S4: Ep 9 - Cassie Walker-Johnson on the Covid pivot of a cancer diagnosis
I’m behind on what feels like almost everything - not just this podcast. With the overturning of Roe V. Wade on June 24th, I’ve felt heavy with confusion, rage, and an overwhelming sense of powerlessness that I’ve been trying to wade through. Amidst family vacations, my kids being home on break, my discombobulation is real. The pivot that our country has taken during Covid feels completely surreal, scary and is beginning to feel more and more irreversible. I’m terrified for the future of our country and I don’t know what to do. I’m sure so many of us are feeling this way and I just want to validate it. No one has answers, there’s no definitive action to take, and women everywhere are scared and wondering how this could possibly happen in real life.
But we still have to move forward. We moved through a pandemic, we’ve moved through women’s rights before, so we will keep moving. Because life is still happening. We’re still here, raising our families and dealing with things that we can’t predict. Life is still serving us things we have to deal with right now. It’s still serving up health scares that go beyond Covid and Which brings me to the subject of this episode. Unpredictable covid pivots.
Cassie Walker-Johnson is my friend. She has a successful real estate career with her husband Jeremy. She is a mom, she is an incredible networker and connecter, and in December of 2020, she became a cancer patient. Right before Christmas, Cassie got the phone call 1 in 7 women will get, the call from the doctor telling her that she had breast cancer. Now there’s a covid pivot.
Over the next hour, Cassie is going to share her experience so please know we talk about breast cancer, surgery, and chemo. We also talk about helping our sisters in arms that get diagnosed, and how we can best serve each other. Cassie’s mom asked me if it was going to be a “silver linings” podcast and I assure you it is. This conversation is meant to serve as a tool - Cassie wants her experience to help others who get this diagnosis, and remind us that there are silver linings within the cancer diagnosis.
Huge thanks to Cassie for showing up to this interview with her heart on her sleeve. It’s vulernabililty like this that will allow us to better help each other and that’s the whole point of being alive.
The weight of the world right now is slowing me down. It’s making me re-evaluate how I show up in the world, how I want things for my daughter, and how I want to exist in society as someone who can take action and help. Starting with conversations like this one with Cassie is a way to start.
The next show will be the last one in season 4 and I’m getting nostalgic. I am not the same person I was when I started this passion project two and a half years ago. The gratitude I have for the people that have come onto this podcast and shared their truth with all of us is overwhelming. It’s given me an opportunity to learn so much about the world around me - a world that I’ve been so ignorant to for so long. My eyes are starting to open, and I’m so thankful to the experts around me who have generously said yes to a conversation. My last interview will be no exception. Please stay tuned in two weeks for a discussion that we all need to have. In the meantime, please dig deeper this week. Figure out a tangible way to help someone in your community - close a loop with someone, ask a deeper question, take 5 minutes to care just a little bit more. You never know what’s happening right in front of your face.