
Parenting Through Cancer: Less Perfection, More Connection
From This is Cancer by Siteman Cancer Center
August 27, 2025 · 50 min · Episode 32
About this episode
This episode discusses the challenges of parenting through a cancer diagnosis and the importance of support and honest communication within the family.
When you're diagnosed with cancer, everything changes — except your kids still need dinner, stories, clean clothes and someone to kiss them goodnight. In this episode, Faith shares how she and her husband navigated her stage 4 cancer diagnosis while raising two young daughters. With support from her care team and community, they worked to keep routines steady, emotions honest, and hope alive. Joined by WashU Medicine gynecologic oncologist Andrea Hagemann, MD, and WashU Medicine clinical psychologist Amaris Tippey, PhD, we explore the emotional toll of parenting through illness, the power of honest conversations with kids, and how love, support and boundaries can carry a family through the unimaginable. This is an episode about resilience, community and the kind of strength that grows in the hardest places. “This is Cancer” is brought to you by Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Wash U Medicine, and produced at Spot Content Studio in St. Louis, MO. For more information on topics discussed in this episode, go to: https://siteman.wustl.edu/patients/ https://siteman.wustl.edu/visiting/patient-and-family-services/social-work-services/…
People in this episode
Guests: Faith, Andrea Hagemann, MD, Amaris Tippey, PhD
Topics covered
- parenting through illness
- cancer diagnosis
- emotional support
- family resilience
- honest conversations
- community support
Keywords
- cancer
- parenting
- emotional toll
- support
- resilience
- community
- honest conversations
Sponsors
Siteman Cancer Center
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Siteman Cancer Center, WashU Medicine
Places: St. Louis, MO
More episodes of This is Cancer
- Finding Purpose and “Presents”: Travis on Living His Best Life with Metastatic Cancer · November 26, 2025 · 46 min
- The New Era of Breast Cancer Detection and Treatment · October 29, 2025 · 38 min
- A Novel Life: Writing New Chapters After a Childhood Cancer Diagnosis · September 24, 2025 · 39 min
- 10 Minutes at a Time: Coping with the Unexpected Side of Chemo · July 30, 2025 · 47 min
- Men & Cancer: Talk it Out vs “Tough it Out” · June 25, 2025 · 56 min
- Skin in the Game: Outsmarting Melanoma with Immunotherapy · May 28, 2025 · 41 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the This is Cancer podcast page.