Miyabi Kuroiwa, from Nagoya in central Japan, was 26 when she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.
In October 2022, she was taking a bath when she noticed a lump in her left breast. After a doctor’s exam revealed her spreading cancer, Miyabi sat stunned while her grandmother, who had accompanied her to the hospital, wept inconsolably.
Fast forward to today and Miyabi is taking part in a project that invites cancer patients like herself to serve as online advisers to others in their battle against the disease.
“Cancer does not equal unhappiness. I want to tell people that they don’t have to give up on marriage and love,” she says.
Her husband, Taisei, whom she was still dating when she got the news, left work early and rushed to be at her side when he got her call. In front of Miyabi and her grandmother, he says he thought, “The one thing I can do is become her family and support her.”
