Ashley Dedmon is a women's health advocate. This week, she shares her compelling story to ensuring she never experiences breast cancer.

As a BRCA2 positive patient and having lost her mother to breast cancer, Ashley made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy. She also speaks about the impact of her father's cancer diagnosis and how it strengthened her resolve.

During this episode, you'll hear her story of survival and how her decision helped her to take control of her life. And you'll learn how Ashley's helping women make informed choices. 

Support The Rose HERE.

Subscribe to Let’s Talk About Your Breasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Ashley Dedmon is a women's health advocate. This week, she shares her compelling story to ensuring she never experiences breast cancer.
As a BRCA2 positive patient and having lost her mother to breast cancer, Ashley made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy. She also speaks about the impact of her father's cancer diagnosis and how it strengthened her resolve.
During this episode, you'll hear her story of survival and how her decision helped her to take control of her life. And you'll learn how Ashley's helping women make informed choices.&nbsp;
Support The Rose <a href="https://secure.therose.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=00000000.app30118a?df_id=1480&amp;mfc_pref=T&amp;1480.donation=form1&amp;NONCE_TOKEN=6FEB2388BD63E0937C3FD34555AF1B9F">HERE</a>.
Subscribe to Let&rsquo;s Talk About Your Breasts on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-about-your-breasts/id1666101320">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6o9cXAie2Mfqhq6tQWrClj">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-lets-talk-about-your-brea-107408811/">iHeart</a>, and wherever you get <a href="https://therose.org/podcasts/">your podcasts</a>.

The Rose Breast Center of Excellence presents Let's Talk About Your Breasts with Dorothy Gibbons.

Each week, Dorothy hosts candid conversations with an array of people in the breast cancer community. From doctors and employees to donors and individuals who influence policy, you'll learn all there is to know about the disease which impacts so many women in our community.

The Rose Breast Center of Excellence presents Let's Talk About Your Breasts with Dorothy Gibbons.
Each week, Dorothy hosts candid conversations with an array of people in the breast cancer community. From doctors and employees to donors and individuals who influence policy, you'll learn all there is to know about the disease which impacts so many women in our community.

Let's Talk About Your Breasts

The Rose Breast Center of Excellence presents Let's Talk About Your Breasts with Dorothy Gibbons.


Each week, Dorothy hosts candid conversations with an array of people in the breast cancer community. From doctors and employees to donors and individuals who influence policy, you'll learn all there is to know about the disease which impacts so many women in our community.

The Rose Breast Center of Excellence presents Let's Talk About Your Breasts with Dorothy Gibbons.
 Each week, Dorothy hosts candid conversations with an array of people in the breast cancer community. From doctors and employees to donors and individuals who influence policy, you'll learn all there is to know about the disease which impacts so many women in our community.

What One Woman Did to Ensure She NEVER Gets Breast Cancer

Her first mammogram at 40 changed the course of her life.

Diane Feng joins Roxann Hayford to share how a mobile screening through The Rose and I’ll Have What She’s Having led to a breast cancer diagnosis. She talks about navigating insurance, facing surgery, and finding help when medication side effects made recovery harder than expected. She also explains why looking well doesn’t mean feeling well—and why speaking up matters.

Share this episode with family and friends, and consider making a donation at therose.org.

Subscribe to Let’s Talk About Your Breasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Ten Key Questions Answered

1. How did I’ll Have What She’s Having connect Diane with her first mammogram on a Rose mobile coach?

2. What did The Rose’s technologists do to make her first screening experience less intimidating?

3. How did encouragement from Chef Christine Ha help Diane stop postponing her appointment?

4. What was it like to receive unexpected breast health news while her husband and daughter were in the car?

5. How did Diane navigate unfamiliar medical terms and determine which doctors her insurance would cover?

6. Why did her surgical plan change from a lumpectomy to a mastectomy, and what did the final pathology reveal?

7. How did trusted medical friends and fellow survivors help her understand information without becoming overwhelmed?

8. How did breast cancer influence Diane’s priorities around work, family, and her eventual move to Taiwan?

9. What did Diane learn about seeking help for difficult tamoxifen side effects and knowing which doctor to contact?

10. Why does she want people to understand that looking well does not mean someone has finished recovering physically or emotionally?

