Understanding Them

     One of the scariest thing that could happen to me is to have cancer. Not just because of the pain I could be going through therapies or the incurability of the disease but also because of the sadness and depression that my loved ones and I could feel. Whenever I see cancer patients, I can feel from them the fear of dying and being left alone. I would never want to have cancer.

     I cannot distinctively describe what cancer patients could feel because I wouldn’t know and I believe that non-cancer patients could never relate as much as those who had experienced cancer.

     The podcast, “The Rhetoric of Cancer,” is a very good instrument for people like me to at least know the language of cancer patients. Through listening, the line that strike me was, “If I battle my cancer I’m putting myself in conflict against myself ……… to have embraced it [cancer] like a family member.” It strikes me because in that line I could at least relate to what cancer patients could feel. Isn’t it scary seeing yourself and battling with it. In the case of cancer patients, they are battling with cancer, which is a part of them – inside their bodies, and that means that they are fighting in what inside them. It seems that battling with oneself would be easy since that person would know what would be the weakness of himself but, the problem if he defeats the other means, he also loses. And here comes St. Francis of Assisi saying that cancer could be embraced like a family member. One could think that the statement could mean surrendering but in my opinion, embracing cancer is a good way to battle with it. Befriending your enemy – cancer – is a good way to lessen the depression and sadness of cancer patients could be feeling. What could one do when he knows that there is nothing that could cure his disease? So why not live your life to the fullest when you still have time. So I believe that St. Francis of Assisi is right. But that doesn’t mean doing nothing and letting yourself die, but rather, making use of your time efficiently.

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Nikka Marie Sales 

Not a Battle

We humans are not invincible, but I'd like to believe that we are strong. I myself, as a person, would like to believe that after all of the obstacles and challenges I faced in life, I was able to overcome them all. Even if I fell, I stood up and showed that I can be strong. But despite this, I know that I'm not as strong as people with cancer. It's something different. Something that I think I can never imagine how to put myself in their shoes. I can feel sorry for them, and say "Everything will be okay." But no. I know that those words are never enough to comfort them. I can feel awed, and say "I know you're strong and you can do it." But no. I know those words aren't enough to encourage them. I can try and think that yes, it's really hard to be in that situation. But I can never feel what they are really feeling.

The "Rhetoric of Cancer" though, made me realize a lot of things. It's a whole new perspective of having cancer. I never even thought about those things before, not until I listened to the documentary. What really tapped me was the message saying that "If I battle my cancer, I’m putting myself in conflict against myself." (Andrew Graystone) I've always heard lines in movies and stories saying "We're gonna fight cancer." But this is the first time someone actually said something against fighting cancer. And thinking about it, it does make sense. Why would you fight something that is part of you? Not that you want the cancer and die. But maybe the point is, before you can survive cancer, you have to learn how to accept it as a part of you. And it's never right to say that someone who died of cancer lost his battle. Because no, they didn't lose. We should learn how to look at cancer in a different way, and not as a "battle" between the cancer and the patient. The body is not a war zone. It is a gift from God. I'd like to believe that there is a reason why things happen to people. And I think that God wouldn't want us to think that He made the body a war zone for other people. It doesn't really help when patients visualize cancer as an "enemy". As a Psychology major, I know that the negative can never heal the negative. It's not always "two negatives equal positive" like multiplication. No. Positivity is something that can help. And who thinks that "war", "enemy", "battle", and other fighting-related terms would be of help to someone who already feels negative feelings? Depression is always a part of having cancer, I guess. But I think that it will only worsen if we approach the sickness as a battle.

Chrystine L. Cobarrubias

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Papaano nga ba lumaban?

                Tunay nga namang isang seryosong karanasan sa isang tao ang pagkakaroon ng cancer. Hindi ito isang karamdaman lamang na iinuman mo lang ng gamot at ipahinga ay ayos ka na. Isa sa mga penomenong kinatatakutan ng mga tao nat ikipinanghihina sa pagkakataong ikaw ay mapugaran nito. Kaya nga kahit na magkaiba man kami ng pananaw ni Andrew Graystone, nagawa kong intindihin kung saan siya nanggagaling, kung saan niya hinuhugot ang kaniyang mga sinasabi—humahanap siya ng mga paraan upang intindihin at tanggapin ang parte ng kaniyang katawan na nagdudulot sa kaniyang paghihirap. Gusto niyang salubungin at yakapin ang isang panauhin na hindi imbitado, at kahit kailanma’y hindi inaasam na dumalaw ito, sapagkat siya mismo ang lumikha nito at parte na ito ng kaniyang pagkatao.

