Walk It Off: Men Don't Talk About Cancer cover art

Walk It Off: Men Don't Talk About Cancer

Walk It Off: Men Don't Talk About Cancer

Written by: Matthew Zachary Worldwide
Listen for free

About this listen

Men don’t talk about cancer. They should.

Walk It Off is a no-BS, three-episode series for men with cancer who are tired of going through this alone. No soft-focus inspiration. No sugarcoating. Just real conversations about what it means to be a man facing cancer in a world that still expects you to tough it out and keep quiet.

Men often delay care, stay silent, and suffer in isolation because they’ve been told asking for help makes them weak. That silence leads to late diagnoses, fewer options, and little support for the mental and emotional toll cancer takes. And for men in certain communities, the barriers are even higher.

This series breaks through that. Patients, advocates, and experts who get it talk about what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to change. How to get the right care. How to push past stigma. How to live your life without losing yourself along the way.

More men are speaking up. More communities are forming. But this fight isn’t over—and neither is this conversation. Walk It Off keeps it moving.

© 2025 Hygiene & Healthy Living Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Self-Help Social Sciences Success
Episodes
  • Chronic Zen

    Chronic Zen
    Sep 13 2025

    Michael Kramer was 19 when cancer ambushed his life. He went from surfing Florida beaches to chemo, radiation, and a bone marrow transplant that left him alive but carrying a chronic disease. He had necrosis in his knees and elbows, lost his ability to surf for years, and found himself stuck in hospitals instead of the ocean. Yet he adapted. Michael picked up a guitar, built Lego sets, led support groups, and started sharing his story on Instagram and TikTok.

    We talk about masculinity, identity, and what happens when the thing that defines you gets stripped away. He opens up about dating in Miami, freezing sperm at a children’s hospital, awkward Uber-for-sperm moments with his brother, and how meditation became survival. Michael lost his father to cancer when he was a teen, and that grief shaped how he lives and advocates today. He is funny, grounded, and honest about the realities of survivorship in your twenties. This episode shows what resilience looks like when you refuse to walk it off and choose to speak it out loud instead.

    RELATED LINKS

    • Michael Kramer on Instagram
    • Michael Kramer on TikTok
    • Michael and Mom Inspire on YouTube
    • Ashlee Cramer's Book
    • University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
    • Stupid Cancer


    FEEDBACK

    Like this episode? Rate and review Walk It Off on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • Rocks Need Rocks

    Rocks Need Rocks
    Sep 13 2025

    Daniel Garza had momentum. Acting roles, directing gigs, national tours lined up. Then anal cancer stopped everything. Radiation wrecked his body, stripped him of control, and left him in diapers, staring down despair. His partner, Christian Ramirez, carried him through the darkest nights, changed his wounds, fought hospitals, and paid the price with his own health. Christian still lives with permanent damage from caregiving, but he stayed anyway.

    Together they talk with me about masculinity, sex, shame, friendship, and survival. They describe the friendships that vanished, the laughter that kept them alive, and the brutal reality of caregiving no one prepares you for. We get into survivor guilt, PTSD, and why even rocks need rocks. Daniel is now an actor, director, and comedian living with HIV. Christian continues to tell the unfiltered truth about what it takes to be a caregiver and stay whole. This episode gives voice to both sides of the cancer experience, the survivor and the one who stands guard.

    RELATED LINKS

    • Daniel Garza IMDb
    • Daniel Garza on Instagram
    • Daniel Garza on Facebook
    • Christian Ramirez on LinkedIn
    • Lilmesican Productions Inc (Daniel & Christian)
    • Stupid Cancer


    FEEDBACK

    Like this episode? Rate and review Walk It Off on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com
    Show More Show Less
    23 mins
  • Man Up

    Man Up
    Sep 13 2025

    Trevor Maxwell lived the archetype of masculinity in rural Maine. Big, strong, splitting wood, raising kids, and carrying the load. Then cancer ripped that script apart. In 2018 he was bedridden, emasculated, ashamed, and convinced his family would be better off without him. His wife refused to let him disappear. That moment forced Trevor to face his depression, get help, and rebuild himself. Out of that came Man Up To Cancer, now the largest community for men with cancer, a place where men stop pretending they are bulletproof and start being honest with each other.

    Eric Charsky joins the conversation. A veteran with five cancers, forty-nine surgeries, and the scars to prove it, Eric lays out what happens when the military’s invincible mindset collides with mortality. Together, we talk masculinity, vulnerability, sex, shame, and survival. This episode is blunt, raw, and overdue.

    RELATED LINKS

    • Man Up To Cancer
    • Trevor Maxwell on LinkedIn
    • Dempsey Center
    • Eric Charsky on LinkedIn
    • Stupid Cancer


    FEEDBACK

    Like this episode? Rate and review Walk It Off on your favorite podcast platform. For guest suggestions or sponsorship inquiries, email podcast@matthewzachary.com
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
No reviews yet