Though a little neglected in recent years this blog continues to occupy my thoughts and its purpose, to share information about the experience of breast cancer and the things a HER2+ diagnosis entailed hasn’t faded.
When I began writing everything I read suggested the outlook for people who are HER2+ remained doubtful. Despite best efforts to think otherwise, I sometimes doubted I’d see the 2020’s. Hope and doubt coexist a little more regularly these days but being carefree isn’t something I imagine very often.
Light follows darkness though and part way through my training I’m already working with people who have cancer. This path, from patient to advocate and more recently as advocate and carer, was unintentional yet somehow feels right. A way of putting unwanted experiences to use, to give something back for as long as I’m able.
It brings other unexpected opportunities too, to research and attempt to write formally about the experience of breast cancer patients as part of my academic nursing development. Over the coming months I’ll be looking at themes that come up in breast cancer blogs and hope to identify topics that rarely gain attention in mainstream media or formal writing but impact us greatly as breast cancer patients before, during or when we find ourselves beyond the realms of current treatments and what they offer for us.
Please let me know if you’d like me to read your blog, specific blog posts or if you have themes you think it would be useful to explore. I am new to this kind of research and would like to raise our voice, as well as shedding light on the things that affect us greatly but still fail to receive the attention they deserve.
FEC-THis 