Beyond the Diagnosis – The Raw Truth of Cancer Survivorship
Episode 1
The Aftermath No One Talks About
Boitumelo Ramasodi, Regional Director – Southern Africa, Global Colon Cancer Association
At 45, Tumi Ramasodi’s life changed with a colon cancer diagnosis in September 2020. After six months of chemotherapy, treatment ended—but the mental, physical, and emotional battles didn’t. Now on long-term management, Tumi has turned her experience into action. As the first Regional Director for the Global Colon Cancer Association in Southern Africa, she is a patient advocate and navigator, fighting for better cancer support at the grassroots level.
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Her passion for community work began long before cancer, with years dedicated to health advocacy, TB awareness, and youth development. Now, she’s using her voice to ensure survivors get the care, resources, and recognition they deserve. In this episode, Tumi shares the truth about life after cancer—what happens when treatment ends but the struggles continue. Tune in for an honest, powerful conversation.
Episode 2
Advocacy & Finding Purpose in Survivorship
Faizel Jacobs, Founder of SASS (South African Stoma Support)
A colo-rectal cancer diagnosis in 2016 changed Faizel Jacobs’ life forever, but it did not define him. Cancer left him with a permanent stoma, something many see as a burden—but Faizel has embraced it as his daily reminder of survival. Affectionately naming his stoma and bag “Dolce & Gabbana,” he has transformed what many consider a limitation into a symbol of resilience and purpose.
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Adjusting to life with a stoma wasn’t easy, and much of what Faizel learned was through trial and error. But through this journey, he also discovered a greater issue—the lack of consistent stoma care and support. Recognizing the urgent need for better resources, education, and advocacy, he founded SASS (South African Stoma Support), a community built by stomates, for stomates. The organisation fights for minimum standards in ostomy care and holistic support, ensuring that others navigating life with a stoma don’t have to do it alone.
In this episode, Faizel shares how he turned pain into purpose, why advocacy matters, and how finding meaning in survivorship can create lasting impact. Join us for an inspiring conversation on resilience, acceptance, and the power of community.
Episode 3
Body Betrayal The Impact of Cancer on Body Image, Fatigue, and Chronic Pain
Machuene Sejeng – invasive ductal carcinoma stage 3 breast cancer
In this deeply personal episode of Beyond the Diagnosis, host Belinda Wagner speaks with Machuene Sejeng, a cancer warrior diagnosed in 2023 with invasive ductal carcinoma stage 3 breast cancer, both oestrogen and progesterone receptor positive. Machuene opens up about the often unspoken physical and emotional challenges that come with a cancer diagnosis—particularly how the disease and its treatment impact body image, identity, fatigue, and chronic pain.
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She shares her experience of navigating drastic changes to her body and how these shifts affected her sense of self, strength, and femininity.
Together, Belinda and Machuene explore the emotional weight of feeling betrayed by your own body, and the mental resilience it takes to continue showing up in a body that feels unfamiliar. This conversation is a powerful reminder that healing is not just physical—it is emotional, psychological, and deeply personal.
Tune in for a raw, honest, and empowering conversation that sheds light on the lived reality of cancer survivors.
Episode 4
The Power of Support
Psychologist Julianne Yates
In this episode of Beyond the Diagnosis, we sit down with Julianne Yates, a psychologist dedicated to supporting cancer patients, their families, and friends throughout their journey. Julianne provides both home visits and virtual sessions, ensuring that patients have access to the emotional and psychological support they need, no matter where they are.
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Our conversation explores the importance of open communication and honesty when facing a cancer diagnosis, as well as how therapy can be a powerful tool for healing—both during and after treatment. Julianne shares insights into the unique emotional challenges cancer patients face, the cycle of grief, and how therapy can help navigate the complex emotions of fear, uncertainty, and hope.
Every cancer journey is different, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to healing. Whether it’s processing trauma, managing anxiety around scans, or supporting families through difficult moments, Julianne highlights the value of tailored psychological support.
Tune in for a compassionate and insightful conversation on the role of therapy in the cancer journey and why emotional well-being is just as important as physical recovery.
Episode 5
Courage, Loss and Conscious Leadership
Gabi Lowe, founder of The Coaching Nest
In this episode of the Beyond Diagnosis podcast, Belinda speaks with Gabi Lowe, founder of The Coaching Nest and one of South Africa’s most respected voices in personal resilience and conscious leadership. Gabi supported her husband, Stuart Lowe, through his cancer journey, an experience that sits alongside her wider story of navigating profound loss, advocacy, and reinvention.
