Life after breast cancer

New Glasgow - Eighteen years ago, Shirley Manos thought her life was over. She'd just had her first mammogram and had received devastating news - she had breast cancer.
"You feel like you got a whack on the head," Manos said.
The waiting list for surgery in New Glasgow isn't long - but then the waiting really begins.
"You have to wait two weeks after surgery for the report to come back from Halifax, to find out what kind of cancer it is, the type of treatment you need. Then you wait for an appointment with an oncologist - that's a long wait, it's running about eight weeks now," she said.
And as you wait, you worry.
"It's stressful," she said. "It's the really bad part for the patient."
For Manos, a program offered through the Canadian Cancer Society called Reach to Recovery was her salvation. Nearly two decades after her own diagnosis, she now volunteers her time with the program.
"We visit each person who has surgery at the hospital, usually two days after the surgery, and then again at their homes," she explains. "We're all breast cancer survivors - we know exactly what they've been through, what to expect in the early days right after surgery. We stay in contact as long as they need or want us to."
The women involved aren't doctors, although Manos is trained as a nurse. Instead, they're there to be a listening ear, a support, a physical demonstration that there is life after a diagnosis of breast cancer.
"Everyone is scared to get this diagnosis," said Bev McGuigan, another volunteer with the program and breast cancer survivor. "It's so - hopeful, I guess is the word for it - to have someone who isn't a doctor tell you it's going to be alright. We're just plain, ordinary people, but we've been there. You think it's the end of the world when you're diagnosed, and we know that, because we thought that when we were diagnosed. But even though you can't see there's a future in the beginning, seeing there are survivors helps."
Each client is given a bag full of information, as well as contact numbers for the Women Alike Support Group, which meets at the Carmichael Room of the Aberdeen Professional Centre on the last Monday of every month.
They're also told how they can access items like wigs and hats at no cost while they're undergoing treatment.
For both McGuigan and Manos, participating in the program is a labour of love.
"You feel good when you can help these women," McGuigan says.