Living with cancer

When you or someone you love is diagnosed with cancer, it’s hard to know what to expect.

Telling family, friends and colleagues about the diagnosis of cancer is something that many people find difficult - who to tell, when and how. There is no simple 'right answer' for what to do.

In the early days after diagnosis, your main focus might be learning about the cancer and working with your medical team to come up with a treatment plan.

• But medical issues are only one part of living with cancer.  

It’s important to know that everyone’s cancer experience is different. Some people get through treatment and find that their life hasn’t changed as much as they had expected. For others, their life changes completely. Some people find living with cancer to be the biggest challenge of their life.

• Feels like your head is spinning, and you feel like the wind has been sucked out of you. In a split second, life as you knew it is gone. “Getting diagnosed throws your entire universe into a free fall".   

Not to mention that the treatment can change the way you feel and look as well.
Cancer is often a disease that lasts a long time, and people may get treatment for many years.

This can be especially difficult if you have a rare cancer or a rare type of leukemia or lymphoma.

•  - According to the medical opinion for a cancer to be rare it means fewer than 6 in 100,000 people are diagnosed with that cancer each year. - 

Majority of the times, people close to the patient are very involved and this it can change routines, roles and relationships.  Also it can that cause money and work problems.

In my opinion, the support of family and friends helps the person with cancer to have a better and more normal life as their illness allows.  Encouragement and support can help a person with cancer regain hope, even when they feel beaten down by cancer and/or its treatment.