The world was shocked to hear the news that the Princess of Wales is being treated for cancer. In her video message, Catherine encouraged everyone facing the disease not to lose hope.

In this edition, hosted by James Reynolds, young women around the world talk candidly about their diagnosis; how it has affected them, their families and their approach to the future, particularly when their news came as young adults. “They found a lump in my neck and they biopsied the lump and I had stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” explained Michelle Fredman from Cape Town. “A huge shock, at any age but especially young; it’s not in your periphery at all.”

According to research from the World Health Organisation, one in five people will develop cancer in their lifetime. Catherine, who is 42, and has three children also spoke of the time it had taken to explain everything to her children so that they felt reassured.

This is something picked up in one of our conversations between two young mothers. Alejandra Solis, who’s 43 and living with breast cancer, explained how her son was able to make sense of it: “After a few days his friend came over to have a play and I overheard him saying my mummy has a poisonous rock in her boobie so they took the boobie out but now it’s bionic .”

A Boffin Media production in partnership with the BBC OS team.

(Photo: Savannah Forell in the US. Credit: Savannah Forell) Show less