141: When the Doctor Runs Out of Options, You Find New Ones. Stage IV Metastatic Breast Cancer | Melissa Rausch

Melissa Rausch of Simi Valley, California, was diagnosed in 2019 with triple-positive breast cancer, one of the more aggressive types, and did everything her doctors told her to do. She endured 16 weeks of hard chemo, hospitalizations, a lumpectomy with unclear margins, and radiation with severe side effects. Then in November 2020, the cancer spread to her bones and her oncologist said the word she wasn't ready to accept: terminal. Instead of giving up, Melissa said "with all due respect" and started knocking on other doors. She dove into books, found holistic practitioners, overhauled her diet overnight, and eventually connected with Chris Wark's Square One program and the Healing Strong community. Through a dual path of faith, integrative care, and persistent self-advocacy, including fighting her own oncologist to return to a treatment that had actually worked. Melissa is now in complete remission. She co-founded and now leads the HealingStrong group in Simi Valley, praying for each member by name daily.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Jutta Thorsness, a German-born Idaho resident and Healing Strong group leader, shares the winding journey that led to her triple-negative breast cancer diagnosis It began with sleepless nights caring for her ailing mother overseas, a mysterious lump on her ribcage, and a German healthcare system that wanted her in chemo before she could ask a question. Jutta shares how she declined all three oncologists who fear-mongered and patronized. Instead, she followed God's leading through high-dose IV vitamin C, ozone therapy, fenbendazole, and most dramatically, the removal of four severely infected root canals that a Portland specialist said contained pathogen levels so aggressive that chemo could have killed her. She also opens up about the spiritual roots of her illness, the work of forgiving her aunt, and how God spent eight months teaching her to replace fear with His Word. After a third surgery declared her cancer-free, Jutta now leads her local Healing Strong group and teaches others how to ward off the spirit of fear.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Ashleigh Lindemann spent 17 years in pain before anyone could tell her why. Starting at age 15 with what turned out to be endometriosis, she navigated misdiagnoses, eight prescription medications out of Cleveland Clinic, and 17 surgeries, including the hip surgery that finally uncovered the answer hiding in plain sight. Refusing to accept a lifetime on Cymbalta and Neurontin, Ashleigh took the slow, determined road toward natural healing — and eventually found PEMF therapy (Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy), a technology she describes as earthing and grounding "on steroids." Now the owner of Pulse for Life LLC in Post Falls, Idaho, Ashleigh uses PEMF, red light therapy, and hyperbaric oxygen to help clients reduce inflammation, accelerate healing, and give their cells the energy God designed them to run on.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

