The Bottom Line Podcast

Aged just 27 when she was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, Taylor chats to Stephanie about the challenges of losing her identity to cancer, the pressure it put on her loved ones, and how accessing a clinical trial was literally "life-saving"!

“Without this treatment I would not be here. Immunotherapy as a cancer treatment is the way of the future. It should be the gold standard. It should be the frontline treatment for all cance...

Navigating a bowel cancer diagnosis as a woman can be particularly complex.

Issues like perimenopause and menopause can have overlapping symptoms, making it challenging to identify what’s truly going on.

"Bowel cancer buddies", Kat and Kristin, sit down with Stephanie to dive into a candid conversation about all things "poop".

"Women have complex body systems that deserve careful attention. Don’t place women in the too hard basket.” -...

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with bowel cancer, we're here for you.

This informative chat with Bowel Care Nurse, Fiona, and Psychosocial Support, Hannah, discusses the importance of supportive care and provides a snapshot of the pivotal role Bowel Cancer Australia’s Specialist Telehealth Support Services can play throughout the care continuum.

“Let people with experience walk with you so you can focus on living as well as...

This New Year make exercise a priority.

The benefits of exercise are well documented. Bowel Care Exercise Physiologist, Kailey, provides tips to help keep you motivated before, during and after treatment.

Joining Kailey on this episode is bowel cancer advocate, Jon, who shares his lived experience and discusses how exercise empowered him to take control of his diagnosis and the positive impacts on his mental wellbeing.

“Being able to ...

Stephanie chats with Bowel Care Nutritionist, Jo and advocate, Jemima to help demystify nutrition throughout treatment, living with a stoma, and life beyond bowel cancer. 

Jemima shares her lived experience and explains how Jo empowered her to implement some small changes that have enabled her to navigate her “new” normal, returning to work and travelling abroad.

An episode where Jo and Jemima discuss easy to implement nutritio...

Josh and Ant chat with Stephanie around the importance of raising bowel cancer awareness and the difficulty and pain of losing their loved ones far too young - Josh’s brother Mitch and Ant’s friend Dean.

Both long-time supporters of Bowel Cancer Australia’s Decembeard campaign, Josh and Ant discuss the positive impact of honouring their friend and brother through their fundraising initiatives and urge others to have the conversation...

Bowel Cancer Australia advocates, Jenny and Peter join Stephanie to share their Call on Canberra 2025 experience and discussions with policy makers about the living with early-onset bowel cancer.

Impacted heavily in the rush-hour of their lives, Jenny and Peter are both deeply passionate about seeing the landscape change for early-onset bowel cancer and discuss the power of the collective voice in making meaningful change.

“I conside...

Fundraising in honour of loved ones is hugely rewarding but event planning can also be incredibly time consuming. 

In this episode Stephanie chats with childhood friends Sara and Amy, co-founders of Time is Precious, about the impact of losing a loved one to bowel cancer and how they have leant into their youth and desire to give back.

“We are definitely trying to find ways to create a point of difference and because we are you...

Melbourne University’s Professor Mark Jenkins discusses his team’s latest research which highlights excess deaths due to the rise in early-onset bowel cancer between 1990 and 2020, as well as the disparity of bowel cancer research funding in Australia.

Mark also discusses the burden early-onset bowel cancer on those who are in the rush-hour of their lives – building careers, developing relationships and raising families.

“The increas...

It's Dry July and Stephanie chats with two passionate fundraisers Justin and Conor who are raising funds for Bowel Cancer Australia in memory of their Dad and Mum, respectively.

Funds raised through Dry July help support the Charity's specialist in-person Bowel Care Nurse Program, which aims to improve equity of access to personalised care and tailored support, allowing more people to access coordinated care closer to home.

“My Dad p...

Walkley Award-winning author, investigative journalist and author, Lucie Morris-Marr chats to Stephanie about her lived experience.

From her initial stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis to undergoing a groundbreaking liver transplant, Lucie discusses her roller coaster ride.

“I am lucky to be here. I’m very grateful for that and I want to give back, because people have really given generously to me.”

A strong believer in advocating for...

Danae shares her “good news” cancer story, highlighting her proactive GP who ultimately saved her life.

“I became the good luck story of 2022. Instead of dismissing my symptoms due to perimenopause my GP wanted to be thorough and sent me for a CT scan that ultimately revealed stage 2 bowel cancer.”

Danae discusses the importance of a positive outlook and how finding her “tribe” and the bowel cancer community helped her through her di...

Flamboyant and infectiously positive, Sooz has always tried to find a “glimmer” in every day since she was a little girl.  Not even a stage 4 bowel cancer diagnosis has extinguished her bubbly personality. That doesn’t mean there are not moments that are hard, but as she explains, she chooses to view everything with a positive filter.

Sooz talks about how (despite being health literate) she was shocked by her diagnosis. 'I jus...

We know bowel cancer is the deadliest cancer for people 25-44 and Australia has the highest rates of early-onset bowel cancer in the world, but we don’t know why.

On this episode Associate Professor Daniel Buchanan discusses the importance of funding bowel cancer research, his Angel Study and why he is excited about bowel cancer research.

“In my lifetime we can do something to prevent it. . . Cancer is a complex disease and ther...

On this episode, celebrity chef and author Justine Schofield opens up about the death of her best friend Beth to bowel cancer aged just 38.

Justine talks about the joy of female friendship, her shared love of food with Beth and how the loss of her lifelong friend at such a young age has impacted her and their close-knit group.

“There is something so very special and effortless about a female friendship and I hit the jackpot with Beth...

This New Year make exercise a priority, no matter how big or small. The benefits of exercise are well documented when going through a cancer diagnosis and in this episode of The Bottom Line Podcast, Bowel Care Exercise Physiologist Kailey provides tips and tricks to help keep you motivated throughout the bowel cancer journey.

Joining Kailey on the podcast, bowel cancer patient Jon shares his lived experience and discusses how exerci...

A long-time bowel cancer advocate, Jodie’s delayed diagnosis was 'explained away' as female related issues, pregnancy and being a young Mum. 

It wasn’t until she advocated for herself that she finally got the answer to her ongoing symptoms – Stage 3 bowel cancer.

'Self-advocacy is my big message - if something doesn’t feel right, look right and you’re not happy with the responses you're receiving, you need to find another optio...

Diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer and HER2 gene mutation at 35, Pei, (a GP registrar) chats with Stephanie regarding the importance of GP’s treating the patient in front of them without age bias. 

Pei talks about her realistic and pragmatic approach to living her life with a terminal illness and how her love of the outdoors keeps her focused on the 'now'.

'I live my life in 9-week cycles – scan to scan – but I am always tryin...