Members
GBP ^

No products in the basket.

Cancer Care Parcel Logo
Cancer Care Parcel Logo

No products in the basket.

For Everyone Touched By Cancer

How 'Ticking off breast cancer' was born: a site to help with breast cancer treatment

Written by Sara Liyanage on 
5th April, 2018
Updated: 29th January, 2024
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

None of us expects to get cancer. Cancer is what happens to someone else.

I certainly didn’t expect to be diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of

42 while I was in, what I thought to be, the prime of my life. Happily married with two children, a career and just a normal, regular, life. I ate healthily, I didn’t smoke, I exercised, I didn’t overindulge on alcohol, I wasn’t overweight and, all in all, I ticked the boxes for minimizing any risk of cancer. But then, one Wednesday evening in October 2016 life, as I knew it, ended as I was diagnosed with breast cancer.

First off, I had surgery and soon thereafter I started chemotherapy which continued until the end of May 2017.

Yes, I lost all my hair, my eyebrows and my eyelashes. I was also quite poorly from the chemo side effects. After chemo, I moved onto radiotherapy and, all the while, I was having three-weekly Herceptin injections. It was not a great period of my life.

A friend asked me to talk to someone else with breast cancer.

Around May, just as I was coming to the end of chemo but before radiotherapy started, a good friend of mine told me that her friend had just been diagnosed with breast cancer: she lived nearby, and could I possibly have a chat with her? Of course, I would. I would be delighted to.  If nothing else, breast cancer has a way of bringing you close to others in the same situation enabling you to support one another.

When I heard my cancer diagnosis I wanted to bury my head in the sand

So, what could I say that might help her whilst she was waiting to embark upon her breast cancer treatment?

What should I not say to her, so as to avoid causing any unnecessary fear or worry? How did I feel when I was waiting for my treatment to start? Had I known someone in my current position, when I was first diagnosed, what would I have wanted to know from them?

I knew exactly what I would have wanted. I would have wanted practical tips.

Advice about how to prepare for surgery, how to prepare for chemo, what to expect from chemo, what to take to chemo, information on the cold cap (I didn't even know about such a thing until just before I started), how to prepare home-life for duration of the treatment, what I should be eating, how I could alleviate the side effects and a gentle heads up of what to expect from the aftermath of surgery and chemo. Breast cancer may have thrown me completely out of my comfort zone and turned my world upside down, but I had been determined to maintain some sort of control over life during my breast cancer treatment. I would have wanted a hand to hold mine and for someone to say, “it's going to be tough but you’ve got this and to help you, here is what you can do to prepare………

So, I dug out the Cancer-Notebook (the one containing my notes, shopping lists and to-do lists from treatment)

...and I started to type up a few notes about practical things I thought might be helpful for her. And the notes got longer and longer. I realised that over the previous 6 months I had learnt a lot about getting through breast cancer treatment from the chemo nurses, my oncologist, my breast care nurse and the little bit of research that I had allowed myself to do on the internet. Only a little bit of research because, you see, when I was diagnosed I became almost paralysed with fear. I could not bring myself to read anything about how breast cancer manifested itself, survival statistics, survival rates, treatment success rates, metastasis of breast cancer, secondary cancer, invasive cancer, aggressive cancer or the correlation between grades and stages and recurrence and survival.

I wanted to bury my head in the sand and just get on with the treatment

Putting all my trust in my medical team knowing that when the time was right and I was feeling emotionally stronger, I would allow myself to read up on these subjects. But, given my determination to maintain control over life during treatment, I had tentatively researched practical advice for getting through breast cancer treatment whilst trying to minimise the risk of coming across anything that might scare me.

How 'Ticking off breast cancer' was born: a site to help with breast cancer treatment

And as I was typing up all my notes, I began to wonder whether maybe these notes could be of help to others

...and not just the lady who was coming over for a cuppa and a chat. After all, I had found the cancer websites incredibly overwhelming when I was first diagnosed.  There is so much excellent advice out there on a number of different websites but I hadn’t known where to start, which sites to trust, where to find the best advice about each aspect of treatment and how to navigate the vast sites. I had wanted a website which gave me practical advice in one easily accessible place where I didn't have to go through link after link trying to work out if the information was relevant or not, whilst trying to avoid the "scary stuff”. One which directed me straight to the information that I needed.

I wondered whether I could start a little website of my own: one that people, who were going through breast cancer treatment, could use as their starting point when searching for advice about getting through the treatment. Yes, it might be a cancer-cliché, but maybe this was what I had been looking for during all those months of treatment. Some sort of purpose.  And a way to pay forward all the care and kindness that I had received from so many people throughout my treatment.

So that is what I did.

I carried out more and more research and I found such wonderful resources that I wish I had known about during my treatment: for example, websites which sell cancer specific items such as drain bags, PICC line covers and post-surgery clothing; websites which provided gifts and trips for those going through cancer treatment; websites with excellent advice for getting through treatment; websites which give employment advice; websites which give nutrition advice; and websites which give menopausal advice. I typed up all my notes into readable pages and I added links to all these fantastic resources. Then, in November last year, www.tickingoffbreastcancer.com was born: its aim, to help people going through breast cancer treatment who do not know where to turn for help. It is my way of holding someone’s hand and telling them, “it's going to be tough but you’ve got this and to help you, here is what you can do to prepare………

Further Reading

Talking about cancer

Thoughtful breast cancer gifts

"Bullshit Breast Cancer" let breast cancer patients know that they will never be alone

The Cancer Shop

How To Talk To A Person With Cancer: What To Say And Not To Say

Thoughtful Breast Cancer Gifts

Related Posts

Drugs, Depression & Prison: How my fathers' cancer turned my life around

Being incarcerated gave Kurtis skills to help people going through cancer.

Read More
Life - Cancer & Life Again: Sharing My Journey With Other People

As Strange As It Sounds, I Don’t Feel Bitter, Just Grateful That I Have Been Given Another Chance

Read More
Preparing4Care: Driving Person-Centred Care, Free of Charge.

Preparing4Care have recognized that the person best placed to provide information about their likes, wishes and preferences is the individual themselves

Read More
Explaining End Of Life Care From A Cancer Doctor’s Perspective

End Of Life Care Is Not Treated Lightly And Both Doctors And Nurses Work To Ensure Priorities And Individual Needs Of The Patient Are Met.

Read More
1 2 3 51
We strongly advise you to talk with a health care professional about specific medical conditions and treatments. The information on our site is meant to be helpful and educational but is not a substitute for medical advice.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

7 comments on “How 'Ticking off breast cancer' was born: a site to help with breast cancer treatment”

  1. Stay strong im 44 and got lung cancer 2 years ago got lung removed 2 year's later it's back can't get chemo cos im diabetic so trying radiotherapy to see how that goes have u looked up about canibis oil ?

Sign up for more information
I HAVE CANCER 
3 Days Of Tips For People With Cancer
MY FRIEND HAS CANCER
3 Days Of Tips To Help You Help Your Friend

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER
Newsletter For
Anyone Touched By Cancer
Sustainability Matters
Every purchase, big or small, has a footprint. But sustainability challenges don’t have a quick fix.
Organisation for Responsible Businesses.
Recycle
EcoFriendly
Cancer Care Parcel Ltd. Registered in England and Wales.
Trading Address: Highstone House, 165 High Street, Barnet, Herts. EN5 5SU, UK. Registered Office: 7a High Street, Barnet, Herts, EN5 5UE.
Company Number 14415197, VAT number is GB428826076,  EORI number is XI428826076000
SITEMAP
cartmagnifiercrosschevron-downquestion-circle