Breast Cancer Awareness Month & Support

As someone who has undergone several years of breast cancer treatment I wanted to give shout-out to all the wonderful people (mostly women though) who are battling this all over the world. According to the World Health Organization, this is the most common cancer in women in most countries globally, every year over 2 million women get diagnosed (and how many don't!), and "roughly half of all breast cancers occur in women with no specific risk factors other than sex and age".

The good news is, that the treatment options are being developed and, in many cases, it is possible to continue our lives with medical adjustments. However, there is shortage of medical diagnostics or very limited access to treatment in many places, and many families suffer because of this illness. As a listener here, I just wanted to kindly remind to be empathetic to one another: you may never know what the person you're talking to is going through, many illnesses can be "invisible". And while they bring many physical challenges, it is also emotionally taxing and exhausting.

In case you are going through treatment, or someone close to you is, or you are a fellow listener who wonders what to say or not say when supporting someone dealing with breast cancer, I would be glad to share my humble experience. I am just one of many, many million cancer survivors, and our experiences can be very different, so I cannot provide advice or "this is how it is for everyone" knowledge, but I might have some insight as someone with a first-hand experience.

For more information please see: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/breast-cancer and https://www.breastcancer.org/managing-life