Jenna Benn Shersher

  Arlene Bonnet’s involvement in Twist Out Cancer was fate.  Traveling to Chicago from Philadelphia, she ran into TOC founder and CEO Jenna Benn Shersher on the plane.  At the time, Jenna’s daughter Noa was very young and dropping books onto Arlene’s lap. Instead of getting annoyed, Arlene offered to read the books to Noa […]

Meet Twist Out Cancer’s First Book Club Author Kristin Meekhof   Kristin Meekhof created her book A Widow’s Guide to Healing: Gentle Support and Advice for the First 5 Years out of necessity. In 2007, Meekhof lost her husband Roy to adrenal cancer eight weeks after his initial diagnosis. As a young widow, Meekhof didn’t

  One of the main concerns for parents and other family members who have been diagnosed with cancer is knowing what to say to their children. People often struggle to find the right words to help children understand what a cancer diagnosis is and what it means to them.  There is also the natural instinct

This month, we’ve shared brilliant Black artists that have paved the way over the last few hundred years. Now it’s time to recognize the brilliant Black artists that are currently paving the way for others in generations to come. Over the past few decades, modern Black artists have pushed boundaries, broke records, displayed astounding innovation

  Audre Lorde wore her labels with pride.  She’s a self-described “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” who once famously stated “Women are powerful and dangerous.” Lorde was never one to mince words.  Her writings addressed societal issues like racism, capitalism and homophobia, feminism and Black identity. Born in New York in 1934, Lorde discovered poetry

  America had a wakeup call this past summer, when many citizens learned about Juneteenth and the 1921 Tulsa Massacre for the first time. For Americans that experienced a “whitewashed” history experience, there is a lot of catching up to do. This is not a bad thing, as  recognizing the need for growth and pursuing

A week after Mardi Kaplan was diagnosed with breast cancer, she left for Morocco.  “Anyone who knows me knows I have major anxiety over packing for trips,” she said. “I put a lot of energy into packing instead of thinking about breast cancer.” That’s how Kaplan set the tone for her cancer journey: she wasn’t

          Briana Camilleri was a week away from her wedding day when she got a call regarding a biopsy.  “The doctor said ‘You’re getting married in a week, do you want to know?’ I said ‘Yes, I want to know.’” Camilleri had thyroid cancer.  “It was a challenge because emotionally, I

In January 2020, Suzanne Zabawsky and Linda Ann Weber sent in their Brushes with Cancer Chicago applications with one request: they be matched together.  The two go back to 1979, when they first met in college as freshmen living in the same dormitory. The two instantly connected and spent college years by each other’s side,

    Sharon Arffa had her art world and she had her psychology world. The two never intersected and she figured it would always be that way. Until she was introduced to Twist Out Cancer.  Arffa studied both psychology and art in college but eventually had to pick between two loves.  “I loved it,” she