Souza
Aug 24, 2022
Lessons From a Life Lived in Cancer Culture with Amy Hartl
Aug 17, 2022
The Friends That Leave with Lauren Candies Tarpley
Aug 10, 2022
There Can Be Joy with Meghan Nathanson
Aug 03, 2022
Each Body Part Has a Story to Tell with Shelley Moreno
Jul 27, 2022
Slowing Down to Write One Moment with Dawn Amodeo
Jul 20, 2022
Dating After a Mastectomy with Juni Bucher (explicit language & sexual content)
Jul 13, 2022
Re-Release: The Search to Feel Alive with Jen Rozenbaum (sensitive content warning: suicidal ideation)
Jul 06, 2022
My Inner Voice with Clare Li
Jun 29, 2022
A Eulogy to the Person I Was Before with Saskia Lightstar
Jun 22, 2022
Re-Release: The Story is Bigger Than the Diagnosis: What My Medical File Won’t Tell You with Tracy Cushing
Jun 15, 2022
Dynamite for the Dinner Table with Denise Archer (Explicit language & sexual content)
Jun 08, 2022
Emerging From The Ashes of Year One with Chiara Riga (Explicit)
Jun 01, 2022
Remembering Nalie Agustin with April Stearns
May 25, 2022
Well-Spent Money: The Gucci Track Suit Story with Margaret Loniewska (Explicit)
May 18, 2022
The Day My Nipple Fell Off with Laurie Hessen Pomeranz (Explicit)
May 11, 2022
Learning to Break Open with Julie Stonefelt
May 04, 2022
A Guest Room for MBC with Erin Weiss
Apr 27, 2022
Cancer Breaks Us In Ways That Are Familiar with Madison Hager (Explicit)
Apr 20, 2022
I Still Love You: A Surprising Letter to Cancer with Jessica Wajda
Apr 13, 2022
My Life is a Movie with Jen Pogue
Apr 06, 2022
Revisiting Fertility Loss 10+ Years Later with Melanie Childers (Explicit)
Mar 30, 2022
Revealing the Moments Between with Erin Stodola
Mar 23, 2022
Crawling in My Skin with Mila Knight
Mar 16, 2022
Street Light with Natalie Bello Silva
Mar 09, 2022
Rooting Stories in Music: Riding Shotgun with Ann Camden
Mar 02, 2022
The Search to Feel Alive with Jen Rozenbaum
Feb 23, 2022
The Story is Bigger Than the Diagnosis: What My Medical File Won’t Tell You with Tracy Cushing
Feb 16, 2022
A Family Narrative of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome with Whitney O’Connor
Feb 09, 2022
Finding Hidden Silver Linings with Tamira Jubber
Feb 02, 2022
Patient and Caregiver: When Cancer Worlds Collide with Megan-Claire Chase
Jan 26, 2022
Putting Flat Closure on the Map with Sondra Price
Jan 19, 2022
Surviving Via a Creative Outlet with Denise Archer (Explicit)
Jan 12, 2022
When Cancer Clarifies with Meaghan Calcari Campbell
Jan 05, 2022
Legacy Writing with Lisa Laudico
Dec 29, 2021
The Power of Being Vulnerable: I Was Alone Until I Wasn’t with Jessica Lynne
Dec 22, 2021
Swim: Searching for Answers in Memoir with Tova Wolking
Dec 15, 2021
10 Years Learning to Love a New Body with Dana Donofree (Explicit)
Dec 08, 2021
Memories in Color: Four Generations with Erica Fitch
Dec 01, 2021
Writing About Grief: My Cancer Jiminy Cricket with Stefanie Lejeunesse
Nov 24, 2021
Permanent: It Was Never Just Hair with Stephanie Kinkel
Nov 17, 2021
Words to Live By with Nikki Leigh McKean
Nov 10, 2021
Combatting Post-Cancer Depression with Anna Crollman
Nov 03, 2021
The Power of the Unsent Letter: Dear Spirit Baby with Tracy Ward
Oct 27, 2021
Where Do You Go When You Don’t Belong Anywhere? with Laurie Ratliff
Oct 20, 2021
Odd Girl Out with Jasmine Souers
Oct 13, 2021
Addressing the Specialized Needs of Younger Breast Cancer Patients with April Stearns
Oct 06, 2021
Pregnancy After Cancer with Meghan Koziel
Sep 29, 2021
A Fragile Invincibility with Kira Hodgson
Sep 22, 2021
Feeling Good as Hell? with Erin Weiss
Sep 15, 2021
Ocean with Kristen Carbone
Sep 08, 2021
Naked Narrative with Katie Murray
Sep 01, 2021
Talking to Kids About Cancer with Sara Olsher
Sep 01, 2021
Trailer: The Burn with April Stearns & the writers of Wildfire Magazine
Aug 24, 2021