Hear candid conversations between people conquering cancer — patients, their family and friends, and doctors and researchers working to help us all.
“It's one foot in front of the other. You got to do what you got to do,” Caitlin says. “It's kind of like, ‘Put your head down and get to work here.’ You take on all these new roles as you’re a nurse, you’re a caregiver, you’re emotional support.”
Calum had always been a cheerful, grounded, and resilient kid. But when he started feeling lethargic, over-sleeping, and acting grumpy—his mom, Caitlin, knew something was wrong. Just hours after a blood test, their pediatrician called and said to take Calum to the nearest hospital right away. Many tests and clinical visits later, 3-year-old Calum was diagnosed with leukemia. Making things even harder—and almost unbelievable—Calum’s care plan called for a treatment plan that would last longer than he had been alive.
To help make sense of Calum’s cancer journey and to keep her family informed, Caitlin created her blog, Big Time Adulting. But what began as a small personal project rapidly expanded as Caitlin and her family confronted new challenges: Calum finished his three-year-long course of care in March of 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Leveraging the power of humor in the face of difficulty, Caitlin quickly amassed an audience of more than 1.5 million followers on Instagram. Today, with Calum in remission, Caitlin uses her platform to advocate for numerous topics, including motherhood, gratitude, cancer research, and navigating the unknown.
“It was so therapeutic for me to share how I was feeling at that time,” Caitlin recalls. “And I was able to do it in a very characteristic way of me, which was honest, but also with humor. I think there was something inside of me, in a way that I was like, ‘I don't want anyone assuming how I feel about all of this, so I'm going to put it out there.’”
Today, Calum is living a healthy life. Meanwhile, Caitlin has learned that maintaining a sense of humor through difficult times can be a powerful medicine. When Caitlin launched Big Time Adulting, she had no idea it would grow into a globally recognized multimedia outlet on several platforms, including TikTok and Instagram. In this Your Stories episode, Caitlin shares a renewed appreciation for laughing at the absurd, as well as the lifesaving impact of cancer research.
