© 2025
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WAMC FM will periodically be on low power for tower maintenance
Fifty-One Percent
51%

Joelle Kaufman on "Crushing the Cancer Curveball"

By Jesse King
Published January 30, 2025 at 8:00 PM EST
River Grove Books
Book Cover

On this week’s 51%, we speak with author Joelle Kaufman about her new book Crushing the Cancer Curveball. After helping both her mother and sister battle breast cancer, Kaufman voluntarily sought a mastectomy in 2023 — only to be diagnosed with cancer the day before her surgery. Part memoir, part guidebook, Crushing the Cancer Curveball compiles Kaufman’s best advice on how to advocate for yourself as a patient, how to break the news to family and friends, and how to feel like you’re still living your life, even when you're fighting for it.

Guest: Joelle Kaufman, author of Crushing the Cancer Curveball: A Playbook for the Newly Diagnosed and Their Family and Friends

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

————

Tags
51% cancer Joelle Kaufman
Jesse King
Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."
See stories by Jesse King
Related Content
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Is the ERA truly the “law of the land?”
    Jesse King
    Before leaving office, former President Joe Biden declared that he considered the Equal Rights Amendment to be “the law of the land.” On this week’s 51%, we speak with Georgetown Law Professor Victoria Nourse about why the ERA has been in limbo for so long, what it would do, and whether it currently stands as the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Elysia Berman on her “no-buy” year
    Jesse King
    A lot of Americans’ resolutions for the new year revolve around money, but could you hold off shopping for a full year? On this week’s 51%, we explore the concept of a “no-buy year” with Elysia Berman, a Brooklyn-based content creator tracking her journey away from excessive shopping toward financial savings.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Pagan Kennedy on "The Secret History of the Rape Kit"
    Jesse King
    On this week's 51%, we speak with journalist and author Pagan Kennedy about her new book The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story, tracking the life and work of Martha “Marty” Goddard, who invented the country’s first extensive rape kit system in the 1970s.
  • Fifty-One Percent
    Safe Inc. of Schenectady on youth homelessness
    Jesse King
    On this week’s 51%, we sit down the director of Safe Inc. of Schenectady to discuss the many risks faced by homeless youth, and what they’re doing as an organization to help combat human trafficking. We also learn about a New York law granting paid prenatal leave to pregnant workers. And our Dr. Sharon Ufberg chats with singer-songwriter Morley about her new album, Follow the Sound, and how her humanitarian work inspires her music.