Karen Humphries
Author | Speaker | Mentor | Advocate
Karen Humphries is an author, speaker and mentor living with incurable stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma and disability. Her work is grounded in lived experience and university education, shaped by nearly three decades of chronic illness, cancer, caregiving and survival.
Karen brings a rare depth of insight to conversations about wellbeing, identity and meaning - not from hindsight or theory, but from the ongoing reality of living alongside illness while continuing to contribute, advocate and lead.
A Life Shaped by Lived Experience
Karen’s life has not followed a linear or predictable path.
From an early age, she has navigated complex health challenges, disability and life-altering diagnoses. Alongside her own illness, Karen has also lived the experience of being a carer - witnessing firsthand the gaps, pressures and emotional realities faced by individuals and families navigating the health system.
Rather than framing her experience as a battle to be won, Karen speaks about illness as an evolving relationship with life - one that requires adaptation, honesty and compassion.
This perspective has become the foundation of her work.
Beyond Survival
Karen does not speak the language of forced positivity or “fighting” illness.
Her work centres on what it truly means to live well - even when cure is not possible and certainty is not guaranteed. She explores identity after diagnosis, grief for the life imagined, and the quiet strength required to continue living fully in the midst of uncertainty.
Karen’s voice resonates because it is grounded, reflective and deeply human.
A Continuing Commitment
Karen continues to write, speak and advocate while living with stage 4 cancer - balancing honesty with hope, and realism with purpose. Her work invites individuals and organisations to slow down, listen more deeply, and reconsider what living well can mean when life is complex, uncertain or changed forever.
A Public Voice Grounded in Experience
Karen does not speak the language of forced positivity or “fighting” illness.
Her work centres on what it truly means to live well - even when cure is not possible and certainty is not guaranteed. She explores identity after diagnosis, grief for the life imagined, and the quiet strength required to continue living fully in the midst of uncertainty.
Karen’s voice resonates because it is grounded, reflective and deeply human.