Is there an important woman in your life who has breast cancer? Maybe your spouse or partner, your sister, your mother, your daughter or your friend?
Breast cancer can be a lonely journey, an unexpected detour in life. Breast cancer affects millions of women. But most importantly - it affects your loved one.
Breast cancer affects your loved one's physical appearance, her health, her energy level, her emotional states and her self-esteem. A woman with breast cancer can feel overwhelmed, isolated, depressed, lonely, confused and hurt.
Women with this type of cancer experience pain, anxiety and worry. Your loved one may be enduring surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, or facing a terminal prognosis. She may be in remission or her cancer may have returned. The breast cancer journey takes strength, courage and hope to become well again. Every day, every moment of life is precious.
Doctors and the medical team work to help your loved one regain her physical health. But she needs more than that. Your loved one needs the love and support of family and friends during the cancer journey. She needs you to walk along as her companion.
The challenge is to find a way to walk along, in a way that honors her during the journey. One way to offer support is by imagining the journey as a time to treasure your loved one.
Treasuring your loved one is simply using different ways to tell her and show her how beautiful she is. You see, your loved one IS a treasure! Your job is to let her know it.
Cancer beats up your loved one's body, heart and spirit. It doesn't have to be that way. Treasuring your loved one does two things.
One, it helps her become strong on the inside. Your words of encouragement and kind acts make her feel valuable. There are plenty of negatives that can drag her down. However, your love builds her up.
Second, when she feels valuable - and becomes strong on the inside - her body has a better chance to get stronger and healthier on the outside. This is an inside-outside work. Positive thoughts and feelings inside lead to well being on the outside.
The truth is, you can't take away the cancer. Her body has to heal itself. Your love and support give her hope and courage for the journey. You are working with her to beat breast cancer, instead of the other way around.
So how do you know when to give your loved one this love and support? Simple. Use a treasuring map. A treasuring map shows you what destinations, times, events and emotions your loved one can encounter during the breast cancer journey. Her destination is well-being as a cancer Survivor.
A treasuring map is the opposite of a treasure map. A treasure map contains clues to find money or valuable things that will make you rich. A treasuring map points the way to events and occasions where you enrich the life of someone else, someone you love.
A treasuring map uses a special compass - the L.O.V.E. compass - to show the four directions to give support that touches her heart. Of course, her own journey will be unique and different, with its own milestones. That's why you need to help chart her journey so you can stay in step.
If you don't have a Treasuring map, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and lost during the breast cancer journey. When you have a Treasuring Map, you know when and where you can offer your love and support.
No woman raises her hand to volunteer for the this cancer journey. She can't make that journey alone. That's why the precious woman in your life needs your help.
Your love and support during the breast cancer journey will make a big difference. Take the time today to use a treasuring map to enrich her life on the way.
Dave Pipitone is a husband, father and author. When his wife Cheryl was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, it changed their lives forever. Dave created the "I Treasure You" system to help others l.o.v.e. their precious ones on breast cancer journey and other life challenges.
If you would like a free copy of the treasuring map to support women with breast cancer, please visit http://www.treasuringwomenwithbreastcancer.com.