Holidays

Keeping traditions “normal” while facing cancer can wear patients down.

BY Kathy LaTour

PUBLISHED November 27, 2019

Kathy LaTour is a breast cancer survivor, author of The Breast Cancer Companion and co-founder of CURE magazine. While cancer did not take her life, she has given it willingly to educate, empower and enlighten the newly diagnosed and those who care for them.

It’s that time of year again — the holidays. This is the time when family traditions are repeated and enjoyed, and new traditions begin. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and all the other holidays from around the world are when we gather as families, both old and new, to celebrate.

But the holidays can be challenging as women with breast cancer try to “keep things normal” for children and family alike. They may also be reluctant to give up roles that defined them as the mother and planner of the family or the one who always made all the dinners and kept the lists up to date. Depending on where a woman is in her treatment, the holidays may come at the beginning, middle or end, with each bringing its own set of challenges.

My advice, and that of many women I know who have gone through the holidays with breast cancer, is to make it a clean slate. Start with the most important tasks that you want to continue, then decide if you have the energy.

Read the full post: