Health

In July 2015, Melissa Thompson gave birth to her first child, and within a few days, she began suffering from high fevers and was struggling to breastfeed. Her doctor diagnosed her with mastitis and prescribed antibiotics. When the problems persisted, Thompson was sent to a breast surgeon, and six weeks after her daughter was born, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Tumors were blocking her milk ducts.

CANCER IS TERRIFYING AT any age. But now imagine coupling fears about the illness and its costs with pay-ing for college, starting a career or buying a first house. Patients in those situations may be about to start their life in debt before getting on their feet.

Hypnosis can reduce side effects and stress for patients with cancer, and even substitute for anesthesia during some surgeries.

NATALIE MARTINEZ WAS 47 when she was diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and told she’d need surgery to remove the tumor. But she was terrified of general anesthesia.

Years earlier, her mother had encountered difficulty regaining consciousness after an operation, and the experience had affected Martinez. “I wasn’t sure I’d wake up,” Martinez says, “and when I heard I needed surgery, I ...

Lu Salas was 24 weeks pregnant with twin girls when her partner, Brenden, noticed a nickel-size lump in her breast. Her obstetrician told her breast changes were common when the body was gearing up for nursing. “I had a friend who had an infection in her milk ducts when she was pregnant,” Lu, design director at Nordstrom, recalls. “That’s what I was worried about.” But the lump grew. In a couple of months, it felt four times ...

I’ve realized the little stuff doesn’t matter anymore.

Spencer Sutton knows a lot about things with wheels: He likes to push his toy trucks in the dirt and can name various construction vehicles. He’s also big into dinosaurs and rockets and hide-and-seek. But when it comes to his mom’s cancer he knows only that she sees a doctor, and that’s how Kathleen and her husband, Mike, hope to keep it. “I just want him to know he’s loved,” she says.

For years after her daughter was born, Lacey Sikora’s goals were short-term — seeing her go to preschool or maybe kindergarten. “Now my goal is to see both my children graduate from college, get married and have kids,” says Lacey, a writer in Chicago. “Beyond that, I want to make sure our family remains strong and that we’re still in the kids’ lives even after they leave home.”

That’s a luxury Lacey might not have had. In January 2004, ...

To commemorate breast cancer awareness month, we’re excerpting below a section from Katherine Malmo’s book, Who in This Room: The Realities of Cancer, Fish, and Demolition. Some of you might remember Katherine from her days as Red Tricycle’s sales team member in Seattle. While we’re bummed she’s no longer with the Red Tricycle team, we couldn’t be more thrilled about her new career as a published writer!

Who in This Rooma is about a young woman named Kate (a character based ...