There is something powerful about writing in the "first person." A personal experience always teaches us more than receiving news, tips, or ideas second-hand.
Although cancer is not one of those experiences anyone wants to experience first hand, most women who receive a breast cancer diagnosis will eventually want to talk to other women who have made the journey. These first person experiences and tips will have a more profound effect upon their healing, and be more inspiring, too.
As I was writing Husband's Guide to Breast Cancer I not only employed my own first person experiences into the mix, but also interviewed dozens of other men. They each had a personal story to tell, and these first-person accounts are, I believe, one of the most compelling features of the book.
In fact, I interviewed far more men than I could use in the book. So in case you are wondering what other men experience in this support-role, take a tip from this first person account:
Originally, when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, I tried to keep it a secret. I don't know, I wasn't embarrassed or ashamed, but there was something about this that seemed so personal, and maybe I was wanting to guard my wife's privacy. But I was with some friends one night watching a football game on TV and suddenly I found myself announcing that _______ (my wife) had breast cancer. We spent the next fifteen minutes talking about this, and I really felt supported by my friends. One of the guys told me his wife was a breast cancer survivor. I never knew this. It was all rather humbling. But I learned that it's important to talk about these things. Otherwise, we just feel alone in it. My wife knew this, but it took me some time to learn the lesson.
~Ron
Although cancer is not one of those experiences anyone wants to experience first hand, most women who receive a breast cancer diagnosis will eventually want to talk to other women who have made the journey. These first person experiences and tips will have a more profound effect upon their healing, and be more inspiring, too.
As I was writing Husband's Guide to Breast Cancer I not only employed my own first person experiences into the mix, but also interviewed dozens of other men. They each had a personal story to tell, and these first-person accounts are, I believe, one of the most compelling features of the book.
In fact, I interviewed far more men than I could use in the book. So in case you are wondering what other men experience in this support-role, take a tip from this first person account:
Originally, when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer, I tried to keep it a secret. I don't know, I wasn't embarrassed or ashamed, but there was something about this that seemed so personal, and maybe I was wanting to guard my wife's privacy. But I was with some friends one night watching a football game on TV and suddenly I found myself announcing that _______ (my wife) had breast cancer. We spent the next fifteen minutes talking about this, and I really felt supported by my friends. One of the guys told me his wife was a breast cancer survivor. I never knew this. It was all rather humbling. But I learned that it's important to talk about these things. Otherwise, we just feel alone in it. My wife knew this, but it took me some time to learn the lesson.
~Ron
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