The narrative around surviving cancer can sometimes alienate the people it hopes to inspire. Rob Tufel tells us his Perspective.
My husband and I were waiting at a stop light on the way to my first cancer treatment when I noticed the billboard with a woman’s face, staring down at me. There were 2 photos – a small one of a young woman without any hair wearing a hospital gown and a larger one of her with long hair cascading over her shoulder. Next to her were the words “At 16, cancer could have stopped me.” Below those words, was the name Allie, and the word “Resilience” in big black letters outlined in bright red.
“What’s so great about resilience anyway?” I said to my husband. Resilience is defined as “the ability to recover quickly after something unpleasant.” While I appreciate Allie’s message of determination, the focus on resilience leaves me uneasy because it crowds out what I am feeling – anxiety about my treatment and my quality of life after cancer.
Looking at that word resilience on the billboard, I wondered about Allie – why didn’t cancer stop her at 16? Was it because she had top notch medical care, helpful family and friends, accurate information, supportive services, and the ability to pay for treatment? The underlying message is that resilience is an attitude that a patient can control. But there are so many things outside of a patient’s individual control which all impact our ability to be resilient. We may desire to recover quickly but especially now, as all of us adjust to living in a post-pandemic world, there is an increased awareness that quickly getting back to our lives is not always straightforward, and that our lives may look very different than before.
So what billboard message would have resonated with me? A message that gave me hope as well as comfort, that let me know that while the road ahead may not be easy, there is support available. In the soundbite world of billboard advertising, finding a way to say all that in a catchy message may be a challenge, but for me, would have been worth the effort.