When You're Scared You Did Something to Deserve Your Suffering: An Interview with Bek Stone (Season 2, Episode 11)

Today I’m chatting with Bek Stone—a mother of two, physio, and BRCA2 Breast Cancer survivor from Albany, who runs the popular Instagram account @mastectomytomarathon. Bek was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32 years old when her youngest daughter was 19 months old. She initially thought she had mastitis but ended up with a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction in 2025. A typical physio, who adores running, Bek looked around for a creative outlet to encourage others while she recovered from her surgeries and landed on documenting her recovery (and nipple choices!) on Instagram. This chat was so honest, encouraging, and made me cackle on multiple occasions—I hope you’ll listen in, even if you are not facing breast reconstruction because the encouragement to find women a season ahead of you, from motherhood to mastectomy, is a joy. ### **In today’s episode, we explore:** - Growing up in a Christian home, with her mother who was a Christian, in amongst a long custody battle between her parents and bouncing around churches, but her mother consistently prayed with them. - Coming to faith when she moved to Perth for uni. Bek shared how ministry wives, Sally Surrey and Liana Hunt, invited her into their homes and shared their lives while raising their young children, and what a blessing this was to her. - Bek explained that she had been taught to expect suffering as a young Christian and spent a lot of time in the Psalms, which truly opened up to her when she suffered as she learned to bring her anger, anxiety, and sadness to God. - The blessings of running, gratitude, being present in the everyday moments, and the care from her church community, which helped her to persevere. You can check out the show notes for everything mentioned in the episode. If you enjoyed this episode, sign up for honest stories in your inbox on Wednesdays (March through November) from local Christian women. It’s all free 💛 If you want to send us compliments or constructive suggestions, get in touch at [rebecca@storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au](mailto:rebecca@storiesidtellyouatdinner.com.au). If you love the podcast, writing a review on Apple Podcasts or leaving a five star review Spotify helps other women find us. Thank you! *Music*: Come Back by Ketsa. Licensed under a Creative Commons License Non-Commercial, No-Derivatives 4.0 International License.