Her first mammogram at 40 changed the course of her life.
Diane Feng joins Roxann Hayford to share how a mobile screening through The Rose and I&rsquo;ll Have What She&rsquo;s Having led to a breast cancer diagnosis. She talks about navigating insurance, facing surgery, and finding help when medication side effects made recovery harder than expected. She also explains why looking well doesn&rsquo;t mean feeling well&mdash;and why speaking up matters.
Share this episode with family and friends, and consider making a donation at <a href="http://therose.org">therose.org</a>.
Subscribe to Let&rsquo;s Talk About Your Breasts on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-about-your-breasts/id1666101320">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6o9cXAie2Mfqhq6tQWrClj">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-lets-talk-about-your-brea-107408811/">iHeart</a>, and wherever you get <a href="https://therose.org/podcasts/">your podcasts</a>.
Ten Key Questions Answered
1. How did I&rsquo;ll Have What She&rsquo;s Having connect Diane with her first mammogram on a Rose mobile coach?
2. What did The Rose&rsquo;s technologists do to make her first screening experience less intimidating?
3. How did encouragement from Chef Christine Ha help Diane stop postponing her appointment?
4. What was it like to receive unexpected breast health news while her husband and daughter were in the car?
5. How did Diane navigate unfamiliar medical terms and determine which doctors her insurance would cover?
6. Why did her surgical plan change from a lumpectomy to a mastectomy, and what did the final pathology reveal?
7. How did trusted medical friends and fellow survivors help her understand information without becoming overwhelmed?
8. How did breast cancer influence Diane&rsquo;s priorities around work, family, and her eventual move to Taiwan?
9. What did Diane learn about seeking help for difficult tamoxifen side effects and knowing which doctor to contact?
10. Why does she want people to understand that looking well does not mean someone has finished recovering physically or emotionally?

Beyond Surgery: The Breast Cancer Recovery Nobody Prepared Her For

Baseball built Julia’s career, but it’s the people behind the game who keep her in Houston. She traces her path from small‑town athlete to Astros broadcaster, then opens up about 2020, when pregnancy, COVID, and her mother’s breast cancer collided, pushing her to start mammograms early and speak candidly about family history and early detection.

Please consider sharing this episode, or making a donation at therose.org so more women receive breast cancer screening and care.

Subscribe to Let’s Talk About Your Breasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Key questions answered

1. How did a sports‑obsessed kid from Crandall, Texas, work her way from tiny markets and tomahawk tournaments to the Houston Astros broadcast team?

2. What did Julia learn in minor league ballparks with the Round Rock Express that made her the right hire for a full‑time traveling baseball role?

3. How did legendary play‑by‑play announcer Bill Brown help introduce her to Astros fans and give her space to be herself on air during losing seasons?

4. Why did Julia decide to drop the “buttoned‑up” reporter persona and let fans see the same person on TV that they’d meet in H‑E‑B?

5. What toll did early years of bad baseball, five‑hour games, and constant travel take on her, and how did those years actually make her a better reporter?

6. How did the arrival of stars like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer, and Lance McCullers change her job and the way the broadcast told stories?

7. In what ways does Julia see herself as a trailblazer for women in sports media, and how did little girls in the stands with “I’m here to see Julia” signs change her perspective?

8. How did she balance becoming a visible role model with raising her own young daughter, knowing her child is watching how she treats people on and off camera?

9. What exactly happened in 2020 when Julia was navigating pregnancy, a shutdown baseball season, and the discovery that her mother was already deep into breast cancer treatment?

10. How has her mother’s diagnosis and double mastectomy shaped her own screening habits, her views on early detection, and her message to fans about mammograms?

Timestamped overview

00:30 Julia explains what she actually is on air: sideline reporter, field reporter, broadcaster, and sometimes “Ms. Astro”

01:37 First jobs after college as a small‑market sports reporter, covering everything from football to tomahawk throwing in Sherman, Texas

04:01 Learning the business side of baseball: players being optioned, designated for assignment, and the stories that never make the big‑league broadcast

06:50 Adjusting from local news schedules to life on the road with a Major League team and learning live, in‑game broadcasting

09:39 Julia’s decision to stop playing the “hard‑news” sideline role and instead be fully herself for 162 games a season

11:20 The grind of 2013: bad team, long games, coast‑to‑coast travel, wardrobe stress, and quietly hitting a wall by May

22:01 Staying in the role long‑term when many women cycled out after a couple of years; growing up on camera and putting down roots in Houston

24:19 How deep ties to players, alumni, and Astros legends made Julia a lifelong fan of people like Jose Altuve and Nolan Ryan

25:58 The moment she realized she was inspiring girls: signs in the stands, little fans calling her name, and seeing herself in them the way she once heard Pam Oliver

