Kicking Cancer's Ass

About Kicking Cancer's Ass

Kicking Cancer’s Ass is the weekly podcast giving cancer survivors, patients, and caregivers hope and power through stories, strategies, and science.

Publisher

Joelle Kaufman

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

27 Jun 2025

Latest episode

15 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

82 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   15 Oct 2026

   She Emailed the Researcher Herself. She Got In.

   Wenora Johnson is a patient advocate, an eight-year U.S. Navy reservist, and a survivor of three cancers. She was 45, fit and symptom-free when a FIT test she'd ignored for two weeks led to a stage 3B colorectal cancer diagnosis. Genetic testing later found Lynch syndrome (an MSH2 mutation). A preventive hysterectomy then found endometrial cancer. On this episode of Kicking Cancer's Ass, Wenora tells Joelle Kaufman how she found a Lynch syndrome vaccine trial on clinicaltrials.gov and emailed the principal investigator herself. She offered to help with the research even if she didn't qualify, and she got in. They also talk about why colorectal cancer is rising in younger adults and why at-home screening tests matter, how family silence about what relatives died of keeps people from the screening they need, why Wenora kept her diagnosis from her own children, and who clinical research still leaves out, especially Black women. If you have a family history of cancer, or you're wondering whether a clinical trial could be right for you, this episode gives you two concrete moves: how to reach a trial's research team directly, and what to ask your family before your next appointment. Topics Discussed • The FIT test that sat on the toilet for two weeks • Stage 3B at 45, after 15 years of feeling fine • The phone call after surgery: her grandfather, at 38 • Why she hid her cancer from her own kids • Lynch syndrome found her second cancer first • Finding a trial and emailing the researcher yourself • Why cancer trials need more Black women in them • What doctors should say instead of "don't worry"

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   Lynch Syndrome: I Got the Gene From My Mom. My Kids Didn't.

   Don Helgeson has had three cancers: melanoma at 27, colon cancer at 37, and stage 3B prostate cancer at 51. One inherited gene connects all three: Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that raises the risk of colorectal cancer and several others. Don is a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer who served 28 years. He's a volunteer leader with Man Up to Cancer and carries the MSH2 form of Lynch syndrome, which he inherited from his mother. She was diagnosed with colon cancer at 42. Her openness led her brother and sister to get screened, and both were diagnosed. Joelle and Don talk about what genetic testing for hereditary cancer changed for his family, and why his first PSA test came too late. They cover the question every carrier should ask: which cancers does my gene raise my risk for, and when should screening for each one start? Don also talks about finding men his own age to ask about sex after prostate cancer, why he's seen a counselor for close to 20 years, and the day his last child's genetic test came back. For anyone with a family history of cancer, anyone who carries a hereditary cancer gene, and the men who don't like to ask. Topics Discussed His mother talked about it. Two siblings got screened. The letter Don calls "congratulations" Testing the family, one 50/50 at a time Ask which cancers your gene raises, not just which gene His first PSA came at 50. Guidelines say 40. He asked men his age, and got a treatment his surgeon hadn't mentioned A counselor for 20 years, before cancer ever needed one "It ends with me"

3. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Oxidative Stress Is the Root Cause. Nobody's Treating It.

   Dr. William Bestermann is an internist and cardiovascular specialist who spent his career treating heart disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease, and who survived lymphoma himself. He founded the first ICU in Beaufort, South Carolina, ran 180 patients through the NIH's ACCORD diabetes trial, and has written about optimal medical therapy on Substack for six years. His argument is that oxidative stress is the root cause of nearly every chronic disease, cancer included. Excess oxidant production plus weakened antioxidant defense produces inflammation, and inflammation is where cancer, heart disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and autoimmune disease all start. Antioxidant supplements like vitamin E were tested against this and failed. The drugs that actually work on the mechanism are ones most people already recognize: metformin, statins, losartan, and the newer diabetes drugs. He also explains why he'd start treating at 130 over 80 rather than waiting, why abdominal fat is the largest gland in your body, and what a quadrillion oxidants per cigarette puff does to your DNA. The practical piece: he names one study, the Steno-2 trial, that produced the best outcomes ever recorded in type 2 diabetes, and tells you to bring it to your doctor and ask for that standard of care by name. Host Joelle Kaufman is a BRCA1 carrier, a triple-negative breast cancer survivor, and the host of Kicking Cancer's Ass. Topics Discussed •  Ask for Steno-2 by name at your next appointment •  Why vitamin E failed every trial it entered •  The article that ended one cardiologist's certainty •  130 over 80, and what to start then •  A quadrillion oxidants per puff, and what they fracture •  Same buildings, same doctors, 89% fewer deaths •  The metformin cancer claim, and where it broke •  Heart disease outranks recurrence for older survivors

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

4 ratings

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.