Kathrin, Austria

Cancer turned my world upside down... in may 2021 at the age of 39. I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer. There's so much to say about this time, that it's hard to put it in just some sentences. 

Physical treatment started one week after the diagnosis, which meant highly dosed chemotherapy every week for five months.   As my body became weaker every week, my mind couldn't follow the speed to absolutely understand what's going on. Shock, hope, desperation, tiredness, weakness... All at once! It was the hardest journey of my life, I'm happy that I couldn't imagine before how hard it would get. 

I managed. With the biggest support of beloved and very close people... Always and forever thankful for them!!!

When the fight is over, many people think it's over. You are expected to be happy and have feelings of relief and happiness. But I think a part of me will never heal. A situation like this changes everything. I experienced that life is not endless, that everything can change in a second and it's totally out of our control. 

Nearly five years later my feelings have a range from fear and sadness to strength and a positive view to the future. It takes a lot of work to take the positive things out of this process. It doesn't just happen that these things make you stronger. You have to work on it, on the trauma on the fear that stays with you everyday. 

And to accept! To accept the reality! 

My oncologist once said: If you are scared to death, you die after all! So...it's better to live!