The Sh*t List

Hi –

If you’ve found your way to this page, maybe you or someone close to you is living with metastatic breast cancer.

When my best friend was diagnosed with MBC and things started to progress, we had to spend time having difficult conversations about what was to come.  I called it the SH*T LIST.  The list of things you never want to have to talk about or may not be top of mind, such as care planning or digital asset planning.  Having lost my husband to brain cancer in my 30s, I was once again facing the very premature death of someone I cared about so much from cancer again. It all seemed so unfair and yet, also an opportunity to ensure we didn’t miss anything this time.

It’s an impossible discussion that needs to happen and a list of topics that you may have pondered, but never dreamed that you’d be deciding at such a young age when facing the reality of dying.  After my bestie and I spent time going through and making a plan for her ‘SH*T LIST’, it did provide some peace to her, to me and to her family as we understood what was important to her, and we could refer to her list when we couldn’t remember the exact things she had shared.  Decision making isn’t easy in the best of medical times and these types of conversations are very hard to initiate, but having those done for you and your family, does make something a bit easier on everyone.

Having these hard conversations done and documented helped. We were able to put those thoughts into a box and focus on what was important during the last time we had with her – hugs, laughter and lots of love. I hope the SH*T LIST can help you in the same way.

XO Tasha,
Former MBC Advisory Board Co-Chair + Key Collaborator Alumni