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With decades of senior experience in media, marketing and retail, Gabi brings a rare combination of corporate insight and deep emotional intelligence to her work. Her coaching approach is rooted in lived experience, compassion and an integral methodology that draws on the heart, body and mind. Today she works with leaders, executives and individuals seeking clarity, resilience and purposeful growth.
Gabi’s journey includes her family’s advocacy around Rare Diseases, the founding of the Jenna Lowe Trust, and her transition into becoming a professionally qualified personal and leadership development coach. Her story is one of courage, meaning-making and choosing to lead a full and authentic life, even in the face of devastating loss.
This conversation explores what it truly means to navigate adversity, support loved ones through illness, and rebuild a life with intent
Episode 6
Healing the Post-Cancer Body and Reclaiming Wellbeing
Lisha Nunan, a papillary carcinoma survivor, Shira Wellness and a certified Sri Sri Yoga Teacher and Art of Living Trainer
In this episode of the Beyond Diagnosis podcast, Belinda speaks with Lisha Nunan, a papillary carcinoma survivor whose story offers a meaningful look at how cancer reshapes the way we see, feel and inhabit our own bodies. Diagnosed at the age of twenty-five while living abroad, Lisha returned to South Africa for a thyroidectomy and radioactive therapy before heading back to London to rebuild her life. What followed was far more complex than she expected. Healing was slow, her body felt unfamiliar, and an injury ultimately led her back home to start again with a completely different lens.
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Today, fifteen years later, Lisha is the founder of Shira Wellness and a certified Sri Sri Yoga Teacher and Art of Living Trainer. She brings together her background in corporate finance and FMCG operations with a deeply grounded approach to holistic wellbeing, transformation coaching and breathwork. Her story is layered, honest and anchored in the emotional and physical realities many survivors face long after treatment ends.
In our conversation, Lisha speaks openly about body betrayal, long-term fatigue, chronic discomfort and the quiet emotional toll survivors often carry. She shares practical ways to reconnect with the body through breathing, meditation, movement and mental discipline. She also highlights why healing is not only about nutrition, routine or fitness, but about strengthening the mind and using breath to release emotional toxins and rebuild trust in the body.
This episode explores self-image, societal expectations, recovery, resilience and what it truly takes to live fully in a body forever changed by cancer.
Episode 7
Breaking the Silence Around Prostate Cancer
Dumisani Pakkies, a prostate cancer survivor
In this episode of the Beyond Diagnosis podcast, Belinda speaks with Dumisani Pakkies, a prostate cancer survivor from uMlazi whose voice has become a driving force in men’s health advocacy in South Africa. Diagnosed with stage three prostate cancer in 2020 with no symptoms at all, Dumisani’s journey is a powerful reminder that early detection is not optional, it is lifesaving.
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A qualified accountant, Dumisani faced an unexpected and aggressive diagnosis that led him into intensive treatment, including androgen deprivation therapy, brachytherapy and external beam radiation. He has been in remission since 2022. Instead of stepping back after recovery, he stepped forward. Through his movement, Against All Odds, he shares his story to challenge stigma, dismantle myths and reach the men who are least likely to get screened but most at risk.
Dumisani speaks openly about the barriers Black men face in accessing cancer information, including cultural beliefs, silence and misconceptions. His advocacy has taken him into communities, awareness runs, and partnerships with organisations such as the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health and the Prostate Cancer Foundation South Africa. His message is simple and unwavering: men cannot wait for symptoms. Testing saves lives.
This conversation explores survival, purpose, masculinity, cultural stigma and what it takes to turn a personal battle into a national call for action.
Episode 8
What it means to Keep on Going
Oscar Chalupshy, 12x Paddle Ski World Champion, Cancer Warrior
This is not a story about diagnosis. It is about what it takes to keep living while cancer becomes part of your everyday life. In his second conversation on Beyond the Diagnosis, Oscar Chalupsky speaks candidly about treatment, identity, leadership and the cost and power of staying visible. This is a conversation for anyone asking what now after the shock has passed. Watch the full episode and be reminded that living with cancer does not mean disappearing.
We would like to encourage you to join our real-time patient-led cancer registry, share patient insights, read other testimonials, listen to our podcasts and connect with fellow cancer warriors and carers.