October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States. While I have met many women going through treatment, or those who are survivors, I actually had my first intimate experience with the prospect of breast cancer only a week ago. My daughters’ nanny, who is an integral part of our family, was called by her doctor after a mammogram and told that she needed to have an immediate follow-up due to a suspicious lump. The 48 hours between the call and the results of the check-up were two days filled with angst, swinging emotions, uncertainty, and questioning for her and for those of us who love her. We thank God that the results were not a diagnosis of the disease.

There are so many questions that we, as individuals and especially as women, have about breast cancer: How can we prevent the disease? How do we support those we know who have gotten this dreaded diagnosis? For those who have breast cancer, how can we better manage the medical process, our health, our happiness, and our recovery?

To commemorate National Breast Cancer Awareness month, Intent is devoting the next 31 days to presenting some of the best thinking out there on an integrative approach to the disease. Every day this month we will run a new post on breast cancer, with provocative thoughts and solutions from Dr. Deepak Chopra, celebrities (and survivors) Fran Drescher and Olivia Newton John, designer Donna Karan, renowned cancer surgeon Dr. Kristi Funk, and the founder of breastcancer.org, Marisa Weiss, plus authors, fitness and nutrition experts, and cancer survivors who’ve shared poignant stories of their own bravery–and the days when they didn’t feel like warriors. Each person has written about his or her own knowledge or experience of the disease. Because cancer is personal: We’ve all been touched by it.

Visit Care2.com’s Breast Cancer page
every day of October to read the coverage, or go directly to Breast Cancer: Healing the Whole Woman to read everything we’ve published on breast cancer to date. Please also pass the word on to women who may be in the midst of treatment, to family and friends supporting their loved ones, and to survivors. We are eager to share this content and create a comforting space of support and knowledge.

Our hope is that together we can realize the intention of reducing the number of breast cancer cases around the world, and in our healing process, focus on the whole woman: Physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Mallika Chopra is a graduate of Brown University, and has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management. She currently lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Sumant Mandal, and their two daughters, Tara and Leela. She has written two books inspired by them: 100 Promises to My Baby and 100 Questions from Her Child. In 2008 she started Intent.com, a new wellness destination on the Web, to realize her personal intention to connect with others by sharing and listening to each others stories.