Cancer, It Exists, so Let’s Not Be Ashamed to Say its Name 

Since last year, and just recently with King Charles 3rd that nasty, vile c-word has been gracing the headlines again. I don’t mean the one that rhythms with Brunt, but rather the one that rhythms with Dancer. Yes, I am in fact talking about Cancer. Just recently TV Presenter Jonnie Irwin who was known to audiences for shows like A Place in the Sun and Escape to the Country was diagnosed with Cancer back in 2020. Not long after his diagnosis became terminal when it had reached his brain.

What surprised me after that was that he seemed to just disappear from our TV screens altogether. Now at first it took me a while to notice that I hadn’t seen him on my screen for some time. However, when his diagnosis became more public, I was taken back a bit because it just seemed like he was being tucked away in the background. Like many others I just thought that unless it was his decision to go away and have some private time why has he just vanished all of a sudden?

What I was proud of though was that when it did reappear on our screens again it was to talk about his battle with Cancer. I had nothing but admiration and respect for him. Here he was being out, open and fearless about an illness he was battling which by this point had become terminal. 

I have known people who have lived with this dreadful and horrific sickness which, unlike human beings, doesn’t discriminate, full-stop. Whether you are young, middle aged, elderly or disabled it just doesn’t care. Straight from the outset the people I knew of who lived with this didn’t go ‘oh whoah is me’ then go off somewhere to wallow in misery (though I wouldn’t have blamed them if they ever felt tempted pending on their mindset in the moment) they just kept on going but at the same time were open about it with their nearest and dearest.0.

So, as you can imagine, when King Charles 3rd Ann his Cancer diagnosis it did come as a surprise. He was open and honest about it and it started a conversation which, in all honesty, I think needs to happen a lot more. I myself have never actually had to battle with any form of Cancer, so in that respect, I am quite lucky. It also meant that I didn’t have to start any conversations with anyone. Any after all, why would I? 

However, this doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be happening. A handful of years ago when I was working as a Customer Assistant in Supermarket a few work colleagues I knew had battles with Cancer. For three of them unfortunately their diagnosis was terminal but in the months that followed, before their deaths, I noticed that quite a number of colleagues had started talking about it with other colleagues. I on the other hand made a deliberate attempt to be cautious about what I said and to whom.

Before I continue for a moment, I’m just going to let you know what my circumstances were and why I frequently went down the Proceed with Caution route. Two of the colleagues who I worked with who were terminal had children who I also worked with. Whenever I saw them, I always reminded myself about how I would feel if it was a member of my family who was terminally ill, would I want to talk about it? 

My perspective is that I’d probably be on auto pilot and just trying to get through the day without even uttering a word.

After a short while I did begin to talk about it, but not with those who had but rather those who knew them and understood me than me. 

Even my late Grandma had it but thankfully made a full recovery.

So, I suppose that in just as many ways, I too am just as guilty of not talking about it, but my sole excuse is that I didn’t want to cause any further upset or distress. In some ways, I am like a reported 23% of males who don’t want to discuss it. Now even though that’s an estimate percentage I always say it’s never wise to make assumptions about why it’s not discussed.

 Well, I am going to say it,

CANCER, CANCER, CANCER, CANCER, CANCER, CANCER.

There you go, I’ve said it. Now let’s get talking about it. The illness has been around for hundreds of years and for as long as it’s here amongst us we should be just as open about discussions as we are about fighting it.

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