Telling your parents and siblings may be very difficult, especially if your role in the family has been to protect others. Many women have difficulty telling their parents. They may feel that it is not natural to be sick before they are and may not know how to tell them or how they will react. With your siblings, there may be guilt associated with you being the one in your family to have breast cancer and you may be worried about what this information could mean to them, especially if there is a familial or genetic predisposition to your breast cancer scenario.

It may be very overwhelming to tell your extended family of aunts, cousins, and so on that you have breast cancer, especially if you are part of a large family. You may want to assign this responsibility to other family members so as to avoid repeating your story and the emotional energy that is associated with telling. You may decide to tell only your immediate family and tell others when you are ready or if the opportunity arises. Or you may never tell them. The choice is always yours who and when to tell.