Jan Adrian, Founder and Executive Director of Healing Journeys, passed away peacefully at home on the afternoon of Thursday, October 30, 2025.
She is survived by her person, Kerry Freeman, and her son, Brian Conn, AND by all of us who were changed by who she was herself, and by what she co-created: Healing Journeys – Cancer as a Turning Point, From Surviving to Thriving.
A memorial service will be held in Sacramento at a future date. The service will also be live-streamed, so all may attend. Details will be sent to everyone on our email list.
Rest in Peace and thank you for everything.
She made a difference and my tears are for a life well lived. She will be missed by many, but especially those of us who are survivors.
Jan helped me greatly after I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. I went to her event and found it incredibly fortifying and brightened my life!!
I followed Jan all the years since!!
She was a force and an amazing woman 🤩
I found Jan to be a deeply caring person who helped all of us who were touched by health challenges.
Bless her heart for helping us through our journey. May she rest in peace.
Jan inspired me so much during the thick of my cancer recurrences and multiple treatments. RIP Jan.
It was a blessing to have met and shared some time with the wondrous soul. She was someone who facing a devastating health challenge rose up to share her journey and put together a program that helped, saved and changed so many lives. Linda and I send out our condolences to Kerry and her son Brian on the passing of this dear soul. As we celebrate the Dias de los muertos here. We will take the time to honor the life of Jan.
My deepest sympathy to Jan’s beloved ones.
Free at last! Free at last! Praise God Almighty, Jan, you are free at last! We love you, honor you and bless you! Thanks so much for everything you’ve shared with us! You have been a beacon of bright light for all of us!
Thank you for thinking to livestream Jan’s memorial. I will be ‘there.’
She was such a beacon of light and hope for all of us who have traveled the journey of cancer and had the privilege of knowing her and being her friend. She will be dearly missed in the ‘flesh,’ but her eternal spirit is still here and all around us.
Rest in peace, dear friend. You fulfilled your purpose in this realm a thousand fold, and we are forever grateful.
May she now rest in peace. Very much appreciate all she did that helped me through my breast cancer.
Today is Day of the Dead, a Mexican day of remembrance, when it is believed the soul’s of those who have crossed over return to be with us. Though I believe they are always all around us in the form of their spirit energy, I also use this day to honor them. The tradition is to build an altar to include such things as photographs, flowers (especially marigolds), favorite foods of the departed, and other mementos of their lives here in this realm.
All traditional cultures have a similar celebration, but with their own cultural expressions. In US culture, death is more often feared than revered, much less celebrated. I will be honoring Jan on this day today and in years to come.
P.S. Jan once said years ago, if she could eat anything she wanted (she was adhering to an anti-cancer diet), she would love a hamburger and root beer float! I think she indulged in both before her passing, but a can of root beer would do well on an altar.
Attending the first conference in Monterey when I was still in treatment, I saw a different spirit of healing than I knew. I embraced the widened perspective on what could happen. It contradicted my prognosis and returned home a new woman. Thank you Jan, for your foresight, your calm integrity, your deep desire to serve. Thank you. It’s also been fun!
Jan was such an enduring bright light and a special friend. Kerry, you both gave each other Love and Joy! She is now in the arms of our sweet angels.
Jan’s Spirit of Love, Fortitude, Gratitude and Compassion will be missed by sooo many. She guided us through hard times to emerge more powerful and bright. Rest in Peace dear Jan- and Thank you—
I am very grateful to whomever posted this message. Within a mo. or two of my Cx diagnosis, someone from my spiritual community told me about her CX as a Turning Point conference to be held close to me. I went, and it simply caught me in free fall. Outside, before I went in, I sat on a wall sipping coffee talking to a younger women who was calm and cheerful, on her 4th Cx! That and all the laughter, joy, music, resources, and superb keynote talk at that and the next 2 of the conferences I participated in changed my attitude toward Cx. I’m still here, loving live, still on weekly Tx, 15 yrs. later.
With my deepest gratitude,
Bless you Jan!
You are the light of my life. I drew inspiration from how much you gave to help others in their healing journey. Thank you friend, love Carole
Jan,
Thank you so very much for setting the perfect example of divinely inspired love… in all that you did and continue to do on the other side of the veil. You are such a precious treasure of love unfolding in service to all. Until we meet again…..
🙏🏼💕🌟💜🎇☮️🥰.
Thank you for the being a bright light in our complicated world. I’m blessed forever by your passion, focus and the way you modeled healing for us. Fly in the arms of peace, dear Jan. (And send that message if you can.) Always love, Parthenia & cats
May her memory be a blessing.
I can’t even begin to list all the opportunities and resources that came from attending Healing Journeys, year after year beginning with my first Conference in 2003 immediately following my last radiation treatment. Jan knew who to invite and who could enrich our spirits and hold our hearts so tenderly.
My heart is full of grief yet I know my life is and has been so much richer for having known Jan. Jan’s Memory will be a blessing for lifetimes to come.
My deepest sympathy to Kerry and Jan’s Son.
I will be there for Jan’s Celebration of Life.
Jan was an inspiration for me when my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I attended several Cancer as a Turning Point Conferences and was always in awe of her enduring spirit and how she gave back to all of us that sense of positivity and light. I know you are in a better place. You continue to inspire me in the health challenges that I am currently experiencing.
❤️
Jan was an inspiration to me as I walk my cancer journey. She gave so much love to many, many people. God bless her on her way.