David Sanders was a young, active guy from Atlanta, a biology major turned nonprofit professional turned MBA, when years of mysterious, unexplained symptoms finally led to a diagnosis in 2018: Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis, a rare disease most commonly seen in infants. For David, it had already progressed through multiple systems in his body. The diagnosis, as scary as it was, was almost a relief, because at least now he knew what he was fighting.After six months of chemotherapy that wasn't working well, David hit a pivot point. He reached out for help spiritually, emotionally, and holistically. That's when he connected with Healing Strong founder Susie, began working with a holistic doctor, started HBOT therapy, overhauled his nutrition, and leaned into detox protocols to help his body survive the chemo itself. Within months, his scans cleared. By early 2020, just before COVID, he had finished his last round of chemo.Now living in Greenville, SC, David serves as the youngest board member of Healing Strong, bringing his nonprofit management background and his own cancer journey to help the organization reach more people with hope and practical support. In this conversation, he and Jim talk about what it means to fight something you can't name, why hope isn't just emotional but tactical, and why young voices in the cancer community matter more than ever.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Julia Chiappetta was at the peak of her career, running a high-pressure consulting business, traveling the globe, when a diagnosis of stage 2B infiltrating ductal carcinoma and lupus stopped everything. Rather than follow the conventional path her oncologist demanded, Julia leaned into prayer, deep research, and a rigorous integrative protocol: a 30-day water fast, raw food veganism, juicing, the Gerson protocol, detoxing her home of every chemical and synthetic product, and rebuilding her sleep and stress habits from the ground up. A trip to MD Anderson, facilitated by a cousin on staff, became a turning point when Dr. Marek Ross told her that her bloodwork had nearly normalized in just 90 days. A lumpectomy with clean margins followed, and Julia has been thriving for 26 years. She now helps carry the legacy of the Annie Appleseed Project, the organization founded by her late friend Ann Fonfa, providing free education and advocacy to anyone navigating a cancer diagnosis.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Janet Everhart, Director of Volunteer Programs at HealingStrong, joins host Jim Mann for a conversation that's equal parts practical guide and heartfelt encouragement. As the face behind the video curriculum and a nine-year veteran of the organization, Janet breaks down exactly what it takes to start and lead a Healing Strong support group, and spoiler: it's less than you think. She walks through the 12-lesson curriculum, the leader resources, the monthly support calls, mentors, chaplains, and prayer teams available to every group leader. She and Jim also discuss what makes HealingStrong groups different: the faith component, the holistic pillars, and the sense of community that makes people feel like they're at Disney World rather than fighting cancer. From meeting in a coffee shop to Zooming in from Nigeria or Trinidad and Tobago, this episode makes clear that if your area doesn't have a group, that might be your sign to start one.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Lisa Beck, a fitness-focused director of operations from Keller, Texas, was so healthy she wasn't even nervous about her biopsy. The call telling her she had endometrial cancer stopped her in her tracks. What followed was two years of navigating conflicting diagnoses (serous vs. endometrioid cancer), doctors eager to remove everything they could, and her own fierce determination to slow down and make informed decisions. She sought opinions at Texas Oncology, MD Anderson, and Memorial Sloan Kettering, eventually discovered a BRCA1 mutation, and pursued integrative treatments in Tijuana alongside conventional care. Three years cancer-free, Lisa now leads a HealingStrong group in Keller and is newly addicted to pickleball.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Kitsi Tribble had fully vaccinated her first two children without question — but when her youngest, Grayson, was born with Down syndrome, she felt an unsettled conviction to slow down and research before proceeding. Under pressure from their pediatrician and unable to find clear answers fast enough, she went against her instincts. What followed was a cascade of medical crises: infant spasms, multiple rounds of high-dose steroids, aspiration, heart failure, and four months in the ICU — including ten minutes when Grayson's heart stopped completely. He wasn't expected to survive. When he did, the seizures were gone — something doctors couldn't explain, but Kitsi knew exactly who to thank.She came home with a medically fragile baby, a feeding tube, twelve medications to wean, and no pediatrician willing to see an unvaccinated child. What she did have was a plan — built quietly during those long hospital days watching Chris Wark's Square One modules — and a conviction that God had already shown her the way forward. Through whole foods, a naturopathic pediatrician, and stubborn faith, Grayson weaned off every medication, including his thyroid meds, within a year of coming home.Kitsi's mother's story runs alongside his — a stage four endometrial cancer diagnosis that confounded her oncologist when surgery revealed nothing left behind. Now Kitsi leads a HealingStrong group in Six Mile, South Carolina, walking alongside others who know what it means to be told there's nothing more medicine can do.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Keith and Judy Hook return to the I AM HealingStrong Podcast to share what nearly six years of group leadership has taught them. What started as an in-person group just before COVID quickly became a thriving Zoom community — now drawing 15–25 participants each month from across the country and around the world. Keith and Judy walk Jim through how they structure their meetings, how they divide roles based on their individual strengths, and how organic connections within their group — like a volunteer who reads healing books aloud to a member losing her sight — have become some of their greatest joys. Whether you're on the fence about starting a group or just looking for fresh ideas, this conversation is a warm and practical reminder that availability matters far more than expertise.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org

Cherie Calbom, known as "The Juice Lady," joins Jim for her third appearance on the show to unpack one of the hottest health topics today — seed oils. Cherie traces the surprisingly economic origins of vegetable oils, explains why the "hateful eight" oils are fueling chronic inflammation, and breaks down the omega-6 to omega-3 imbalance that may be at the root of cancer, heart disease, dementia, and more. She also shares which oils are safe to cook with, how to read sneaky food labels, and how the body can begin repairing itself once the bad fats are removed. Plus, a preview of her new book, The Truth About Seed Oils, packed with a shopping guide, restaurant tips, and 50+ healthy recipes.HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.Please take advantage of our FREE resources below to help you along your health and healing journey:Support Group DirectoryHolistic Curriculum - Participant GuideSupport Our Mission - DonateAdditional Health ResourcesListen to Previous EpisodesWebsite: healingstrong.org