How to be a Cancer Survivor

(Hint: don’t die)

Maybe the most common term in the world of cancer (after, “You have cancer”) is Cancer Survivor. There are about 12 million survivors in the U.S. and millions more around the world. The term can have vastly different meanings for different people. In a nutshell, if you have (or had) cancer and are still alive, you are a Cancer Survivor. If you had cancer and are no longer alive, you are NOT a Cancer Survivor. Amen.

To some, the term is insulting or at best irrelevant. To others it is a badge of honor for fighting long and hard to survive. There are, of course, numerous types of cancer, many and varied treatments, and several levels of severity. And all the people in all these situations fall into the general category of Cancer Survivor. Surviving is good (at least that’s the way I look at it). But the term Cancer Survivor doesn’t differentiate between a cure and Stage 4 or a few skin cancer cells and an incurable melanoma. I am a Cancer Survivor who is a lot healthier than many other Cancer Survivors but not as healthy as some other Cancer Survivors.

When someone asks you if you are a Cancer Survivor, what do you say? Should you tell them more? How much more? Or just nod and say, “Yes”? Does it matter whether you are a breast cancer survivor, prostate cancer survivor, lung cancer survivor, or a survivor of a hundred other cancers? I think most people without cancer use the term as a sign of support and caring and probably don’t want or need a lot of information. What do you think?

axman