Does SBC upset you to the point you need a trigger warning?It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month- the donations are rolling in, no bra day happens to be real (on SBC day nonetheless) and influencers are fondling their tits online... What's not to love? Now if your reading this I’ll spare you the pink positivity rant and jump straight to the point. Did you know that having a deadly condition like Secondary Breast Cancer actually upsets some people to the core, to the point it just ruins their day? Oh, I am sorry! I forgot to mention the people I am referring to are usually not the ones suffering from the deadly development of the disease. Imagine not only having your life ripped away from you, but then to actually talk about your recent existence becomes so taboo it actually offends some people? If I am honest, I didn’t realise this was even a thing, but here we are. Cancer is an absolutely horrendous illness, and my heart genuinely goes out to half the population which will\have experienced it.... ...Radiotherapy, surgery and chemotherapy are all awfully unpleasant experiences which you can experience fighting Primary BC, and they leave you both mentally and physically scarred for life. It takes years to slowly put your identity back together and you are forever left fragile. My heart goes out to these people, it really does. Pain is relative - cancer is such a wholly subjective experience and for some people, something like losing your hair can be world ending... and you know what? That’s OK. That is their battle to have, and I will always be here to listen. Generally speaking, the single primary BC cancer patient is not contributing nor are they responsible for the misery of secondaries (Now that’s a pleasure reserved for the system, and the occasional big BC charity) and quite frankly I hate how we are categorised. The brutal nature of overcoming primary cancer is not to be underestimated, it can completely break people and I think this (along with the majority of the populations complex when it comes to death) is a large contribution to the issue I bring before you today. Many of these unfortunate souls have had such a mental ‘outing’ that once they have exceeded their treatment goals, they never want to (quite rightly) deal with cancer again. However, my friends, this becomes an issue when they allow their fear of Cancer to dictate their lives. Some people cannot even utter the word and continue to give it the gravitas it does not deserve by calling it ‘the big C’ or ‘it which shall not be named’. I’m sorry, this isn’t a freaking Harry Potter book. It’s a REAL disease with REAL devastating effects. Life is bad for all sorts of people and if you're lucky enough to have the facilities to even be reading this, congratulations! You are officially luckier than half of the world's population. Quite frankly, our perspective of life is warped and if hearing someone talk about their secondary cancer upsets you to the point where you feel obligated to complain and demand a ‘Trigger Warning’, on content which aims to spread awareness and educate, then you my friend, need to address your privilege. Ignorance is not bliss. It kills. I’m sorry you went through cancer and I’m jealous (but grateful) if you haven’t. But to deny SBC patients a platform, or to deny the education to others because certain information upsets you, makes you a huge contributor in keeping cancer a killer.
You are keeping us silenced, a ‘dirty little secret’ if you will. You allow society to treat us as second class when you should be standing with us, not battering us back into the shadows. Think about it... Why do our impending deaths upset YOU so much? I think I know the answer! It's because it is about YOU, your EGO, your FEARS. You are more upset about the potential it could happen to you rather than acknowledge the person right now, who is actually living your darkest fears. The kicker for me? Is when you feel you need to complain about this person for trying to shine a light on the topic which could potentially save your life. Take your trigger warning and take your ignorance. I had one fuck to give and its officially gone. |
A ' no holds' page about my life with incurable advanced Breast Cancer, in the hope it will give a realistic, detailed account to other young women going through the unfortunate illness.
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