My StoryCorps Experience

Yesterday, I was at the Chicago Cultural Center in the StoryCorps recording booth to join Janelle, a fellow Imerman Angel cancer survivor, in a recorded conversation about our experiences with cancer and survivorship.

StoryCorps' mission is to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.  Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 45,000 interviews with nearly 90,000 participants. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to share, and is preserved at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, and millions listen to their broadcasts on their Listen page and on public radio.

Through Imerman Angels, the organization that matches individuals recently diagnosed with cancer to a survivor with the same diagnosis, StoryCorps has invited survivors to come in and record about 45 minutes of talking with one another and telling our stories.

Janelle is a lovely woman who was only seventeen when she was diagnosed with germ cell ovarian cancer.  She is now a healthy 23-year-old who is on the Imerman Angels' professional board for organizing running events to support the organization. 

Part of our conversation may or may not be aired on NPR (91.5 on the radio in Chicago), as they feature StoryCorps interviews every Friday on NPR’s Morning Edition. They will notify us if our conversation will be on the air.  If so, I will post when that will happen. 

You should also be able to find the conversation on the StoryCorps' website under Listen to Stories, once it gets uploaded to the site.