Chattiness can be contagious, which was the case in the infusion room when Mary Trouba struck a conversation with a woman called Cheryl; it turned the room into a safe space for all to share experiences. Sadly, Mary died before this article was published.

Mary Trouba, who was encouraged by her sister to write about her experience as a patient with metastatic breast cancer, tackles the importance of the words we use when discussing cancer, explaining her problem with the phrase “battling cancer.”