WUNRN
October 15, 2013 - This year more than 1.4 million women around the world
will learn they have breast cancer. The disease is the biggest cancer killer of
women in developed regions like North America and Europe as well as the
developing world, like
Behind the statistics are the faces of the women and men whose lives have
been touched by the disease. Some of them have breast cancer and are undergoing
treatment or are now living life after cancer. Others love someone with breast
cancer or have lost someone to the disease. And some have been told they have a
high genetic risk of developing breast cancer, and they live with the daily
fear and worry about a future with breast cancer.
To tell the stories of the people who make up this global breast cancer
community, we are asking readers of The New York Times to share their
experiences with breast cancer as part of Well’s “Picture Your Life”
project. So far, we have received hundreds of submissions from
readers around the world, with more coming in every day.
We’ve heard from Noemi Meneguzzo of
Vicenza, Italy, whose marriage ended after her 2007 cancer diagnosis, but she
created a new art exhibition called “Cancer and Femininity,” now on display in
Turin, Italy. “My friends came closer to me, and they are a real blessing in my
life,” she wrote. “I’m living with metastasis, but I’m living, and every day I
can recognize some gifts from my cancer.”
Gina of
Omonike of
Bob in
For JJ of
To hear more from Noemi, Gina, Omonike, Bob and JJ — and other members of
the global breast cancer community, go the Faces of Breast Cancer
page. And if your life has been touched by breast cancer, we
hope you will also take the time to share your story. Over
the coming weeks, we will be adding hundreds of new stories as well as new
features to the “Picture Your Life” project.