55: Fabian Bolin & Sebastian Hermelin of War on Cancer - Sharing patient stories to improve mental health

War On Cancer is here to radically improve the mental health of everyone affected by cancer.  Fabian Bolin is the CEO and Co-founder of War On Cancer. After being diagnosed in 2015 at 28 years of age, Fabian began documenting his cancer battle on a blog, which made him realise the true power of storytelling. Sharing his story gave him a sense of purpose that he had never felt before. This, together with a strong urge to help others affected became the foundation for War On Cancer. Sebastian Hermelin is the COO and Co-founder of War On Cancer. When Sebastian saw what positive impacts storytelling had on Fabian’s mental health, as well as himself, he conceptualized an idea for a global platform. In May 2016, the founders launched the first version of War On Cancer and within weeks the platform had storytellers from more than 20 countries. Highlights: Diagnosed with acute leukemia and asking for help and sharing a Facebook post that lead to a big change War On Cancer as a storytelling platform Feeling belittled and still treated as a person Storytelling as a tool to help others and feeling altruistic happiness Cancer phobia and how cancer is being marketed Speaking to patients as a person Biggest learning and entrepreneur journey from a "project" into a tech and impact company Disrupting patient mental health, cancer, life sciences and health care Time Stamp: [02:40] From bond trading to film acting [05:40] Priorities after being diagnosed [09:00] Being a best friend to a diagnosed cancer [12:27] Writing and feeling happiest [15:00] War On Cancer App [18:00] Type of stories that patients are sharing [20:40] Cancer treatment patients don't want to talk about chemotherapy [23:00] Impact tracking for cancer patient data [26:00] Creating a social network [30:40] 10 years vision Useful links: War On Cancer (https://waroncancer.com/) Go to ImpactHustlers.com (https://www.impacthustlers.com/) Visit FastForward 2030 (http://fastforward2030.com/) and Real Changers (https://www.realchangers.com/) Impact Hustlers is hosted by Maiko Schaffrath, connect on Linkedin (https://uk.linkedin.com/in/maikoschaffrath/en) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/maikoschaffrath) This podcast is produced by Woon Tan of Podcast Publishing (http://podcastpublishing.help/)