AfterThoughts

Natalie: Proposals, Invisible Illnesses and Sex and Intimacy

Listen on

Episode notes

AfterThoughts was created to make visible some of the invisible cancer stories from within the young cancer community.

Well. We've made it. It's the very last storyteller of the series. But you know we'll be back for our usual wrap up and all that other business in due course. Before that though - we've got Natalie for you. Diagnosed with Stage 4 bowel cancer aged 36, Nat's had quite the cancer ride. She had a pelvic exenteration as part of her treatment (meaning surgeons removed her ovaries, fallopian tubes, womb, cervix, vagina, rectum, anus, a section of her spine and took some bone from her left pelvic sidewall, amongst other bits and pieces). She had to learn to walk again and also lives with a stoma. 

She joins us to chat about going from being a dancer and using her body as her tool and having to surrender to her cancer treatment, what she learned from her mum's cancer diagnosis and how that prepped her for her own and why we all need to be talking about cancer and sex more. It is, in our opinion, another unmissable episode.

Find AfterThoughts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

AfterThoughts is supported by Trekstock and Alike. Trekstock gets young adults moving again, physically, emotionally, socially and psychologically, after cancer has stopped them in their tracks. Alike is a game-changing peer support platform because living with cancer can be lonely. Speak to others who have been there, done that, and worn the unflattering hospital gown.

As ever, AfterThoughts deals with some conversations you may find tricky to listen to. If you need any further support, please don't hesitate to get in touch with our friends at Trekstock or find peer support on the Alike app.

AfterThoughts is produced by Toby Peach and Alice-May Purkiss from Beyond Arts. Sounds by Kieron Lucas and Dinah Mullen