Words Matter
By Jaime
February 16, 2010
As a writer, words are the medium with which I work, but they also matter in other arenas. As a daughter, an aunt and a friend, words have the power to hurt or heal. As a counselor, words build relationships. In medicine, words can give color to an otherwise all-too-often black and white playing field.
So what are we really saying when we talk about cancer?
We often say a person is “struck with disease” or “cancer-stricken.” People “battle” or “fight” cancer. After all, this is the “war on cancer.” Well, I choose to use different words to describe cancer.
How about we say she’s “living with cancer”? When someone dies, we say they “succumbed” to cancer or “lost the battle”. Did they not “fight” hard enough? Were they any less strong than the people still living?
And as for “curing” cancer, cancer is actually hundreds of diseases that change and elude us constantly. As an oncologist in the brilliant Newsweek article “We fought cancer…and cancer won” said, “One tumor is smarter than 100 brilliant scientists.” Even in childhood cancers like leukemia, that we have “cured,” the treatment is known to cause second cancers, infertility and a myriad of other health problems. Instead, we should work on finding treatments that are less toxic and detrimental. What about finding new ways to reduce the risk for cancers, and better screening tests? (Or in some cases, like ovarian or pancreatic cancer, any screening tool.) Wouldn’t it be great if we were all as familiar with the symptoms of thyroid, ovarian, mouth or colon cancer as we are with breast cancer? What if we stopped simply wearing ribbons and walking for cures, and actually actively educated others and ourselves about health and disease? Or drove a friend or family member to chemo, and took care of them while they got sick afterward? What would happen if we didn’t merely offer ourselves in terms of “if there’s anything you need,” and instead took initiative and delivered meals, cleaned the house or babysat for individuals going through treatment?
That takes more work, is a lot messier and forces you to face your own fears about cancer than simply wearing a pin or lacing up running shoes. What if we dropped the stigma of lung or cervical cancer, or talked to people about what hospice really entails, so they can take advantage of it earlier?
Even in the medical field, we say “the patient failed chemotherapy,” not the other way around. What if we started to talk about Stage IV cancers more, even though they often eventually defy all treatment? Or let’s actually speak about death, which always seems to be the elephant in the room with cancer. Let’s stop saying “terminal case of cancer,” or the word “terminal” at all with cancer – because, after all, life is terminal, too, isn’t it?
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