Excuse me while I have a morbid thought
Yesterday while volunteering I saw a woman with a shirt on that said “Cancer Survivor” and my recent experience with my aunt sent me into a whole line of morbid thinking. This woman was small, frail, and was walking out of the cancer clinic. So the question that came to my mind was “How does she know she’s a cancer survivor?”. I mean, the only way to really know you are a cancer “survivor” is when you die of something else, right? I know, this sounds awful. But take the example of my aunt. She found out she had cancer 3 years ago. They went in and got most of it, then did radiation and chemo for the rest of it. She was declared cancer free and went into remission. At that point, I believe she was considered a “cancer survivor”. But then the cancer came back and now she’s passed away. From the effects of the cancer.
I can’t think of how to properly end this post, so I’m just going to leave it at that and see if ya’ll have comments.
katie said,
June 26, 2007 @ 4:18 pm
I think I heard if there is no relapse in five years time, one is considered to be a survivor. though I’m not sure. a few years ago my oldest aunt on my dad’s side was diagnosed with colon cancer. she seems to have beat it.
yeah, I’m not sure if there is a proper ending to these types of things. not until we really figure cancer out. it’s not bleak, but there’s no guaranteed win on this one yet, either, is there?….