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Cancer forces questions most of us try to postpone: What matters now? Who shows up? What does dignity look like when your body and your plans change? Maria sits down with Ann Wax, an Oncology Doula™, speaker, author, and oncology nurse with more than 50 years of experience walking alongside patients and families through chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and the emotional shock that comes with a diagnosis — and who has lived it personally too, as a sister who cared for her own sister through ovarian cancer and a wife who supported her husband through kidney cancer.

Ann and Maria talk about legacy and purpose in a grounded way, including what a "good passing" can actually feel like in the room, and why love, peace, and presence matter at the end of life. Ann explains what an Oncology Doula™ does (and doesn't do) through what she calls "The Care Between the Care™" — why family dynamics can be as hard as treatment itself, and how survivorship can reopen old wounds like shame, guilt, and childhood trauma. If you've ever struggled to say "I love you" to yourself in the mirror, the exercise they discuss will hit home.

They also get real about patient advocacy and mindset without pretending reality isn't real. Chemotherapy isn't what it was 30 years ago, and fear often comes from outdated stories and rushed conversations. Ann shares how language and openness can completely change a patient's experience, and they explore what healing looks like even when outcomes are uncertain — grief that doesn't follow a straight line, and caregiving that demands real boundaries.

Connect with Ann Wax:
💼 LinkedIn: Ann Wax https://www.linkedin.com/in/annwax/

Book: BE your own Lifegaurd: Lessons in Resilience, Healing, and Hope https://a.co/d/0f0LVdMz

📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance
I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."
Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life

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Love Your Life

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⚠️ Content Warning: This episode includes detailed discussion of childhood sexual abuse, parental abandonment, and a teenage suicide attempt. Please take care while listening.

Some people survive the kind of childhood that should have broken them, then spend years figuring out how to feel safe in their own body again. That's the heart of Maria's conversation with Kimberly Souba — a story of surviving childhood sexual abuse, parental abandonment, addiction in the home, and a suicide attempt, and then choosing a life built on healing instead of hiding.

Kimberly walks through the moments that shaped her resilience, including the grandparents and neighbors who stepped in when the adults who should have protected her didn't. She and Maria also talk candidly about trauma symptoms that can linger for decades — hypervigilance, night terrors, and the constant fight-or-flight feeling that can drive anxiety and depression well into adulthood.

What makes this conversation especially practical is Kimberly's "toolbox" approach to trauma recovery: a decade of 5:30am therapy sessions, prayer and spiritual direction, journaling, breathwork, affirmations, and boundaries she actually keeps. She shares how revisiting a box of old journals she'd once planned to burn led to over 150 poems and prayers — eventually becoming her first published book, From Death to New Life: The Transformation of a Soul, and a bigger mission to help others move from surviving to thriving.

If you've ever wondered whether your past will always define you, this conversation will meet you right where you are.

If you or someone you know is struggling: the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text (988). You are not alone.

Connect with Kimberly Souba:
🌐 Website: www.ksouba.com
📸 Instagram: @adventuresinfaithandwonder https://www.instagram.com/adventuresinfaithandwonder/
📘 Facebook:

Page: Adventures in Faith and Wonder Books https://www.facebook.com/FaithAndWonderBooks

Personal: Kimberly Souba https://www.facebook.com/kimberly.souba

📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance
I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."
Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life

Support the show

Love Your Life

Follow Maria on Facebook HERE
Follow Maria on Instagram HERE
Follow Maria on YouTube HERE

Send us Fan Mail

Divorce can feel like the moment your whole identity gets ripped away and then judged in public. Maria Aponte sits down with speaker, author, and podcast host Traci R. Wade for an honest, faith-forward conversation about what it really takes to survive divorce, drop the stigma, and rebuild a life you actually want. Traci shares how she refused to be defined as "a divorcee," why self-discovery after divorce matters, and how cultural and religious pressure can make the decision even heavier when kids and family expectations are involved.

They get practical about healing after divorce, especially the question so many people ask but rarely answer plainly: should you date with a broken heart? Traci and Maria talk grief, therapy, community, and accountability, and how doing the inner work changes your standards, helps you spot red flags, and protects you from repeating painful patterns. Maria also opens up about grieving the future she'd planned, learning to love herself again, and why personal growth isn't optional if you want healthier relationships.

Then the conversation takes a turn into the realities nobody posts online: co-parenting, child support, health crises, and the hard choices that come with putting your children first. Traci explains how she ended up on the other side of the child support conversation than she expected — choosing obedience to God over her own instincts, and letting her sons go live with their father. They close out talking about overcoming rejection, embracing your voice, and the daily habits that have carried Traci through nearly two decades of rebuilding.

Connect with Traci Wade:
🌐 Website: www.iamtraciwade.com
📸 Instagram: @iamtraciwade https://www.instagram.com/iamtraciwade/
📘 Facebook: Traci R Wade https://www.facebook.com/traci.bradford.1
📚 Book: It's Just a Season...Not a Sentence!: Navigating God's Plan for You and Your Family Following Divorce — https://a.co/d/0g78GD7b

📖 NEW BOOK: Against All Odds: The Less Than 1% Chance
I wasn't supposed to survive. As the surviving twin with less than a 1% chance at life, I've spent my whole existence beating odds nobody expected me to beat. In this memoir and anthology, I share my story alongside eight other unbelievable accounts of people who refused to let impossible circumstances write their ending, from cancer and addiction to childhood trauma and grief. Eleven stories. One roadmap for anyone who's ever been told "you can't."
Get your copy here: https://books.by/love-your-life

Support the show

Love Your Life

Follow Maria on Facebook HERE
Follow Maria on Instagram HERE
Follow Maria on YouTube HERE