Cancer and Social Awareness
We’re not ready
I haven’t had the strength or the mental readiness to write or post anything in the last few months. As many of you may already know, I am being treated for a severe form of cancer at the early age of 42. This illness has disrupted my life, my family, and many of my friends’ lives. I’m still trying to make sense of it all and adapt to life at each step of the treatment.
I’ve learnt a lot. I’ve learnt things that I believe should be available for everyone to know or see, no matter how uncomfortable it might make you feel. I’ve learnt so much that it would be impossible to write everything here, but I think it is necessary for people to know some of the things that I’ve discovered. After all, half of us will get cancer in our lives, and we don’t talk about it nearly enough, which in turn, makes us all unprepared (as I was) and unlikely to raise it as a societal concern.
Did you know that about 1 in 335 people in the UK is an ostomate? I didn’t, and it took me 39 days from diagnosis to become one.
Today the news talk about strikes (including doctors’ strikes), immigration, climate change, football, etc… And if you watch TV, they also talk about reality shows and which supermarket has the lowest prices. There’s usually little to keep yourself healthy or recognise early signs of malignancy. Maybe, once in a blue moon, you’ll hear about the latest developments in breast cancer, prostate cancer, or dementia. But we keep hearing about people (even famous people) dying early — often without explanation.
Did you know that cancer among young adults has increased by 22% in the last 30 years?
The results are that, legislatively, we make reactive policy in a whack-a-mole style. And I suspect not just in the UK. Possibly in other Western countries too. Let me explain: We aim to tax sugar or ban fast-food advertising before 9 p.m. We are always behind and making reactive laws, and most companies find easy ways to find workarounds. Instead, we should be proactive and bold, but very few initiatives (even though we know they work) are ever produced that way. For example: banning tobacco in public places. That is something that we know it works. Why don’t we do more of this?
Did you know that Greece simultaneously has the highest overall rate of bladder cancer and tobacco consumption in Europe?
Before my diagnosis, I didn’t even know tobacco caused bladder cancer. But here’s the thing: Smoking and chemical exposure in industries that produce rubber, dyes, and textiles only explain about 50% of diagnoses. It doesn’t explain mine. It could be genetic, but again no one in my vast extended family has ever been diagnosed with this cancer.
Did you know there is a 30% increase in the chance of developing bladder cancers in hairdressers over the general population?
We live in a society where we all know the latest contestant arriving on a reality show or the latest 2-for-1 offer in the supermarket. We scroll through social media posts that show things we already know or don’t matter. We get pestered by the highest-paid adverts, and tax money gets wasted on re-election investments.
We allow lobbyist-persuaded politicians to force us into driving a car to work, not having enough time to cook healthy meals and spend most of our time sedentarily glued to screens. Screens that promise an escape from this routine while at the same time bombard us with ways to keep the same unhealthy lifestyle.
The changes needed to get ahead of the health curve are so radical and drastic that it will take a generation before we realise what we have done to ourselves. And by that time, we will be another 30 years behind.
We don’t know why many of these cancers (including mine) happen. More money (including tax money) should be invested directly into research that drives policy instead of leaving this necessity to charity. School should teach the signs of all illnesses, but beyond telling kids that smoking is bad for you or the need for regular cervical smears. There should be mandatory adverts on TV, radio, and social media. I mean, even if you pay for a streaming service. There should be more strict policies about limiting sedentary and unhealthy working hours. And we should all spend less time sitting down, scrolling through screens, smoking and drinking alcohol.
Instead, we are self-fulfilling our own demise by spending millions on sports advertising and watching and not sport-doing. We keep being reminded that the meaningful things in life are whatever the board of directors of multinational corporations think.
Despite being where I am now, I don’t know how to change us. I don’t know how to make blood in your pee more relevant than the latest triple-cheese burger.
