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Hearing in person for the first time somebody saying that they have cancer
goldframedoor
Posts: 1,649 Forum Member
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Whilst I was on the bus on the way to work, for the first time ever in my life, I overheard somebody say in person that they have got cancer! 
(Obviously, I have heard people on TV make an announcement that they have got cancer and even read on website such as this one that well known people have got cancer, but I have never, ever in my life actually been near somebody and overheard them say they have got cancer). This person was elderly, but he looked very healthy indeed. This was despite the fact that he said he had prostate cancer at an advanced stage, and he was constantly having to go for checkups and treatment sessions.
Despite me obviously not even knowing this person, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach because it being the first ever time in my life I have ever heard anybody in person say that they have got cancer of any type!
Can you remember how exactly you felt the first ever time you heard somebody say that they have got cancer, either somebody you know like somebody in your family for example, or somebody you don't know?
(Obviously, I have heard people on TV make an announcement that they have got cancer and even read on website such as this one that well known people have got cancer, but I have never, ever in my life actually been near somebody and overheard them say they have got cancer). This person was elderly, but he looked very healthy indeed. This was despite the fact that he said he had prostate cancer at an advanced stage, and he was constantly having to go for checkups and treatment sessions.Despite me obviously not even knowing this person, I felt like I had been punched in the stomach because it being the first ever time in my life I have ever heard anybody in person say that they have got cancer of any type!
Can you remember how exactly you felt the first ever time you heard somebody say that they have got cancer, either somebody you know like somebody in your family for example, or somebody you don't know?
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I've heard it a few times. How or what I feel is hard to describe but regarding them looking well. You should never judge a person by their looks.
I look healthy and happy but I have renal failure. Not all sick people are stuck in a bed white as a sheet.
But the prognosis is very good so we have high hope for a full recovery.
Although we all knew he was ill, and I had my suspicions it was going to be cancer, actually hearing it, nothing really prepares you for it. I felt sad, shocked, angry, upset..
- a guest's boyfriend at a dinner party admitted he had stomach cancer. I wondered now and then if he had survived.
- a school-friend's mother breaking the news to her at school that she had breast cancer. They were alone in the visitors room, but it was next door to the library where we could hear their conversation through an old air vent. Thankfully, she beat her two-year battle.
I wasn't particularly fearful of the word beforehand but it certainly doesn't bother me anymore.
Sorry for your sad loss
Sending out a hug for Uncle Fester
For me, it was my mum, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March 2010 and she died 17 months later, in August 2011. I got home from uni for the Easter holidays, went up to my bedroom to unpack, and my mum came to tell me. I remember the look on her face more than anything, she was devastated. We sat on my bed while she told me what they'd said and we just cried. It's a horrible feeling, there's nothing you can do to make it ok, it's just terror.