Transforming Breast Cancer Awareness with a Life-Changing Self-Exam App with Jessica Baladad on the Healers Cafe & host Manon Bolliger

The Healers Café

In this episode of The Healers Café, Manon Bolliger, FCAH, RBHT (facilitator and retired naturopath with 30+ years of practice) speaks with Jessica Baladad about her journey as a breast cancer survivor, the creation of the Feel for Your Life app, and how it empowers individuals to perform self-breast exams, track changes, and navigate their health with greater confidence.

For the transcript and full story go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/jessica-baladad

Highlights from today's episode include:

Jessica Baladad So let's say you have a screening, and you get this pathology report back, and you're reading it, and it's like, what does this mean? I don't understand it. And you start Google things, and it doesn't make sense. So I took the guesswork out of that.

Jessica Baladad 06:01

Yeah. So we even have a little term in the breast cancer community called scanxiety, where you are afraid of getting scans and exams. I mean, they're necessary, and we joke about it, but it's real that we have that fear of getting scanned,

Jessica Baladad And so, you know, it's...people have a lot of different feelings about it, but ultimately, I want women to understand how their screenings work, how the pathology is done, and what they can do to empower themselves to get through that fear, because knowledge helps overcome that anxiety.

ABOUT JESSICA BALADAD:

Jessica Baladad, six-year cancer survivor, is the creator of Feel For Your Life, a free mobile application that provides resources on how to perform self breast exams and when to get screenings, while allowing users to track and monitor their changes and set reminders. An unexpected breast cancer diagnosis at 33 years old empowered Jessica to channel her experience into a mission that is changing the way women advocate for their medical care. It’s the first of its kind created by a breast cancer patient and has been downloaded tens of thousands of times all over the world. In 2024, Jessica implemented an AI feature into the app to help patients interpret and better understand pathology reports from their breast cancer screenings. Jessica’s history with breast cancer catalyzed her dedication to building Feel For Your Life. She’s the fourth generation on her paternal side of the family to be diagnosed with the disease, and yet, no known gene mutation has been found in her lineage. She first learned how to do a self breast exam after having a benign tumor removed at 18, and nearly 15 years later, Jessica was diagnosed with Stage 2B invasive ductal carcinoma after performing a routine self exam in the shower. She underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, 24 rounds of radiation, a hysterectomy and 10-hour flap reconstruction. Since launching the app, Jessica has expanded her advocacy into healthcare reform. She has helped write legislation in the State of Tennessee to promote risk reducing measures against cancer and disease. Billed as the Feel For Your Life Act, it requires high school students to learn about self breast exams, testicular exams and skin exams. Additionally, Jessica has spoken out against insurance companies before members of Congress. She is working to eliminate quality-adjusted life-year & QALY ; scores, Pharmacy Benefits Managers (PBMs) and co-pay accumulators. Jessica plans to grow her efforts further by working with medical providers, patients and vendors to bridge the gaps that keep individuals from getting access to the care they deserve. Jessica has been featured on Good Morning America, Tank’s Good News, USA Today, The Dave Ramsey Show, UpWorthy and several national and international media outlets. She’s worked with the NFL on their Crucial Catch Campaign to promote cancer screenings, received the Hometown Hero Award from Ponce Law on Nashville’s Fox 17, has been recognized by the National Breast Cancer Foundation for her leadership initiatives and was the recipient of the Mona Lisa Foundation Grant in 2023. In 2020, the NFL’s Crucial Catch Campaign partnered with Jessica to spread awareness about the importance of screenings being missed during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. She serves as an active committee member of the Tennessee Advocate for Breast Cancer & TA4BC& group. When Jessica is not working on patient advocacy, she enjoys traveling and exploring new places, attending sporting events with her husband and photographing animals.

Core purpose/passion: To help prevent breast cancer by starting checkups and screenings early.

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ABOUT MANON BOLLIGER, FCAH, RBHT

As a de-registered (2021) board-certified naturopathic physician & in practice since 1992, I’ve seen an average of 150 patients per week and have helped people ranging from rural farmers in Nova Scotia to stressed out CEOs in Toronto to tri-athletes here in Vancouver.

My resolve to educate, empower and engage people to take charge of their own health is evident in my best-selling books: 'What Patients Don’t Say if Doctors Don’t Ask: The Mindful Patient-Doctor Relationship' and 'A Healer in Every Household: Simple Solutions for Stress'. I also teach BowenFirst™ Therapy through and hold transformational workshops to achieve these goals.

So, when I share with you that LISTENING to Your body is a game changer in the healing process, I am speaking from expertise and direct experience".

Manon’s Mission: A Healer in Every Household!

For more great information to go to her weekly blog: http://bowencollege.com/blog.

For tips on health & healing go to: https://www.drmanonbolliger.com/tips

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* De-Registered, revoked & retired naturopathic physician after 30 years of practice in healthcare. Now resourceful & resolved to share with you all the tools to take care of your health & vitality!