A cancer diagnosis doesn’t just affect your body, it shakes your entire world. Suddenly you’re thrust into a world of appointments, scans, decisions, and uncertainty. It’s not just fear, it’s grief, confusion, and loss of control.
And while doctors focus on treatment plans, few talk about what happens to your mental and emotional health. That silence can leave you feeling isolated and emotionally overwhelmed.
In this guide, written by a survivor who’s been there, we’ll walk through practical mental health tips that actually help. Whether you’ve just been diagnosed or you’re supporting someone who has, these tools are here to help you find steadiness in the chaos.
Let me start off by saying "It’s Okay to Freak Out"
This isn’t weakness, it’s a very human response to trauma. I have heard and seen people completely go nuts, blaming themselves, their families, their DNA, basically any and everything. It’s a DISEASE!! Yes, sometimes activities, environments, family history, and many other factors can play a role in a person developing cancer. The fact is right now, at this very moment, you got it! It totally sucks, but deal with it in any form or fashion you need to. Scream, cry, go a little nuts, or like me, who was just totally floored by my diagnosis, completely shut down and go numb. Do whatever you have to do to cope with the initial discovery you were just given, then get on with it! Yes, that may sound a little harsh, but for some of you, just like me, there is going to be a long road ahead, so get whatever you need out of your system and start moving forward. I say this only out of love and experience.
You Are Not Alone
After a cancer diagnosis, and especially as you go through treatment, you are going to start thinking that no one knows how you feel or what you are going through. Quite frankly, you are correct in assuming so. Assuming you are going to have friends and family around you at some point, even if it’s a few, they truly won’t know what you are going through, no matter how empathetic they are. The fact is that you can have someone laying in a hospital bed right next to you, with the same exact cancer type you have, and they won’t even know exactly what you are going through. There are so many factors that come into play in an individuals battle with cancer that can make experiences completely different. Body type, age, prior health conditions, a persons mental state, your body’s reaction to to all the medications and the chemo will make the cancer battle unique to you alone. However, that does not mean you have to fight this battle alone.
There are many resources available to you. The very best thing I can try to convince of right now is to reach out and use these resources. Don’t go through this battle alone, it will wear you down. No matter how strong you were walking onto this battlefield, you are not going to be that strong walking off of it. It’s going to take too much of a toll on all aspects of your life. Even if, God willing, your battle is short and not long and drawn out like some of us had to endure, you will not be the same.
Whether your too shy, too strong willed, too proud, whatever the case may be, please do us both a favor, reach out! Talk to someone who is battling cancer, even if it’s a totally different cancer than what your facing. You may find someone from your same walk of life, same belief systems, same occupation, same family type, who knows? You may mess around and even find a lifelong friend or even a good contact out of it all. At the very least, as far as you may be concerned anyway, you may be that one person who someone else needs to hear from.
So just try it, if it doesn’t work for you and it’s not your thing, than at least you tried, right? Try reaching out to people on platforms like Facebook, they have many different cancer support groups, you will probably find a group with your specific cancer type. If you have a church group, get them involved, you never can have enough people praying for you. You can also join local communites or even forums dedicated to cancer patients and survivors. As a cancer survivor myself, I have started a community and open forum myself. Reach out to me, even if you just wanted to say Hi!! The community I built is mycancerclub.com. You can go there anytime you want, does not now nor will it ever cost you a dime. Best of all it’s made by a 100% genuine cancer survivor, not some corporate entity. Pay the site a visit, and read the about page. I built this site because I wanted something good to come out of my absolute nightmare. You can reach out and talk to other patients and survivors, find resources, leave your story or comments or read other stories post by those battling cancer. I made this for you, I made it for us, I made it to be an exclusive club for cancer victims all around the world. I certainly would love for you to be a part of it.