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What does it mean to survive when life never gives you time to rest?

In this powerful episode of Still I Rise, Cat Black shares her extraordinary story of surviving breast cancer and leukemia — not once, but twice — while raising two young children. Diagnosed with breast cancer at 36 with a four-year-old and a five-month-old at home, Cat fought not just for herself, but for her family. Just as life began to stabilize, a second diagnosis — leukemia — burned everything down again.

Through hospital isolation, failed chemotherapy, and a life-saving stem cell transplant from a perfect international donor, Cat rose from the ashes — scarred, transformed, and stronger than before.

Using the metaphor of the phoenix, Cat reflects on survival, motherhood, identity, and the relentless fires that shape a woman when she has no choice but to rise. This episode is a testament to maternal strength, resilience, and the quiet sparks that keep us going even in the darkest moments.

If you’ve ever faced cancer, cared for a loved one, or wondered how people survive the unimaginable — this story will stay with you long after the episode ends.

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Still I Rise features stories from You Night's STORY CRAFTING COMMUNITY. To read additional stories, visit our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/YouNightStories. Would you like to participate in a 6-week Story Crafting small group experience so that you can share your story? Write to us at teamyounight@gmail.com

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For more than twenty years, Tara Warner has stood at the bedside of people facing cancer.

As an oncology nurse, she’s walked thousands of patients through diagnosis, treatment, fear, and hope — always reminding them that the mental battle is at least fifty percent of the fight.

But everything shifted when Tara crossed the line from caregiver to patient… when she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer.

In that moment, she saw what the system doesn’t have time to hold — the emotional fallout, the identity loss, the quiet unraveling that happens when life splits in two. Bodies are treated. Diseases are managed. But the mind and spirit are often left to carry the weight alone.

What followed wasn’t just illness — it was awakening.

In her Story Crafting piece, Becoming, Tara shares a life shaped by eruption and rebuilding — storms, loss, and the moment she made a powerful decision:
“I will not rebuild what broke me.”

Not the patterns.
Not the silence.
Not the version of life that required her to disappear to survive.

This is a story about choosing a new blueprint.
About becoming truer instead of tougher.
About honoring the mind and spirit with the same urgency we give the body.

This is Tara’s rise.

Support the show

Still I Rise features stories from You Night's STORY CRAFTING COMMUNITY. To read additional stories, visit our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/YouNightStories. Would you like to participate in a 6-week Story Crafting small group experience so that you can share your story? Write to us at teamyounight@gmail.com

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Once upon a time, in a quiet land of shifting skies and whispering winds, lived a girl named Denise.
In her village, children didn’t build houses from wood or stone — they built them from beliefs.

Denise learned early how to build.
Be small.
Be silent.
Keep the peace.
Don’t shine too brightly.

So she built carefully. Brick by brick. Approval by approval.
A house that looked strong on the outside — but never quite felt like home.

She grew, succeeded, achieved… and then one day, a storm arrived.
A breast cancer diagnosis that shook the foundation and asked the questions she could no longer avoid:
Am I living the life I want?
And who am I, really?

In the rubble, Denise heard her own voice for the first time — quiet, steady, true — whispering,
“There’s another way.”

This is the story of rebuilding.
Of choosing alignment over applause.
Of learning that worth is not earned — it’s remembered.

Welcome to Still I Rise —
where storms become awakenings,
healing becomes a choice,
and coming home to yourself is the bravest thing you can do.

Welcome to my guest, Denise Whittaker.

Support the show

Still I Rise features stories from You Night's STORY CRAFTING COMMUNITY. To read additional stories, visit our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/YouNightStories. Would you like to participate in a 6-week Story Crafting small group experience so that you can share your story? Write to us at teamyounight@gmail.com