6 cultural resources to better understand breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women. It represents 33% of all female cancers. Nearly 80% of cases of breast cancer occur after the age of 50. In France, it is estimated that in 2023 there will be around 61,214 new cases of breast cancer , with an annual increase of 0.3% since 2010.

That's it for the numbers. However, beyond the statistics, breast cancer is a daily reality for tens of thousands of women. She affects the body, but also the family, the perception of the world, the relationship with oneself and awakens often uncomfortable emotions. In this article, we offer you some resources to better understand this ordeal which affects us all in one way or another.

The gourmet life

Aurélia Aurita is an inveterate epicurean. With La vie gourmande, she tells the story of a personal drama by taking the paths of taste and intimacy. ✨

Throughout the three hundred and sixty pages of this work, Aurélia mixes black and white drawings with those that sparkle with bright colors. This makes us think of a form of subtle action where the vital force pushes back the death that surrounds the author's life . First the death of his Cambodian grandmother then the arrival of cancer in his daily life.

However, this comic is an ode to life and its pleasures . She takes us into the confidence of her olfactory and culinary memories, good or less good, from fast food to Michelin-starred restaurants, not forgetting the cuisine of Japan, that of her lovers or her childhood memories. A graphic gem to savor without moderation! 🥙

Fuck my cancer

In 2013, Manuela discovered Carlo aka Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma, a form of breast cancer. Her cooking blog quickly transformed into a journal of the fight against the disease, but also against the overly candy-pink image that we give of Cancerland. 🔥

Quickly, Fuck my cancer became a blog in its own right with the slogan “Breast cancer is not rosy”. She records her rants and her moods, often funny and never tearful . Her “annoying” testimony resonates with many other patients who recognize themselves in her anger and indocility.

Quickly, the author unites around her journey as an unaccommodating patient to the point that FMC becomes a book. She presents the work as an almost selfish therapeutic exercise which does not pretend to teach a lesson, educate or even advise. And it feels good. 💪

Impatient

Maëlle was 30 years old when she learned that she had metastatic breast cancer, deemed incurable. In continuous treatment for 3 years, she gradually experienced the unexpected injunctions to femininity as the main emergency in the face of this disease which kills 12,000 women per year in France.

Starting from his experience, and meeting other patients, oncologists, surgeons, psychologists, but also associations, social workers, entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical laboratories and political figures, this documentary podcast talks about everything beyond the numbers. 🔍

Its seven episodes question the stereotypical narrative of breast cancer, questioning the gender expectations of patients placed on them by society. Price Scam of the best documentary podcast in 2019, Impatiente invites us all to emerge from apathy to fight together against the disease of the century.

My mom is a pirate

When breast cancer takes hold in a family, it is often difficult to explain it to the little ones. We want to protect them from suffering and loss while wanting to explain why Mom changes month after month.

With My mom is a pirate, Karine Surugue offers suitable support for talking to children about illness . With its well-found metaphors and beautiful images, the book dares to address the different aspects of breast cancer and the consequences of treatments.

The pitch? A little boy recounts the adventures of his pirate mother . Every week, she casts off to face the storms with courage! 🏴‍☠️

Dragon's Breath

In Reims, a group of women, sometimes in treatment, sometimes in remission, meets around a rather atypical sporting activity: dragon boating . A discipline preciously prescribed by their oncologist. Although these women do not know each other, they are all united by the same desire: to escape from illness. With paddles and rallying cries, they try to rebuild themselves from body to head. 👯‍♀️

This TV film directed by Stéphanie Pillonca is based on a true story. It succeeds in reflecting the moments of sisterhood and lightness amidst the seriousness of the situation. Watch in replay on M6 . 📺

Those who don't die

To complete this selection, we offer you nothing less than a Pulitzer Prize. Those who don't die is an essay as poetic as it is philosophical on breast cancer. 🏆

“If this book were to exist, I wanted it to be a minor form of restorative magic . I wanted the pieces of our lost bodies to regenerate through his sentences and for the elegance of his ideas to amplify our cells. If I could open the earth by writing, I would, and I would bring back to life an army of these dead insurgent women. »

With this work as powerful as it is unclassifiable, Anne Boyer tells us frankly the many emotional states of a sick woman . His writing, as vulnerable as it is subversive, helps us to better understand what our loved ones affected by the disease are going through . For women with breast cancer, it is a good read, one where you feel less alone in your fight after reading it. 🤍

Whether you are a diagnosed person or a loved one, we hope that these resources will be valuable to you as a complement to medical information. These few references invite you to explore creations made by women with cancer. Make them allies in navigating the different dimensions of breast cancer. For any other information related to breast cancer, the League Against Cancer and the National Cancer Institute are reliable sources. 😘