The Cancer Caregiver
The Cancer Caregiver Podcast is for the relentless cancer caregivers who tirelessly prioritize their loved ones but struggle to care for themselves amidst overwhelming responsibilities, societal expectations, and feelings of isolation.
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Nov. 4, 2025
You’ve Become Everyone Else’s Caregiver and Forgotten How to Take Care of Yourself
When was the last time you did something simply because you wanted to? Not because someone else needed it, not because it fit between appointments or chores, just because it brought you joy? If it’s hard to answer, you’re not alone. At some point…
Nov. 4, 2025
Caregiver Guilt: Why It Happens and How to Break Free
You Feel Bad for Needing Rest, for Saying No, for Wanting Your Old Life Back You know that moment when you finally sit down, take a deep breath, and for the first time all day, feel like yourself again… only to have guilt crash the party? Maybe it…
Nov. 4, 2025
When You’re the One Holding It All Together (and No One Notices)
Everyone Checks In on the Patient. No One Checks In on the Caregiver. When someone you love is diagnosed with cancer, the world divides into two groups: those who are sick, and those who are invisible. Everyone rushes to check in on the patient. …
Reviews
Excellent Podcast on Male Breast Cancer
I was one of the men interviewed by Charlotte and Paul Kidwell. This was my first interview on cancer and Charlotte’s questions helped to unravel what dark side of cancer and how challenging it is as a caregiver, or being a caregiver to yourself. What helped listeners, my emotional response to Charlotte’s questions and feeling a connection to my experience. Thank again Charlotte for helping to share emotions.
- Remarkable Arv
- July 28, 2025
All
Charlotte says what I have been unable to express during my caregiving burn out and stress-filled days. The last several weeks I’ve listened to every 2025 episode. The first two episodes made me cry. I knew immediately she knows of what she speaks. For all these years of caregiving, I’ve stifled my emotions to be strong to all I know. Thank you Charlotte for who you are, your heart, and for your eloquence.
- Gina Rio 13
- July 29, 2025
A must listen
I stumbled across this podcast series when looking for caregiver info. The last time I was in this situation there was very little around. I love Charlotte’s honesty and practical advice. It’s not preachy and there is something for everyone. Shared it with my mum (who rarely listens to podcasts) and she said she felt her feelings were validated. Keep up the great work!
- Amootiy
- Jan. 27, 2024
Working Caregivers
If you are, or know, a working caregiver please take the time to listen to this episode. Charlotte so accurately describes the struggles of working caregivers and makes you feel that you are not alone. She gives her honest recommendations on how to ease the balance of responsibility in the two worlds you are trying your best to navigate. Everyone deserves some grace while navigating work and caregiving, Charlotte certainly reinforces this feeling.
- Ray 713
- Feb. 27, 2025
Recent Episodes
112
July 20, 2026
Why It’s So Hard to Plan Ahead as a Cancer Caregiver
Why does it feel so hard to make plans, think long term, or imagine your future when you are caring for someone with cancer?
In this episode, Charlotte begins the Living Until the Next Scan series by naming the way cancer caregiving can contract time. She explores how life starts to get organized around scan cycles, results, and reprieves instead of seasons, milestones, or the long arc of your own life. She also talks about the quiet losses that come with living inside a shorter timeline, inclu
In this episode, Charlotte begins the Living Until the Next Scan series by naming the way cancer caregiving can contract time. She explores how life starts to get organized around scan cycles, results, and reprieves instead of seasons, milestones, or the long arc of your own life. She also talks about the quiet losses that come with living inside a shorter timeline, inclu
111
July 13, 2026
How To Trust Calm Again
How do you actually teach your body that calm is safe again after long-term cancer caregiving?
In this episode, Charlotte closes the When Calm Feels Unsafe series by bringing together everything the series has explored: hypervigilance, busyness, fear during good weeks, and the difficulty of receiving good news.
She explains why understanding your nervous system matters, but why insight alone is not enough to retrain it. Real change happens through repetition, through small lived moments where
In this episode, Charlotte closes the When Calm Feels Unsafe series by bringing together everything the series has explored: hypervigilance, busyness, fear during good weeks, and the difficulty of receiving good news.
She explains why understanding your nervous system matters, but why insight alone is not enough to retrain it. Real change happens through repetition, through small lived moments where
110
July 6, 2026
Why Good News Still Doesn’t Feel Safe
Why can good news feel so hard to trust when you’re a cancer caregiver?
In this episode, Charlotte continues the When Calm Feels Unsafe series by talking about the strange gap between what the doctor says and what your body believes.
She explores why hearing “everything looks good” does not always bring instant relief, how repeated cycles of calm followed by crisis can teach the nervous system to treat good news as temporary, and why many caregivers grieve the loss of being able to receive goo
In this episode, Charlotte continues the When Calm Feels Unsafe series by talking about the strange gap between what the doctor says and what your body believes.
She explores why hearing “everything looks good” does not always bring instant relief, how repeated cycles of calm followed by crisis can teach the nervous system to treat good news as temporary, and why many caregivers grieve the loss of being able to receive goo
109
June 29, 2026
Why You Can’t Relax Even When Things Are Calm
Why can a good week feel scary when you’re a cancer caregiver?
In this episode, Charlotte talks about the fear that can show up when things are stable, your loved one seems well, and life finally feels calm. She explores why a caregiver’s nervous system can learn to treat peace as a warning sign, how past crises teach the body to brace during good days, and why fear during a stable stretch does not mean you are ungrateful or unable to enjoy good news.
Charlotte also shares a simple grounding p
In this episode, Charlotte talks about the fear that can show up when things are stable, your loved one seems well, and life finally feels calm. She explores why a caregiver’s nervous system can learn to treat peace as a warning sign, how past crises teach the body to brace during good days, and why fear during a stable stretch does not mean you are ungrateful or unable to enjoy good news.
Charlotte also shares a simple grounding p
108
June 22, 2026
Why Quiet Days Make You Anxious as a Cancer Caregiver
Why can a quiet day feel harder than a busy one when you are caring for someone with cancer?
In this episode, Charlotte continues the When Calm Feels Unsafe series by talking about what happens when the busyness finally stops and your nervous system no longer has tasks to keep it occupied.
She explains why constant motion can become a form of emotional protection, why anxiety often rushes in when there is finally space to rest, and why that reaction is not a failure of rest but evidence of how
In this episode, Charlotte continues the When Calm Feels Unsafe series by talking about what happens when the busyness finally stops and your nervous system no longer has tasks to keep it occupied.
She explains why constant motion can become a form of emotional protection, why anxiety often rushes in when there is finally space to rest, and why that reaction is not a failure of rest but evidence of how
107
June 15, 2026
Why Calm Feels Unsafe as a Cancer Caregiver
What happens when the very thing you need most... peace, quiet, a day with nothing urgent, starts to make you anxious instead of relieved?
In this episode, Charlotte explains how prolonged caregiving can train the nervous system to normalize hypervigilance, mistrust calm, and brace for the next crisis even when nothing is wrong in the moment.
She talks about why rest can feel unfamiliar, why quiet can trigger scanning instead of ease, and why this response is not a personal failure but an inte
In this episode, Charlotte explains how prolonged caregiving can train the nervous system to normalize hypervigilance, mistrust calm, and brace for the next crisis even when nothing is wrong in the moment.
She talks about why rest can feel unfamiliar, why quiet can trigger scanning instead of ease, and why this response is not a personal failure but an inte
