Guest Blogger: Breast Cancer Survivor Sandy Yun

A few weeks ago, Rethink Breast Cancer was invited by survivor Sandy Yun and her husband Ken to have a booth at the busy Summer Night Market in Richmond, British Columbia.  Here are some of Sandy’s reflections about the experience.

Rethink's booth and amazing volunteers at the
Summer Night Market.

I invited Rethink Breast Cancer to the Summer Night Market because I was excited to get their name out there. I attended their Breast Fest Film Festival in Toronto last year. It was amazing. I met other amazing young survivors and I also learned about so many of the great things Rethink is doing for women like me. I’m eager to help them expand their presence in B.C. Many visitors to the booth seemed to be really touched and happy that we were there. 

We handed out balloons and anytime you give out free stuff, the people come a flocking. Sometimes we had a line up for balloons and it allowed us time to let families know who we were.  We were so busy that not one of six of us had time to eat dinner. That’s ok, we got our message out and it was so cool to see our pink balloons everywhere we looked.

While we tied balloons around children’s wrists, we also handed out information and talked to the women. It was all I could get out of my mouth, “We are from a young women’s charity called Rethink Breast Cancer and we’re here today to ask women to check their breasts, know them and if you feel any changes, please see your doctor”.  Whew, it’s a good thing that I can talk fast. Then, tying the balloon to a child’s arm while talking…well that was just too much multi-tasking for this “chemo brain” girl. But all kidding aside, bringing Rethink to the Summer Night Market, where people go to have fun, eat some great street food and shop, was a great idea. I didn't know how welcomed we would be by the crowd, but the response was more than amazing! It was also touching, edifying and therapeutic for me.

Market visitors get educated about their breasts!

A young woman was holding her mother’s hand and came up to the booth to say she loved that we were at the Night Market. She was so excited and bubbly telling me that her mother is one year post chemo. I told her, “Me too!”  Her mother, who was looking down the entire time, looked up at me and smiled. It’s weird. It’s like we’re in some secret club and—wow!—when you find out who all these other members are, you feel a certain type of kinship. With tears in her eyes, another woman shared that a close family member had just died of cancer. I felt empathy for this woman. I wondered if we were at the Market as a sad reminder of her loss or as a shared symbol of hope. I know it is the latter. I felt we could be there for her as she worked through her grief and I felt at peace with everything we were doing that night.

An older woman came by… one of many survivors that came with words of thanks and encouragement for us. She was funny, made light of her survivorship and said that she was “the Old and the Breastless!”  She made me laugh and reminded me that in all this fog there is always going to be light. I was happy to have had this experience and happy to help Rethink spread the word, and but most of all happy to be a survivor.

Sandy Yun,

Breast Cancer Survivor