So, You've Been Diagnosed with Cancer.Now What?

No two journeys will be the same, but there are certain steps everyone can take to make the path ahead a little clearer. Consider this your road map.

- ALICE OGLETHORPE

When Lindsay Hawker heard that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer at just 34, she couldn't begin to wrap her head around what she was about to go through. "It felt surreal, like a movie," she remembers. "I never thought I'd hear those words in my lifetime, much less when I had a 4-year-old and 9-month-old baby." But she took things one day at a time and is now celebrating nine years cancer-free. It's nerve-racking and scary to hear that you have cancer; stepping back and mapping out some concrete steps can bring a sense of purpose and focus.

1 Take a breath.

As much as you might want to take action immediately, try your best to hit pause. "While cancer is very serious, rarely is it an emergency," says Arif Kamal, MD, associate professor of medicine at Duke University and chief patient officer for the American Cancer Society. "Patients are often ready to move very fast to alleviate their anxiety, but it's important to get cancer treatment right. I tell patients: 'This cancer probably took years to grow; if we take a few extra weeks to make sure we get it right, we won't lose anything.'" That's exactly what Lindsay did. "One of my doctors said to go home, sleep, gather information, and make decisions from a place of clarity and intuition, not fear," she says.

2 Decide who to tell.