Marcie Beyatte, a breast cancer survivor, writer, and creator of Cancer in So Many Words, offers advice on how to use writing to empower women during treatment and into survivorship.

By Marcie Beyatte

I learned I had breast cancer in May of 2003, after a routine mammogram. Surgery, chemo, and radiation altered me, but it wasn't until I was finished with treatment that I realized how much I had changed. 

I finally had proof that life itself was terminal. I needed to decide what I wanted to do with the time I had left. I tried to return to my old career, but my job didn't fit me anymore.

I have been a closet writer since I was a teenager. Writing had gotten me through some tough times, but I never shared or talked about writing. It was my secret. After cancer, though, I took up my pen, turned off my self-critic, and went public as a writer. I took classes and met with other writers. I was lucky to have a few stories published.

But something was missing. Writing about my experience had been part of my recovery, so I began to wonder if maybe I could help others do it. What if I could develop a program to encourage and support cancer survivors to write about their experiences? 

Cancer in So Many Words, a program to empower cancer survivors to use the written word to express themselves, was born. The first event, in September 2004, featured multimedia readings and performances.

Surviving cancer changes people in remarkable ways, and I've found that writing about the experience can be very healing and life-affirming. Science even backs this up: In October 2002, the Journal of Clinical Oncology published the results of a study conducted by the University of Kansas showing that writing during cancer treatment was beneficial and contributed to the healing process.

The hardest part for all of us is beginning: How do you start writing? In facilitating writing workshops with patients, survivors, and others -- and wrestling with my own writing demons -- I've learned a few things about how to begin: