Episode 46- Show Notes:

Host Gwen Kelly, a stage three astrocytoma brain cancer survivor, welcomes guest Britney Marr, diagnosed in October 2024 with stage two papillary thyroid carcinoma. Britney describes finding a baseball-sized neck mass, undergoing a complete thyroidectomy with lymph node removal in December, and receiving radioactive iodine treatment in January 2025 that required two weeks of strict isolation at home. Follow-up scans in August 2025 showed persistent disease, leading to a second surgery removing 17 more lymph nodes and learning her subtype does not respond to radioactive iodine, leaving her in ongoing surveillance. She shares the anxiety, uncertainty, and long-term effects of losing a thyroid, including hormone management and difficulty regulating body temperature, while emphasizing that there is no "easy" cancer. Her advice: build a trusted support network—including providers—and keep living and making plans when possible.

Discussed in this episode:

• Welcome to Combating Cancer
• Meet Britney Marr
• Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis
• No Such Thing as Easy
• Finding the Neck Lump
• Thyroidectomy and Anxiety
• Processing the News
• Radioactive Iodine Isolation
• Treatment Did Not Work
• Living Under Surveillance
• Monitoring and Next Steps
• Uncertainty and Planning Life
• Long-Term Complications
• Advice and Closing
• Final Wrap Up

More from Gwen:

Get in touch with our team for sponsorship inquiries or guest host submissions: gkelly@assethr.com

Follow and join the community:

Website: https://www.combatingcancer.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CombatingCancer

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/combating-cancer/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BwfwuJT81/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/combatingcancer_?igsh=azNjM3RlcmJwcWxn