What Cancer Reveals
Episode 1
What Cancer Reveals About Time
Brenda Errayah
The first episode of What Cancer Reveals explores one of the most profound shifts cancer brings into people’s lives: the way it changes our relationship with time. In this deeply personal conversation, Brenda Errayah reflects on the loss of her mother, Connie, eight years ago.
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Over the course of six difficult months, Brenda witnessed the painful transformation of a woman she had always known as strong and invincible into someone gradually diminished by illness. What was once certainty slowly gave way to fragility, forcing Brenda and her family to confront the reality that time can change suddenly and without warning.
Through Brenda’s story, this episode explores how cancer reshapes the way families experience time. Moments that once felt ordinary become precious, while the future that once seemed predictable becomes uncertain. Brenda speaks openly about the emotional weight of watching a loved one decline, the helplessness many families feel during this process, and the lasting impact those months leave behind.
Yet her reflection also carries an important message about connection. Brenda emphasises that cancer is never experienced by one person alone. It is a journey that affects families, friends and communities. During times of illness and loss, she believes
Episode 2
What Cancer Reveals About Time
JASON GOODALL
Jason, a busy executive known for his discipline, privacy and active lifestyle, steps into a space of vulnerability rarely seen in leadership contexts. In this conversation, he shares his experience of navigating prostate cancer and the complex, often unspoken decisions that followed. While treatment is often positioned as the defining moment in a cancer journey, Jason reveals that some of the hardest decisions come afterwards.
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Decisions that carry weight, permanence and uncertainty. Decisions about work, identity, relationships and what life looks like moving forward. He reflects on how much of this process had to be figured out alone, with limited guidance and no clear roadmap. The choices he faced were not always clinical, but deeply personal, shaped by fear, fatigue and the pressure to return to normal. Through his story, this episode explores the reality that survivorship is not a clean endpoint. It is a space filled with ongoing decisions, many of which feel irreversible at the time they are made. Jason also challenges a common misconception. That once treatment is complete, the journey is over. Instead, he highlights the quiet complexity of what comes next and the support that is often missing when patients need it most.
Episode 3
The Decisions No One Prepares You For
Dr Trudy Smith
Dr Belinda Wagner speaks with her oncologist, Dr Trudy Smith, the specialist who finally provided answers after months of uncertainty. Dr Smith is an Obstetrician, Gynaecologist and Gynaecological Oncologist, trained at the University of the Witwatersrand with further experience in gynaecological oncology in London. She now practises at Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre and is actively involved in training future specialists, while advocating for the prevention of cervical cancer.
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Together, they unpack the importance of second opinions, understanding cancer spread, and the difficult decisions patients are forced to make. The conversation also explores the emotional impact on doctors, the intensity of surgery, emerging treatments like cyber radiation, and why cancer is not a death sentence.
Episode 4
What Cancer Reveals About Hope, Healing and Survival
Kesavan Govender
Kesavan Govender shares his journey through testicular cancer and the life-changing lessons it taught him about resilience, hope and survival. First diagnosed in 2010, Kesavan faced surgery, treatment and years of ongoing medical surveillance. When a metastatic germ cell tumour was discovered in 2013, his cancer journey took another unexpected turn. Through it all, he relied on the support of his family, faith and medical team while remaining committed to his recovery.
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Now more than a decade cancer-free, Kesavan reflects on the importance of early detection, proactive healthcare and never ignoring the warning signs your body may be giving you. His story is a powerful reminder that cancer does not define a person’s future and that survival, healing and hope are possible.
Join us as Kesavan shares his lived experience and the insights cancer revealed about strength, gratitude and living life with purpose.
Episode 5
What Cancer Reveals about Navigation
Anton Els
Anton shares his deeply personal cancer journey following his diagnosis with Multiple Myeloma in September 2021 and Stage 1 kidney cancer in October 2022. He reflects on the physical and emotional toll of navigating two cancer diagnoses, including the significant weight loss he experienced, while also speaking openly about how fortunate he was to receive strong medical care and unwavering support throughout his journey.
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The conversation explores a critical but often overlooked issue in cancer care: the patients who disappear from the system. Through Anton’s story, the episode examines how cancer data, reporting systems and healthcare processes can fail to fully capture the realities of patient experiences. From missing information to the limitations of categorisation and diagnosis tracking, the discussion highlights the consequences of invisibility within the healthcare system and the impact this can have on treatment, recognition and support.
Anton reflects on moments where the system did and did not accurately represent his experience, the role that data plays in shaping healthcare decisions, and why properly capturing patient journeys matters. The episode also explores broader questions around legitimacy, access, policy and the importance of ensuring that every cancer story counts.
This is an honest and thought-provoking conversation about resilience, gratitude, survival and the urgent need for more patient-centred cancer data systems.
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