Guest: Ananda Millard
Theme: Agency, humor, and identity after breast cancer and BRCA2 diagnosis
Episode summary
After a sudden breast cancer diagnosis at age 50—and learning she carries the BRCA2 mutation—Ananda Millard found herself unexpectedly navigating complex medical and emotional terrain. In her conversation with Sara, Ananda shares how the loss of her mother to pancreatic cancer and reflections on family history shaped her proactive relationship to risk, choice, and self-advocacy. She discusses why cancer and genetic mutation became pathways for learning, how humor has been her lifeline, and why she refuses the stigma surrounding mastectomy, implants, and menopause. Ananda's story offers a refreshingly honest, agency-focused, and deeply human approach to living through hereditary cancer risk.
We cover
The emotional impact of a surprise cancer diagnosis—and why "being healthy" doesn't mean you're exempt
Exploring generational risk: reconciling family losses to pancreatic and prostate cancer, and understanding lineage through genetic testing
The power of agency: how Ananda chose her own response, treatment, and attitude—starting with thanking her geneticist for clear information
Navigating the medical system in Switzerland: coordinated "cancer centers," supportive care teams, and lessons from international experience
Humor as medicine: watching stand-up comedy religiously, naming surgical drains, and making laughter a deliberate practice
Reclaiming identity after mastectomy: body image, resisting societal horror, and celebrating her "life-saving boobs"
Coping with surgical menopause: living without HRT, navigating temperature swings and challenging norms around the aging female body
Stigma and normalization: breaking silence about mastectomies and menopause, addressing trauma from social expectations
Reframing ongoing risk: yearly pancreatic scans as "wearing a seatbelt"—active prevention without obsession
The teacher in trauma: how cancer and BRCA2 have reoriented Ananda's life philosophy toward learning, joy, and evolving agency
Holding space for complexity: grief, humor, and a fuller emotional range after her mother's death and her own cancer journey
Highlights & takeaways
"Cancer took my boobs, not my sense of humor."
"You don't get to choose what happens to you, but you choose how you use it, what you learn from it, and how it shapes your future."
"Humor is not a defense for me—it's a somatic process, like a good cry, a way to move things through and keep living."
"Our diagnosis is only a small part of who we are. Agency means deciding what defines you—and not letting one experience dictate everything."
"We need to normalize mastectomy, menopause, and the social realities around cancer—they aren't rare or shameful."
"Screenings and scans are my seatbelt. I still go on the road trip, I just sing in the car along the way."
Content note
This episode includes discussion of cancer diagnosis, mastectomy, surgical menopause, familial death from cancer, stigma, medical experiences, and somatic therapy.
Resources mentioned
BRCA1/BRCA2 Hereditary Cancer Risk – FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered
Stand-up comedy as emotional medicine – Scientific American: How Humor Heals
Surgical menopause – The Menopause Charity: Surgical Menopause
Post-mastectomy body image – Breastcancer.org: Body Image After Mastectomy
Swiss Cancer Centers – Swiss Cancer League
Somatic therapy & trauma – USABP: Somatic Approaches to Trauma
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