Your professional identity is part of who you are. For many people, work provides structure, purpose, social connection, and a sense of competence that exists entirely separate from their illness. Navigating cancer while also navigating a career is complicated, and there is no single right approach.
The first question most people face is disclosure: do I tell my employer? Your colleagues? How much?
You are not legally obligated to disclose a diagnosis to most employers in many countries, though laws vary by location. Whether to disclose depends on several factors: whether your treatment will visibly affect your attendance or capacity, whether you need accommodations, what your relationship with your employer is like, and how much energy you have to manage the response. Some people find openness freeing. Others prefer privacy, especially in workplaces where they worry about discrimination or changed treatment. Both choices are valid.
Know your rights. In many places, laws protect workers with serious illnesses from termination, require reasonable accommodations, and provide access to medical leave. Understanding what protections you have before you make decisions about disclosure is important. An employment attorney, HR professional, or patient advocacy organization can help you understand your specific situation.
If you decide to continue working during treatment — and many people do, at least partially, because work provides normalcy and financial stability — be honest with yourself about your capacity. Treatment side effects are unpredictable. Some days you will feel capable. Others you will not. Building flexibility into your arrangements from the beginning is wiser than pushing through and then collapsing.
Work can also be a genuine source of meaning and normalcy during illness. Being in a role where you have expertise, where you contribute, where you are seen as more than a patient — these things matter. If work nourishes you, protect it. And if it depletes you during this season, give yourself permission to step back without guilt.
Your worth is not your productivity. Cancer may temporarily, or in some cases permanently, change what you are able to do professionally. That is a real loss, and it deserves grief. But it does not define your value as a person, and it does not erase everything you have built in your working life.