![]() I know for certain that a single tumor in one region of my mom’s body fundamentally changed every part of her life and being. Lorde reminds us that a patient’s experience with disease is not isolated within the region that is afflicted – disease can be all-consuming, changing our minds, our relationships, and the way we see the world. Being a patient of such a disease makes you question your very existence – you question why this happened to you, why your body would allow such a thing to happen, and question how this disease has changed the person you see when you look in the mirror. I think these journal entries also add a lot of dimension to how we consider illness and disease – cancer is not just about tumors, or about cells that have diverged from their normal cycle. ![]() ![]() ![]() These entries give texture to her narrative and contrast her reflections on the past with what she was feeling in the moment of or while coming to terms with illness. Something that I absolutely adored about this piece was Lorde’s choice to recount her narrative largely through a series of journal entries. Though Lorde’s experience with breast cancer is undoubtedly unique, I couldn’t help but reflect on my mother’s experience with breast cancer and find similarities between their narratives. Audre Lorde’s Breast Cancer: A Black Lesbian Feminist Experience was touching and poignant on many levels. ![]()
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