A new year often comes with pressure to set goals, do more, and fix ourselves. But when you’re living with metastatic breast cancer, that framework can feel exhausting — and disconnected from reality.

In this New Year episode, we talk about a different way forward. One that starts by asking a more honest question:

What do I need this year?

Because when cancer doesn’t reset on January 1st, the goal isn’t reinvention — it’s living.

We explore:

• Why living with metastatic breast cancer is already enough

• Letting go of “shoulds” and redefining progress

• Shifting from performance to presence

• Creating anchors instead of rigid routines

• Trusting what your body and life are asking for right now

• Why rest matters — and why engagement still does too

This is an honest, grounded conversation about living well with metastatic disease — without pretending it’s easy, and without waiting for life to begin “after.”

You’re not behind.
You’re not broken.
And you don’t need to fix yourself to deserve a meaningful life.

Living is the goal.

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• After 27 years of living with metastatic breast cancer, I attended the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium for the first time — not knowing what to expect, or even if I would feel like I belonged.

• What I found was something I didn’t realize I’d been missing: connection, affirmation, and a growing movement focused not just on survival, but on living well with metastatic disease.

  In this episode, I share:

  • What it was like attending SABCS as a patient advocate

  • Why quality of life matters just as much as treatment advances

  • How patient advocacy is evolving — and where I see myself in it

  • What it means to finally feel like these are my people

  This conversation is about belonging, purpose, and using our voices — especially for those living with metastatic breast cancer who are navigating life beyond the early days of diagnosis.

  If you’re living with cancer, supporting someone who is, or wondering how to keep moving forward when the path feels uncertain, this episode is for you.

  If you’re looking for practical, compassionate support for living well with cancer, you can find my guides here:
  👉 Guides & Resources: https://shop.heatherjose.com/all-guides

  Each guide can stand alone, and many people choose more than one to support different phases of their journey.

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  🎙 Podcast: I’m Still Here: Lessons from Life with Metastatic Breast Cancer

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In this powerful episode, Larry and I go back to the week in December 1998 that changed our lives forever. What started as a routine appointment just before the holidays quickly became a devastating spiral of tests, unanswered questions, and the phone call that revealed I had stage 4 metastatic breast cancer at only 26 years old.

We share:

• The moment my doctor noticed something was wrong

• The shock of hearing “It’s cancer” days before Christmas

• The traumatic appointment where I was told to get my affairs in order

• How a second oncologist offered hope and completely changed my prognosis

• What those early days of fear, uncertainty, and survival really felt like

• How this diagnosis became the foundation for the life and mission I have today

If you’re navigating a new cancer diagnosis, living with metastatic breast cancer, or supporting someone who is, this honest conversation is for you. This is the story I wish I could have heard back then — a story about fear, resilience, terrible doctors, life-saving doctors, and the spark of hope that carried me forward.

27 years later, I’m still here. And I want you to know that hope is real.