The Cancer of Cancer

A colleague and friend of mine recently revealed to me that she had breast cancer. I could tell that she told me this news with reluctance, given her private nature. With her personality in mind, I responded in the way that I hoped was appropriate. I asked a few questions without getting too personal. I showed enough concern without getting too emotional. And I showed enough hope without becoming a zealot.

Cancer does that to people. It makes you want so much to say and do the right thing. Whenever I hear of a new diagnosis, I'm often dismayed or angry, but I'm never shocked. Because cancer, of any kind, has become so commonplace now. I am convinced that eventually we will all be diagnosed with some type of cancer. And if we aren't taken out by gunfire, a car accident or an environmental catastrophe, cancer and the complications of it will definitely be on our death certificates.

I've written about cancer on this blog before. Type "cancer" in the search box and you can read about my own experience with mammograms and people who have succumbed to it. I belong to the people who don't believe that cancer, of any type, will ever be cured. There is way too much money in it.....too many jobs, to many prescriptions and treatments, too many charitable organizations propped up by it.

In a kind of perverse way, we all love cancer.

Look at the ribbons. Look at the rubber wrist bands. The walk-a-thons. The candlelight ceremonies. If we didn't love cancer, why would we give it so much air?

I'm kidding, of course. But only a little. Cancer is a big business. Some people have even figured out how to cheat people by feigning to suffer from cancer. Just listen to the podcast Scamanda.

Right now I know a handful of people dealing with cancer either indirectly or intimately. A close friend is watching his first wife and the mother of his children lose her battle to it. Can you imagine the complicated difficulty of such a position? Wanting to be helpful and commiserate while also maintaining the correct boundaries of the situation? And what are those boundaries exactly?

I recently made contact with an old friend and told him I had serious information to share with him. His first thought? Did I have cancer? Imagine that! You talk to someone you haven't seen in a year and his first consideration of big news is a cancer diagnosis. But then again, his employment is also adjacent to the world of cancer. Again, it's a big business.

That's our world. It's growing. Like a.......well.....you know.

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