Colorado Breast Cancer Support Resources Directory

Find your geographic area in the listing under this header in the purple navigation bar, and click on your area to see the listing of support groups near you.

Sharing Your ConcerSharing Your Concerns

Everyone diagnosed with breast cancer needs information and support. 

For many women, the diagnosis is like beginning a journey into a strange new land that no one wants to visit.  Healthcare professionals provide much of the information that is needed, but the diagnosis and next steps can seem overwhelming.  Meeting the medical team; understanding new medical terms; evaluating treatment options and making choices; coping with the emotional, physical, and financial demands of treatment; communicating with family and friends; and dealing with changing dynamics at home and at work can be overwhelming.  No one has to face this alone. 

Support groups can help, during treatment and after, in person, by phone, or on the Internet. Sharing your concerns with other survivors can be very helpful.  The comfort and strength you receive from other survivors, such as in a support group, can help you through a challenging time. No one knows what you’re talking about better than you…unless it’s other survivors!

Being able to identify your concerns is a good first step in managing them. Once your concerns are identified, you can begin to change them from being worries into problems that may have solutions. Get creative in solving your problems and engage your family, friends, and medical team in the problem-solving process.

The bottom line is this: Find and accept support!

Who is a "Survivor?"

The term "cancer survivor" includes anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, from the time of diagnosis through the rest of his or her life. The word "survivor" helps many people think about embracing their lives beyond their illness.

---- National Cancer Institute

What is Survivorship?

Survivorship begins at diagnosis, the moment your battle with cancer begins. Cancer Survivorship describes the many experiences and emotions that are part of living life as a cancer survivor.

Survivorship resources are intended to create awareness of survivorship topics, not to replace medical care. If you are concerned about any survivorship topics you read or hear about, please discuss them with your health care team.

----Lance Armstrong Foundation

Metastatic Cancer: When Breast Cancer Has Spread

A diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer hits hard. Having Stage IV breast cancer presents a major life challenge and raises many questions about quality of life, spirituality, priorities, and relationships, as well as all the treatment issues, but it does not mean immediate death.

Some people live for many years with advanced breast cancer. New treatments and combination therapies are working for many of us. You can view metastatic cancer like a chronic disease, and make decisions about quality of life and symptom management accordingly.

Determining the priorities for your life, having a strong medical team, and building your own support system are important steps to managing this disease and the physical and emotional side effects that accompany it.

Someone wrote, “It’s not the life I thought I would get. But it’s the life I have, so I am going to live every day the best that I can. I am still glad to be alive.” Good motto!

—Notes from survivors with metastatic breast cancer