Young breast cancer patients find help at new B.C. website
A new website launched in British Columbia aims to give young women diagnosed with breast cancer the resources and support they can’t find elsewhere.
Even though young women make up a quarter of all women with breast cancer, the “culture” seems to be geared toward older women, whose issues are different, says Lisa Brewster, one of the developers of the new website breastcancernowwhat.ca.
“We wanted to get away from this traditional pink ribbon view of how people view breast cancer, because I don’t think it’s something that many of us share,” Brewster told the CBC’s Pamela Post.
“We don’t necessarily buy into that, we find that to be a little bit corporate. We just wanted to own our own experiences.”
Brewster says the website is the first of its kind to incorporate the interactive component of a web community for young women with breast cancer.
And that aspect is really important, says Saleena Noon, a professional woman in her 30s who has just been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Just married and about to start a family, Noon said the diagnosis led her into terrifying thoughts about how she could be made sterile by chemotherapy, disfigured by surgery or even die.
The website, Noon said, made a world of difference.
“[I am pleased] just to be able to have online conversations with women who were around my age, who get it, who are faced with some of the same issues that I’m being faced with now in my life.”
