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Receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer can be challenging and frightening.
On these pages, you'll find more information about how to cope with and understand your diagnosis. We hope this will help you to make informed decisions about your treatment programme.
For many women of working age the impact of breast cancer on finances or career can be a pressing issue.
You may be worried about how taking time off for treatment for breast cancer may impact your career or how the disease may affect your colleagues’ perceptions of your career path. Remember the most important thing is to get well. Once you are better you will find that others soon forget your illness and it will cease to affect their views of your ability to do your job or your commitment to your work.
If breast cancer treatment puts you under financial stress because you have to pay for treatment or take time off work, there is help available. You may be eligible for:
Whether you’re in a relationship or not, your romantic life will undoubtedly be affected by a diagnosis of breast cancer.
On this page, you'll find information about:
Being diagnosed with breast cancer as a young woman can be an especially tough and sometimes lonely experience. It’s more unusual for women under 40 to get breast cancer, but it does happen. However, there are fewer people your own age to discuss your experience with and you may feel more isolated and less able to make use of support groups.
If you are diagnosed at a young age, the shock may be greater and you may feel a greater sense of “why me?” Sometimes women who are diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age have a more aggressive form of the disease so you may feel unsure of your ability to fight it and scared of what the future may hold.
For a woman of child bearing age, a diagnosis of breast cancer can cause a natural anxiety about the risk of infertility. A treatment regime of surgery and radiotherapy is unlikely to result in fertility issues, but if you need chemotherapy or certain hormone therapies, your fertility may be affected.
Supporting a friend through breast cancer can be difficult. You may be unsure how much your friend wants to tell you or how much your friend would like you to be involved.
Make sure you remain in close contact with your friend - she may be too tired, sick or worried to make contact with you. Don't take this as a sign she does not need or value your help or friendship.
Make sure you continually offer to be there for her and let her decide which of your offers of help or support she feels inclined to take advantage of. Remember, breast cancer treatment can often be a lonely and isolating time for women and friendships of all kinds are important.
If you have children, how much you tell them will depend on how old they are. Give them age-appropriate information and make sure you are always honest with them. Do not try to hide things from them.
Do keep an eye on your children/teenagers. This is a difficult time for them as well and they can react in different ways. They may feel angry, lonely, scared or left out. Seek help for them from a counsellor if you think they need it.
On this page we look at:
If you’re a lesbian couple, your experience of the breast cancer journey may be different from a heterosexual couple. Some say it can be difficult “coming out” to medical professionals or that support groups do not work as well for them.
Make sure you and your partner find a medical professional you trust, whom you are able to communicate with clearly and effectively and who understands your personal situation.
You may like to make contact with the Mamazon Club – a lesbian breast cancer support network to help you through your breast cancer experience. Please email louisemalone2882@gmail.com for more information.
Many men feel they have to be the "strong one" when their wife or partner is diagnosed with breast cancer. You may feel unable to express your own emotions, worries or anxieties about your partner's illness.
It is normal to be on your own "emotional rollercoaster" when your wife is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. You need your own support network and your own outlet for your emotions so that you can offer effective support to your wife or partner as she goes through this journey.
Make sure you have a friend or relative you can talk to and if you don't have someone you feel comfortable confiding in, then think about getting professional help.
A breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is not a journey that is made alone. The woman diagnosed takes her husband, partner, children, parents, siblings and friends with her.
If you’re supporting a woman through breast cancer, there may be times when you don’t know what to say; when you feel too wrapped up in your own emotions; and when you don’t know what kind of help to offer.
It's okay to have your own emotions and it's best to be honest with the woman you're supporting and to let her know that you're finding it difficult dealing with things at the moment.
