No Place Too Far Gone: Michelle Raney’s Message of Hope
Episode Summary
In this deeply moving episode, David Raubach sits down with Michelle Raney — a 27-year-old breast cancer survivor from Edmond, Oklahoma — alongside co-host Heather Jacobson, executive producer and creative director of The Cancer Project podcast. Michelle was diagnosed with aggressive, stage three breast cancer at just 25 years old, only one year into her marriage, following a routine well-woman exam in May 2023. What began as the tiniest lump detected by her OB/GYN set off a rapid six-day diagnostic journey that would reshape the entirety of Michelle’s young adult life.
Michelle’s approach to treatment was anything but passive. From the moment of her diagnosis, she committed to a dual-track strategy combining aggressive traditional oncology — including chemotherapy, surgery, and ultimately proton radiation at the Oklahoma Proton Center — with a carefully vetted integrative oncology protocol overseen by a specialist in California. She sought baseline cellular insights through a 3D bioscan, underwent ozone therapy to increase oxygen levels and reduce inflammation, and restructured her lifestyle down to the products she applied to her skin and the cookware she used. At the same time, she was adamant that her choices be grounded in credentialed medical guidance rather than social media trends, warning emphatically against the dangers of self-directed “cancer cures” found on TikTok and Instagram.
One of the most powerful threads in this conversation is the role of faith and familial precedent in Michelle’s mental framework. Before her own diagnosis, she had witnessed two miracles in her own family: her grandmother, declared brain dead from cancer complications and scheduled to be taken off life support, who woke up following an encounter with an unknown physician — and her grandfather, given 90 days to live with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, who is alive 15 years later. These firsthand experiences of medical impossibility became the bedrock of Michelle’s conviction that she would survive. When her husband tearfully told her he was prepared for their last Christmas together, Michelle firmly refused to receive those words, insisting that her healing was already underway.
The episode takes a harrowing turn when Michelle recounts the December 2024 recurrence: a PET scan revealed that cancer had spread to both lungs, her bones, and inoperable lymph nodes — a stage four metastatic diagnosis just three months after completing 32 rounds of proton radiation. The emotional devastation of that moment is palpable, yet Michelle’s response was to double down on her conviction. Her radiation oncologist at the Oklahoma Proton Center responded immediately, calling her personally and initiating a new proton treatment plan for her femur bone within a week and a half. Less than 90 days later, a follow-up PET scan showed no evidence of cancer — a result Michelle and her medical team describe as a miracle. A subsequent scan in May confirmed the same result.
Throughout the conversation, themes of patient advocacy, self-education, and hope weave together into a message that transcends cancer. Michelle’s closing challenge to listeners — “There is no place too far gone that you can go that you can’t return from” — is not abstract optimism; it is a lived testimony backed by nearly 350 medical appointments, integrative protocols, 32 rounds of radiation, and a spirit that refused to accept a terminal prognosis. Heather Jacobson adds a poignant postscript, sharing how a painting she donated to the Proton Pals Foundation auction — inscribed with the words “even in the darkest skies, the brightest star shines” — ended up in Michelle’s home office, a visual anchor for the hope she clung to during her darkest moments.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- Early Detection at 25: Michelle’s cancer was caught during a routine well-woman exam when her OB/GYN detected a nearly imperceptible lump — moving from palpation to confirmed diagnosis in just six days, underscoring the life-saving importance of annual exams even for young, healthy women.
- Integrative Oncology: Michelle worked with a credentialed integrative oncologist in California alongside her traditional medical team, combining conventional chemotherapy and radiation with evidence-informed complementary modalities rather than pursuing either path in isolation.
- 3D Bioscan: A whole-body scan used by Michelle’s integrative team that evaluates metabolic and energetic activity at the cellular level, examining over 20,000 variables including inflammation markers, hormonal status, parasitic activity, and angiogenesis to establish a comprehensive baseline.
- Ozone Therapy: A treatment in which blood is drawn, oxygenated and irradiated with UV light, then reintroduced into the body — used by Michelle during oral chemotherapy to increase oxygen levels and reduce the inflammatory, acidic environment that cancer cells thrive in.
