ILLNESS EXPERIENCE
How does perceived stigma and judgment affect the process and recovery of breast cancer?
CarlaI will lose my hair But it will grow back straighter.
Carla struggled immensely with the thought of losing her hair; it was the one part of her body she was very proud of. She didn't want people to see her bald, or in a wig. She felt judged enough already; her co workers had begun to see her as "damaged goods."
However, her faith gave her the hope that not all was lost. |
MeganThe way people look at you. For Megan, the hardest part of her illness was dealing with the stigma. She looked and felt completely different and people would look at her like something was wrong. She felt like she couldn't walk into the grocery store and have normal interactions with other people.
I couldn't do chemo again Megan has fears of getting sick again and is worried she will be pressured into chemo again because that is what is conventional in the cancer treatment process.
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HalinaFear; everyday fear. Halina knows she took a risk by resorting to alternative medicine. Now cancer-free since April 2019, she lives in fear that it might return if she does not stick to her lifestyle change. Fear and doubt about her course of treatment are the loudest on days where she feels a random ache or pain; "you get a headache and think 'it's the cancer!'", she says.
The Singaporean oncologist came to the clinic. During her stay at the alternative cancer treatment center in Germany, Halina met a Singaporean oncologist who himself was battling pancreatic cancer. He traveled to a US Mayoclinic to remove the tumor and was told by the American oncologist to go to Germany. She asked him why he was here and not doing the chemotherapy treatment that he would typically prescribe for his patients;
he responded, "I want to live". |
ChristineI am constantly being monitored. Christine mentioned how she is constantly being monitored and whenever something happens with her health, they assume it is cancer and send her in for a scan.
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