This year 48 women will find out they have breast cancer every day in Australia. Cancer doesn’t stop over the holiday season and about 1,400 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during the month of December.
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Being diagnosed with breast cancer – or any other type of cancer – when people are winding up the year and celebrating can bring about a number of challenges.
Many clinics close for the summer, which means people newly diagnosed in December can be left for weeks waiting for answers about their treatment and prognosis. This can cause distress and leave people feeling very alone.
It’s also a hard time of year to give bad news to children, partners and friends. No one wants to be the person with bad news at a time usually reserved for happiness and celebration. Carrying a feeling of being the one to ‘ruin Christmas’ only adds to the stress the diagnosed person may already be feeling.
The lead up to Christmas and post-Christmas is also filled with extra social events, which means you’re around people who you might not be used to dealing with.
Telling people you have cancer can often bring about unwanted responses, no matter what time of year it is. But during the festive season you are dealing with more situations, more people and more responses. It can also be hard to tell your story over and over again – especially to people who you don’t know that well.
Breast Cancer Network Australia’s online network is open during the holiday season when many health practitioners and support services are closed. The online network is a place where you can connect with women and men who are going through a similar experience and talk openly about what you’re feeling and experiencing.
In a 2014 survey of users of the online network 70 per cent said the service was important to them when they were diagnosed with breast cancer.
The online network can help if you have been newly diagnosed, if you are receiving treatment or if you have completed active treatment and are transitioning into the survivorship phase of a diagnosis.
I would encourage anyone who is finding it hard to deal with breast cancer over the festive season to join our online network at bcna.org.au and talk to others who have walked this road.
- Christine Nolan, Breast Cancer Network Australia CEO