Just a few days ago we heard the news that King Charles has cancer. The media coverage for this has been, understandably, extensive. Much of the coverage has focused on the Kings openness in sharing this news and how this will help with raising the profile of cancer and improve the treatment of all cancer patients. The King has not shared the details of his cancer or of the treatment that he is receiving. And I think that’s just fine. Now, I’m not an ardent royalist nor an anti-monarchy campaigner. I find much of the media coverage of the royal family offensively intrusive and truly wonder at why so many of us encourage the ‘tabloid’ media by reading their continuous outpourings of salacious gossip?
Many of us, me included, are facing the impact on our lives of being diagnosed with a serious illness or of a close friend or relative being diagnosed. And we will respond to this news in ways that are particular to ourselves. Through my conversations with others affected by cancer, I am conscious that this unwelcome guest can generate vastly different feelings and responses. I am aware of two people who have really struggled to accept their diagnosis and consequently have avoided seeking help and have kept friends and relatives uninformed. I get this, it is immensely hard to truly accept that everything has changed.
But it has.
And we need to respond to this in the way that works for us. I made a conscious choice soon after my diagnosis that I would look my mortality straight in the eye and accept it. This is not some kind of macho, tough guy ‘kick cancer’s ass’ attitude. It’s probably the polar opposite. I do awake in the early hours, and I get surges of emotion and a tear when I think of the wreckage that this wretched disease has caused to our lives.
I have been very open with those around me about my cancer and have described in earlier essays how brilliantly I have been supported by family and friends. One of my friends has confided in me that my openness had made my diagnosis so much easier for him and for our mutual cohort of friends. He, and others, have told me that I am an ‘inspiration’ and that we are very ‘brave’. This is very kind and I am not about to argue or dispute this view. I am able to keep this apparent strength because I am being supported by them and so many other people. And I think that I am getting this support because I have been open about what I am going through and welcomed the support that has been offered. In the nonsense, jargon filled, business world this would be termed a ‘positive feedback loop’, I prefer to think of this as simple human decency.
I wish the King well and hope that he has as supportive a group of people close to him as I have. I don’t need to know what type of cancer he has or what treatment he is receiving. He doesn’t need to share with me.
However, I doubt whether the King having cancer will miraculously improve the outcomes for all cancer patients. Undoubtedly, the treatments for many types of cancer have progressed impressively over recent decades. And the same can be said for many other diseases. We know that our NHS is overworked and does not have the resources of people and finance that it needs to respond to every need as we would ideally wish. I can’t suggest a magic solution to this, and I would not like to be the person making the decisions on where resources should be directed, a thankless task. And I doubt the election chances of a politician who campaigns on a mandate of tax rises to fund our public services to the level that we would like. A celebrity member of ‘club cancer’ seems unlikely to change this.
What the King’s diagnosis may help with, is increasing the conversation, awareness, understanding and ‘soft’ support for cancer patients and their families. His recent prostate operation generated significant coverage and discussion. I know that I have become a more knowledgeable and, I hope, more understanding person since I have been diagnosed. I think that I am less judgmental; I really don’t know what is going on in other peoples lives, that grumpy, rude git may well be having a rubbish day for goodness knows what reason. If the King’s response to his diagnosis helps foster a kinder approach from all of us that will be a real and achievable positive outcome.
I am now just three days away from finishing a five-week radiotherapy treatment, which we hope will reduce my bowel and lymph node cancer sufficiently to allow surgery. And I have just turned 60 and received an invitation for…
NHS Bowel Cancer Screening
The booklet accompanying the letter explains how this screening can detect bowel cancer in its early stages and so make treatment more effective. The real irony is not the timing of this letter; I recognise how important this screening is and would definitely be sending in my poo if we did not already know what the answer is. No, the irony is the two lists in the booklet.
List one is factors that increase the chances of bowel cancer; being inactive, being overweight, high red meat/low fibre diet, smoking, excessive drinking.
And list two is what you can do to reduce the risk of bowel cancer; pretty much the opposite of list one.
For me, they appear to have put the wrong title on each list!
What neither list mentions is…luck
Life eh, do all the right things and it still comes along and poos in your porridge.
11th February 2024