- Hyperthermia Treatment: A scientifically backed, non-invasive therapy Michelle researched — available at institutions including Sloan Kettering, Duke, and Boston University — that uses targeted heat to impair cancer cell reproduction, exploiting the fact that tumor cells have weaker heat-stress repair mechanisms than healthy tissue.
- Proton Versus Photon Radiation: Michelle chose proton therapy at the Oklahoma Proton Center specifically because protons can be calibrated to stop within the treatment field, minimizing radiation exposure to her heart and lungs — critical given her left-side breast cancer and the cardiac stress already imposed by prior chemotherapy.
- Being Your Own Advocate: Michelle arrived at every consultation with detailed notes and pointed questions — asking her traditional radiation oncologist directly how his approach would protect her heart and spare healthy tissue — modeling the proactive, informed patient engagement that can meaningfully influence treatment outcomes.
- Fertility Preservation: Within four weeks of her diagnosis, and with the encouragement of her OB/GYN, Michelle completed egg retrieval and freezing to protect her reproductive options before chemotherapy could compromise ovarian function — a step often overlooked in the urgency of early treatment planning.
- Lifestyle as a Cancer Risk Factor: Michelle researched environmental and behavioral contributors to cancer, noting that genetics account for only 5–10% of diagnoses, replacing nonstick cookware, filtering water, auditing personal care products, and eliminating alcohol — which she cites as a class one carcinogen that increases breast cancer risk by 10% per daily drink.
- Mindset as a Clinical Variable: From the day of diagnosis, Michelle adopted the conviction that cancer was attacking her body but did not define her — refusing to say “I have cancer” after her initial disclosure to her mother, and later telling her oncologist directly that she believed she was already living a cancer-free life.
- Stage Four Recurrence and Recovery: Just three months after completing 32 rounds of proton radiation, Michelle was diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer in her bones, lungs, and lymph nodes. Following targeted femur proton treatment and continued integrative care, a PET scan less than 90 days later showed no detectable cancer.
- Miracles as Evidence: Michelle grounded her belief in recovery in concrete family precedent — a grandmother who woke from brain death after five doctors said she would not, and a grandfather given 90 days to live with metastatic lung cancer who is alive 15 years later — treating these experiences as a personal blueprint for what is medically possible.
Michelle Raney’s story is not a tidy narrative of illness and recovery — it is a testament to what happens when relentless self-advocacy, integrative thinking, and unshakeable hope collide with expert medical care. From a tiny lump caught at a routine exam to a stage four recurrence that shocked even her care team, and then to back-to-back clean PET scans, Michelle has lived through the full spectrum of what a cancer journey can demand of a person. Her message is not that positive thinking cures cancer. It is that the mind, when oriented toward healing, becomes a partner in it — and that no diagnosis, however grave, has the final word. If you or someone you love is navigating a cancer journey, let this conversation be both a resource and a reminder: there is no place too far gone.
Full Transcript
Read Full Transcript
David Raubach: Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of the Cancer Project podcast. I’m really excited about today’s episode. We’re going to be talking to Michelle Raney, who has an incredible story of survival and perseverance. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at a very young age and then had to deal with the cancer actually recurring. And so she’s really gone through a very arduous process with treatment. And yet today I can say that she’s as optimistic as she’s ever been despite everything that she’s gone through. I’m also very happy to be joined by a co-host today, Heather Jacobson. Heather is the executive producer and creative director on the Cancer Project podcast. So she’s behind the scenes, but today she is on camera. Thank you for joining us today, Heather and Michelle. Thank you so much for being here with us.
Michelle Raney: Yeah, thank you for having me. I’m excited.
David Raubach: So tell us a little bit just about yourself — where you’re from, what you do. Help us get to know you, Michelle Raney.
Michelle Raney: Yeah. So I am originally from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, but I’ve been living here in Edmond for the past three and a half years. I’m 27 years old. I met my husband three years ago, and it’s been a very different start to a marriage. I was diagnosed with breast cancer — very aggressive breast cancer — two and a half years ago.
David Raubach: How long had you been married at that point? You were fresh into this marriage.
