Podcasts · Notes from the Edge

What If Being Capable Doesn’t Mean You’re Okay? Chronic Illness & Survival with Jenna Schutt

8 Oct 2026 · 48 min · Episode 123

What happens when the strength everyone sees is actually survival mode?

Jenna Schutt, former cardiac registered nurse and stem cell transplant survivor, joins Lisa Lacy for a deeply human conversation about chronic illness, faith, fear, motherhood, and what happens when being incredibly capable convinces everyone around you that you must be okay.

Diagnosed with a rare, incurable disease at 30 while raising two children still in diapers, Jenna endured ten rounds of chemotherapy, serious medical complications, a stem cell transplant, and ongoing graft-versus-host disease. But this conversation goes beyond what happened medically. Jenna and Lisa explore the identity shift from nurse to patient, grieving the life you thought you would have, learning to listen to your body, and recognizing when strength has become a performance.

In this episode:

• Chronic illness and survival mode • Performing strength while struggling internally • Fear, faith and emotional resilience • Motherhood during a medical crisis • Grief, identity and uncertainty after diagnosis • Stem cell transplant and graft-versus-host disease • Why being capable does not mean being okay • Learning that rest is medicine • The Joy Reflex and retraining your response to fear

Connect with Jenna Schutt:

https://www.jennaschutt.com/

Connect with Lisa Lacy Inside the Edge:

https://www.lisalacy.com/inside-the-edge

What did you perform in order to survive?

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Links in the notes 4

• https://www.jennaschutt.com/
• https://www.lisalacy.com/inside-the-edge
• https://art19.com/privacy
• https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info