5. Katie Doble | Investigating the Challenges and Clarity that Comes from a Terminal Diagnosis

If you’re looking for a conversation full of resilience, humor, and hope, don’t miss the latest episode of In the Blink featuring Katie Doble. Katie shares her extraordinary journey through personal loss, a stage-four cancer diagnosis, and life-changing treatments — all with incredible honesty and warmth. Her story is packed with life lessons about navigating adversity, finding strength in community, and embracing every moment. Listen in and be inspired!

 

“Own the narrative and take control. There's so much right now you can't control, and so figure out what you can and work on that. So just take what you need to make yourself feel like you have the control, but you need to own the narrative, and you need to tell people what you need, instead of letting people tell you what they need” - Katie Doble

 

Key Takeaways:

• Resilience Through Major Health Challenges: Katie faced immense adversity, including the death of her mother from pancreatic cancer and her own diagnosis with stage-four ocular melanoma. Despite these overwhelming hardships, she adapted with strength and found ways to move forward with her life.

• Importance of Community and Support Systems: Throughout her cancer journey, Katie emphasized how vital her support network was — from her family rallying around her to friends and the cancer community. She also learned to communicate clearly about what support she needed from others.

• Power of Hope, Faith, and Signs: Katie found hope through spiritual signs, especially a recurring symbol of hot air balloons she connected to her late mother. These experiences gave her comfort, a sense of connection, and motivation during difficult times.

• Mental Health Strategies in Facing Trauma: Therapy played a crucial role in Katie’s ability to manage her emotions. Key strategies included focusing on what she could control, owning her narrative, preparing for emotional triggers, and allowing herself to sit with grief rather than forcing positivity.

• Living Fully with Uncertainty: Katie highlighted the balance between cherishing the present, remembering the past, and planning for the future, even amid uncertainty. She emphasized that living meaningfully doesn't mean ignoring past hardships but embracing all parts of life’s journey.

All About Katie Doble:

With her captivating presence and insightful perspective, Katie Doble shares her profound first-hand account of navigating a stage 4 cancer diagnosis as a young adult. In her role as a patient advocate, Katie consults with and presents to pharmaceutical, biotech, and clinical supply audiences including the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF), American Brain Tumor Association, American Cancer Society, AstraZeneca, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and the FDA. Recognized for her resilience and advocacy, Katie is a past recipient of the Courage Award from the MRF and the Out Living It Award from First Descents, and she has been published or featured in The Washington Post, NPR, HuffPost, and TODAY.com. She works as a headhunter in Denver, Colorado, where she lives with her husband, Nick, and their doghter, Alice.

Sign up to get updates on when Katie’s book releases and links to her blog, youtube, socials, and published articles or have been featured in: www.liinks.co/katiedoble

Throughout May, Katie Doble will proudly sport an eye patch daily to support the Eye on Grace Foundation. This non-profit offers crucial financial assistance to ocular melanoma patients traveling for treatment. You can contribute to this cause by donating here: https://givebutter.com/jCSaAD/katiedoble

 

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