Letters

Life after cancer diagnosis

People who are living post-cancer

Wed Mar 13 2024 - 00:07

Sir, – Dr Muiris Houston’s Health + Family column (“Cancer: How to navigate the mental challenges of a diagnosis”, March 12th) is, as always, interesting and insightful, and I look forward to reading Professor Ann-Marie O’Dwyer’s book new book, The Cancer Guide - How to Nurture Wellbeing Through and Beyond a Cancer Diagnosis, on a hugely important subject that needs more coverage.

However, Dr Houston’s reference to “survivorship” after a cancer diagnosis prompted me to write.

Having had radical treatment for cancer in 2015, I am cancer-free and live every day with the after-effects of my treatment, something that can be very challenging and that regrettably is very unlikely to ever change for me. My story is similar to tens of thousands of people in Ireland.

I do not, however, consider myself to be a cancer survivor, and I do not hesitate to politely point this out to anyone who refers to me as one. Having volunteered extensively as a patient advocate and representative since my diagnosis, I can say with certainty that many others in my situation feel the same. Generally, we prefer to be described as people who are living post-cancer (and indeed in some cases with cancer) and this subtle difference is very important, not just for us but for the all too many cancer patients who did not live to get the chance that we have. In this regard, an online search for “opposite of survivor” is highly recommended.

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Finding a key word or phrase to replace survivor in the context of cancer is a regular discussion topic among healthcare professionals, patient representatives, researchers, counsellors and of course cancer patients. We are still searching.

Any ideas? – Yours, etc,

MARTIN SWEENEY,

Phibsborough,

Dublin 7.