You want to help—that already makes you an extremely important person in her life. You might not know exactly what to do, though. Find advice and resources on this page to help you give your loved one your best.

Organized Help

Always stay organized. YSC’s Treatment and Metastatic Navigators come with tips and tools to help you keep track of everything.

Many websites also offer helpful resources:

• Lotsahelpinghands offers tools to bring other caregivers to your loved one’s side. Do you need to rally your friends and family to help with transportation, meals or visits? Many will want to help, but won’t know what they can do. The site lets you create an online community where people can sign up for the assignment that suits them best.
• CarePage lets you keep everyone informed. You can share news, photos and communicate with all of your contacts at once.

Advice for the Caregiver

Communicate — Keep communication between you and your loved one open and honest. It will help you offer care much more effectively. Understand that she will often worry just as much about you as you do about her. You may face difficult conversations. You may need to discuss a lot of emotions. Remember to be compassionate and sincere with yourself and the one you love and you can make the most of these talks.

Understand — Your loved one is experiencing something very profound. To better communicate, and make your help as beneficial as possible, learn more about the experiences of other young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Read first-hand accounts in our informative and moving survivor stories.

Benefit from the priceless support and advice of someone who understands by connecting to another caregiver through our SurvivorLink program. You can talk either by phone or email.

Talk Medicalese — You can help your loved tremendously by learning to better communicate with her healthcare team. Visit our understanding breast cancer and breast-cancer treatment pages to better understand terminology and diagnosis. This can be a great help when you accompany your loved one to appointments—and help you give even better support. You can also gain a deeper understanding with some of our informative audio files.

Children — Helping children cope with a loved one’s diagnosis can present intense challenges. To help you do what’s best for your young ones, we have collected some general advice in our Helping Children Cope with Breast Cancer brochure. Remember, though, that there is no one right way to help children cope. Each child and each family is unique, but these general guidelines can help answer some basic questions and make this experience easier for your children.

We’re Here for You

Thank you — on behalf of the young woman you love and all young women facing similar challenges — for acting as a caregiver. Remember—do the best you can, but you can’t do it all. Call or email us for any additional information or support you need. We are here for you during your challenging time.