Love in the Afternoon

Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Abramson Cancer Center’s 2013- Focus Melanoma and CAN Prevent Skin Cancer Conferences. In this blog, she discusses the changing views on relationships and sexuality for people with cancer.

Dr. Weiss speaks about love and relationships.

What happens when one of the region’s leading breast cancer doctors—and advocates—is diagnosed with the disease that she has fought for an or her entire career. In the case of Marissa Weiss, MD, founder of BreastCancer.org, her role as a “dual citizen,” as doctor and patient, has re-charged her passion—for life, love and for other patients. She began her talk by encouraging the audience “to get your life back,” and to embrace the idea of living not just as long as they could but as well.

Having cancer herself, Dr. Weiss acknowledged, is a “long hard battle,” that can change how you feel about just about everything in your life—your own body, relationships, your sexuality, the family and friends who surround you. Your partner may not know how or be able to meet your needs, and your own expectations will change.

In all of this, Weiss stressed, it is important to “share your life with other people.” Isolation is a “bad sign.” People need to reconnect with other people, to maintain a social context. That means having fun, letting yourself be spontaneous, opening yourself to new opportunities. It can mean romance and intimacy, but it doesn’t have to go that route. Love, whether it is sexual or platonic, leads to more love. The important thing is to understand that all any of us has is the present, that we need to make the most of the time we have, and that our mind is our most powerful organ.