Author Chat - Joelle Kaufman

Joelle Kaufman — cancer survivor, BRCA1 carrier, and author of “Crushing the Cancer Curve Ball: A Playbook for the Newly Diagnosed (and Their Family and Friends)” — joins Josie and co-host Brad Buchanan to talk about building a practical, compassionate “approach at the plate” for life with cancer. Joelle shares how writing helped her process, why her book is deliberately modular for foggy days, the origins of her free financial-toxicity calculator, and her idea of “happiness tripwires”. The conversation lands on a memorable refrain: we don’t choose the pitch; we choose the swing.

Relevant links for this episode:

• Joelle Kaufman:
  • Joelle Kaufman: https://joellekaufman.com
  • Kicking Cancer's Ass Podcast: https://www.kcapodcast.com
  • Joelle Kaufman Revenue Catalyst Coaching: http://www.gtmflow.com
• Breast Cancer in Men: https://www.mskcc.org/cancer-care/types/breast-male 
• Cold Caps: https://www.cancer.org/cancer/managing-cancer/side-effects/hair-skin-nails/hair-loss/cold-caps.html 
• Cancer Gene Mutation Facts: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/genetics/brca-fact-sheet

General Links:

• Disclaimers: https://cancersurvivormd.org/disclaimers/
• Brad Buchanan: https://linktr.ee/bradthechimera
• G [Josie] van Londen: https://linktr.ee/cancersurvivormd
• CancerBridges: https://cancerbridges.org/

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 3:40 How did the book come to be
• 9:02 Content of the book
• 11:17 Joelle's motivators to write
• 12:28 Checklists
• 13:33 Financial Toxicity Calculator
• 19:18 Every cancer is different yet also the same
• 20:10 We think the curve ball is the surprise, but the real surprise is how it still catches us off guard.
• 23:01 Curveballs can come in multiples
• 25:06 This is not a medical book
• 27:14 Happiness Tripwires
• 34:56 What did writing give you
• 41:08 We don't choose the pitch we get. We only choose the swing.
• 44:25 Do we have to pitch?
• 47:34 Joelle's Podcast