"I'm sorry. You have breast cancer..."
Life altering words for any women...even more devastating and confusing for young women.
I know, it was 2004 when I heard those words for the first but not last time at the age of 31. Then found myself in a swirl of confusion and fear coupled with questions of treatment, fertility, reconstruction, sexualtiy, and survival that no one could answer.
When a young women is diagnosed with breast cancer so many things go through her mind quickly. The rest of her life flashes before her eyes, skipping over child birth, marriage, dating, career, growing old, and living a normal adult life. Suddenly she is faced with fighting for her life.
Women diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age face psychosocial and medical issues that are much different from those diagnosed older and post menopasal. The fact is the bulk of medical and phychological resources are designed for women over 50, making it confusingand isolating for a younger woman who had just been diagnosed.
Some issues young women face are more aggressive types of cancer, fertility, relationship issues, treatment induced menopause, living and fighting this disease for decades after diagnosis-and these are just a few ways a younger women's breast cancer experience can be dramatically different. Often times these women arestopped short just as they were building careers, raising and starting families or still looking for their soulmate when they hear those fateful words.
To address these issues, Living Beyond Breast Cancer and Young Survivor Coalition have created -with a generous donation from Susan G. Komen for the Cure-C4YW, an annual conference for young women affected by breast cancer and those who support them.
The annual conference represents the only international conference dedicated to the unique issues and concerns facing young breast cancer survivors. The conference is an essential tool for those young women diagnosed with breast cancer, helping them not only survive but thrive as they continue on in the journey of life.
There are more than 250,000 women living in the U.S. diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40, and more than 11,000 are expected to be diagnosed next year. Despite tremendous breakthroughs in treatment breast cancer is still the leading cause of cancer death in women ages 15 to 44, and their emotional and medical concerns are so different than those of age 45, as is the impact their diagnosis has on family, friends, partners, spouses, colleagues, and children.
This conference gives these young women the information and the hope they need to fight this deadly disease and life a full life after diagnosis. In a place that can seem dark and despondent, this conference lends a light to clear up the confusion and allow for hope to flow through for young breast cancer patients.
The conference is set for 2012 in New Orleans on Friday, February 24- Sunday, February 26, 2012 and will be held at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans.
It is vitally important for all young women to know there is hope after their diagnosis and they are not alone. Through the experience of the C4YW conference, women are able to leave behind their day-to-day focus of surviving and join in with healthcare professionals, advocates, survivors, and others thus learning how to become their own best health advocates and learn how to thrive even with a cancer diagnosis. Knowledge is power, power breeds hope and the C4YW conference gives young breast cancer patients all of these things.
Visit C4YW.org for more information on the conference or to register for the event. If if you don't need this information, pass it on to someone who is looking for that hope.
Happy and Healthy, the Heather Way!
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