Dear forum members,
Just a note to say our July podcast is now live on the website. It’s a special extended show, devoted to the personal experiences of four women who all have experienced breast cancer. It deals mainly with their relationship to body image and intimacy, and specifically how this has changed following their diagnosis.
This show is the first part of a two-parter; the second show will be live from the start of August, within the next two weeks.
You can listen to the show here - breastcancercare.org.uk/podcast or on iTunes here…
Some of you may remember a few months back when I posted a message on the forums, asking for your thoughts and for potential interviewees. We were lucky enough to interview four women - Ann, Anna, Jane and Tracey - who all really opened up to us about their feelings. I’d like to express my personal thanks to them for their committment, honesty and openness. As Tara, says in the podcast, it can not have been easy to come to a building, with complete strangers and discuss intimate matters - and so to our guests, we appreciate your contribution so much and could not have done it without you.
You may remember, we asked forum users for their thoughts and comments. I can honestly say that we had no idea so many of you would get in touch and share your feelings. Thank you so much. The amount of responses was incredible and it left me with a huge dilemma when editing the show; how could I possibly include everyone’s feelings and thoughts?
Whilst editing the shows and listening to the words of our interviewees, I came to realise that everyone’s journey, everyone’s experience of breast cancer was different and that there was no way to cover all the issues surrounding body image and intimacy. Each query we received was unique and to choose - for example - a question about say, lymphoedema, over a question about another topic, say reconstruction, was wrong.
Following discussion with the team, I have made an editorial decision to feature, exclusively, the interviews we conducted.
This is not to say that their opinions are more valid than those who emailed us, or that the messages we received are not worth answering. Rather, I feel the experiences of these women deserved to be heard in context, they were kind enough to be honest and give up their time for us and I feel, like the messages posted on this forum everyday, that there is something in every interview that you can all relate to.
I hope this decision does not disappoint any of you. There was simply so much material, with so much to say, that I felt to break up interviews with questions from the forums would be to lose the spirit and the message of the show - that there are common areas and feelings for each person diagnosed, but that everyone’s experiences of breast cancer is different, unique and personal.
We also feel that if there are other places where specific questions can be answered. If you have any personal concerns or issues you’d like to discuss, PLEASE get in touch with our Helpline (0808 800 6000) or Ask the Nurse email service (nurse@breastcancercare.org.uk) where you can get a individual, detailed answer to your queries.
After listening back to our shows, I am very proud of our work. I’d love to hear what some of you think, just email <script type=“text/javascript”>eval(unescape(‘%64%6f%63%75%6d%65%6e%74%2e%77%72%69%74%65%28%27%3c%61%20%68%72%65%66%3d%22%6d%61%69%6c%74%6f%3a%70%6f%64%63%61%73%74%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%22%3e%70%6f%64%63%61%73%74%40%62%72%65%61%73%74%63%61%6e%63%65%72%63%61%72%65%2e%6f%72%67%2e%75%6b%3c%2f%61%3e%27%29%3b’))</script> with any comments or leave a message below.
Thank you to our interviewees and thank you for listening.
Best wishes,
James Grainger, Web Editor, Breast Cancer Care.