About this episode

Cheyenne Heflin shares her journey as a two-time cancer survivor, discussing the impact on her identity and the role of humor in coping.

On this episode of the Cancer and Comedy Podcast, Dr. Brad Miller and Cheyenne Heflin open up about a topic that rarely makes it into the discharge summary—but lives in the classroom, the family room, and the therapist’s chair: What happens to your identity, your mental health, and your sense of “who I am” when cancer takes your leg at 13…and then comes back for your lung just as you’re about to become a counselor? Speaking from her own story—first as a middle‑schooler with osteosarcoma and an above‑knee amputation, then as a grad student blindsided by a lung recurrence—Cheyenne has a candid, funny, and deeply compassionate conversation with Brad about living in a changed body, using humor as both lifeline and mask, and learning to become more than “the cancer kid.” In this honest, tender, and laugh‑out‑loud real conversation, Brad and Cheyenne share: Going from knee pain to a childhood bone cancer diagnosis and chemo in a matter of weeks Losing her leg above the knee and starting high school bald, disabled, and in a new city where she knew no one Leaning hard into humor—cracking jokes about her missing leg so other people wouldn’t feel awkward Using her prosthetic leg as a prop…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Brad Miller

Guest: Cheyenne Heflin

Topics covered

• cancer
• identity
• mental health
• humor
• survivorship
• amputation

Keywords

• cancer survivor
• osteosarcoma
• amputation
• humor
• mental health
• identity
• prothesis

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Cancer and Comedy Podcast

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