Christine’s Story: On Caregiving, Trauma-Informed Care & Processing Grief

The 30 Stories Podcast · Apr 16, 2026 · 51m

Christine Fader shares a deeply personal caregiving story shaped by love, advocacy and extraordinary emotional complexity. She reflects on her husband Michael’s head and neck cancer diagnosis, the long path to getting answers and the shock of learning that a specific throat pain was something far more serious. One of the most striking parts of the episode is her account of how his childhood trauma affected cancer treatment, especially the radiation mask, and how they worked with the care team to make that process possible without sacrificing his sense of control.

The conversation becomes…