Weaponless Warrior

I was interviewing a medulloblastoma survivor recently and while my goal was to figure out if he would be a good fit for our advocacy committee, he made me think.  One of his interests is in the language that we use to talk about illness in general and cancer specifically.  He is particularly bothered by the battle imagery that implies that you are in some way able to fight the cancer, and if you lose, that somehow you are a failed warrior.  Or if you are cancer free that somehow you have prevailed.  The reality is so much different than that.  We are using medicines and therapies and surgeries in order to eradicate something that is actually a part of us gone terribly wrong rather than some foreign invader.  If the cancer is eradicated, it is accomplished by the treatment and not something that we the survivor has done.  We show up.  That is about all that we can control.  Implying otherwise puts an undue burden on both those who survive and those who do not.  That is what I did.  I showed up, month after month, and I am hoping for the very best.