Fight against cancer: Claudia's path to strength and joie de vivre

Fight against cancer: Claudia's path to strength and joie de vivre

in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, 49-year-old Claudia Altmann-Pospischek presents her story about the fight against breast cancer. Her diagnosis was made in July 2013 after feeling a little knot in her chest during a vacation. Despite the safe instincts and the urge to mammography, her gynecologist initially assured her that she was too young for breast cancer. But Claudia's persistence finally led to the shattering diagnosis: a malignant tumor that had already sprinkled into the liver and the bones.

Claudia remembers the day of diagnosis when she and her husband Peter sat in the car and cried bitterly. She offered him to go because she believed that her illness could ruin his life plans. But Peter was unshakable and declined. "I decided to stay with her until the last day," he explains, and her relationship was only stronger due to this difficult time.

The challenges of hair loss

One of the first questions that Claudia asked her doctor was whether she would lose her hair. This thought met her so deeply that she felt the hair loss, which began 14 days after the first chemotherapy, one of the most difficult moments in her fight. Her husband shaved her hair, and despite the sadness, they managed to master this moment with humor. "The bitter wines became a warm laugh," she reports.

It was important for Claudia to keep in touch with her own beauty, even while she experienced physical changes. "I wanted to be able to see myself in the mirror," she says, so she found comfort in a little make-up and a wig that became her "camouflage cap". "I was afraid of pitying looks," she admits.

emotional support from friends and family

family and close friends were an important support in this difficult time. Nevertheless, she notices that not all friendships stood up and some people had difficulty dealing with their diagnosis. A friend confessed to her that he had never asked about her well -being, for fear of making her sad. Claudia advises to ask open questions to open the topic of conversation. "It is important to pay attention to the worries of friends," she emphasizes. "Otherwise you get lost in the silence of the disease."

The first two years after the diagnosis were extremely challenging, characterized by hospital stays and various therapies. But when the anniversary of the diagnosis marked a new approach in her life in 2015, she decided not to concentrate on death, but to put life in the foreground. "I wanted to concentrate on life," she explains today.

Claudia has lived more intensely since then, travels around the world and regularly shares her experiences and reflections on her blog "Claudia's Cancer Challenge" and on social media. "I always win the ranking with the worst story anyway," she jokes through her experiences, but also shows how important it is to find joy in everyday life.

Today is Claudia, eleven years after the first diagnosis, stable and focused on life. "I will always have cancer, but at the moment I can handle the disease well," she says with a bright smile. For them, their scars are symbols of strength and courage. "There is nothing better than an inner ray.

For more information and a detailed view of Claudia's history, you will find further insights In this article on www.bild.de .