Strive to Thrive: The Many Benefits of Self-Expression

Part 1 of Jean Kane’s series, Project Strive to Thrive: Ideas for Moving Beyond “Survival” After Breast Cancer

“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” — From “The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver

No one realizes the precious nature of life better than someone diagnosed with cancer. But cancer can also cause a wild range of …

Embracing the Transformation: Living with Cancer at 36

My name is Rabia Gibbs. A few weeks before my 36^th birthday I was diagnosed with stage IIb/IIIa, triple-negative breast cancer. In order, my treatment plan entails neoadjuvant chemotherapy, surgery, radiation, and then reconstructive surgery. I recently finished chemo (4 sessions of Adriamycin/Cytoxan and 4 sessions of Taxol). In less than a week, I will be undergoing surgery: a modified radical mastectomy on the …

Genetic Testing: An Emotional Decision

Genetic testing for breast cancer evokes emotional issues from the moment a woman begins to consider testing or is told that a close family member is considering genetic testing. This is true whether or not the individual woman has herself been diagnosed with breast cancer. Concerns over the results of the testing, and where those results may lead, often cause anxiety and other stress reactions. …

Talking with Children About a Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Having to tell children about a breast cancer diagnosis is rotten. I mean, really, as if having breast cancer isn’t hard enough. However (based on my professional experience as a nurse and my personal experience as a patient), I know that including children in the process — from the time of a diagnosis — is the most important thing that we adults can do for …

(Un) Common Knowledge Transcript

Below is an edited version of the webinar I presented through the Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Foundation October 16, 2012. You can still get the actual webinar on the Foundation’s site. It was based on questions sent in from women with TNBC.  

I was diagnosed with hormone negative breast cancer in 2006, and I’ve been studying this disease since then, reading research papers, interviewing experts and …