In this moving and quirky article published in the New York Times in September 2016, the author explores the implications of living with advanced, or metastatic, breast cancer, through her wish to buy just the right couch. “an expansive bench that fits all of us. Something that will hold us through everything that lies ahead — the loving, collapsing and nuzzling. The dying, the grieving”
She touches on the depth of her relationship with her husband, how to talk with her young children about her diagnosis and what it means, and how to trust herself to know the right couch when she sees it.
To read the article, click here
What can friends do to help?
If you want to help, ask what would be helpful. Practical tasks – shopping, ironing, mowing the lawn, making a meal, walking the dog, hanging the washing – are often the ones that take the effort, energy or time that someone who is having treatment doesn’t have.