Diaries of a Breast Cancer Baddie
Laughing through chemo, crying through scans & cancer conversation where nothing is off limits.
About the Podcast:
Diaries of a Breast Cancer Baddie is a bold, light and honest breast cancer podcast sharing real breast cancer stories and cancer survivor interviews that don’t sugarcoat the journey.
Hosted by young women with breast cancer, this show dives into the chemo journey, medically induced menopause, body changes, anger, identity shifts, friendships, relationships, sex and the messy in-between moments no one prepares you for.
This isn’t just about surviving. It’s about navigating life after cancer — the good, the hard, and the darkly funny.
We talk about what not to say to someone with cancer.
We talk about losing hair, losing patience, and sometimes losing our minds.
We talk about womanhood, community, and rebuilding confidence when your body feels unfamiliar.
If you’re looking for raw breast cancer stories, honest cancer survivor interviews, and a real cancer community that understands what young women with breast cancer actually go through — you’re in the right place.
This is for the baddies.
The brave.
The blunt.
And anyone figuring out life after cancer one day at a time.
About your host:
November, 2025
It was just 17 months ago. l was fit, busy in my career, and exhausted chasing two young kids under the age of 5 — and then one day, I got that phone call.
This podcast isn’t about being inspirational.
It’s simply about telling it how it is, about telling you how it happens.
It’s about the ridiculous, the emotional, the “what the hell is happening” moments. It’s about the roller coaster of this beast, and it’s about how it is absolutely not a linear process.
Because cancer isn’t just one thing. Its terrifying and can be isolating, but it’s also strangely funny sometimes. Like the time a Mum from school told me she didn’t realise I had cancer, she just thought I was really trendy by shaving off all my hair and rocking headscarves. Seriously? I have definitely shared that one with my fellow baddies and besties, and we have eye rolled and laughed about it.
So this is me — talking honestly about what it’s like to go through the journey of breast cancer, without the pink sparkle filter we all know and love.
And if I can find ways to laugh about it, I reckon you can too.
DISCLAIMER: The views shared on this podcast are based on personal experience and are not intended as medical advice. We are not healthcare professionals. Please consult your medical team with any health-related questions
Diaries of a Breast Cancer Baddie
Episode 3 - A Series with Irene - Part 2. 'Chemo Cocktails at the Cottage!'
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In this episode of Diaries of a Breast Cancer Baddie, Lu sits down with Irene to talk about the one thing everyone dreads but no one really explains properly: chemo.
They take you inside the Patricia Ritchie Centre – lovingly renamed the Chemo Cottage – where treatment looked less like a cold hospital ward and more like an old heritage home full of nurses, support people and patients talking absolute nonsense for hours in recliner chairs. Lu shares how she counted her life in rounds (16 over 20 weeks), how weirdly not awful the actual drip time could be, and why she now regrets not scheduling her chemo dates to line up with her baddie besties.
The girls dive into the real side effects: the three-week chemo cycle of feeling fine, then feeling like complete dog shit, then slowly resurfacing; diarrhoea and constipation at the same time (fun!), ulcers on eyelids, chemo rash, neuropathy, chemo brain that feels like baby brain on steroids, red pee from the Red Devil, taste buds going AWOL, and gaining weight even when you’re barely eating. Plus the joy of “dex” steroids, sharing pills like tic tacs, and the chaos of trying to pee while dragging the IV pole and ten bags of fluids into a tiny bathroom.
They also unpack radiation – why the fatigue hit differently, how advanced the tech is at the Mater (curving lasers that avoid the heart and lungs), and what it’s like to lie under a giant machine called Apollo while your boob slowly turns into a rock-hard, permanently perky science project over 12 months.
It’s honest, a bit feral, unexpectedly funny, and full of gratitude for the treatment and care available in Australia – with zero sugar-coating about the toll it takes.
This episode isn’t medical advice – just two baddies sharing what chemo and radiation actually felt like for them.