Empowering women: Five tips for coping with a cancer diagnosis
Three words no one wants to hear are “you have cancer”.
It can be one of the most life-altering moments you will ever experience. In an instant, everything you knew will feel different. Life as you know it will never be the same again.
A cancer diagnosis doesn’t just affect your health; it touches every part of your life: your relationships, friends, career, family, and routines.
While your future may seem daunting and the path forward is intimidating, countless women around the world have shown resilience, strength, and empowerment, and you can too by following these five tips below.
1) Your emotions are valid
A cancer diagnosis is life-altering, and it doesn’t just affect the body. The moment you receive your diagnosis, time seems to slow down, and coldness takes over your body.
Shock, fear, anger, sadness, and even numbness may flood your body all at once. These emotions are completely natural.
Allow yourself to feel every emotion, and do not push them away. They are an important part of coping with a diagnosis. Every reaction to a diagnosis like this is valid. Some women feel strangely calm and detached, while others cry immediately.
There are no right or wrong answers here.
2) Only rely on trusted information
When faced with a diagnosis of this magnitude, one of the most natural things that will happen is that you will have questions.
Some will include: What does this mean for me? What does this mean for my children? What is my prognosis? How can I make this go away?
In the Google Age, information is abundant, but not all of it is accurate, helpful, or relevant. Learning how to only gather trustworthy information is one of the most powerful steps you can take.
Cancer is a complex and often misunderstood disease, and everyone’s journey is unique.
Reliable, trusted information will help you navigate your disease with confidence and clarity. Begin your research journey with reputable organizations such as the American Cancer Society or the National Cancer Institute.
3) Join support groups
A cancer diagnosis can feel isolating and overwhelming.
Beyond the immediate medical challenges, women often have questions regarding access to care and emotional support. Advocacy groups play a critical role in bridging these gaps.
They act as powerful voices for change, helping women feel supported while working to improve the broader cancer landscape on crucial issues facing women’s health.
For example, September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, and the 9th is LGSOC Awareness Day. This important day is designed to raise awareness about one of the rarer but medically significant subtypes of the disease.
Advocacy groups give this disease, and its subtypes, the spotlight it needs to educate, empower, and inspire action against the profoundly impactful form of cancer.
One of the greatest benefits of advocacy groups is their ability to provide up-to-date, relevant, and trustworthy information.
4) Hope is a strategy
A cancer diagnosis carries a weight like no other disease.
It brings uncertainty, fear, and panic that can feel unbearable at times. During the appointments, tests, treatments, and side effects, it can be easy and understandable to lose hope.
Don’t think of hope as wishful thinking; hope is so much more powerful.
It is an essential part of physical, mental, and emotional resilience. Hope enables women facing cancer to move forward with determination, courage, and strength – even during the most challenging moments.
Choose hope, not because it denies the reality of the diagnosis but because it reshapes how you approach it.
Hope evolves with each stage of your cancer experience. At first, it may mean hoping for a successful outcome. Later, it might evolve into hoping for better days with fewer side effects, or it might become about achieving meaningful goals. Hope could even mean enjoying a pain-free afternoon with a loved one.
Allow hope to adapt so it remains relevant throughout your journey.
5) Focus on nutrition
Nutrition plays a vital role for women who are living with a cancer diagnosis.
While cancer treatment, if available and wanted, is designed to fight the disease, it puts significant strain and stress on the body. Surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy will knock your body hard, and they often affect digestion, appetite, and energy levels.
While diet cannot prevent the side effects of the disease or its treatment, a thoughtful approach can make a remarkable difference in supporting recovery and improving overall quality of life during this challenging period.
Choose nutrient-dense foods such as lean proteins, beans, eggs, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables to support digestion and immune health.
Find your own path to healing
This journey will come with layers of physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and social concerns that extend beyond the realms of a diagnosis. The tips outlined above are some of the most helpful strategies for coping with your disease.
With these tools, and the right mind set and support system, every woman can find her own path to healing, no matter what form that comes in.
