One day your world is moving along at 90 miles an hour. Your
entire life is just ahead of you. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your plans for the
future. Perhaps even plans for the futures of your children. You have so many
things you want to do - someday. Things you simply don't seem to have time for
today.
Then you have a conversation with your doctor that changes
everything in an instant.
The world stops. At least your world does.
All around you, the sun is shining. Traffic is flowing. Kids
are laughing. Your world, though seems frozen in a moment. Without even
realizing it, you've suddenly started counting those moments. Those heartbeats.
Tomorrow seems so far away and all too close at the same time.
This moment, for many women, feels like ground zero. It's
the point in time when your world changed. Whether your prognosis is favorable
or the news is not as favorable, these two little words, breast cancer, have
changed your life forever. And there will never be too words that seem bigger
for almost any woman.
The worst part, for most women, of a breast cancer
diagnosis, is that you feel so alone. You
feel like there's no one you can share it with that will understand.
It's the unspoken thing that women don't discuss in small groups. It's
something no man will ever truly understand. You have all these fears, all
these worries, and, most of all, you wonder how many tomorrows you have left.
John Diamond, yes he was a man, but he was also a journalist
who suffered from, and later succumbed to throat cancer, said "Cancer is a
word, not a sentence." This is one of the most important things a woman
facing a breast cancer diagnosis needs to remember.
His quote is a reminder to all who have cancer that hope is
the most precious commodity they possess. The Breast Cancer Society shares this
belief. We understand how much more powerful hope is than any drug and any
prognosis. The power of the mind and the human spirit cannot be measured.
That's why we seek to ease the financial worries, lift spirits, and help raise
funds, share love, and spread awareness.
Most importantly of all, we want every woman who is going
through those incredible first moments after a diagnosis to know that you are
not alone. You're not alone in this life-changing moment. You're not alone in
your treatment. You're not alone in your illness. And, you do not have to be
alone in your recovery.
Of course, before you reach the point where any of our
resources can help you, you must first process the information and wrap your
mind around what it means for you now, today, and in the future.
Today you have things to think about. Decisions can wait a
day or two while you process the news. While you may not want anyone to know,
it's wise to discuss your situation with your spouse or a discrete friend for
the moral support factor alone. Then you can sit down and figure out what the
diagnosis means for you, on a personal level, and then what it means for those
who love you and who depend on you every day to take care of them. From this
point forward, your primary focus needs to be on healing.
Once you're cancer free, your world can get back on a
slightly altered track from where it was when you got the news. Thought it will
never be the same. The Breast Cancer Society, though, is happy to help along
the way.
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