And here comes the piece I couldn’t write for two years, the one I thought, “I wish I hadn’t waited so long to write this,” when my aunt was diagnosed with cancer.

There’s a lot of cancer in my family. We lost my father at 43, and my cousin five years ago at 52. My older aunt had colon cancer, but she’s doing well now. I had breast cancer at 43, and I’m fine. We also lost my younger aunt, one of the five people I love most in life, to cancer 1.5 months ago at the age of 60. Not a day goes by without hearing about someone around me, here, being diagnosed with cancer. Maybe that’s why, at this age, I’m starting university again to become a nutritional therapist. This topic is traumatic for me.

When I was diagnosed, I said, “I’ll write about this when I recover,” but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Believe me, the reactions we give when we hear someone has cancer are more devastating than the situation itself. I’ve seen this in our society. Even though everyone says it with good intentions, it hurts the person deeply. Maybe I did it myself in the past. If I did, I apologize. I learned this through experience, and I have to tell you. If you remember, I had made my account private. I hope no one ever receives news like this from their loved ones. BUT IF WE DO, here are some things we won’t say:

And here comes the piece I couldn’t write for two years, the one I thought, “I wish I hadn’t waited so long to write this,” when my aunt got cancer.

There’s a lot of cancer in my family. We lost my father at 43, and my cousin five years ago at 52. My older aunt had bowel cancer, she’s doing well now. I had breast cancer at 43, I’m fine. We also lost my younger aunt, one of the five people I love most in my life, to cancer 1.5 months ago at the age of 60. Not a day goes by that I don’t hear about someone around me, here, having cancer. Maybe that’s why I’m starting university again at this age to become a nutritional therapist. This is traumatic for me.

❌”Where did this person get you?”

Believe me, that person has already asked themselves that a thousand times and doesn’t need to hear it from you again.

❌”You’re still so young.”

You see the expression on people’s faces as if they’re about to bury you. And believe me, if someone has announced they have cancer, expressing it aloud to you, their family, or others, they’ve already mentally placed themselves in a grave, imagined their afterlife, their loved ones, their funeral, and then slapped themselves to remind themselves they’re still alive. Hearing that same expression and those words from others is the last thing they want.

❌”What happens now?”

They don’t know either; their head is already spinning.

✅ This person only needs one thing: warm support, something that says, “I’m here for you, I love you, and my heart is with you…” They don’t want any more details, questions, comments, or reactions. I know, choosing your reaction is very difficult when you receive news like this. Take a breath, calm down, and offer your support in this way.

Nobody does it with bad intentions, but it’s important to have some control over language in these situations. I hope we can raise awareness.

With love 💗