Lincoln cancer survivor hopes to help others through podcast | Health and Fitness
Podcaster, public speaker and cancer survivor Joy Huber poses for a photo at her home in Milford on Friday.
Having cancer made Joy Huber realize she wanted to help people through the journey of treatment and recovery.
The Lincoln woman was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010 and went through three years of treatments, including surgeries and chemotherapy, before being declared cured.
She was only 33 at the time of diagnosis, and while she had great support from family and friends, one of the things she said she wishes she had at the time was a mentor — someone who had gone through the experience of having cancer who could have guided her and let her know what to expect.
For example, she wishes she could have talked to someone about losing hair during chemo, an event she called “the most emotional part of treatment.”
In 2012, while she was still in treatment, Huber published a book called “Cancer with Joy” that recounts her battle, offers stories from other cancer survivors, and gives some tips and resources for people going through diagnosis and treatment.
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She’s also done a ton of public speaking in the years since her diagnosis, but she still felt like she could do more.
As the coronavirus pandemic cut down on gatherings and Huber found herself doing fewer in-person speaking gigs, she started thinking about other ways she could connect with people.
“I was thinking, how can I guide others through cancer?” she said.
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That’s when the idea of doing a podcast popped into her head.
Huber said it seems like nearly everyone these days has a podcast.
“I thought, ‘What if I do that?'” she said.
She started recording the podcast, called “Dose of Joy,” in October and has since done 38 episodes.
Joy Huber with her mom, Susie Huber, before her second cancer surgery in 2010.
Huber records one episode each week, using her walk-in closet as her podcasting studio, and recording and editing the episodes on a free software app called Audacity.
Many of the titles are focused on a specific kind of cancer and are timed to correspond with awareness weeks or months for those cancers. In fact, she timed the start of the podcast to line up with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
But Huber also covers topics such as dealing with health insurers, battling treatment side effects and relaying inspiring stories of cancer patients.
She said some of the most popular podcasts she’s done so far have been ones dealing with the “do’s and dont’s” after a diagnosis, the importance of getting a second opinion and what to do when kids are facing cancer.
Though Huber doesn’t have a clinical background in health care, she does have a master’s degree in health communications as well as the experience of going through cancer herself.
She also does meticulous research to make sure she knows what she’s talking about.
Bart Frazzitta, president of the Esophageal Cancer Education Foundation, contacted Huber in April to compliment her on her podcast about esophageal cancer, saying in an email to her it was the “most informative description of esophageal cancer I have ever heard.”
Frazzitta told the Journal Star that Huber “used basic, well-defined and clear terms of what esophageal cancer is and how it develops.”
“She explained exactly the process one should go through to identify the types of esophageal cancer and what procedures that will need to be taken to hopefully eliminate the cancer,” he said in an email. “Her explanation of what is available for people who have cancer in their post-surgery biopsy and the procedure to follow is well explained and on the mark.”
Huber said she tries to put herself in the shoes of people diagnosed with cancer and their family and friends.
“I just think, what do I wish I had known at diagnosis?” she said.
In addition to providing her listeners useful information, Huber said she also looks to bring a positive outlook and let people know that having cancer is not the end of the world.
She said she wants to use her voice, share a positive patient perspective and reach as many people as possible.
“I really think for me, being positive made a difference in my outcome,” Huber said.
You can listen to the “Dose of Joy” podcast at: https://tinyurl.com/ytvjda77.
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This mutation increases a woman’s breast cancer risk nearly as much as BRCA. What to know
Does the PALB2 mutation increase a woman’s risk of cancer?
The PALB2 mutation is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, excluding skin cancers. Men can get breast cancer too, but it’s rare. A PALB2 mutation can also increase a person’s risk for ovarian and pancreatic cancer.
For women in the general population, the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is 12.9% or 1 in 8, according to the National Cancer Institute.
For women with a mutated PALB2, the lifetime risk of developing breast cancer by age 70 is higher, about 40% to 60%, said Blake, the Cleveland Clinic doctor.
Women with BRCA mutations can have up to an 80% of developing breast cancer, said Perez, the Sylvester doctor who is the medical director of the Braman Family Breast Cancer Institute in Plantation.
Women with a family history of breast cancer are at higher risk of developing breast cancer. However, it’s worth noting that most women with a family history of breast cancer “do not have an inherited gene change that greatly affects their risk,” according to the American Cancer Society. Likewise, a woman can have a mutated gene even if she doesn’t have a family history of cancer, Perez said.
How can the PALB2 gene be detected?
Like other gene mutations, PALB2 can be detected through genetic testing, either through a blood or saliva test.
And, yes, breast cancer caused by PALB2 can be detected through mammograms and MRIs just like other gene mutations such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, Blake said.
Is breast cancer treatment different for people with PALB2?
People with PALB2 are slightly more prone to develop an “estrogen receptor negative breast cancer, which increases the likelihood that their cancer may need to be treated with chemotherapy,” Blake said.
Perez said PALB2 patients also share some characteristics: The women developing cancer are usually younger (they’re premenopausal), they might have lymph node involvement, and their diagnosis is usually triple-negative breast cancer or bilateral breast cancer. The tumors are usually bigger, too, due to the late diagnosis.
And while standard breast cancer treatments do exist, such as mastectomy and chemotherapy, some patients will undergo new treatments that are being tested in clinical trials.
What can women with a PALB2 mutation do to their lower risk?
In terms of testing, women with the mutation should alternate every six months between breast MRIs and mammograms, according to Perez and Blake. This way, if cancer does start to develop, it can be detected early.
Women with the PALB2 mutation who have a family history of breast cancer can also undergo a preventative double mastectomy to lower their risk, the doctors said.
Women should consider lifestyle changes, too, to reduce their risk of breast cancer., including not smoking, not drinking too much alcohol, eating healthy and exercising to avoid being overweight. Obesity can increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer.
“My message to women is, ‘We are all at risk. Just being a woman puts us at risk,’ ” Perez said. “Know your risk. It’s not the same for everybody … That’s a discussion that they need to have with their physician. They need to ask, ‘What is my risk of developing breast cancer?’ and then develop a plan that works for them.”
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