Every October, the color pink shows up everywhere — storefronts, sports jerseys, product packaging. And every October, I find myself thinking about 2004, the year I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 39 years old, and about how much has changed since then.
What's changed is awareness itself. Breast cancer isn't a whispered diagnosis anymore. People talk about it, screen for it, walk for it. That visibility matters. What hasn't changed nearly enough is what happens after the diagnosis, once someone is actually completing treatment. The nausea, bone pain, anxiety, and sheer disorientation of watching your body become unfamiliar to you.
Bridging the Gap
Back then there was no awareness campaign to bring attention to these experiences, and the conversation on how to manage these side effects was limited. Today, we work to increase awareness about these experiences and about the power of integrative care—how therapies like nutrition, medical acupuncture, oncology massage therapy, sexual health counseling, Reiki, and more, can truly heal and restore patients through treatment and for life.
What began as me trying to solve a problem for myself became a national organization. Through Unite for HER’s Wellness Programs, patients learn about the benefits of integrative care and receive integrative therapies and services — acupuncture, massage, nutrition counseling, professional counseling, yoga, fitness, and more — at no personal cost.
Our outreach began with a Wellness Day at Paoli Hospital and 23 patients. Today, we support more than 11,000 breast and ovarian cancer patients each year. That growth isn't a vanity metric to me — it's 11,000 people each year who get access to something I had to build from scratch for myself, because it didn't exist yet.
Go Beyond the Pink This October
If you're reading this during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I want to ask you for something more than wearing pink. If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer, give them the Unite for HER experience in print: Heal Empower Restore, a roadmap to support the body and mind through cancer care, and please refer them to our free programs at Unite for HER.
If you are in a position to give or work for a company that wants its awareness efforts this October to translate into something tangible, consider starting a corporate or employee-giving partnership with us. Your donation funds real therapies for real people — not just visibility
Awareness opened the door for people like me to talk about this disease out loud. Now let's fund what happens once someone walks through it.
Learn more at uniteforher.org.
— Sue Weldon, Founder & CEO, Unite for HER
