Make sure you read the Salon article. This is why I wrote my post The D Word. Everything has become so cheery with the (any color) ribbons and the positive attitude and battle talk that everyone forgot that cancer kills; so I insist we use the d-word. AND STOP THROWING STAGE 4 (ALL) CANCER PATIENTS UNDER THE BUS!
With thanks to Nancy Stordahl of Nancy’s Point for posting it on Facebook, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to a spot-on article on Salon: The ultimate cancer taboo: Sometimes it kills you by Mary Elizabeth Williams.
If anyone wonders why people with metastatic cancer sometimes (often) feel like the red-headed stepchildren of the cancer world (no offense intended to redheads or stepchildren), this article will make it clear.
Contemporary cancer gets couched in the language of cheerleaders. Even a generation ago, the mere word “cancer” seemed a certain death sentence; today, in contrast, it’s an opportunity to talk about battles and fights and hope. It’s something to be bravely dealt with – having cancer automatically designates a person a “warrior.” The disease is then referred to only at occasional “awareness” opportunities, preferably with a tasteful ribbon.
But people with metastatic cancer don’t follow the tidy, cheerful narrative. They don’t necessarily…
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