Mark Traphagen's clarifying thoughts on being a cancer patient.
Mark Traphagen's clarifying thoughts on being a cancer patient.
#cancer #cancerawareness
Originally shared by Mark Traphagen
Please don't say that Jimmy Carter's cancer is "gone."
Now I completely enter into rejoicing that as of the present moment, he has no cancer that can be detected. But that is NOT the same thing as his cancer being "gone," and this post does a great job of explaining why, and why that matters to cancer patients like me. (I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in late 2009 and spent all of 2010 in treatment.)
Notice what I did there. I referred to myself as a cancer patient, not a survivor or as "cured." That despite the fact that I am now coming up on five years after my surgeries, chemo, and radiation with no detectable cancer so far.
The fact is that for anyone who's had cancer, it's a long term battle, even after all signs are good. You are never again like people in the world who have never had cancer. Even if undetectable, cancer could be hiding in the wings, ready to re-attack at any time. And if it does come back, the situation is usually worse than the first time.
I don't share any of that to elicit sympathy, nor do I share it to place a greater burden on any of my fellow cancer patients. I share it because it is the facts, and reports like the ones about Carter this week do not really help those of us who have to face that we are engaged in a lifelong struggle with The Beast.
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/12/07/458824962/why-cancer-is-gone-discourse-doesn-t-help-cancer-patients?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202707
#cancer #cancerawareness
Originally shared by Mark Traphagen
Please don't say that Jimmy Carter's cancer is "gone."
Now I completely enter into rejoicing that as of the present moment, he has no cancer that can be detected. But that is NOT the same thing as his cancer being "gone," and this post does a great job of explaining why, and why that matters to cancer patients like me. (I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in late 2009 and spent all of 2010 in treatment.)
Notice what I did there. I referred to myself as a cancer patient, not a survivor or as "cured." That despite the fact that I am now coming up on five years after my surgeries, chemo, and radiation with no detectable cancer so far.
The fact is that for anyone who's had cancer, it's a long term battle, even after all signs are good. You are never again like people in the world who have never had cancer. Even if undetectable, cancer could be hiding in the wings, ready to re-attack at any time. And if it does come back, the situation is usually worse than the first time.
I don't share any of that to elicit sympathy, nor do I share it to place a greater burden on any of my fellow cancer patients. I share it because it is the facts, and reports like the ones about Carter this week do not really help those of us who have to face that we are engaged in a lifelong struggle with The Beast.
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/12/07/458824962/why-cancer-is-gone-discourse-doesn-t-help-cancer-patients?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202707
Comments
Post a Comment