Lisa Moore

The Cervivor Podcast: Season 1 Recap

In anticipation of the Season 2 release, we’re taking a look back on Season 1 of the Cervivor Podcast hosted by our very own Founder and Chief Visionary, Tamika Felder. It was a season where we laughed, cried, and learned from guests during Cervivor School 2017. We give honor and observance to those featured in these podcasts that are no longer with us. To be able to hear their voices, laughter and transparency is a special treat for us. We hope you think so, too.

If you haven’t listened to Season 1 yet, take a moment and do so now – currently available on Anchor.fm, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, and Spotify.

Recap by Episode:

  1. Cervivor’s “Most Enthusiastic” awardee, shares all the things we wanted to know but didn’t want to ask in “Dry Panties, Depends, and Urine. What Does This Have to Do with Cervical Cancer?” Turn the volume all the way up and be proud as you listen to Holly Lawson talk about obstacles during diagnosis.
  2. “Everybody’s voice makes a difference,” says Erica Frazier Stum whose school-aged son knows his mother may be gone sooner than she should be. This podcast episode is a special treat hearing Erica’s voice posthumously who passed away in 2019.
  3. “Education 101: What is Lymphedema?” Heather Banks drops a few jewels around compression undergarments, drainage, swelling, and giving yourself grace when you just … can’t. 
  4. Balancing school, work, her grandmother’s dementia, and an unexpected stage 4 cervical cancer diagnosis, Teolita Rickenbacker says she found her calling amidst an overwhelming period. “It’s nothing wrong with having cervical cancer; it’s nothing wrong with having any kind of cancer. It’s just how you define it.” Listen to “The Will to Live: How Faith Got Her Through a Cancer Diagnosis.”
  5. In “Acceptance of Death: How She is Making Her Story Matter,” Lisa Moore shared her story of diagnosis, kidney failure, and coming to grips that once she passed, her 30-year-old husband would likely start a family with someone else. “I have accepted death. I’m done being stuck, I’m done being treated. I’m ready to just live my life … it’s a different kind of hope.”
  6. The aftermath of a car accident reveals Sierra Thetford has cancer, but despite a six-month prognosis to live, she sought solace in sharing her story and becoming a gym rat. Listen to “Wrecking into Cancer: How the Gym Became Her Refuge.”
  7. Lynn Tromp talks about cervivorship globally and being open to new experiences, “I trusted my medical doctor. He spoke to me with confidence. Even though it was a trial, he spoke to me with confidence,” said Lynn who lives in South Africa. Listen to “Cancer in another country: A Tell-all From South African.”
  8. In “Toxicity in Relationships: Coping with Cancer,” Dr. Ramani Durvasula talks with Tamika Felder about feminism, narcissistic relationships, and convoluted thoughts that we can experience during diagnosis and treatment. 

Season 2 of the Cervivor Podcast is moving past the archives. Join us on Friday, May 13, 2022 for the Season 2 Episode 1 release!

We’ll be welcoming our first guest, Joslyn Chaiprasert-Paguio. Joslyn was diagnosed with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) at the age of 18 and with cervical cancer at the age of 24. She shares her story to encourage women and future generations, like her daughter, to advocate for themselves and make their health a priority. You’ll also hear what else you can expect on this Season of the Cervivor Podcast.

For more Cervivor-related content, check out our award-winning YouTube channel, CervivorTV. Follow Cervivor on all social media platforms and sign up for our newsletter. If you would like to be interviewed for upcoming Cervivor Podcast episodes or to request content or speakers for future episodes, fill out this form or contact us at [email protected].

I had data and statistics in my talks, but that wasn’t telling the story that would move people to action

Chair of the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable, Dr. Noel Brewer has given hundreds of talks at scientific conferences and meetings across the globe. He’s advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization on vaccination.  He’s one of the most cited researchers in the world. His credentials are impeccable, yet much of the time when he starts a talk, he defers to the experts: patients.

His solution: “Always have people speak who have had the experience. When someone speaks who has had direct experience with cancer, it clears out the mental clutter. It makes you feel. It sets the stage for the important work that will follow.”

Dr. Noel Brewer has shared Lisa Moore’s Cervivor Story hundreds of times to “help people grasp the importance of preventing cancer.”

“To hear about the diagnosis and that awful waiting period. About what they have gone through – the symptoms, the damage caused by treatments, the possible loss of fertility.  These are key parts of the story that survivors can speak about in a personal way that doctors, scientists and other experts simply cannot.”

“As scientists, we often talk about cancer in abstract and technical terms. We convey a lot of important information that doesn’t connect with people’s feelings and imagination. But how can we help people grasp the importance of preventing cancer?” reflects Dr. Brewer.

Dr. Brewer regularly starts his talks with the voice of Lisa Moore. Lisa died of cervical cancer in October 2017, at age 31. Yet through her powerful Cervivor story video, she has educated and impacted thousands.

“I had data and statistics in my talks and trainings, but realized I wasn’t telling the full story. So now, I leave that to Lisa Moore. In her video, she tells the story of her fight with cervical cancer. It’s one minute. It’s powerful. It’s heartbreaking. Every time I show the video, I’m moved by it. And I’ve seen it more than 150 times.”

“At first, Lisa is sitting. She is sewing. She tells her story in very simple and concrete terms. We see her partner in the background, watching her. Every time I show it, people pause and struggle to collect themselves. We sit with Lisa. We feel her pain and her call to action. We take a deep breath together, then we get focused on the work of what we are going to do to prevent cervical cancer.”

Lisa was a true champion for prevention. She educated and advocated and was telling her story…until she could no longer. Lisa lives on in her Cevivor story and in her video, and her passion for prevention and call to action has been seen, heard and felt by researchers, healthcare providers and policy makers around the world. Not just through Dr. Brewer’s use of her video into his talks, but by many others.

“I do many ‘train the trainer’ sessions about HPV vaccination, and connections happen based on Lisa’s video. People often come up to me after, asking if they could also incorporate Lisa’s video in their own outreach. Working with Cervivor, we’ve shared the video many times and amplified the reach of Lisa’s message.”

In video or in person, “Cancer survivors speak with certain authority,” says Dr. Brewer. “You are a moral voice on cervical cancer and all of the ways it affects lives. I don’t know anyone who can speak as powerfully.”

“We’ve shared her video at Cervivor events, and it has been seen and shared many times via our social media platforms. But Dr. Brewer is the one who has really helped to get Lisa’s story to the masses and I am personally thankful to him for that,” said Tamika Felder, founder of Cervivor. “Lisa wanted her story to be shared. She wanted the world to see that not only what cervical cancer had done and taken from her; but also, that it in fact it was not an easy cancer. She wanted her story to help get people vaccinated against HPV so they would not have to suffer the same fate. Dr. Brewer has helped me keep my promise to Lisa. For that I am forever grateful.”

Are you sharing your story?

If you haven’t yet, add your story to our Cervivor Stories. Write a blog post about your experience or your advocacy or about a milestone or simply a memory or reflection and send it to [email protected]. We can publish it and add it to the voice and reach of our Cervivor blog.

As Dr. Brewer reminds us, stories matter. Stories motivate. Stories change minds. Our community’s work sharing our stories is powerful.

A professor of Health Behavior at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public, Dr. Noel Brewer studies health behaviors. He examines ways to increase HPV vaccine uptake, and his research led to the development of “The Announcement Approach” to train providers to communicate more effectively about HPV vaccination and other vaccines for adolescents. Dr. Brewer chairs the National HPV Vaccination Roundtable, which brings a wide cross-section of stakeholders together to raise HPV vaccination rates and prevent HPV cancers.