How to Support A Loved One With Breast Cancer

Find out what you can do during her road to recovery.

Strong Medicine - Have a close friend or family member who has been diagnosed with breast cancer? Here’s how you can help her on the road to recovery. By Kenrya Rankin Naasel and Kellee Terrell (Photo: Granger Wootz/Blend Images/Corbis)

1 / 9

Strong Medicine - Have a close friend or family member who has been diagnosed with breast cancer? Here’s how you can help her on the road to recovery. By Kenrya Rankin Naasel and Kellee Terrell (Photo: Granger Wootz/Blend Images/Corbis)

100114-b-real-health-wellness-how-to-support-a-loved-one-with-breast-cancer-woman-women-friends-girlfriends.jpg

2 / 9

Strong Medicine

Photo By Photo: Granger Wootz/Blend Images/Corbis

A Lump - Ring the alarm if you feel a lump or other thickening in your breast tissue or under your arm. Typically, a cancer mass is painless, hard and has irregular edges, but there are types that feel round and soft and tender to the touch, so always get lumps checked out. (Photo: Sharie Kennedy/LWA/Corbis)

3 / 9

Call

It's the Little Things - Have you ever been in conversation with a person you might’ve met once or twice in passing and they remember something about you? Your instant reaction is usually, “Wow, you remembered?” Being observant and paying attention to small details always makes a huge impact when connecting with someone. (Photo: Mark Edward Atkinson/Tracey Lee/Getty Images)

4 / 9

Listen

Myth 6: Having an Abortion Raises Your Risk of Breast Cancer - While the anti-choice movement will spread this lie, it just isn’t true. There is no reputable data that shows a connection between ending a pregnancy and your risk for breast cancer. (Photo: Jose Luis Pelaez Inc/Blend Images/Corbis)

5 / 9

Defer

ADVERTISEMENT
Healthy Diet - Cultivating a balanced diet helps build strong cells and healthy breast tissue and plays a vital role in maintaining breasts perkiness.   (Photo: Tim Pannell/Corbis)

6 / 9

Enlist

Connect - As much as you want to help, she can gain a lot from meeting with people who have been where she is and made it through. With her permission, sign her up for a program that will pair her with a mentor who has already survived breast cancer. AfterBreastCancerDiagnosisSupport.org is a great place to start, and MyBCTeam.com is a social network that connects women who are currently living with breast cancer. (Photo: Kate Kunz/Corbis)

7 / 9

Connect

187139788

8 / 9

Encourage

Cheerlead - Be her personal cheering section when things are hardest. Tell her how much you love her and how proud you are for everything she’s done so far, and reassure her that she can make it through. (Photo: Image Source/Corbis)

9 / 9

Cheerlead