My mum and her sister have just found out they have cancer. Both treatable and in early stages so it’s all pretty fresh at the moment. They have chosen to not tell anybody outside of the immeadiate family which is of course their choice. They know others who are in a far worse position to themselves so I don’t know if they feel guilty talking about it to anyone as they will ‘be ok’ and others won’t or what the reasoning is. They are very private old fashioned people fair enough but rather selfishly I’m like - I need to talk about this. There’s no shame in saying you have cancer so I’m struggling to get my head round it at the moment. I have told one friend who I of course now have sworn to secrecy too but I just want my mum and aunty to have the support they need and deserve from friends and other family too.
I know I have to respect their wishes but it’s so hard!! Is anyone else in the same position? It feels wrong even posting here.
Hi Jesmac2
Welcome to our community though sorry to hear what you are going through. Quite a few people with cancer choose not to share their cancer diagnosis for many reasons. Sometimes we find people might see them as the cancer and forget the person and as you say the "their are others worse than me"
If we look at your feelings when someone has cancer I know I recognize a lot of the things I went through but then the ability to recognize those emotions and accept them as normal and valid can help to make them less overwhelming.
On here we do really celebrate everyone who gets cured and of course as time goes by more and more cases go that way.
As for posting on here - everyone is hidden behind the anonymity so glad you felt you could share. There will I am sure be others in exactly the same position who never got to the point of posting but your message will help them feel a bit more normal too.
<<hugs>>
Steve
