Show Notes
A listener shares the hidden reality of life after cancer. Three years after successful treatment for anal cancer, she is cancer-free but continues to live with chronic pain, changes to her body and the lasting physical and emotional effects of radiotherapy. While those around her assume she's "better", she feels forever changed. Julia, Emily and Sophie explore the loneliness of invisible illness, the grief of losing the body you once trusted, and how to help others understand what life is really like after treatment. They discuss living with chronic pain, finding support from people who truly understand, and why healing isn't always the same as being cured. It's a deeply compassionate conversation for anyone navigating life after serious illness or supporting someone who is.
Send us your Agony Aunties questions: [email protected]
Or message Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe
More from Therapy Works:
Subscribe to the Therapy Works Substack for guidance on everyday struggles and access to Julia’s monthly live webinar: https://juliasamuel.substack.com/
Grieving someone you love? Julia's Grief Works Support Programme offers structured, expert-led help, with 94% of people reporting feeling better after using it. As a podcast listener you can get 25% off plus a 30-day money-back guarantee here - www.griefworks.com/therapy
Follow Julia on Instagram: @juliasamuelmbe for tips, tools, and conversations about navigating life’s challenges.
If you enjoy this episode, please consider rating, reviewing, and subscribing - it makes a big difference and helps others discover these conversations.
If you need help finding a therapist, visit: The Samuel Therapy Practice
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Therapy Works
This week’s listener is struggling with the death of her father, who sexually abused her as a child and never acknowledged what he had done. Psychotherapist Julia Samuel and her daughters Sophie and Emily explore the lasting impact of childhood sexual abuse, the complicated grief that can follow the death of an abusive parent and how to find healing from childhood trauma.
How does childhood trauma fuel adult addiction?
This week’s listener is heartbroken by sibling estrangement. Psychotherapist Julia Samuel and her daughters Sophie and Emily explore the pain it causes, why family conflicts can be so difficult to repair and the challenges of parenting adult children when you can no longer influence their decisions.
To mark Baby Loss Awareness Week, author and former teacher Rosanna Brown joins Julia Samuel to share the story of her son William and her experience of termination for medical reasons (TFMR).
This week’s listener has recently been diagnosed with ADHD after a lifetime of struggling with strong emotions and impulsivity. While the diagnosis has brought her and her husband a huge sense of relief, understanding and emotional healing, her mother and sisters refuse to accept it, believing her successful career and relationship mean she couldn’t possibly have ADHD.