Why is it when a celebrity gets cancer it becomes international news? But when a regular person gets cancer, people run away and hide? I mean the latest celebrity to get cancer is the man who was just recruited by the NFL, shouldn't he be allowed to cope with his diagnosis and treatment with a little privacy? The last thing a chemo patient wants is a camera following them around as they lose their hair and try to keep down their food.
The lack of sensitivity in the media is awful these days. Reporters are aggressive for stories and have to get the scoop. Stories get blown out of proportion and what is little news becomes big news. Media hype causes a lot of problems but that's not my topic.
My topic is cancer diagnosis and privacy. Well not just privacy but managing of privacy. A regular person gets cancer and has to cope. They tell who they want to at first and then all your friends and relatives know and people call and want to talk and you still are in 'cope' mode not in 'talk' mode. (That is all the friends and relatives who don't move to another planet so they can pretend the world is perfect and no one has a nasty disease.)
If some one is diagnosed with cancer, I wouldn't bring it up to them until they tell you. If you hear a friend has cancer through another friend, I would not rush to call them and talk to them about it unless the sick friend has told the other friend to please tell people. Its a time to give people space to cope and think things through.
2 comments:
A friend's husband just told me his wife has cancer. Should I call her? I'd like to reach out in some way but don't want to invade her space either? She was diagnosed 3 weeks ago.
@ michele - I suggest you call her husband and ask if he thought she would be up for a call or needs anything. He can clear it with her if he isn't sure. Thanks for the sensitivity!
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