Finding Love After Breast Cancer

Finding Love After Breast Cancer
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Dating Game
By Christa M. Grabske

You block your dream when you allow your fear to grow bigger than your faith.
~Mary Manin Morrissey

We had been dating for three months when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I could sense his internal dialogue. "I like being with her, but do I want to deal with a cancer patient?" We stayed together, but he never once visited me in the hospital or kept me company during my treatments. I knew he didn't love me, but I was scared to leave him because I was afraid no one else would ever want me. My surgeries had left me scarred on the outside and extremely vulnerable on the inside. After two years, we finally gave up on our relationship.

There I was, twenty-nine years old, back in the dating scene. It was terrifying. How could I tell someone, a male someone, that I only had one breast? When I finally did go out on a date, I panicked when he got a little too close to lifting my shirt while we were kissing. I had anxiety attacks about revealing my secret. Before our next date, I walked all over town thinking and crying because I was going to tell this guy about my breast cancer. The night of the date came, and I still didn't know how to bring it up. He never showed. After all my anxiety, I was stood up. I felt so upset. My friends were angry for me. One friend told him to his face what a horrible person he was. He probably sensed my anxiety but had no clue what it was all about, so he ran for the hills. (Keep reading)