Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
Summary
No matter where we are in life, we are seldom prepared for death. Over the course of writing this book, I did not ever meet with anyone who, before their diagnosis, had ever seriously contemplated the idea of dying. Thirtysix-year-old Louise had not ever imagined herself having cancer. She told me how, when she was a medical undergraduate, a lecturer informed her class that demographically it was probable that in y number of years, x number of them would be dead. She explained to me:
We laughed; we thought it was so funny. Quite a few laughed, others shivered. I know at least one has died in an accident, two of us have cancer, various other things have happened, nervous breakdowns, divorces and we have not hit forty yet. No one expects it at their doorstep and we all feel immune from it. Up until it happens to you it is the truth, it always was someone else. Who expects to have a life threatening illness in their thirties?
Confrontation with potentially fatal diseases focuses the mind; it provides an opportunity for values to be reassessed. Priorities are examined and many re-evaluate their commitments and relationships.
The people I met whilst conducting my research were very much individuals. They differed in their reactions to, for example, finding their first symptoms; they responded differently when learning their diagnosis; how they chose to spend the time leading up to their deaths was different too.
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- Living and Dying with Cancer , pp. 1 - 6Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004