How Do You Advocate for Yourself When Facing Cancer? A Conversation with Catherine Curtin

From The Well Known Podcast: Exploring Longevity, Biohacking, and Alternative Medicine · 29:50

Show by Shannon Conklin

For Catherine Curtin, wellness has never meant choosing between conventional medicine and a more holistic approach. After being diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive cancer, Catherine spent more than a decade navigating surgeries, recurrences, chemotherapy, complementary therapies, meditation, and some incredibly difficult decisions about her health.In this episode of The Well Known Podcast, Shannon sits down with Catherine to talk about what it actually looked like to advocate for herself through cancer while continuing to work, care for her patients, ask questions, seek additional opinions, and find ways to feel empowered when so much was outside of her control.Catherine shares how her medical background shaped the questions she asked, why listening to her body became so important, how meditation became part of her daily life, and why finding physicians willing to have open conversations about both traditional and complementary approaches mattered so much to her.What You’ll LearnWhy Catherine says listening to your body matters, even when you cannot immediately explain what feels wrongHow her leiomyosarcoma diagnosis and later recurrence changed the way she approached her own healthWhy she sought additional testing, opinions, and treatment options throughout her cancer journeyHow meditation helped Catherine feel more grounded and empowered during treatmentWhy continuing to work and care for her patients became an important part of getting through some of her hardest seasonsWhat wellness means to Catherine today after everything she has experiencedChapters00:00 Meet Catherine Curtin00:55 From hospital medicine to aesthetics and wellness03:05 How Shannon and Catherine met04:10 Catherine’s original leiomyosarcoma diagnosis06:05 When cancer returned eight years later07:30 Surgery, recurrence and chemotherapy09:00 Meditation and navigating treatment09:45 Catherine’s experience with personalized testing11:00 What she learned from cold capping13:00 Exploring complementary wellness practices15:00 Why patient self-advocacy matters17:10 Learning that tumors can change over time18:00 Additional testing and monitoring19:15 Catherine’s experience with hyperbaric oxygen therapy21:00 Exploring treatment options outside the U.S.23:40 How work helped Catherine keep going24:30 Regenerative medicine and Catherine’s aesthetics practice27:00 Finding doctors willing to listen28:15 Catherine’s definition of wellness30:15 Where to find CatherineIf Catherine’s story resonates with you, like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who might need to hear it.Connect with Catherine: www.beautyandfly.comPlease note: This conversation reflects Catherine’s personal experience and is not intended as medical advice. Treatment decisions, testing, medications, supplements, and complementary therapies should always be discussed with qualified healthcare professionals familiar with your individual medical history.

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