Episode #36: CC Webster Marrone
CC Webster Marrone is a young adult lymphoma survivor and author of So, That Happened: A Memoir. After completing six months of intensive chemotherapy, she didn't expect that remission would be the hardest part of treatment. With the lasting effects of cancer and chemo now hidden, CC learned how to redesign her personal and professional life to accommodate a new, unexpected set of priorities. As the founder and creative director of Webster Works, CC is a branding and marketing consultant specializing in working with health and wellness brands and businesses. She is based in New York City.
At age 29, CC Webster Marrone was an advertising executive specializing in pharmaceutical healthcare advertising. While climbing the corporate ladder and navigating a demanding job, she was also seeing specialists and attempting to find a cause for the symptoms she’d been experiencing for several months. When she got the call from the doctor who had performed a liquid biopsy on her neck, she almost didn’t pick up the call because she was in an important meeting. Now, as a Hodgkin's lymphoma survivor who is in remission, CC’s priorities have shifted and her parameters for success have dramatically changed. On today’s episode, CC and I talk about why remission has been the hardest part of cancer, how she learned to be honest and upfront with herself about her experience, and what her life and career look like today.
“I did not realize that remission would be the hardest part of cancer.”
Here are some of the things CC and I chatted about:
The symptoms — some subtle, some not — that she experienced leading up to her diagnosis
Testing positive for the Epstein-Barr virus, which was the first clue in her hunt for answers
Why she was terrified when the doctor told her that her liquid biopsy came back negative
Recognizing that her need for external validation, especially at work, was a toxin in her life
The “atomic bomb of treatment,” and why returning to work and life was so challenging
Quitting her job with no plan, but with a strong gut feeling that she had to get out of the building
How writing her book, So, That Happened: A Memoir, was a cathartic experience that helped her process and reflect
Appreciating the supportive gestures from friends and colleagues while also feeling very alone
Navigating a relatively new relationship with her boyfriend (now husband) in the face of cancer
Now in remission, why she refuses to live her life fearing that her cancer will come back
Her rituals for going to bed and waking up, which serve as self-care gifts to herself
Now, as an entrepreneur, how her definition of success has changed
“Going to a cocktail party with your first buzz cut is one hell of an experience.”
“I never felt more alone being showered with so much support. It was a very dichotomous feeling.”
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