Today is World Cancer Day and I saw an article today on Sky News that made me want to talk a bit about it today. I think this World Cancer Day is one of the most important for a long time – they’re all important obviously – but right now coronavirus is getting in the way of cancer for so many unfortunately.
For example during peaks of the coronavirus outbreak and with hospitals at capacity there have been many people with cancer who have been even unable to get essential treatment or that life saving operations were otherwise delayed. It is very tragic for such people, really it’s a double tragedy, the tragedy of coronavirus has created a cancer tragedy. It is likely this will lead to some with cancer dying sooner than they should or even dying when they didn’t have to. We won’t know the true scope of this likely until long after the pandemic has ended and studies determine how much of an impact it had on people with cancer.
Not also to mention that many cancers can also weaken the immune system making such people much more vulnerable to dangerous coronavirus complications which in itself can result in a higher chance of death. And it is very unfortunate that many have simply forgotten about cancer due to everything that is going on, and it’s also very likely to have had an effect on cancer charities as well, in fact certainly will have had due to lockdowns that for example may have prevented fundraisers from being held, and in and of itself the diversion of scientific and medical resources to the coronavirus probably has delayed research into cancer.
Cancer affected my family like it has so many others, and although it was during times long, long ago when there was no threat of coronavirus, it was still a tragic time, my nan had cancer a number of times, it’d go into remission, but then come back stronger, until eventually it was to the hospice and then a heart-wrenching wait for her to meet death. I was quite young when it happened but still old enough to clearly remember all the visits to hospital and to the hospice, it was a very sad time for everyone.
What makes now a days so much worse for those relatives who do have cancer and who are stuck in hospital care, hospice care and so on, families during lockdowns and perhaps even outside of lockdowns are unable to go and see them. They have potentially missed their last moments or simply just missed time with them. I can only imagine how hard it is.
And then there are those right now who are experiencing cancer symptoms but are too afriad to go to get it checked out due to the threat of the coronavirus. And it’s completely understandable considering hospitals or clinics are perhaps one of the most likely places to catch the disease. But it must be remembered that catching the signs of cancer early can be a massive life saver, holding it off simply just isn’t worth it. If anything is more dangerous it’s cancer, not coronavirus. Cancer will have a much higher chance of taking your life if left unchecked. So it’s incredibly important to the best of your ability to get a lump or other unusual symptom that can so often be connected with cancer checked out.
Again it may be harder to get in now due to the struggles on the system, but one must keep trying as much as they can, not just for yourself but also for your family and friends as well.
Cancer still sucks, and even as coronavirus overshadows everything cancer is still there in the shadows, and it’s still ruining lives and causing great misery.
I miss my nan still and wonder what things would have been like if she were still around. We did everything we could to keep her around for as long as possible. So I beg of others to do the same, don’t let the coronavirus keep cancer hidden!
Thank you for reading. Remember to donate (if you can, there are other things you can do as well if you cannot) and help out anyway you can towards the fight against cancer, right now it’s needed more than ever. CancerResearchUK