My heart hurts. Thank you Jan for being a shining light for all of us. Rest in Peace. 💔
What an exemplar Jan Adrien has been in her recent Earthly Lifetime of impacting so many with Hope, Inspiration, and Courage in the Cancer Journey ( and other health conditions, too) by offering a space in the many Healing Journeys conferences to provide a vision that true Healing happens on all levels – of Body, Mind, and Spirit; which was often so over-looked in the traditional Western Modern Medicine “model” of Disease body based focus.
Jan was relatable to all in sharing her vulnerabilities in such an ordinary human way. And yet EXTRORDINARY for the lengths she went to be of service to others thru the creation of the Healing Journeys Conferences and many Workshops. One of her favorite readings was The Prayer of St. Francis. One of these verses was especially embodied by Jan: “Where there is despair in Life, let me bring Hope. Where there is darkness, only Light. Where there is sadness, only Joy”. May we each remember the Joy that this Beautiful Soul shared in each of our lives…………
Wishing Jan love and light as she makes her way to the next great place. May her journey be guided by all who came before her♥️
Thank you Jan. May your healing
mission continue to heal us.
A well deserved rest to you Jan. Thank you for sharing your live and love with us. Please send us a message of what it is like on the other side. I’ll be waiting… 💫
Jan was an inspiration to everyone she met, always sharing her story and providing hope for those with a breast cancer diagnosis. We will all miss Jan. My greatest sympathies to her son, to Kerry, and to all her friends at this time.
Jan was one-of-a-kind. Such an inspiration to so many people, always giving a smile to anyone who needed it, and open arms when weeping was in order. I will miss her and her wisdom, so clearly earned. I send my condolences to her family and close friends.
Jan’s light touched so many of us. May our hearts light up the world.
Jan was a special woman, I will miss her.
So grateful that her transition was peaceful. She touched and helped so many with a cancer journey, myself included. I send love to her family and friends. I know she is thriving on her new journey.❤️
Thank you for your loving, compassionate, and diligent work. 🤍 Deepest condolences to your loved ones.
Thank you, Dear Jan, for all you did for so many of us, for you yourself, and your vision of From Surviving to Thriving. God Speed, Blessings, and Happy Trails.
Jan’s Legacy will always be one of celebrating the temporary, shining a bright beacon of hope, gratitude, and enriching those souls navigating the territory of illness with joy and enlightenment. She loved learning and her curiosity of life’s twists and turns seemed to represent new horizons to explore. Now she’s on that secret path, and I’m comforted to hold her, through tears, as she explores her new path…
Jan, you did your part to leave the world better than you found it and now may you rest in peace. 🙏🏼 Sending love to your loved ones as well. 💛
We are forever thankful for Jan’s service and inspiration!
My heart feels heavy with grief and gratitude. Jan Adrian significantly enhanced my life along with so many other women’s lives. Such a generous soul. Thank you for everything, Jan.
What a treasure we’ve lost in Jan, but also what treasures she’s left us. I attended several Healing Journeys conferences, always leaving richer than when I arrived. I made sure to find Jan to thank her and share some conversation. I’m still writing my story, Jan, and thanks to you I know I will persist and continue to rise. I send heart felt love and compassion to your dear family.
Thank you for all u did. I read about you in Sacramento newspaper when I took a job as nurse at Lake Tahoe jail. Thank you for all the conferences etc. I last saw at San Jose.
Thank you to Kerry and all.
Jan Adrian was my employer back in the early 2000’s. I was her first employee who did not have cancer, and I learned so much from her. She became my friend, we attended the same church, and I have shared her name, her story and this website with everyone I have met ‘whose lives have been touched by cancer.’ I learned so much from her, and I pray that she is dancing with the angels now, if not leading them.
So blessed she was a big part of my life. I am truly grateful.
I got to know Jan when I volunteered as a Chaplain at 3 of her Healing Journeys conferences.
I was honored when she texted me to invite me to be with her as a chaplain while she was in home hospice. Our two-hour conversation was a blessing for both of us. Each time she spoke I reminded her that she was saying a prayer in her own voice, in her own vibration. Jan recommended a book for my presentation on The Power of Presence: Being. Belonging. Becoming. It is The Mattering, coming out in 2026. I will always treasure my brief time knowing Jan on a deeper heart level before she ascended into the consciousness of being with all whom she supported and loved before her transition. Jan, you are missed and loved beyond measure. Much appreciation as a friend, a pioneer, a visionary, a thriver role model. Love, Maureen/RevMo
Jan made a difference in so many lives, her voice and heart led to so many changes.
She inspired and was a remarkable leader and organizer. Jan’s honesty and kindness were evident from the first moment being in her presence.
My heart goes out to her closest ones and all who were touched by her words and example.
In 2013 I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer. Jan met with me personally encouraged me, and at a later date when I was cancer free I called her to see if she knew a way I could support other cancer patients and she told me about Cancer Journey and I am a certified cancer coach.
My sincere condolences to Kerry and Brian. She truly was a beacon of light and an instrument! I re-read her blog when she began hospice 4 months ago. As usual, she contemplated how she could perhaps help others who feared death by openly discussing the dying process and death. She was heavily on my mind last week and I sent her a message Thursday am which I’m sure she didn’t receive, hearing that she died that afternoon. She said that she felt all our love and support so I’m happy for that and thank you for letting us know when the memorial will be and live-streaming it. It will be therapeutic for us who loved her to gather (even if virtually) to mourn her loss and celebrate a life well lived. Her inspiration and courage touched all who knew her!
Dear Jan-
You leave a huge hole in my heart, but I wish you God Speed on this final journey. You will be so greatly missed by so many, but what a wonderful life you led. Thank you so much for all you gave us & love & sympathy to your loved ones.
So blessed she was a big part of my life. I am truly grateful.