29:02 Dorothy shifts the conversation to breast cancer and asks about Julia’s mom’s diagnosis coinciding with her pregnancy in 2020

31:32 Returning home, camping out on her mom’s couch during early COVID, and missing the signs that something was wrong

32:31 Mom’s later visit to Houston in a baseball cap, the quiet reveal that she’d already started breast cancer treatment, and Julia’s guilt at not knowing

33:28 Processing that her mother had been doing chemo and appointments alone while Julia was focused on pregnancy and job uncertainty

34:00 The double mastectomy scheduled three days before Julia’s delivery, scrambling to give her mother time to recover and still meet her grandbaby

35:03 Her mom’s lump, finding it on a mammogram, getting treated despite the pandemic, and being “all good” now

35:32 Why Julia started mammograms three years early, at 37, and how her mother’s estrogen‑sensitive cancer changed the way she thinks about her own stress and hormones

38:06 Fears and conversations about risk for her daughter Valerie, hereditary questions, and how often she thinks about their shared future

Baseball built Julia&rsquo;s career, but it&rsquo;s the people behind the game who keep her in Houston. She traces her path from small‑town athlete to Astros broadcaster, then opens up about 2020, when pregnancy, COVID, and her mother&rsquo;s breast cancer collided, pushing her to start mammograms early and speak candidly about family history and early detection.
Please consider sharing this episode, or making a donation at <a href="http://therose.org/">therose.org</a> so more women receive breast cancer screening and care.
Subscribe to Let&rsquo;s Talk About Your Breasts on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-about-your-breasts/id1666101320">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6o9cXAie2Mfqhq6tQWrClj">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-lets-talk-about-your-brea-107408811/">iHeart</a>, and wherever you get <a href="https://therose.org/podcasts/">your podcasts</a>.
Key questions answered
1. How did a sports‑obsessed kid from Crandall, Texas, work her way from tiny markets and tomahawk tournaments to the Houston Astros broadcast team?
2. What did Julia learn in minor league ballparks with the Round Rock Express that made her the right hire for a full‑time traveling baseball role?
3. How did legendary play‑by‑play announcer Bill Brown help introduce her to Astros fans and give her space to be herself on air during losing seasons?
4. Why did Julia decide to drop the &ldquo;buttoned‑up&rdquo; reporter persona and let fans see the same person on TV that they&rsquo;d meet in H‑E‑B?
5. What toll did early years of bad baseball, five‑hour games, and constant travel take on her, and how did those years actually make her a better reporter?
6. How did the arrival of stars like Jose Altuve, Carlos Correa, George Springer, and Lance McCullers change her job and the way the broadcast told stories?
7. In what ways does Julia see herself as a trailblazer for women in sports media, and how did little girls in the stands with &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here to see Julia&rdquo; signs change her perspective?
8. How did she balance becoming a visible role model with raising her own young daughter, knowing her child is watching how she treats people on and off camera?
9. What exactly happened in 2020 when Julia was navigating pregnancy, a shutdown baseball season, and the discovery that her mother was already deep into breast cancer treatment?
10. How has her mother&rsquo;s diagnosis and double mastectomy shaped her own screening habits, her views on early detection, and her message to fans about mammograms?
Timestamped overview
00:30 Julia explains what she actually is on air: sideline reporter, field reporter, broadcaster, and sometimes &ldquo;Ms. Astro&rdquo;
01:37 First jobs after college as a small‑market sports reporter, covering everything from football to tomahawk throwing in Sherman, Texas
04:01 Learning the business side of baseball: players being optioned, designated for assignment, and the stories that never make the big‑league broadcast
06:50 Adjusting from local news schedules to life on the road with a Major League team and learning live, in‑game broadcasting
09:39 Julia&rsquo;s decision to stop playing the &ldquo;hard‑news&rdquo; sideline role and instead be fully herself for 162 games a season
11:20 The grind of 2013: bad team, long games, coast‑to‑coast travel, wardrobe stress, and quietly hitting a wall by May
22:01 Staying in the role long‑term when many women cycled out after a couple of years; growing up on camera and putting down roots in Houston
24:19 How deep ties to players, alumni, and Astros legends made Julia a lifelong fan of people like Jose Altuve and Nolan Ryan
25:58 The moment she realized she was inspiring girls: signs in the stands, little fans calling her name, and seeing herself in them the way she once heard Pam Oliver
29:02 Dorothy shifts the conversation to breast cancer and asks about Julia&rsquo;s mom&rsquo;s diagnosis coinciding with her pregnancy in 2020
31:32 Returning home, camping out on her mom&rsquo;s couch during early COVID, and missing the signs that something was wrong
32:31 Mom&rsquo;s later visit to Houston in a baseball cap, the quiet reveal that she&rsquo;d already started breast cancer treatment, and Julia&rsquo;s guilt at not knowing
33:28 Processing that her mother had been doing chemo and appointments alone while Julia was focused on pregnancy and job uncertainty
34:00 The double mastectomy scheduled three days before Julia&rsquo;s delivery, scrambling to give her mother time to recover and still meet her grandbaby
35:03 Her mom&rsquo;s lump, finding it on a mammogram, getting treated despite the pandemic, and being &ldquo;all good&rdquo; now
35:32 Why Julia started mammograms three years early, at 37, and how her mother&rsquo;s estrogen‑sensitive cancer changed the way she thinks about her own stress and hormones
38:06 Fears and conversations about risk for her daughter Valerie, hereditary questions, and how often she thinks about their shared future

