Show Notes
When Ryan Gullen, bassist for the popular Canadian rock band The Sheepdogs, lost his father to esophageal cancer, grief showed up in unexpected and complicated ways. In this deeply personal episode, Ryan reflects on navigating hope, guilt, and the quiet aftermath of loss, all while balancing his music and life on the road. Plus, Dr. Madeline Li, a world-leading psychiatrist from The Princess Margaret, unpacks what grief really looks like, why it rarely follows a tidy path, and how we learn to live with it.
More from Carry The Fire
Determination. Skill. Toughness. It takes a lot to make it to the National Hockey League. But when Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Dakota Joshua was diagnosed with testicular cancer, he knew it would be his biggest test yet. Dakota talks with Lisa LaFlamme about his cancer journey, and what it means to be back on the ice.
Dr. Raymond Kim is one of the Scientific Leads of the Peter Gilgan Centre for Early Cancer Detection Research and Medical Director of the Bhalwani Familial Cancer Clinic. In OurGenes, a study at The Princess Margaret, 100,000 participants, including host Lisa LaFlamme, will receive genetic testing to detect inherited forms of cancer and more. Plus, we hear from Kristin Light, who went from a routine test to finding out she was positive for a rare cancer gene.
At 25, D’Arcy Bowker went from half‑marathon training to blackouts, soaring blood pressure, and a diagnosis of a rare tumour. When her cancer later spread, Dr. Wong from The Princess Margaret enrolled D’Arcy in a groundbreaking theranostics clinical trial. The treatment brought her disease under control, giving D’Arcy precious time with her growing family. Now a mother of three, D’Arcy shares how innovative cancer care helped save her life and inspired her to support others living with chronic illness.
After going through chemotherapy and radiation to treat his throat cancer, Paul Lonergan was in remission. But every cancer patient knows how difficult it is to be declared ‘cancer-free’. Thanks to a landmark clinical trial at The Princess Margaret, Dr. Spreafico and her team caught Paul’s cancer early when it came back and saved his life again. Paul and Dr. Spreafico join Lisa to talk about what it means to get a new lease on life and how The Princess Margaret works to catch cancer if it recurs.
Beth Johnston was a lifelong athlete and busy mother of two when her leukemia diagnosis forced her to confront losing the one tool that always helped her cope with tough times: running. Despite her diagnosis, Beth shares how movement became her lifeline through her cancer treatment and recovery. With humour and candor, Beth reveals the grit it took to keep going, the mental health strategies that helped her rebuild, and how surviving cancer reshaped her entire outlook on life.