For this month’s roundup, we want to talk about relationships. Of course, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and we’ve been thinking about how romantic relationships and dating can be affected by going through cancer. But we also wanted to focus on a kind of relationship that’s just as important – friendship. Read more for some seriously helpful relationship advice from the real experts…
Finding Mr Right During Chemo – Annie Belasco
Annie Belasco is an army wife, author and writer from the heart of East London. She uses her funny, brutal honesty to convey on paper her experiences of mental health, cancer and dating. Regularly blogging for international health charities and organisations centred around empowering women and their families affected by trauma, Annie has been featured in national newspapers and most recently BBC Radio 4’s woman’s hour discussing dating with difficulty. She dated during chemo, found her perfect man, and now has two beautiful bouncing babies – all things that cancer made her doubt would ever happen. Read her guest blog here!
Young, Wild, And Fibroblastic – As If Dating In Your Twenties Isn’t Hard Enough!
Lydia went through cancer and a hysterectomy at just 24, all while she was trying to find her feet on the dating scene. She was kind enough to write us a whole guest blog about how she handles ‘breaking the news’ to her dates, and how they react. We also fully recommend her latest blog piece over at her blog Young Wild and Fibroblastic, where she gives us her 6 Tips For Sex After A Hysterectomy. We’re always huge fans of women talking frankly and openly about their bodies, and breaking down the stigma surrounding sex and cancer is not an easy task – but Lydia handles it with sensitivity and class. Love her!
Making Friends As An Adult – Overcoming The Nerves And Getting “Out There”
We’re sure any regular readers of our roundup will have come to love Heather’s blog as much as we do. Something about her writing just feels like a soothing cup of tea and a chat with an old friend – like everything’s going to be ok. This month Heather sent us a great piece about the trials and tribulations of making friends as an adult, and how her experience with cancer helps her to pursue relationships. Read it here!
‘Friendships Should Grow With You’
Sometimes cancer can change how your social circle looks – it might get bigger and be flooded with support, or it might get smaller, tighter and more important. Anna found this out when she went through leukaemia, and she kindly wrote us a blog post on the topic of friendship. If you’ve ever felt like your friends just weren’t ‘getting it’ no matter how hard they tried during your treatment, we recommend giving Anna’s post a read – you’re not alone!
And finally…
As Valentine’s Day rolls around, we’d love to get the conversation going about sexual difficulties that might happen during or after cancer treatment. There are so many questions people are too scared to ask (we can see what people are googling and some of it is wild!).
We’d love it if you wanted to start the conversation with your followers too, by sharing our article ‘6 Questions You’re Too Embarrassed To Ask About Cancer‘, or maybe even our podcast episode with the awesome sexual counselling service Will2Love, who specialise in helping people regain control over their bodies and sex lives after cancer treatment.
Til next roundup – take care, and whatever your plans for Valentine’s Day, we hope it’s a good one.
