The ABCs Of Cancer – Part One

Cancer is not as easy as the ABC, far from it.

Cancer is the worst game of Scrabble you’ll ever have to play.

But we can bring some order to it by creating an A-Z list.

There are so many variations that I could write I’ve decided to call this ABC ‘Part One’ as I’ll no doubt other versions.

A is for apprehension. This is always running in the background of your mind and peaks around the time of a CT scan.

B is for bravery. You are told how ‘brave’ you are yet you really feel quite the opposite. You don’t have to be if you don’t want to be but it can help if you do.

C is for challenging. The C word comes with another C word for free. Every day is a challenge.

D is for differentiator. That’s you. You make the difference. No one else. You are the defining differentiator.

E is for energy. Treatment will deplete you of this but it doesn’t eradicate it. Your energy is invincible.

F is for force multiplier. You are the one that makes things happen. You are the positive catalyst.

G is for grit. You have fibres and fibres of sisu. You are full of stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, resilience, and hardiness.

H is for healthy. You live by the patient’s maxim: ‘Never stop getting better’.

I is for imposter syndrome.  You might feel like a fraud because you don’t feel as sick as a lot of other cancer patients.

J is for jazz hands. Can be deployed at a moment’s notice and are especially useful to celebrate the completion of a treatment, at least until the next one.

K is for knock it out of the park. It’s what you do everyday just be being here. Keep hitting.

L is for leap of faith. Every decision you make requires one. Life and death decisions require the biggest leap of all.

M is for mission. Your mission objective: to survive ‘n’ thrive. They don’t come any bigger than this.

N is for nerve. Cancer requires nerves of steel to face the inevitable challenges, mind blocks and mood stingers encountered involved in daily living.

O is for options. You can choose to be optimistic despite everything or you can choose a lesser path.

P is for punk. Cancer brings anarchy and a lot of it so we give it back. We rebel. We punk it out. We make mischief. We become life anarchists and we make pushing back our modus operandi.

Q is for quit. Quit complaining, quite doubting yourself, quit thinking you are out of options and quit talking yourself out of living.

R is for realistic. We don’t live for ever so we carpe diem and carpe noctem in equal measure.

S is for symmachy. You are not alone. We are all in this together fighting a common enemy.

T is for Tapleyism. Remaining jolly in the face of pain, unpleasantness, and adversity.

U is for undaunted. Unwavering determination and a refusal to cave in. Gutsy, hardy and brassy in the face of fear.

V is for valiant. Cancer courage is 2am courage. This is the sort of wide awake ‘this is not a drill’ valiance that demands nothing less than a total commitment to optimism, hope, action and getting on with it.

W is for willpower, which keeps you hammering away. It’s the stamina and courage to keep going.

X is for eXhilarating. Even in the thick of it all, life is still on your side.

Y is for yes you can. For all the times you feel like you just can’t, yes you can.

Z is for zappy. When you are being zapped during radiotherapy, your inner zappiness is left intact.