I have always been open about my diagnosis and treatment – no point running a national support and awareness organisation if I’m not prepared to talk about my own experience but it seems that many other women are somewhat reluctant to do the same.
Everywhere on social media there are women talking about their cancer journeys – countless blogs by women diagnosed with breast cancer ; not so many but there are still some about cervical and ovarian cancer but I’ve only come across a couple of personal blogs written by women with womb cancer.
There does seem to be this reluctance to talk openly about this type of cancer – and I find it hard to understand why. One woman, herself a womb cancer patient, told me that it was “too close to sex” to talk about it openly!!! How are we ever going to raise the profile of womb cancer if women won’t talk about it?
Personal stories are, in my opinion, the best way of raising awareness of any subject, especially cancer. We all have different stories to tell and each one becomes part of the bigger picture and helps to break down the barriers and bring cancer out into the open. For far too long it has been spoken about in hushed voices or “not in front of the children”. This has to stop. 1 in 2 of us will be touched by cancer by 2020 according to statistics – this is not something that you can hide away from for ever.
I have had some very lovely ladies share their stories on the blog over the past 5+ years but we need so many more to come forward and talk about their womb cancer journey if we are to reach the level of awareness that other female cancers have.
If there is a taboo around talking about this cancer then it’s time to break the taboo and make sure that the numbers being diagnosed does not keep on increasing at the rate it currently is (10% a year according to CRUK).If you are prepared to share your story then please contact me at [email protected] or use the contact form on the website.
Xx Kaz xx