A social network for cancer patients is helping them connect without fear of friends pitying them for their diagnosis
Get the Full StoryWar on CancerWar on Cancer is the social network for anyone affected by cancer including people who have been diagnosed, their family, and their friends.
Founder Fabian Bolin had the idea of creating a storytelling platform for people with cancer when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May 2015, and realized the impact it had on his mental health.
He started up a blog to inform everyone of what he was going through, and knew he had to take it further when it grew to 200,000 monthly readers. War on Cancer, where users can share stories of treatments or simply post about their lives, now has around 3,000 users.
Regular social media can be filled with sympathy, Bolin said, and often cancer patients just want to do regular things like go for a beer. War on Cancer allows close ones to keep up with their loved ones' progress, while patients can connect with people going through the same thing.
"It's about time we normalize the situation, and think of cancer more as perhaps the biggest human connector, besides from all of us being human," Bolin said. "If everybody's connected to cancer, it's not just about the patients it's about everybody."
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Fabian Bolin found thinking about 900 days of chemotherapy far more daunting than the possibility he might die when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in May 2015.
"It felt like everything I had built up and worked for was gone," he told Insider. "My career, my future, my progress, everything was completely evaporated. And that made me so sad."See the rest of the story at Business InsiderNOW WATCH: Behind the scenes with Shepard Smith the Fox News star who just announced his resignation from the networkSee Also:What you should avoid eating and drinking when you have the fluThe most common flu symptomsA relationship expert believes couples can be stronger after cheating, but there are 4 important steps to rebuilding trust again
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