Today's guest is Sally Orange MBE, former British Army Major and physiotherapist turned fruit dressing adventure athlete, mental health campaigner and charity fundraiser. Diagnosed in 2025 with breast cancer, she has faced her experience with hope, moving forward openly and unapologetically.

Sally has completed over 85 marathons, including The London Marathon and the Everest Marathon, both between diagnosis and surgery!! She has completed the 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days, and even ran to all of her chemo sessions.

We talk about silver linings, mental health challenges, of course running, finding gratitude always, and so much more.

I've gotten lots of mental advice for the marathon I will be running this year from Sally, and there are so many great nuggets for life in this conversation. I'm so excited for you all to tune in!

Resources:

Sally's Website: www.sallyorange.com

Sally's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sallyorangembe/

Sally's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sally-orange-mbe-95948741/

Sally's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sally.orange.942

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com

Today's guest is Jonathan Gegerson, author, speaker, and advocate for those diagnosed with cancer. Jonathan was diagnosed in 2019 with very rare salivary duct carcinoma and has endured over 200 chemo cycles, 67 radiation sessions and 7 major surgeries over the past 6 years. His goal is to inspire others to be thankful for what they have, help them embrace the suffering and turn it into victory. He recently published Perspective C, sharing the power of words, time, love, and suffering.

We talk about how cancer can affect even the healthiest people, the importance of second opinions, facing recurrences with positivity and humor, the marathon vs. sprint journey of cancer, putting things in perspective, and so much more!

Jonathan is one of the most positive people I've ever met and his outlook on life is so inspiring. What a conversation to kick off 2026!

Resources:

More of Jonathan's Story: https://breakingcancernews.com/2025/10/13/salivary-duct-carcinoma-treatments-are-evolving-and-dentists-can-help/

Jonathan's Book Perspective C: https://a.co/d/37WWbY0

Jonathan's Email: jonathangegerson@gmail.com

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com

I wanted to take this first episode of 2026 to reflect on the last 104 episodes over the past almost 2 years of the show. There have been some amazing conversations and incredible humans that I've had the absolute pleasure of chatting with. I'm sharing some of the highlights and great things so many of my guests have accomplished, all during or after a cancer diagnosis.

I hope you enjoy this look back and remember with me, while also looking forward to what's to come in 2026. Below are some of the books and non-profits we mentioned. Please check them out!!

Happy New Year!!

Books

Flat Please by Ellyn Winters

The Unlikely Gift of Breast Cancer by Diane Simard

The Guys Guide to Everything Breast Cancer by Rick Baker

Welcome to Katie's Brain by Katie Smith

Light Through Darkness by Harriet Cabelly

Positively Altered by Dr. Cindy Howard

Overcoming Life's Toughest Challenges by Andy Campbell

But is it the Bad Kind by Rachel Orgel

Boo Bear's Big Day by Jodi Novak

Cancering by Lauren Huffmaster

Cancer Ramblings by Sandy Duarte

Cancer Stories of Hope by Kevin Donaghy

A Breast Cancer Journey by Jennifer Douglas

I AM ALIVE by Nathalie Latham

Finding Hope and Joy in Cancer by Amanda Gunville

Non-Profits

https://www.hodgkinsinternational.com/

https://www.surviveandthrivecr.org/

https://liveradvocates.org/

https://imermanangels.org/

https://theolandusfoundation.org/

https://adventurefound.org/

https://www.myeloma.org/

https://www.prostatenetwork.org/

https://malebreastcancerhappens.org/

https://testicularcancersociety.org/

https://www.sitesandinsights.org/

https://beckybakerfoundation.org/

https://www.facebook.com/thecrownandgloryproject/?locale=tl_PH

https://askellyn.ai/

https://twistoutcancer.org/

https://epicexperience.org/

https://www.theboobytrapfoundation.org/

Today's guest is Nathalie Latham, photographer and film maker, based in Paris, until her life altering diagnosis of Stage 3 cervical cancer at age 39. During her therapy, she was stuck in bed for 7 days and nights and needed activity to focus her mind, so she began drawing. As she recovered, she kept drawing to remind herself that she was alive. These drawings are now part of her visual memoir I AM ALIVE: Creating Resilience and Healing Trauma through Art.

