A doctor becomes a breast cancer patient (Marla’s story)

March 1, 2011

In this video, Dr. Marla Shapiro talks about being diagnosed with breast cancer and how her profession often hampered her experience

Watch as Dr. Marla Shapiro talks about being diagnosed with breast cancer at age 48 and how being both a doctor and patient was, at the same time, the best and worst thing. Her profession made it hard for her to feel reassured.

She also talks about having to deal with uncertainty and making decisions based on available evidence. She shares about the big decision to have a bilateral mastectomy, and how she went through a period of being selfish and self-pitying. She discusses seeing herself as a thriver rather than survivor. And she talks about facing fear so that it then can be put to the side.

Marla is a physician, writer and on-air health journalist.

And I think the best advice that I can give people is to feel your fear, meet your fear and try and leave the fear a little bit to the side. Don’t let it define every single waking moment.

Watch the video of Marla talking about being both a doctor and a patient

The Partnership’s Person-Centred Perspective initiative is committed to improving the patient experience. We are working with partners across Canada to find the best ways to offer a person-centred perspective throughout a person’s cancer journey and to help information flow throughout. The impact of a cancer diagnosis goes far beyond the physical disease. It affects every aspect of a person’s life. The initiative has focused on reporting about the patient experience, and giving health-care providers patient-centred tools and resources, which have been validated and standardized.

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