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From the Show · Episode
Author Lisa TerKeurst Links Hidden Betrayal Trauma To Colon Rupture And Breast Cancer
Betrayal TraumaColon RuptureBreast CancerForgivenessEmotional Health
In a September 2026 episode of The Dr. Josh Axe Show, author Lisa TerKeurst told Dr. Axe that hiding the pain of her husband's betrayal preceded a 2016 colon rupture and a 2017 breast cancer diagnosis, saying the secrecy almost cost her her life.
On the episode, author and Proverbs 31 Ministries founder Lisa TerKeurst told Dr. Axe that in February 2016 she discovered her then-husband was living a double life, the night before her oldest daughter's wedding rehearsal dinner. Three of her five children married that year, seven weeks apart. By June 2016 she said her insides felt twisted; one morning she collapsed, and doctors found her colon had ripped away from the abdominal wall, twisted on itself and cut off its own blood supply, requiring surgical removal of a significant portion. She said the surgeon told her the colon was distended to the size of a newborn baby. One year later, with no family history of breast cancer, she was diagnosed with the disease and underwent a double mastectomy; she said the oncology surgeon asked whether her husband had cheated on her. Years after the emergency surgery, her abdominal wall reopened, requiring a hip-to-hip repair. TerKeurst cited a Duke University claim that unforgiveness ranks among the leading killers in America.
Unforgiveness is, in my understanding in medicine, maybe the most harmful of all emotions you can have.— Dr. Josh Axe
Dr. Axe said in the conversation that emotional wounds, more than diet, are often the biggest driver of hormone imbalance, digestive disease and even cancer in the patients he has treated, and that the breast cancer patterns he has observed cluster around either emotional depletion or unresolved hurt from a partner. As general background physiology, chronic stress hormones such as cortisol are known to affect immune function and gut motility; the episode itself does not draw this connection to TerKeurst's own colon rupture or cancer diagnosis.
This is a first-person account paired with Josh's clinical opinion, not a controlled study, so it cannot establish that betrayal trauma caused TerKeurst's colon injury or her cancer. The Duke University claim about unforgiveness and mortality was stated by the guest and is not verified in this record.
Dr. Axe's Take
"Unforgiveness is, in my understanding in medicine, maybe the most harmful of all emotions you can have." I said that to Lisa on air, and I meant it clinically, not just spiritually. In my practice I've watched hormone imbalance, digestive breakdown and even cancer show up in people carrying unspoken betrayal, shame or grief. Her colon rupture and breast cancer don't prove one cause, but her story matches a pattern I see often: the body absorbs what we refuse to process emotionally. This week, if you're carrying a wound like this, find a counselor, pastor or trusted friend and say it out loud instead of burying it.
— Dr. AxeDr. Axe Quiz