What happens when treatment ends but the journey continues? For young adult cancer survivors, the ringing of the bell marks not an ending, but the beginning of something more complex — survivorship.

In this powerful episode of Life on Pause, five young women who participated in Penn State Health Children's Hospital's inaugural PhotoVoice project come together to share their experiences using photography to tell the stories they struggled to put into words. Facilitated by social worker Meredith Noel and art therapist Alexis Steefel, this program gave childhood cancer survivors a space to explore themes of impact, visibility, loss and found, time, and "here."

Monica Henderson (rhabdomyosarcoma, 20+ years post-treatment) shares how PhotoVoice helped her break decades of silence and honor "little Monica" who never got to share her story. Gabriela (Hodgkin's lymphoma, 4 years post-treatment) describes finding community after feeling isolated as the first in her family diagnosed with cancer. Shelly Bliss (Ewing's sarcoma, 11 years post-treatment) reflects on photographing her prosthetics as a powerful measure of time and healing.

From Monica's dish soap bubbles representing "visibly invisible" survivorship to Lily's peeling paint symbolizing layers of untold stories, each photograph became a window into experiences that too often go unspoken. The participants discuss the pressure to package their stories with "a pretty little bow," the struggle to own the term "survivor," and the transformative power of finally being heard and understood.

This isn't just a story about cancer — it's about sisterhood formed through shared truth, the courage to be vulnerable, and the healing that happens when survivors can tell their whole story, not just the inspirational parts.

Topics Covered:

1. The PhotoVoice methodology and five weekly themes (Impact, Visibility, Lost & Found, Time, Here)
2. Why survivors struggle to own their narratives and the term "survivor"
3. The gallery exhibition at Penn State Health and family reactions
4. Sibling dynamics, twin relationships, and invisible trauma
5. Survivor's guilt and the pressure to be grateful
6. Living with late effects and ongoing health challenges
7. The moment they decided to ring the bell together — on their own terms
8. How photography gave voice to what words couldn't express
9. Building a survivorship community for the future

Featured Participants:

1. Lily Montgomery (Host) - Acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivor
2. Monica Henderson - Rhabdomyosarcoma survivor, 26 years old
3. Gabriela (Gabby) - Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor, 21 years old
4. Shelly Bliss - Ewing's sarcoma survivor, 20 years old
5. Meredith Noel - Social Worker and PhotoVoice Program Facilitator

About Life on Pause: Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with...

What does health maintenance really mean when you're a young adult cancer survivor? Eliot and Hailey—both acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors—share the reality of life after treatment: checkups every six months, school accommodations for brain damage, mental health boundaries that weren't optional before, and learning which exercises won't break bones weakened by chemotherapy.

Recorded at Life Lion Emergency Services in Hershey, Pennsylvania, this episode draws a powerful parallel between maintaining emergency helicopters and maintaining your own health after cancer. Just like mechanics check every system before a helicopter flies, young adult survivors must maintain their mental health, physical health, reproductive health, and everything in between.

In this honest conversation, Eliot opens up about his journey through diagnosis at age 20, achieving remission, experiencing relapse, and receiving a life-saving bone marrow transplant from his brother. He shares how cancer taught him to "cut out the BS," pace himself, and recognize that slow and steady wins the race.

Hailey, diagnosed at 12 in February 2020 right before COVID lockdown, discusses living with brain damage from treatment—dead brain cells in two lobes that affect her memory, dexterity, and processing speed. Despite doctors telling her she's "performing too well for how damaged her brain is," she thrives using accommodations like dictation software and extended time. She shares the painful moment someone called her cancer diagnosis "just a break" from field hockey, and how she learned to set boundaries to protect her mental health.

Topics Covered:

• Redefining health maintenance after cancer (mental + physical)

• Setting boundaries to protect mental health post-treatment

• Living with treatment-related brain damage and school accommodations

• The "gray area" of young adult cancer—too old for pediatric, too young for adult care

• Cancer imposter syndrome: not looking "sick enough"

• Physical fitness adaptations (bad bones, limited dexterity, ongoing symptoms)

• Reproductive health challenges and Four Diamonds support

• Family support for ongoing medical appointments

• Finding community in the AYA cancer space

• How cancer sparked curiosity about oncology and neuroscience

About Life on Pause: Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health's AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Our content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts to ensure accuracy and care.

Join Our Community:

💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/

🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

When a Life Lion flight nurse saves a teenager's life, he never expects to meet him again. Ten years later, that young man returns—not as a patient, but as a father—to say thank you.

Ten-year-old William, a leukemia survivor, discovers a new dream while exploring a Life Lion helicopter: "I may want to be a helicopter mechanic." Maria, a Wilms tumor survivor, remembers the kindness of her transport crew. And Lisa Kreider shares a stunning revelation: Life Lion saved her life sixteen years ago after a car accident—then saved her daughter Maria during cancer treatment.

