When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011, I didn't have many close friends who had been through any sort of cancer treatment. 

Most of my friends, like me, were between 35 and 45, and we are not the usual cancer demographic. The median age of breast cancer patients, for example, is 61.

Most of my friends had little experience with cancer and we all fumbled around for what to do and say to each other -- me as...