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Women with hereditary cancer syndromes must make difficult decisions about whether to keep their reproductive parts and risk dying young, or to remove them but potentially open themselves up to health issues. “Pick your hard,” writes one woman.

A caregiver discusses her wishes for a woman who was recently diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. “Most of all I wish that time will stand still for her, so that she can crawl into bed with her children and hold them as long as she wants to, feeling their bodies curl into hers as they sleep,” she writes.

“When I walk into the doctor’s office and the question is asked ‘What are you coming in for today?’ My answer is ‘survivorship,’” writes a four-time cancer survivor about the difficulties of living with a history of complex health issues.

There’s been joy in the journey, along with the drugs, the endless waiting in chilly waiting rooms, the lab work, shaving my head twice, the CT scans every three months and the steady hum of anxiety in my brain. The time with my husband, kids and grandkids has made it worth every minute of cancer treatment. Bring it on, cancer.

After her sister's cancer recurrence, a woman explains her choice not to assume the caregiver role this time around. "While my sister battles cancer this time, I will be her sister," she writes.

A caregiver writes about her daughter’s breast cancer odds. “One of the most difficult things I deal with on a daily basis is realizing that I didn’t have to say goodbye to my child because of luck,” she writes.

A survivor makes a comparison between cancer and a game. "Our bodies are the box the game comes in. How we deal with our cancer is the game we play," she writes.