Martine shares how she balanced work with her breast cancer treatment

She was 55 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two small tumors were to be removed via breast-conserving surgery, followed by radiation therapy. After the procedure, however, a total mastectomy turned out to be necessary. Together with her oncologist, she decided to undergo six more rounds of chemotherapy to eliminate the cancer from her body as effectively as possible, but also so she wouldn’t have to blame herself if the cancer were to return later. Martine never uses the word “cancer-free”; no one is cancer-free.

When she goes to the hospital for her chemo treatments, she doesn’t lie down in a hospital bed. Instead, she and her husband settle in quietly at a small table, each with their own laptop, while she receives her chemo. In these unusual circumstances, they work together calmly in the hospital.

Throughout her entire course of chemotherapy, she continued to work 60% of the time, mostly from home. It was winter, and colds were going around, so it was better for her not to be in an open-plan office with a bunch of other coworkers. No one ever forced her to keep working. Her colleagues respected her decision to keep working, and that did her good.

She wants to dispel the myth that people with cancer can’t work. And it wasn’t just work—skiing was also on her schedule, just like every year. For her oncologist, it was the first time a patient had asked if she could go skiing while undergoing chemotherapy. Surprised but supportive, the oncologist gave her the green light. “It was just a bit of a struggle getting that wig into a ski helmet,” Martine tells me with a laugh.

Once her treatment is over, she travels extensively, both for personal and professional reasons. Even during the year of her chemotherapy, she visits the Great Wall of China, Borobudur in Indonesia, and the Taj Mahal in India. She takes family trips to New York and Florida. And she returns to full-time work.

One year after my breast cancer diagnosis, I underwent reconstruction using my own tissue—it was tough, but I’m very happy with the result.

Two years after her breast cancer diagnosis, she received a new cancer diagnosis: CML, a form of chronic leukemia, but one that can be treated with medication. Once again, Martine continues to work and, as she puts it, “live.”

She says she has always been very open about her illness with her colleagues, friends, and those around her. But she has never talked about it on social media. It’s only recently that she’s started speaking out about it publicly. That’s how we came across her story in the comments section of one of our posts. And we’re certainly very grateful to her for that.

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