The language and imagery used by those talking about cancer can, as Simon Jenkins suggests (When it comes to cancer spare us the war metaphors, Opinion, 29 January), cause great distress to and put pressure on patients and their families. My husband died of a brain tumour. Some time later, a friend of his was diagnosed with a very treatable cancer. During his treatment he told me of his belief that being relentlessly positive was vital to his recovery. This was no doubt useful to his mental state, and I was delighted when he was successfully cured.
However, later, he commented to me that he still couldn’t understand why my husband had died, given that he too “had always been so positive”. I answered pointedly that unlike his friend he had not been lucky enough to develop a cancer that was currently curable and left it at that, but at the time, and even now, years later, I find the implication that if he’d only managed to be a bit more cheerful he’d have come through both ill-informed and deeply distressing.
Jill Wallis
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire
• As someone who has recently lost a daughter to this vile epidemic, I should advise Mr Jenkins that these war metaphors are appropriate when it comes to care and support from the drastically underfunded NHS. It is a “battle” to get reasonable, fair and speedy treatment and patients are “at war” with a service that is struggling to cope. Until people become aware of the true extent of this plague and demand more, immediate, funding to “fight” it, the “war” (which is being lost) will continue.
Robert Davies
Warninglid, West Sussex
• These metaphors were parodied in the US satirical magazine the Onion in 1999, which published a brilliant article about a cowardly man who refused to fight cancer.
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
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