Kintsugi Heroes
Susan Bloom · 41 min
While caring for her critically ill husband through five and a half years of medical mystery, Susan Bloom was simultaneously diagnosed with breast cancer — and found that healing horses gave her the only space she had to stop being strong.
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Susan Bloom grew up in rural western Kansas, the daughter of a doctor, and married a local farmer knowing she would spend her life there. In 2012, her husband Mike's health began to unravel. What started as what doctors thought was a sinus infection became a five-and-a-half-year medical odyssey: misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, a rare autoimmune disease called relapsing polychondritis, a hole in his esophagus, a feeding tube, and a heartbreaking search for cancer that doctors never actually found. Through it all, Susan worked full-time, raised three sons, and held her family together.
Then, ten days before her birthday in September 2017, Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer. Stage 1 became Stage 3 within weeks. She was undergoing chemotherapy while managing Mike's hospital visits, his pain, his nutrition, and his fear. She had no space to fall apart because everyone needed her to be strong. The turning point came when she found the Equine Gestalt Coaching program, a practice that uses horses to help people heal emotional wounds. For the first time, she had a place where she could be vulnerable instead of the strong one everyone depended on.
Mike died in June 2018. Susan completed her breast cancer treatment and went on to become a Master Equine Gestaltist. She is now moving to Eastern Kansas to start support groups for caregivers, bringing what she learned in her own darkest seasons to others who are drowning in the weight of keeping someone else alive while their own body is breaking. Her message to anyone in a similar situation is simple: you cannot care for someone else if you do not care for yourself first.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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