Words matter when you talk about cancer.
PUBLISHED July 13, 2018
Martha lives in Illinois and was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in January 2015. She has a husband and three children, ranging in age from 12 to 18, a dog and a lizard.
I stuck the "Survivor" ribbon for my nametag in my bag and thought about it for an hour. It wasn't the best way to start my experience at a huge oncology conference in Chicago held a little over a month ago.
While I can't get behind expressions like “lost her battle,” which are so often seen when we talk about cancer, and I seriously dislike the whole cancer "journey" baloney – I’m not "losing" to cancer and I am not on a trip that will lead to enlightenment. But the battlefield term that really makes me cringe is “survivor.”
While I can't get behind expressions like “lost her battle,” which are so often seen when we talk about cancer, and I seriously dislike the whole cancer "journey" baloney – I’m not "losing" to cancer and I am not on a trip that will lead to enlightenment. But the battlefield term that really makes me cringe is “survivor.”
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