                Hindi ko tinutuligsa ang kaniyang ipinaglalaban, ang akin lamang, mahirap talagang tanggapin na i-romanticized ang isang karamdamang maaaring humantong sa isang hangganan ng isang indibidwal. Pabor ako sa metaporang ginagamit sa pagtrato sa cancer. “Masculine” at “militaristic” ang pagsasalarawan ni Graystone rito sapagkat sa tuwing may cancer ang isang tao’y kadalasan ang mga salitang lumalabas upang bigyang-lakas ng loob ay “malakas ka, magagawa mong manalo sa laban!” o ‘di kaya’y “H’wag kang panghinaan ng loob, maging matibay ka at ituloy ang laban.” Sang-ayon ako na maaaring nag-impluwensiya nito ay media upang magkaroon ng bahid ng drama at mas pumatok sa masa ang balita ngunit sa parehong pagkakataon ay naniniwala ako na pagbibigay ito ng respeto at pagkakakilanlan sa isang taong kumakaharap sa isang kritikal na kondisyon. Para sa akin, kung isasalarawan ko ang cancer sa mabulaklak na pamamaraan (“I want to kiss my cancer goodbye” imbis na “cancer, you and me, outside!”), mas hindi ko magagawang magkaroon ng positibong pananaw sa buhay. Positibo ang aking pagtanggap sa karamdaman, ngunit ang hinuha kong magiging epekto nito’y hindi ko mabibigyan ng pokus ang mas nararapat bigyan ng pansin kaysa sa pagtanggap dito—ang paglunas sa sakit na ito.

                Ihinayag ni Graystone sa huli na parte na ang cancer ng kaniyang paglalakbay sa buhay, nagawa nitong mapaunlad at mapatibay ang kaniyang pagkatao nang malagpasan niya ito. Sa lahat ng kaniyang binitawang mga salita, nais kong malaman, papaano niya ito nilunasan? Minahal at tinanggap nga lang ba, o, siya rin ay “lumaban”?

                

Guevarra, Julie Ann Olino

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Cancer in Different Perspectives

Having cancer means battling against oneself. Whether you like it or not, you will be forced into a war zone, where cancer is the villain and the treatments and doctors are the heroes. But according to the documentation, putting cancer in a metaphorical war isn’t the only language of the disease.

Journeying with cancer would be more of a mental and emotional challenge than a physical one. Dying from it would automatically mean that a person “lost” from it. This is probably because it has become a norm by being commonly heard from the media and from family members and friends of a cancer patient who think of it in that sense. To be honest, this kind of spreading of information is really out of respect or recognition of the deceased cancer patient who actually tried to live with the disease and probably accepted it as a part of him. Thoughts like these do exist because people like Andrew Graystone, the cancer survivor in the documentation, actually think of his cancer as something that he made and not something that came from the environment. He thought of it as just a bad part of his body that he just needed to love. But the brand and strategic marketing at Cancer Research UK think otherwise. They imprint on people’s minds that cancer is a monster or a boogie man, causing fear to develop in peoples’ hearts. I admit, fear is the only thing I have ever known when it comes to cancer. I have an aunt who had breast cancer and suffered a great deal. She is one of the lucky ones since she survived, but she lost her left breast. She had a daughter who cried for her every single day, scared whether her mom would die. Indeed, fear is and will be the only dominant thing when a person has cancer. It’s surprising how other people think of it as something less. For example, Michael Overduin, professor at the School of Cancer Sciences at Birmigham University, thinks of cancer cells as just bad notes in your own body, causing the symphony of your system to go into chaos. Jim Cotter, a priest and writer who has leukaemia, thinks of cancer as angels that came from the devil. While theologian Dr Paula Gooder thinks that every “bad thing” isn’t always tied up with evil.

I guess living with cancer won’t always mean you’re automatically doomed. Just like how Andrew Graystone found something valuable that has become a part of him. He couldn’t hate his body at all. Prior to this, it teaches us an important lesson that positivism can always change a situation, even if it would mean you are close to death. 

by Nicole Tesoro

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