In this deeply personal episode of BRCA & Beyond, Marisa Stachelski takes listeners behind the scenes of her experience participating in the Dear Body Project through BRCAStrong, a powerful initiative that brings together twelve women impacted by hereditary cancer, BRCA mutations, breast cancer, and life-changing surgeries to celebrate their strength, resilience, and stories.

What began as a boudoir photoshoot became so much more. Through shared conversations, tears, laughter, vulnerability, and connection, twelve women who entered the room as strangers found a community built on understanding, courage, and healing.

Marisa opens up about her lifelong struggle with body image, being teased as a child, years of dieting and trying to make herself smaller, and how those invisible wounds followed her through her colon cancer diagnosis, BRCA2 mutation, preventive surgeries, double mastectomy, reconstruction, and recovery.

She shares the powerful moment of watching each woman walk out of her private photography session transformed—not because anything about her body had changed, but because she had rediscovered confidence, pride, and a connection to herself that may have been buried beneath years of fear, medical appointments, scars, and survival.

Marisa also reads her emotional “Dear Body” letter and reflects on what it means to finally move from criticism to gratitude, recognizing the very body she spent years trying to change was the same body that carried her through motherhood, cancer, surgeries, and healing.

This episode is for every survivor, previvor, and woman who has ever struggled to see herself with kindness.

Topics discussed:

• BRCA & hereditary cancer awareness

• Breast cancer and cancer survivorship

• Colon cancer survivorship

• Preventive mastectomy and breast reconstruction

• Body image after cancer and surgery

• Self-love, confidence, and emotional healing

• The power of community and shared stories

Follow BRCAStrong on Instagram: @BRCAStrong

Learn more about the Dear Body Project and BRCAStrong at BRCAStrong.org.

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