Fighting breast cancer, aged 26: 'My father told me he wished it was him that had it'

"I think it's a disease that shouldn't affect anyone, but even more so at this age," Mònica Roldán, a breast cancer survivor, diagnosed when she was 26, told the Catalan News Agency (ACN). 

"It's the last news I was expecting to hear. I noticed a lump in my right breast and went to the doctor confident that it would be a lump of fat, because at this age this doesn't happen," she added. 

Mònica just turned 37 and her disease is far away, even though the fight "never ends." She is now a volunteer at Barcelona's association against cancer to accompany other women. 

She and Grindel Darwich, another survivor after being diagnosed breast cancer during the pregnancy of her second child in March 2020, days before the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown started, are now recommending for psychological support on top of the treatment.  

Darwich was diagnosed at 41 years, 33 weeks into her second pregnancy, it all happened on March 6, 2020. 

As it was "complex, dark, and very difficult" news to take into account. On March 11, her son was born, but she was not able to see him until March 15. During that time, he was in the intensive care unit for new-born babies. 

"He was born on a Wednesday, and I was able to see him on Sunday," she said before adding "what I less thought about was my cancer and the pandemic, at the time, I just needed to be by my son's side, it was the most important thing." 

"The moment I got the news it was like a bucket of cold water. You see how suddenly your whole world collapses in a moment. Family, friends, none of us believe it, and until things start to improve a little, you think you're going to die," Mònica told ACN in an interview ahead of Thursday's International Day Against Breast Cancer. 

"It's the first word that comes to mind: cancer, death," she added. 

Mònica and Grindel both received the diagnosis during a time when the word "cancer" was still far away in their minds. "It feels like a disease that only older people suffer from, but it is important for youngsters to not forget about it," Mònica said. 

Breast cancer is the most common among women in Catalonia, and each year there are over 4,600 new diagnoses, most of them on women aged 50 and up. During the last years, the survival rate has increased, and it is now at over 85% during the first five years. 

"I have the feeling that there were times when others felt worse than I did. In the end, I was in control of how I felt, and if I felt pain, it was me who felt it. But you can't control others, others don't know how you're feeling," Roldán told ACN. 

"I remember the first thing my dad said to me was that he wished it was him that had it. And I said to him 'how would that fix things?'," she added. 

Years later, she accompanies women in the same circumstances.  

"Just like no one teaches you how to be a mother, for example, no one teaches you how to go through something like this. I asked for psychological support and it helped me," Mònica said. 

Her roommate at the time was the one that taught her how to put on the head scarf. 

"It is important to feel understood," she said as last year, the association helped 1,276 people victims of breast cancer or their relatives.