The Christie Institute

There’s nothing heroic about having cancer. I had lymphoma some years back. I could have died. I was sick, weak, tired all the time. I was miserable. The drugs made me ill. My hair fell out—every scrap of it—no eyelashes, so my eyes were full of grit. My fingernails fell out, my feet blistered, my mouth was sore, my nose bled. I just endured it in a kind of dull daze. The only heroes were the people who cared about me. And the medical staff. I was lucky—Manchester’s the best place to be. If you’ve got cancer. Christie’s just has all these top research people from all over the world. They’re really dedicated and they care deeply. So here’s to them. So they cure you with the science. Or you die, and that’s it—just an ending and a terrible waste.

And no you’re wrong. Cancer’s not our fault. It’s not our personalities. It’s just a disease like any other. And it makes me sick when other people get called ‘cancers’.