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Join us as we talk to Carmen Scheffer.

Carmen noticed a bruise on her leg during a family holiday — the kind of thing most of us wouldn't look at twice. Over eight weeks, it grew, changed shape, took the feeling from her skin, and turned black. She was told to do what we are do with a bruise, to ice it and elevate her leg. What doctors didn’t know at the time was, it was angiosarcoma, a rare cancer most people have never heard of.

Weeks and months trying to get scans and answers led Carmen to fly home to Sydney for the care she couldn't get in Canada, and within a week had answers and a treatment plan. Fifteen rounds of chemo. A life changing above-knee amputation. Another nine more rounds of chemo. Then the hardest part began — mourning her body, her ability, the life she used to have — all while waiting for NDIS funding to receive a prosthesis just to start rebuilding.

Two years on, she's looking at turning what she's been through into something for others: a platform that would give newly diagnosed sarcoma patients the practical guidance she wishes she'd had.

This is a conversation about being dismissed, about fighting for a diagnosis across two health systems, and about how cancer changes people in ways many of us could never imagine.

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Join us as we talk to Chris Clarke.

Chris was 36, fit, healthy, and living an active life with his young family in Sydney’s Northern Beaches when a family holiday to Byron Bay changed everything. What started as a gastro bug quickly escalated into emergency hospital transfers, surgery, and a diagnosis that no one saw coming — Stage 4 bowel cancer.

In this episode, Chris shares the raw reality of navigating a life-altering diagnosis with no symptoms, no family history, and no warning signs. Recorded while hooked up to his 12th and final round of chemotherapy, he opens up about undergoing major surgery, the physical and emotional toll of full-dose treatment, the invisible mental weight of cancer.

Chris’s story is also one of extraordinary resilience and advocacy. Mid-treatment, he ran a full marathon coming off a chemo cycle and returned to treatment just two days later — raising over $20,000 for bowel cancer awareness in the process. Now, he’s using his voice to push for change, appearing in media, lobbying at Parliament House, and advocating for earlier screening access for young Australians.

This episode is a powerful reminder that cancer doesn’t always look the way we expect it to — and that no symptoms does not mean no cancer.

June is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, and Chris’s story is one every young Australian needs to hear.

Some resources and links below:

https://www.bowelcanceraustralia.org/

Fundraising: https://challenge.bowelcanceraustralia.org/page/ChrisClarke-94758725

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