Michelle Raney: We were married a year. So I was 25 years old, married a year. We were on top of the world. We had just gotten back from a ski trip, went to a golf tournament. You’re young, you’re married, you’re healthy, everything’s going great. And so cancer was really the last thing on our minds at that point in life. For over two years I’ve actually been battling cancer, and it’s been the majority of my marriage. It’s been the majority of my young adulthood. But I’m excited to share where my hope comes from.
David Raubach: Walk us through how you found out that you had cancer.
Michelle Raney: In May of 2023, I was just at my regular well-woman exam — routine, for insurance purposes with my employer. My OB/GYN was doing her exam and she felt the tiniest lump in my breast. I mean, it’s not something I would have ever noticed. And I am so thankful that my doctor had the discernment to send me forward for an ultrasound, because she could have easily said, “You’re young and healthy — come back in six months.” Instead I got in just a couple of days later.
Michelle Raney: The ultrasound doctor said it looked like fibrous buildup at its end stage, with calcium around it. She gave me the choice of coming back in six months or doing a biopsy right away. I asked what she would do, and she suggested the biopsy. So I proceeded. From the time my OB/GYN felt the lump to my diagnosis was six days. I got a call from my doctor, and she said it was cancer. That is the last thing you expect when you’re 25.
Michelle Raney: When I heard those words, my heart just dropped. The first thing I did was pray. I said, “All right, Lord, I trust you. I know this is about to be really hard, but I trust you.” Then I called my mom — because I wasn’t ready to break my husband’s heart. We had only been married a year. My mom said, “Michelle, we are not going to claim cancer over you. Cancer is trying to attack your body, but you do not have it.” And that was the first and last time I ever said “I have cancer.”
David Raubach: What happens next?
Michelle Raney: It was fast and furious. You have seven doctors the next day. Meet with the breast surgeon, the oncologist, start setting up treatment plans, more biopsies, more MRIs. And unfortunately it had already spread to my lymph nodes — so stage three — which was pretty crazy, because I felt healthy as a horse.
David Raubach: You’re a very proactive person. What’s your approach at that point, beyond going to visit all of these doctors?
Michelle Raney: Faith is number one for me. The world offers death — that’s just how it is. So I really had to have a spiritual transformation in my own heart and mind about how I was going to go forward. Really focusing on that mindset, believing in miracles, believing that healing is possible. It’s a mental battle, and it’s so easy to get into the doom and darkness around you and the statistics around you. But I also believe in medicine — a whole body approach. It’s not one size fits all. When my oncologist told me it was because of genetics that I faced cancer at 25, that answer wasn’t satisfactory to me. Genetics and singular events account for five to ten percent of actual cancer diagnoses. Genetics loads the gun, but your lifestyle pulls the trigger.
David Raubach: How did integrative oncology manifest itself right after you got diagnosed?
Michelle Raney: So I actually believed in integrative medicine before being diagnosed, but when I got diagnosed I was like, “No way am I touching that.” I didn’t want someone telling me to eat beets and that it cures cancer. Cancer is not something to mess around with. So I said, “Let’s get my port put in, let’s start chemotherapy, let’s start this now.” But through a lot of prayer and open doors, integrative medicine actually came back into my life. I met with a couple of different doctors, had a lot of peace about incorporating it, and so that’s how it started.
Heather Jacobson: How do you weed through all the information out there? People are so vulnerable at that time. How do you know what’s real, what’s fake, when someone says a three-day water fast is the answer?
Michelle Raney: It’s very important to have accredited doctors and not look to social media for your treatment plan. You need an actual, verified, certified integrative oncology team — someone you can trust who comes with backing and credibility. Sure, you can look at social media and see what other people have to say, but to try to figure it out on your own is not something I would recommend. Time is of the essence with a diagnosis. You really need to take it seriously.
Michelle Raney: One of the first things I did with my integrative oncologist was something called a 3D bioscan. This scans the body at a cellular level and evaluates the metabolic and energetic activities within tissue. It looks at over 20,000 different variables — parasites, inflammation, stressors, depression, hormones, and even angiogenesis, which is the growth of blood vessels feeding a tumor. Being able to start with a scan like that gives you a baseline of your whole body. It’s not just cancer — it’s what took your body to the point that cancer started to develop.
