breast cancer awareness month

Breast cancer touches most of us, directly or indirectly. What happens when someone you love is diagnosed, and the world keeps turning? So often, well-intentioned family, friends and coworkers want to be useful but realize they don’t really know how to be.

When breast cancer affects someone you care about, your greatest contribution can be offering both tangible and intangible support. Though not everyone will want the same things or react the same way, the most important takeaway is this: Don’t ignore the pink elephant in the room. Do something.

This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Bare Necessities compiled the 10 best suggestions:

In the final installment of our special four-part series on breast cancer, Dr. Sharon Mass opens up about her very personal battle:

When I was a child, my parents called me “Sunshine.” They joked about how I was an eternal optimist, always seeing the proverbial glass half-full. That optimism was tested when, at 43, I was diagnosed with breast cancer by a routine mammogram. As an OB-GYN, I had given cancer news to many patients. However, on a Friday in May 2011—Friday the 13th to be exact—I found myself on the other side of the phone.

Four-and-a-half years later, with pink ribbons fluttering in every storefront, pink shoes on the feet of NFL players and ‘turn-it-pink’ activities at my kids’ high school, I can’t help but relive the moments that had such a lasting impact on my life. In doing so, I can reflect on the impact that those four words—“You have breast cancer”—have had on me and those around me….