We talk about brachytherapy radiation, the role of art in healing, accepting the past, how nature and spirituality helped her recover, embracing joy in the creative process, finding beauty in trauma, and so much more.

This conversation was incredibly beautiful, as is Nathalie's work, and a perfect episode to end 2025 and prepare for a new year.

Resources:

Nathalie's website: www.nathalielatham.com You can find the link to her book here

Nathalie's Blog: https://substack.com/@nathalielatham

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com

Today's guest is Amanda Gunville, visionary executive, investor and author of the book Finding Hope & Joy in Cancer. She's also a survivor of triple positive breast cancer largely due to her own self-advocacy and not taking "no" for an answer. Being a mom of a young toddler, Amanda learned to face her diagnosis with grace, joy, and determination to live, along with a good dose of humor.

We talk about fighting for your rights and getting multiple opinions, being with the people who love you the most through the journey, writing the book she wish she could have read, her nationwide "book drive" to donate her book to cancer patients, and so much more!!

This is a great story to listen to during the holidays!! Merry Christmas and thanks so much for your support of this podcast!

Resources:

Amanda's Website: www.hopeandjoy.net

Amanda's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopeandjoyincancer/

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com

Today's guest is Tessa Parry-Wingfield, global communications consultant, public speaker, and survivor of ocular melanoma, a very rare form of eye cancer that affects about 6 people per million annually. She has found purpose in her adversity and ironically "sees life clearly" despite her vision issues.

We talk about learning to live with a prosthetic eye and monocular vision, the challenges of rare cancers, eye and vision health (see your eye doctor regularly), finding purpose and clarity post diagnosis, and so much more!

Resources:

Tessa's Website: Tessa Parry-Wingfield | Speaker + Storyteller | Seeing life clearly |

Tessa's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seeing_life_clearly/

Tessa's LinkedIn: Tessa Parry-Wingfield | LinkedIn

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com

Today's guest is Shannon Griffin, owner of 4Humanitees, a purpose driven T-shirt company dedicated to empowerment and awareness, founder of Survive and Thrive, a non profit for cancer survivors and their families, and a triple negative breast cancer survivor.

Shannon brings her over 30 years of social work to helping socioeconomically impacted families, striving to break cycles of marginalization and systemic inequity through strength-based, trauma informed approaches.

We talk about navigating treatment options, finding humor along the way, the impact of poverty, breaking the stigma of a cancer diagnosis, how Survive and Thrive is helping cancer survivors and their families with mindset, health, wealth and recovery, and so much more!!

Resources:

Shannon's website: www.surviveandthrivecr.org

Shannon's Facebook: Survive And Thrive Crorg | Sacramento CA | Facebook

Shannon's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/surviveandthrivecr

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com

Today's guest is Erin Cummings, co-founder and executive director of Hodgkin's International, a non-profit dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for long-term survivors of Hodgkin's Lymphoma Worldwide. She herself is an over 50 year survivor of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Erin believes that survivorship is not the end of the cancer journey, but a lifelong chapter that deserves understanding, resources and hope.

We talk all about Hodgkin's Lymphoma, treatments that are thankfully no longer in practice, what are called "late effects" of those treatments, the importance of survivorship care and community, pro-active health management, and so much more!!

Resources:

Erin's Website: https://www.hodgkinsinternational.com/

Erin's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hodgkinsurvivors

Erin's Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hodgkins-international

Erin's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hodgkinsinternational/

Erin's Email: erincummings@hodgkinsinternational.org

Follow:

Follow me: https://www.instagram.com/melissagrosboll/

My website: https://melissagrosboll.com

Email me: drmelissagrosboll@gmail.com