But the emotional center belongs to Dan Schaeffer, Life Lion's Chief Flight Nurse. At a recent fundraiser, a young man approached him: "Thank you for taking care of me." Dan didn't recognize the face. Then came the moment: "I want to introduce you to my family and kids."

Ten years ago, Dan transported a seventeen-year-old with a traumatic brain injury. Today, that teenager is a father.

"You don't think about those things in the moment," Dan reflects. "That hit really home to me. This is what I do. This is why I do it."

This episode follows Four Diamonds families to Life Lion EMS Day, where the people doing the rescuing get to see what happened next. From Dexter McConnell, a pilot who flies in weather others turn down, to Matt Baily, who treats "the sickest of the sick"—this is a story about profound connections and the impact that ripples out in ways we can't imagine.

Topics Covered:

• William's journey from leukemia patient to aspiring helicopter mechanic
• Maria's Wilms tumor treatment and Life Lion transport
• Lisa's revelation: two generations saved by the same team
• Dan Shcaeffer's emotional reunion with a patient ten years later
• The challenges of flying Life Lion: weather, training, and split-second decisions
• Life Lion EMS Day: teaching kids that aircraft maintenance parallels their own healthcare
• The "Life Lion Family" culture of support and camaraderie
• Matt Baily's story of the Lancaster infant in cardiac arrest
• Four Diamonds' role in removing financial burden for cancer families
• How life-saving work ripples out in ways we can't imagine

About Life on Pause: Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health's AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Our content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts to ensure accuracy and care.

Join Our Community: 💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/ 🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Tony Campisi, a two-time cancer survivor, shares a story about hockey, resilience, and discovering that heaven doesn't have to look the same to still be heaven.

Diagnosed with an astrocytoma tumor on his spinal cord at age four, Tony lost the use of his left side and had to learn to walk — and skate — all over again. Through what he thought was "just playing games" in physical therapy, Tony fought his way back to the ice. With the support of a coach who believed in him when others doubted, telling parents "Tony's the toughest kid out there," he returned to competitive hockey.

For seven years, Tony played. Then came senior year, 2021. As an eighteen-year-old high school senior, Tony started losing grip strength in his left hand. His coach began taping his hockey stick into his hand just so he could play — not too tight, not too loose, just enough to keep him in the game. A routine MRI revealed the devastating news: cancer had returned, with fluid compressing his cervical spine.

In this episode of Life on Pause, Tony reflects on facing treatment the second time with full awareness, using humor to get through six weeks of proton radiation at CHOP, and playing his final game of hockey with his stick literally taped to his hand. Four years cancer-free, Tony shares how he's finding new ways to stay close to his heaven — whether skating, driving the Zamboni, or dreaming of coaching the next kid who needs someone to believe in them.

From the profound wisdom of his Make-A-Wish revelation — that he would choose his cancer journey again because of who it made him — to the powerful metaphor of "the tape job," Tony's story reminds us that adaptation isn't defeat. It's strength.

Thank you, Tony, for sharing your story and your voice.

Topics Covered:

• Tony's diagnosis with spinal cord astrocytoma at age four
• Learning to walk and skate again through physical therapy
• The power of mentorship and believing in young cancer survivors
• Cancer recurrence during senior year of high school
• The literal "tape job" that kept him playing
• Treatment with humor: Austin Powers and laser beams
• Playing his final hockey game
• Finding new ways to stay connected to the game
• The Make-A-Wish revelation: "I would still have it happen to me"
• Redefining heaven when everything changes

About Life on Pause: Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health's AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Our content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts to ensure accuracy and care.

Join Our Community: 💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/ 🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

At twelve years old, Ariana was living for sports — two softball teams, church basketball, and constant motion. Then her knees started hurting. What seemed like a sports injury turned into an osteosarcoma diagnosis that would change everything: her body, her childhood, and her understanding of what it means to advocate for yourself.

In this powerful episode of Life on Pause, Ariana shares what no one tells you about being diagnosed with cancer as a preteen. From losing her leg to amputation, to learning to walk again with a prosthetic, to navigating nine chest tubes and countless chemotherapy regimens — her story reveals the hidden costs of childhood cancer that go far beyond treatment.

Ariana speaks candidly about the things that disappeared: school days, sports, the simple freedom of going to the mall. She describes what she calls "taking the long way around" — renting out entire movie theaters, waiting four months for a prosthetic leg, canceling Make-A-Wish trips twice. But through it all, she discovered something powerful: her own voice.

Now living with ongoing tumors and daily pain, Ariana shares hard-won wisdom about speaking up for yourself in the medical system, the importance of support systems, and why she tells herself "I'm not sick" to keep going. Her story isn't about beating cancer — it's about living with it, honestly and bravely, one day at a time.

Thank you, Ariana, for sharing your story and your strength.

