The Other Shoe: Life Between the Scans
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“Be the one to take responsibility for your health, your life. Nobody's gonna hold your hand to the doctor.”
At 29, Joe noticed something wrong. A strange pain when bending over. Blood in the bathroom. For five months, he convinced himself it was nothing—or at least, nothing serious. When he finally went in for a colonoscopy, doctors found a large adenocarcinoma. Stage four colorectal cancer.
What followed was a crash course in becoming a patient: radiation, chemotherapy, multiple surgeries, a temporary ileostomy that changed everything about how he lived his daily life, and years of burning out nodules in his liver and lungs. The pandemic hit during his first major surgery, meaning he faced most of it alone, without visitors.
At the time of this recording—December, 2024—Joe was 34 and living in Los Angeles. He has been treatment-free for a year and a half. Physically, he feels pretty good. Mentally, it’s a different story. Every three months brings another scan, another wave of anxiety, another reminder that the cancer could return at any time.
In this deeply honest conversation, Joe talks with Cody about the lessons he’s still learning, the mental toll of living in three-month increments, and the question that haunts him: if it comes back, would he even do treatment again? Joe discusses the burden of making decisions about quality versus quantity of life, what it means to be your own healthcare advocate, and how he’s trying to find purpose in an experience he never asked for.
Joe’s story is a reminder that terminal illness doesn’t end at diagnosis—and that healing isn’t just physical. It’s about learning to live with uncertainty, finding reasons to keep going, and making the choice, day after day, to move forward.
You can connect with Joe via his website: www.radiant14.com
For more information on the sponsor of this episode,
please visit the Iliff Death Care Collective.
>>Theme Music by Michael Shynes, "The Other Side"<<
Music featured in this week's episode (please follow and support these beautiful artists):
Izzy Adams - “My Way Home”
To The Valley - “Gold Dust”
The Satellite Station - “I Won’t Go”
