One Bra Strap at a Time

How will sex be after breast cancer? How does a couple cope with the sensitivities? For both women and men, the question is rarely asked.

Soon after her 25th birthday, Katherine Schmidhofer was diagnosed with breast cancer, and her doctor advised an immediate mastectomy. Her breasts were removed, and she underwent ghastly sessions of chemotherapy and hormone therapy. She wondered whether she would ever have children. She mourned her incapacity to breastfeed. She asked herself whether a man would ever want her again. How, she thought, would he react to her scars and her new breasts?

Where many women despair after breast cancer, Katherine did something remarkable: she chose to live her life - to the full. And she chose love. In this beautifully warm, often funny and deeply moving memoir, Katherine guides us through the intricacies of love and sex after the Big C - and shows why every new day is a triumph of hope and courage.