Arbutus Coaching’s Blog

Welcome to Because Life Isn’t a Dress Rehearsal, a blog written by life and business coach Kathy Santini, owner of Arbutus Coaching. This blog contains coaching tips and advice to help you become the most self actualized, effective person you can be, both personally and professionally. If you’re serious about “growing your possibilities,” and transforming your life, then you’re in the right place. My goal in writing this blog is to help you create a life that is easier, bigger, richer and more rewarding than the life you’re living now. So let’s get started shall we, because life isn’t a dress rehearsal and time’s a wastin’.

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Run for the Cure, How Friends and Family Can Help Recently Diagnosed Cancer Patients

By arbutuscoaching | September 30, 2009

          The statistics are staggering. The Canadian Cancer Society’s 2009 report says that 40 per cent of women and 45 per cent of men will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. Which means that you undoubtedly know someone, a friend or family member, who has been diagnosed with cancer.

As a survivor myself and someone who has helped my mother, father and too many other people through their personal journeys I’ve come up with a number of tips to help others in the same position. The first four tips were in the two previous posts, and today I”ll finish off with the last of the seven.

Tips for helping those diagnosed with cancer. Stay available; don’t disappear because of your discomfort with cancer. Many people reach out at the time of diagnosis and then disappear. When a friend or relative is diagnosed it’s our opportunity to become our best selves so that we can help them in their hour of need. By paying it forward, some day someone will help you when you need it most.

Offer to be the point person for communicating your friend’s status and progress. People facing a life threatening illness need to put their precious resources into their treatment, and often don’t have the energy to keep their network in the loop.

And lastly, don’t be a Pollyanna about the patient’s situation and conversely, don’t repeat many people’s mistaken premise that people cause their illness. A cancer patient has enough to deal with without adding guilt into the mix.

If you, a loved one or friend has been diagnosed with cancer, consider participating in the run this Sunday, Oct. 4. And if you know someone who is trying to make sense of their life after cancer, you might want to direct them towards my e-book, which gives some concrete steps on how to do so from a coaching perspective.

Topics: Surviving Cancer |

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