In this episode of the Mood Food podcast, titled "The Call, the Body, and the Plate," hosts Preeti Butani and Pramila Vishvanath sit down with Edith, a two-time breast cancer survivor, and her daughter Beth, a radiology director who walked beside her mother as both caregiver and clinician. Edith recounts first witnessing her own mother survive an advanced, radical mastectomy in the era before chemotherapy, then facing her own first diagnosis at 45 — choosing a mastectomy over watching a suspicious area, which turned out to be DCIS caught early enough that she needed no radiation or chemo. She became deeply involved with the American Cancer Society afterward, speaking with other women going through mastectomies and modeling that reconstruction could still look and feel normal.

Twenty-five years later, at 70, Edith faced a second, unrelated diagnosis in the other breast — this time requiring chemotherapy, which triggered a period of depression before she found her way through it with the support of her family and faith. Beth describes the dual role of being both her mother's caregiver and a clinician who understood the medical details firsthand, and both women speak to the importance of choosing doctors they genuinely trusted. Edith credits consistent mammography screening with catching both cancers early, especially since dense breast tissue meant she couldn't feel the tumors herself, and the episode closes with the pair reflecting on milestones (a chemo-era shopping trip, skiing again at 74), nutrition and mindset during recovery, and a message of resilience, purpose, and hope for anyone facing a similar diagnosis.