The Hardest Post

After my cancer diagnosis, I needed all the support and prayer I could get. So why was I having trouble asking for it?

- SHARON MANGAS

4/9/2016, 11:21 a.m.

Dear friends, family and acquaintances, I got some news this week that threw my world out of orbit. I stopped and stared at the computer screen. Since being diagnosed with Stage I invasive ductal breast cancer a few days before, I’d been fretting about how to tell people outside my immediate family. Was Facebook really the best way to share the news? There wasn’t time for lots of phone calls. I’d considered e-mailing, but it was frustrating trying to compile all the addresses. With Facebook, I could reach more than a thousand friends at once, some I hadn’t spoken within years. I tapped at the keyboard: So send all your good thoughts, encouragement, prayers, jokes, meditations, favorite Bible verses, good karma and funny stories my way.

Wait, what if I got inundated with pity? That was the last thing I wanted. Once I posted my news, I’d have no control over people’s reactions to it and how those might make me feel. I just couldn’t bring myself to hit enter.