Sometimes people assume that if you’re married and you’re going through cancer, you at least have someone there to get through the tough times with. That’s not always the case, ovarian cancer survivor Amanda Crowell Itliong points out. Unfortunately, divorces during cancer do happen — but it’s not always a bad thing, the Detroit native tells SurvivorNet.
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Read More “Women do sometimes get divorces during this time,” she says. “It happened to me and I thought it was the worst thing that could ever happen — and it wasn’t. It wasn’t even a little bit the worst thing that could ever happen. It turned out pretty great in the end. Sometimes, things like cancer can show you that a relationship isn’t the right relationship.” Amanda has been dealing with ovarian cancer for the past five years. Like many women who have the disease, she’s had to deal with several recurrences. She explains that after her first diagnosis, her husband at the time wasn’t really there for her — and could not really handle the stress in a helpful way. She wants other women to know that even if you experience relationship issues, or even the end of a relationship, because of cancer — it’s possible to move on. “I was able to find happiness and good sex, passion and everything, with somebody else after all of that was over,” Amanda says. “Sometimes I think it has to do with believing it’s going to be OK, and figuring out how to work something out. If we get used to what works and what doesn’t with our bodies, we can get creative and come up with a lot of good solutions that mean you can still have a really positive sex life. It might just not look like it did before.”
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