Living with Breast Cancer During a Pandemic

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. But what is it like to be diagnosed with cancer and undergo treatment during the Covid pandemic? In October, breast cancer awareness month, SBS Portuguese interviewed four migrant women about how they coped with the pandemic on top of a cancer diagnosis. Publicist Luciana Rodrigues, from Sydney, talked about how the confinement ‘helped’ her, “It wasn’t only me who had to stay home”. International student Isabella de Luca recalls that when Covid hit she already had her cancer diagnosis and the pandemic was never a worry. Teacher Paula Amaral says she was fighting for her life and “couldn’t care less” and Colombian student Maria Fernanda Obregon, tells how the Latin community helped her pay for her treatment, “my fellow international students were going through the Covid economic crisis, losing their jobs, but they helped me with what little they had.” [Image by Rennan Luiz]