This has caused a lot of hurt and anger amongst many people, myself included, who have had a breast cancer diagnosis. Not to mention the people who are dying from the disease because yes, breast cancer kills you know. In fact it kills 12,000 people every year in the UK alone. It is not the "good" cancer that some people have told me that I'm lucky to have. It is most certainly not all pink and fluffy full of bald headed warriors. For many women, and men I should add, their breast cancer is terminal. They are stage 4. There is no stage 5. I'm guessing that they wish that they didn't have breast cancer.
The point of the Pancreatic Cancer Action campaign is to make people aware that their 5 year survival rate is just 3% compared to 85% of breast cancer patients and also that they get less funding. I am all for them gaining awareness. Every disease deserves awareness and funding and as much research as possible. I even understand why a pancreatic cancer patient who is dying would say that they wish they had a different type of cancer with a better prognosis but I don't agree with an organisation using this as a header in a campaign ad. Don't use one cancer against another, it belittles everything a breast cancer patient goes through.
My breast cancer is called Triple Negative. It is a rarer more aggressive type of breast cancer. Many breast cancers have receptors for the hormones oestrogen and progesterone or for a protein called HER2. These receptors can stimulate cancers to grow. Breast cancer patients with hormone receptors are prescribed hormone treatments such as tamoxifen and Herceptin for HER2 receptors. My tumour didn't have oestrogen, progesterone or HER2 receptors, which is why it is called Triple Negative. Patients with triple negative breast cancer don't benefit from tamoxifen or Herceptin so chemotherapy and radiotherapy are our only treatment options. We have no back up. My 5 year survival rate is not 85%. Granted it is nowhere near as low as 3% but my chances of reoccurrence are higher than those of breast cancer patients with hormone receptors. Does this mean I sit and wish that I had a cancer with hormone receptors? No. I just wish there was more funding and research into triple negative.
I think what I'm trying to say is that all cancers are different and statistics don't mean all that much when you are the one who is dying. Yes, I am lucky in that I found my cancer early and it hadn't spread to any lymph nodes. Everything is ok with me at the moment but I live everyday with the fear of it coming back. I am not cured. There is no cure for cancer. This is what we should all be aiming for, a cure for all cancers. Not competing against each other and creating cancer envy. Get your campaign out there, raise awareness just don't do it at the expense of others.
I have no ill feelings towards the young woman in the pancreatic cancer action campaign. I can not even begin to understand what she must be going through and I wish her nothing but peace and love and as little pain as possible. To hear that she has been receiving death threats on twitter makes me feel sick to my stomach. To those that do that, stop being dicks yeah.
