New to BCNA
Hi. I was diagnosed with bc in January. Ive had a single mastectomy and have round 4 of dose dense chemo on wednesday. I'm 37 and have no family history. I have 2 sons 13 and 14 and dont know anyone w...
Forum Discussion
@youngdogmum Not at all in any way to compare, but sometimes finding the right support group/environment is a challenge.
When I went to the LGFB workshop I was one of just two women in the room who looked young/ish. Everyone else was clearly considerably older. A woman, also with primary school kids, and I sat next to each other and at the end she invited me to join her in a number of support groups she was involved in. They were all for under 50s. I explained that I was 51 and (thank you good genetics!) she expressed surprise.
There's this huge divide in BC at the age of 50. I understand it from the medical point of view, but I think the social lines that were clear a generation or two ago, are considerably blurred now. So many women have their kids in their late 30s and often in their early 40s. An over 50s support group is often populated by retired women with adult children. Most 50 somethings I know have kids still at school and are themselves at work. And a few of us still have kids at primary school. (Shout out to @Romla here for being a rare species!)
Younger women have some different issues, fertility and for the single women, body image in navigating finding and commencing new relationships. The latter being not confined to this age group of course, but statisically more likely.
I must admit to sometimes feeling envious of the young women of So Brave having the opportunity to have the full body makeup. I totally understand that this neglected part of the BC community needs more attention, it's a marvellous and worthy cause. But there's this little part of me that says at 52 I'm too young to be consigned to the other side of this emotionally arbitrary divide!
It's impossible to be all things to all people. This forum is a good place to break down the barriers that age can put up. You're drawn to people because of the shared issues, humour, compassion, rather than anything else.
I feel that there is more in a BC diagnosis that unites than divides. I started my own support group. 10 women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. I appreciate the experience, struggles and perspective of each and every one of them, and learn from them all. We're all at different stages of treatment. We all have a wide variety of diagnoses but we all have breast cancer. And that's enough of a uniting cause for me.
All said in total respect of everyone's personal perspectives and differing feelings and viewpoints. Diff'rent strokes and all that. Love youse all! K xox <3
When I went to the LGFB workshop I was one of just two women in the room who looked young/ish. Everyone else was clearly considerably older. A woman, also with primary school kids, and I sat next to each other and at the end she invited me to join her in a number of support groups she was involved in. They were all for under 50s. I explained that I was 51 and (thank you good genetics!) she expressed surprise.
There's this huge divide in BC at the age of 50. I understand it from the medical point of view, but I think the social lines that were clear a generation or two ago, are considerably blurred now. So many women have their kids in their late 30s and often in their early 40s. An over 50s support group is often populated by retired women with adult children. Most 50 somethings I know have kids still at school and are themselves at work. And a few of us still have kids at primary school. (Shout out to @Romla here for being a rare species!)
Younger women have some different issues, fertility and for the single women, body image in navigating finding and commencing new relationships. The latter being not confined to this age group of course, but statisically more likely.
I must admit to sometimes feeling envious of the young women of So Brave having the opportunity to have the full body makeup. I totally understand that this neglected part of the BC community needs more attention, it's a marvellous and worthy cause. But there's this little part of me that says at 52 I'm too young to be consigned to the other side of this emotionally arbitrary divide!
It's impossible to be all things to all people. This forum is a good place to break down the barriers that age can put up. You're drawn to people because of the shared issues, humour, compassion, rather than anything else.
I feel that there is more in a BC diagnosis that unites than divides. I started my own support group. 10 women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. I appreciate the experience, struggles and perspective of each and every one of them, and learn from them all. We're all at different stages of treatment. We all have a wide variety of diagnoses but we all have breast cancer. And that's enough of a uniting cause for me.
All said in total respect of everyone's personal perspectives and differing feelings and viewpoints. Diff'rent strokes and all that. Love youse all! K xox <3