I never planned on becoming a breast cancer survivor because, like most people, I never planned on having cancer. When you're a young woman, breast cancer is the last thing on your mind. The disease is still mainly associated with older women. I was 34 years of age when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of September 2004 and about to learn that cancer is no respecter of age. Now, nearly four and a half years later, my goal is to become a more educated and effective advocate for breast cancer and in particular the issues facing younger women.

And now for the story behind the blog....

Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer  is about my personal journey to make sense of the cancer experience, with the hope that in my story others on the same path may find some resonance and the knowledge that they are not alone.  There are many blogs, chat forums and websites available  for those newly diagnosed, or going through treament, but not so much out there on what it is like to have gone through the experience and how you integrate it with the rest of your life. Finishing treament can be a very unsettling time for a lot of people. You can feel cut adrift and alone - once the hectic round of hospital visits, treatment and check ups are over, what then? Often this is when the real psychological and emotional work starts.

Cancer strikes a severe blow at our sense of self and our sense of past, present and future. The apparent randomness of a cancer diagnosis shakes our sense of identity to its very core and nothing will ever feel certain again. As we tell our story, we rebuild our wounded selves, learning to integrate our past, present and futures selves. Learning how others walked this path can enrich our own journey of discovery.

To paraphrase Albert Schweitzer: Whoever among us has learned through personal experience what pain and anxiety really are must help to ensure that those out there who are in ... need obtain the same help that once came to (her). She no longer belongs to herself alone; she has become the sister of all who suffer.      

Welcome to the sisterhood!