Michelle Raney: Another integrative modality I incorporated was ozone therapy. This is a medical treatment that uses ozone gas — a highly reactive form of oxygen composed of three oxygen atoms. We take your blood out, it goes through an oxygenation process with UV light, and then we put it back into your body. The point is just increasing oxygen in your body and helping clear out inflammation. I was doing this during oral chemotherapy, using it to help my body in the ways I could. These modalities are meant to be used in conjunction with traditional treatment, not instead of it.
Michelle Raney: There’s also a treatment I didn’t do but really want to highlight — hyperthermia treatment. It’s a non-invasive, scientifically backed therapy that uses heat to target cancer cells. Cancer cells are more sensitive to heat than healthy cells. When they’re exposed to high temperatures, their ability to function and reproduce is impaired, because tumors have poor blood supply and weaker repair mechanisms. Hyperthermia is used in conjunction with radiation and chemotherapy, and it’s available in the US at Boston University, Sloan Kettering, Duke, and University of Maryland. Germany is the world leader in it.
Heather Jacobson: What about accessibility — geographically, medically, financially? Not everyone can access these treatments.
Michelle Raney: Integrative medicine is expensive — there’s no way around it. Insurance doesn’t cover it. I traveled out to California to see my integrative oncologist and pieced together what I couldn’t do there with other doctors here in Oklahoma. I’ve had upwards of 350 appointments from diagnosis to today. It is a full-time job. But there are two parts to integrative approaches: a lot you can do that is free, and the specialized care that requires a doctor. Being outside in the sun, reducing stress, meditating, using stainless steel instead of nonstick Teflon, swapping out detergents and shampoos, filtering your water, eating real food instead of processed food — these are things anyone can start with today.
David Raubach: Speaking of miracles — I remember when you brought a book with photos of your grandmother. Talk about that, because I know that contributed to your mindset going into treatment.
Michelle Raney: About 15 years ago, my grandmother went through cancer treatment and through a series of events ended up in a coma, brain dead. She was in the hospital for about six weeks on all the life support machines. Five different doctors told my family she was not going to wake up, and if she did, she would be severely handicapped. My family decided on a Friday that the following Monday they would take her off life support. That Saturday, an unknown doctor picked up her chart, said “She’s going to wake up,” and walked out of the room. My grandfather followed him and the doctor said, “Sir, I told you she’s going to wake up. Go back to the room.” And my grandmother slowly started to wake up. It took months of rehab. But she is here, 15 years later, and she is one of my best friends.
Michelle Raney: And just four months after that, my grandfather — her husband — was diagnosed with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, very aggressive. The doctors told him he had about 90 days left to live and to get his affairs in order. He went through chemotherapy and surgery. And he is alive, here, 15 years later. So for me, I said, “I’ve seen my grandmother wake up, and I’ve seen my grandfather live 14 years past an expiration date. I am 25, 26, 27. I have a long life to live. I have babies to make. Cancer will not kill me.” That was the mindset I had.
David Raubach: Talk to us about deciding to do proton therapy versus traditional radiation. What were the decision points in that process?
Michelle Raney: I was very dead set on coming to the Oklahoma Proton Center. I had looked into the research and understood the benefits for my specific situation — left-side breast cancer, near my heart. When I sat down with the radiation doctor at the traditional hospital, I was bald as bald could be, and I asked him: how is this going to protect my heart? How are we going to mitigate damage to my lungs? How are we going to spare healthy tissue? He gave me some diagrams but could not give me anything superior to what proton offered. And the Proton Center is 15 minutes from my house. Why would I go anywhere else?
David Raubach: There is a physical difference between a proton and a photon. Protons can be stopped. When we deliver protons into the body, we can calibrate the energy so they stop inside the treatment area and don’t continue traveling. When your heart is on the left side of the treatment field, there’s a real risk of radiation exposure with photons, because you simply cannot stop photon radiation inside the tumor. With protons, you are inevitably hitting less healthy tissue — almost every single time.
David Raubach: You mentioned wanting to have babies. How did you approach the reality that chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation could make that very challenging?
Michelle Raney: My OB/GYN immediately reached out to the director of the fertility center here in Oklahoma City. It’s a six-month waiting list, unless you’re going through cancer — then you get a little more priority. She encouraged me to freeze my eggs, and I started that process four weeks after being diagnosed. I retrieved and froze my eggs just in case. Chemotherapy is very real in its potential to destroy your ovaries. I’m thankful for the mentorship and advocacy from my OB/GYN to think about that upfront.