Julia Morales on Baseball, Motherhood, and Breast Cancer in the Family

Cancer changed their family twice, and recovery took more than surgery.

Breanne and Michael Thomas join Angie Lane to share how they supported each other and their three children through separate cancer diagnoses. They discuss telling their kids, organizing meals and carpools, asking friends for specific help, and why healing doesn’t end when treatment does. Their message: make room for recovery, accept support, and give yourself time to live beyond survival.

Share this episode with family and friends, and consider making a donation at therose.org.

Subscribe to Let’s Talk About Your Breasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, and wherever you get your podcasts.

Ten Key Questions Answered

1. How did Michael’s earlier understanding of cancer shape his first reaction to his diagnosis?

2. What helped Michael move from fear toward understanding his prognosis and treatment options?

3. Why did the couple wait until they understood Michael’s care plan before telling their children?

4. How did Breanne prepare the family for Michael’s treatment through childcare, therapy, and other support?

5. What delayed Breanne’s mammogram follow-up, and how did fear influence those decisions?

6. Why did Breanne choose a double mastectomy, and what surprised her about recovery?

7. How did a therapist help the couple understand that each parent’s diagnosis could affect the children differently?

8. How did a carpool app, meal train, and communication with teachers help keep the children’s lives moving?

9. Why does Michael encourage partners to identify the everyday household responsibilities that often go unnoticed?

10. What does Breanne mean when she says surviving is not enough—and why does she encourage survivors to give themselves time and grace?

Cancer changed their family twice, and recovery took more than surgery.
Breanne and Michael Thomas join Angie Lane to share how they supported each other and their three children through separate cancer diagnoses. They discuss telling their kids, organizing meals and carpools, asking friends for specific help, and why healing doesn&rsquo;t end when treatment does. Their message: make room for recovery, accept support, and give yourself time to live beyond survival.
Share this episode with family and friends, and consider making a donation at <a href="http://therose.org">therose.org</a>.
Subscribe to Let&rsquo;s Talk About Your Breasts on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-talk-about-your-breasts/id1666101320">Apple Podcasts</a>, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6o9cXAie2Mfqhq6tQWrClj">Spotify</a>, <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-lets-talk-about-your-brea-107408811/">iHeart</a>, and wherever you get <a href="https://therose.org/podcasts/">your podcasts</a>.
Ten Key Questions Answered
1. How did Michael&rsquo;s earlier understanding of cancer shape his first reaction to his diagnosis?
2. What helped Michael move from fear toward understanding his prognosis and treatment options?
3. Why did the couple wait until they understood Michael&rsquo;s care plan before telling their children?
4. How did Breanne prepare the family for Michael&rsquo;s treatment through childcare, therapy, and other support?
5. What delayed Breanne&rsquo;s mammogram follow-up, and how did fear influence those decisions?
6. Why did Breanne choose a double mastectomy, and what surprised her about recovery?
7. How did a therapist help the couple understand that each parent&rsquo;s diagnosis could affect the children differently?
8. How did a carpool app, meal train, and communication with teachers help keep the children&rsquo;s lives moving?
9. Why does Michael encourage partners to identify the everyday household responsibilities that often go unnoticed?
10. What does Breanne mean when she says surviving is not enough&mdash;and why does she encourage survivors to give themselves time and grace?

What One Woman Did to Ensure She NEVER Gets Breast Cancer

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