Before social media made it possible to hook up with others going through, or having gone through breast cancer treatment, it was often very hard for those of us, recently diagnosed, to find support.
Unless you knew someone willing to share her experiences, finding someone who had “been there” usually meant finding a breast cancer support group.
After my first breast cancer diagnosis, I was desperate to find other survivors, I didn’t feel well enough during treatment to participate in a support group. Working during treatment left me little energy for anything else. My first opportunity to meet with and share experiences and support came from a time-limited support group six months after I completed active treatment.
After my second diagnosis, ten years later, I was surprised and pleased to see the support access social media can give newly diagnosed women. Facebook , since 2004, and Twitter since 2006, which are part of the social media I am most familiar with, give those of us with breast cancer ways to reach out to one another.
Granted, when using these social media venues, we need to exercise good judgment as to what we share and how much we share on these sites. Social media sites, and the hookups they afford, are not meant to be a source of medical advice. That kind of information needs to come only from each woman’s personal breast cancer care team.
If we are going to seek support and comfort through social media contacts, we need to approach the experience knowing that no two women experience breast cancer the same way. We need to identify, but not compare our breast cancers. We need to know that the best way we can benefit from these sites is to use them to give and get support from others in similar situations.
Social media can help to end the isolation many of us feel after receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer. It can give us circles of support that carry us through the bad days, the scared days.
In the past few years, social media networks have come into existence, bringing new and more targeted ways for us to connect with other. Some give us the opportunity to connect by type of breast cancer. Others give us access geographically. Some are age and life situation focused.
Recently I came across a new social media network for those with breast cancer. It is part of a larger network of support (http://www.myhealthteams.com) that will encompass many illnesses and conditions over the next few years. Their philosophy is simple. Myhealthteams believes that when you or a loved one are diagnosed with a disease, you should be able to find the best people around to help you.
The MyBCTeam, as it is called, is several months old. Its website describes MyBCTeam as the social network for women who’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer today or decades ago. The mission of this free, social network is to attract and engage those of us who’ve had breast cancer by forming circles of support within the cities and communities, where we live, across the USA . These circles will enable us to share information with each other as well as those newly diagnosed, not only about our breast cancer, but about resources within our home communities such as: treatment facilities, where to get wigs, clothing for during treatment, hair salons, financial assistance, counseling services and a host of other services that are so important.
As MyBCTeam grows, encompassing women from all over the US, this network will enable women to find others with the same type of breast cancer. They will form circles of support based on resources each woman is personally aware of and found helpful and are not only local and regional, but national in scope.
For more information about how this site works, got to http://www.mybreastcancerteam.com
