We live in a very binary society. We have the tendency to categorize people. They are either black or white, young or old, sick or well. When people get cancer they are treated differently. No one wants to be smothered with pity and made to feel like they aren't normal. I have never had cancer or known anyone with cancer, but even when I am just sick with the flu all I can think about is being normal again. I wonder why it is happening to me when all my family and friends are running around feeling fine.
No one likes to be different. When we think someone is ill we tend to coddle them and pity them. A boss might tell his or her employee, who made a recovery from cancer, to take more time off or stay at home. That is the kind of discrimination that survivors do not like to deal with. Even though people have good intentions, they don't realize how to interact with someone who has had cancer and the Heal blog can be a helpful tool not only for cancer survivors, but also a tool for people who know a cancer survivor and want to better understand what they are going through.
The Heal blog should include a sidebar with a variety of topics. The topics can range from informative things for survivors such as how to manage relationships with family and friends after surviving cancer and the side effects, pains, and issues of heart and mind that they will have to deal with. Most importantly, since only cancer survivors truly know and understand the experience of having such a life changing illness, there needs to be an area that says something like, "What are we missing? Tell us what you want on the site." The blog might be considered a place for cancer survivors to vent and express their frustrations so there should be a sidebar topic that says something like, "What people who don't have or haven't had cancer need to know or understand."
I think the Heal blog will be a very important tool for cancer survivors especially when they accompany it with the magazine. Survivors will be able to get the information they need from professionals and then share their experiences and opinions with other survivors. The key is that these people are survivors and they want to live their lives. The blog should reflect that even in the aesthetics. Most of the blogs and websites I saw conjured up images of death and heaven with their sunset backgrounds and open fields of flowers.
Websites that I found helpful:
www.breakawayfromcancer.com
www.canceradvocacy.org
www.thewellnesscommunity.org
www.cancersurvivors.org
No one likes to be different. When we think someone is ill we tend to coddle them and pity them. A boss might tell his or her employee, who made a recovery from cancer, to take more time off or stay at home. That is the kind of discrimination that survivors do not like to deal with. Even though people have good intentions, they don't realize how to interact with someone who has had cancer and the Heal blog can be a helpful tool not only for cancer survivors, but also a tool for people who know a cancer survivor and want to better understand what they are going through.
The Heal blog should include a sidebar with a variety of topics. The topics can range from informative things for survivors such as how to manage relationships with family and friends after surviving cancer and the side effects, pains, and issues of heart and mind that they will have to deal with. Most importantly, since only cancer survivors truly know and understand the experience of having such a life changing illness, there needs to be an area that says something like, "What are we missing? Tell us what you want on the site." The blog might be considered a place for cancer survivors to vent and express their frustrations so there should be a sidebar topic that says something like, "What people who don't have or haven't had cancer need to know or understand."
I think the Heal blog will be a very important tool for cancer survivors especially when they accompany it with the magazine. Survivors will be able to get the information they need from professionals and then share their experiences and opinions with other survivors. The key is that these people are survivors and they want to live their lives. The blog should reflect that even in the aesthetics. Most of the blogs and websites I saw conjured up images of death and heaven with their sunset backgrounds and open fields of flowers.
Websites that I found helpful:
www.breakawayfromcancer.com
www.canceradvocacy.org
www.thewellnesscommunity.org
www.cancersurvivors.org