Heather Jacobson: One of the things that has bonded us is a love of art. I donated a painting to the Proton Pals Foundation auction — and it ended up in your home. I had written on the canvas before I painted over it: “Even in the darkest skies, the brightest star shines.” I didn’t know what it meant at the time. But when I got to know you, it made so much sense. You are a light, truly, to every patient you encountered in that lobby.
Michelle Raney: When I saw that painting, I told my husband, “Oh my goodness, look at this.” Because I had been journaling at that exact time, and I had this visual picture — everything was dark, but there was a light breaking through. That painting encapsulated exactly where I was. It is now hanging in my office and it gives a renewed sense of hope. No matter how deep, dark, and scary it gets, hope will outshine that darkness. It starts as a small sliver. But hope radiates so thickly, so broadly. And miracles happen. Healing happens.
David Raubach: In December you were told the cancer had spread to both lungs, to your bones, and to inoperable lymph nodes. What was going through your head at that moment?
Michelle Raney: I just finished everything — all of 2023, all of 2024, more chemo, surgery, 32 rounds of proton radiation. I finished that in September. And then three months later to be told cancer had spread — oh, that was just heartbreaking. I was in public and I just broke down and cried. It felt like you were trapped. Like, I thought I was done, and I’m waking up still in this nightmare. My husband came inside one night in December crying and told me, “Michelle, I’m prepared for this to be my last Christmas with you.” And I raised my voice and said, “It will not be. Cancer is not going to kill me.”
Michelle Raney: I was so grateful for my doctor at the Proton Center. He and his nurse were ready when the PET scan results came in. He called me immediately and said, “Here’s my number if you have any questions,” and started a treatment plan to treat the cancer on my femur bone right away. A week and a half later, I started proton radiation on my femur — just five treatments this time, compared to 32 the first time. One of my oncologists told me, “Michelle, there is not enough chemo, not enough radiation, not enough surgery that will ever get rid of cancer.” I was crying, and I told her, “I believe I am living a cancer-free life, and I will be cancer-free for the rest of my life. Cancer will not kill me.”
Michelle Raney: I had a follow-up PET scan less than 90 days later, and that PET scan was a miracle. It showed no cancer. I remember my doctors called me and I was like, “This is — what?” And then I had a PET scan this last May. No sign of cancer. A miracle. I’m thankful for my doctors, I’m thankful for medicine, I’m thankful for integrative medicine. But your mind is so powerful. It is like the rudder on a ship — though it’s small, it dictates what direction you’re going to go.
David Raubach: How are you doing today? What does treatment or the process look like for Michelle Raney now?
Michelle Raney: Today I am very confident. I still take oral chemotherapy pills and hormone blockers and ovary suppressants — because I’m 27, and it’s just what I have to do right now. I still take a lot of supplements and prioritize my health, rest, food, and juices. Even though I’ve received clean PET scans, I refuse to just jump back into the grind and hustle culture. That’s not how we were meant to live. I’m taking time to heal, sitting with those emotions, and taking it step by step. I do a monthly blood test and it comes back negative every month. And I say, “Look — it’s negative, and it’s going to be negative forever. Because I’m healed. Cancer will never come back.”
Michelle Raney: My closing piece of advice has two parts. First: do your research. Whether it’s you, your spouse, your family — do your research. Look at cancer as a whole body approach. If you pursue integrative medicine, don’t take advice from TikTok. Incorporate daily good habits that we all should be practicing anyway. And second, and most importantly: believe in miracles. Believe in healing. Believe that your body can heal. There is no place too far gone that you can go that you can’t return from. I’ve seen my brain-dead grandmother wake back up. I’ve seen my grandfather live 15 years past his expiration date. You just have to believe in miracles and believe that you can be healed — because when you believe, you become a conductor for that healing. You flip the switch, and you allow that light to shine through.
David Raubach: Thank you so much, Michelle. You are an example of why we should believe in miracles. Here’s to being cancer-free the rest of your life, and to having lots of babies. Thank you so much for joining us today.
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