Topics Covered:

• Being diagnosed with osteosarcoma at age 12
• The immediate impact on school, sports, and childhood
• Amputation and learning to walk with a prosthetic leg
• Navigating multiple surgeries and chemotherapy regimens
• Finding your voice and advocating for yourself as a young patient
• Living with metastatic disease and chronic pain
• The unpredictability of cancer treatment and planning for the future
• Coping strategies and maintaining hope
• What "taking the long way around" really means

About Life on Pause: Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health's AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Our content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts to ensure accuracy and care.

Join Our Community: 💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/ 🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of surgery, amputation, cancer treatment, and chronic pain.

Karen Powell, a nurse practitioner at Memorial Sloan Kettering who specializes in breast cancer care, returns for Part 2 to share the night everything changed: her own diagnosis at age 39. A lifelong runner, healthy eater, and non-smoker with negative genetic testing, Karen was months away from her first routine mammogram when a quiet July evening—and a simple itch—led to a life-altering discovery.

In this episode of Life on Pause, Karen reflects on what it meant to go from provider to patient overnight, how she navigated treatment decisions with insider knowledge, and the choices that led her to a double mastectomy. She also explains the surprise of finding additional invasive lobular carcinoma on final pathology, why early detection matters, and how financial and systemic barriers make diagnostic care harder for many women. Finally, she shares how her diagnosis deepens her work with patients, her approach to reconstruction and nipple tattooing access, and her message about self-advocacy: listen to your body, and keep asking until you’re heard.

Topics Covered:

• The July 29th discovery and immediate clinical next steps
• Hearing “you have breast cancer” while in clinic
• When and why she shares her story with patients
• Choosing surgery: lumpectomy vs mastectomy vs bilateral mastectomy
• Final pathology: invasive ductal + invasive lobular carcinoma
• Support systems that actually help (and how friends can show up)
• Boundaries at work: being a patient vs being a provider
• Early detection, fear, and cost barriers (screening vs diagnostic)
• Reconstruction and expanding access to nipple tattooing in-house
• “Still the same mom”: confronting stigma and redefining survivorship

About Life on Pause:

Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health’s AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts for accuracy and care.

Join Our Community:

💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/

🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Karen Powell, a Penn State graduate and nurse practitioner at Memorial Sloan Kettering, shares a deeply personal story that spans three generations of women affected by breast cancer. Diagnosed herself at age 39, Karen’s path toward oncology began long before her own diagnosis — in the living rooms and hospital rooms of her childhood.

In this episode of Life on Pause, Karen reflects on how her grandmothers’ experiences with breast cancer shaped her sense of purpose, empathy, and resilience. One grandmother faced her diagnosis in the 1960s — a time when women couldn’t even sign their own surgical consent. The other delayed treatment to care for her husband, a choice that ended her life too soon but left Karen with a lifelong commitment to caring for others.

From growing up in a close-knit Philadelphia family to finding her calling in oncology nursing, Karen’s story reminds us that strength can be inherited — not just through DNA, but through love, courage, and compassion.

Thank you, Karen, for sharing your story and your voice.

Topics Covered:

• Karen’s upbringing and education at Penn State
• The legacy of her two grandmothers’ breast cancer experiences
• How witnessing hospice care at age four inspired her calling
• The emotional impact of caregiving and generational strength
• Learning that cancer is a chapter — not the whole story

About Life on Pause:

Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health’s AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Our content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts to ensure accuracy and care.

Join Our Community:

💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/

🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts

Ariana McDonell and Tony Campisi share how they turned their childhood cancer journeys into powerful designs for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

At just 12 years old, Ariana entered a t-shirt design contest that became much more than an art project. Her design, chosen two years in a row, carries deep meaning: symbols of art and music therapy, friendships made in the hospital, and memories of Riley and Josh—friends she lost along the way.

Tony, diagnosed at age 4 and relapsing as a teenager, found his creative outlet in a sticker. Inspired by the gold ribbon and the phrase “Fight Like a Kid,” his design included a heart to symbolize the weight childhood cancer leaves on survivors and their families. Handing out his stickers at the clinic, Tony discovered how a small design could start meaningful conversations about awareness and survivorship.

Together, Ariana and Tony show us that Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is about more than ribbons—it’s about resilience, creativity, and carrying stories forward.

Topics Covered:

• Ariana’s diagnosis and first design contest experience
• The meaning behind Ariana’s ribbon symbols and honoring lost friends
• Tony’s survivorship story and inspiration for his sticker design
• How simple designs spark conversations and spread awareness
• The reality of life after childhood cancer
• Creativity as a form of healing and resilience

About Life on Pause:

Life on Pause is a podcast for and by young adults with cancer. Produced by Penn State Health’s AYA Oncology Program, each episode is rooted in honest storytelling and community connection. Our content is reviewed by medical and psychosocial experts to ensure accuracy and care.

Join Our Community:

💻 Website: https://www.lifeonpausepodcast.com/

🎧 Subscribe on Spotify & Apple Podcasts