Affected

I just found out my cousin has/had thyroid cancer. I nearly had a panic attack on my way to work. It was twenty minutes of praying, holding my chest, deep breathing, and cursing my mom (how dare she tell me right before I have to go to work). So it got me thinking, how do other cancer survivors and fighters react when they find out someone they love has cancer? What do you do? It breaks my heart that she has to deal with this. It pisses me off that she was told that thyroid cancer is a "good cancer to have". I want to take her under my wing and walk her through every step, but this is her experience and I have to let her go through it in her own way. I let her know that if she needs anything from me, to ask and I suppose that's all I can do.