Blog | Facing Cancer Together

Going Through Cancer as a Teenager

Doing a Look Good Feel Better workshop helped me feel a lot better. I loved not just playing with makeup – I love getting to express myself in that way – but also getting to meet other people who had cancer.

March 21, 2024 | by Tania Amardeil

My Faith and My Boys – Support Throughout My Journey

I settled myself down and started to encourage myself – telling myself that I can get through this, and that lots of women had passed through this and survived. 

Sept. 20, 2022 | by Tania Amardeil

When I was Diagnosed with Cancer at 21, I had an Identity Crisis Part 1

Would I still feel like a woman when anatomically speaking, a huge part of me was being taken away? What about my hair, the part of my physical appearance that makes me feel most feminine, falling out clump by clump from this intensive treatment?

Nov. 30, 2021 | by Becky Shields

Sofia's Story

Think back to those teenage years. Feeling self-conscious about your appearance, dealing with social anxiety, hormonal changes, and the struggle for more independence. Now, add a cancer diagnosis into the mix, and you have an inkling of what Sofia Tomassini lived through in 2019.

Nov. 25, 2021 | by Mark Beamish

Finding Comfort in the Uncomfortable

For months I had unbearable cramps and excessive bleeding. Initially thought of to be fibroids or side-effects from my menstrual cycle, the doctor looked like a ghost when she saw a large mass had inverted my uterus and pushed my cervix into my uterus. 

July 27, 2021 | by Becky Shields

Being a Young Adult with Cancer, Support is Paramount

At 25 years old, I was shocked, confused, and unaware of what was to come next when the doctor told me that the cyst I found was not benign. In fact, it was invasive.

April 12, 2021 | by Louise Bell

How I went from being a teenager facing cancer alone to finding my community...online!

Eighteen is not what I had imagined it to be. While my plans were to start university in the Fall of 2020, cancer had a different plan for me.

Nov. 30, 2020 | by Sarah Issa

Know that you are never alone

This May, a year after she first heard the words ‘breast cancer’ from her doctor and underwent a lumpectomy, Laura was devastated to learn that she had been re-diagnosed – stage 4 triple negative.

Her best friend Jess had gone with her to the appointment, which was Laura’s one-year screening.

Dec. 9, 2019 | by Benita Hensraj

Katie's Story: "I share so that others can receive the same support."

Last spring, Katie was playing soccer when she got elbowed in her left breast. Reacting to the hit, she brought her hand to her chest – instantly feeling a lump. At only thirty-years-old, cancer was not something that crossed Katie’s mind. She was concerned about the lump, but she assumed it had formed because of the trauma to the area from her soccer injury. 

Over the next couple months, the lump grew larger, harder and had started to feel painful. At the urging of a friend, Katie went to the hospital to get it checked out. Within a few hours …

Sept. 27, 2019 | by Benita Hensraj

“Make it absolutely beautiful”: A story of epic self love through cancer

Leisse Wilcox lives by the motto, “Take whatever it is that happened to shape you throughout your life, and make it your own. Make it make sense. Make it serve a purpose. Make it absolutely beautiful.”

Although a self-proclaimed ‘relentless optimist’ and advocate for self-love, Leisse confesses that being diagnosed with breast cancer last August, just a week before her 37^th birthday, was an unexpected and trying test of these beliefs.

Aug. 7, 2019 | by Benita Hensraj