sorry to make two posts in one day, but i just HAD to get this out because stuff like this makes me so very, very angry.
earlier this evening, i was watching telly and on came this advert for "st. jude's childrens hospital" for childhood cancer. they showed all of those horribly depressing pictures of kids that should be playing around in the dirt at school but are instead hooked up to IVs the size of garden hoses and respirators with no hair from chemotherapy. admittedly, it's pretty depressing even though i hate kids. a few were shown talking to the camera talking about what kind of cancer they had, moms were crying, piano music was playing in the background as the saints of the hospital (i.e. the nurses) helped the kids. all of that sort of thing to tug at the heartstrings. and then they had a few doctors and parents endorsing donations to their hospital, saying things like, "we need to beat childhood cancer" and "these children need your help" and "we need your contribution to end this tragedy of children being so ill" and "children have hope because of your donations!" and other things like that.
that's all fine and dandy, but this thought popped into my head:
kids aren't the only ones who get cancer.
yes, it's sad when people, any people, get cancer. but if we want to beat cancer, we should aim to beat ALL cancers--not just childhood cancers. cancer doesn't discriminate, why should a cure? and aren't there more cancers you can get as an adult than as a child? children don't get breast, testicular, colon, lung, or pancreatic cancer so much, do they?
but of course the children matter far more than the adults and elderly who die every day from cancer. who gives a flying fuck about my grandfather who died two years ago from pancreatic cancer, less than six months after he found out he had it? why on earth would anybody give a damn about my best friends' father who died from leukemia six months after that? and why should we bother trying to find a cure for my other friends' mom, who will soon be starting chemo for breast cancer? these people don't matter because they're not kids!
honestly, it makes me angrier than it should.
thoughts?
earlier this evening, i was watching telly and on came this advert for "st. jude's childrens hospital" for childhood cancer. they showed all of those horribly depressing pictures of kids that should be playing around in the dirt at school but are instead hooked up to IVs the size of garden hoses and respirators with no hair from chemotherapy. admittedly, it's pretty depressing even though i hate kids. a few were shown talking to the camera talking about what kind of cancer they had, moms were crying, piano music was playing in the background as the saints of the hospital (i.e. the nurses) helped the kids. all of that sort of thing to tug at the heartstrings. and then they had a few doctors and parents endorsing donations to their hospital, saying things like, "we need to beat childhood cancer" and "these children need your help" and "we need your contribution to end this tragedy of children being so ill" and "children have hope because of your donations!" and other things like that.
that's all fine and dandy, but this thought popped into my head:
kids aren't the only ones who get cancer.
yes, it's sad when people, any people, get cancer. but if we want to beat cancer, we should aim to beat ALL cancers--not just childhood cancers. cancer doesn't discriminate, why should a cure? and aren't there more cancers you can get as an adult than as a child? children don't get breast, testicular, colon, lung, or pancreatic cancer so much, do they?
but of course the children matter far more than the adults and elderly who die every day from cancer. who gives a flying fuck about my grandfather who died two years ago from pancreatic cancer, less than six months after he found out he had it? why on earth would anybody give a damn about my best friends' father who died from leukemia six months after that? and why should we bother trying to find a cure for my other friends' mom, who will soon be starting chemo for breast cancer? these people don't matter because they're not kids!
honestly, it makes me angrier than it should.
thoughts?
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Comments
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in our area shows people of all ages, because they work with all ages.
I say donate the money to cancer RESEARCH. That way, they can help EVERYONE, not just the only ones that matter, you know, the kids.
I'm sorry, that stuff makes me upset, too.
As a pediatric cancer survivor, I love St. Judes. And here's why:
The American Cancer Society does not provide funds for research for all types of cancers. Nay, on the contrary, if they aren't spending their money on fundraisers, the cancers they fund research for are the most common ADULT cancers such as breast and lung (not that I'm saying they shouldn't, but there are several organizations that do the same for breast 5 times over). How do I know? My mother worked for the California branch in about 2000 or so. During this time, I also had cancer.
So, there is very little research on my cancer (Osteosarcoma) which happens to be not only very painful to die of, but painful to treat and, from what I've read, has one of the lowest survival rates of pediatric cancer. Every kid my mom has met with it (she works for the Make-A-Wish foundation as a volunteer) HAS DIED. This is, of course, before they had their leg amputated and withering in pain until the end.
My uncle, who had a rare thyroid cancer, died the same year I was getting treatment. They know very little about his, but aren't researching it either.
I'm sorry that your grandparent died, however, the majority of the time, their bodies cannot handle the treatment necessary to "Cure" the cancer. And let me tell you, chemo is not fun. Try vomiting for 5 days straight, every couple a months. In fact, if I had been a couple years older, the treatment would have killed me before the cancer. I have permanent damage all over my body ranging from me barely being able to hear out of my left ear to kidney damage bad enough that even if I wanted kids? I would probably die trying to carry it to term.
St. Judes also treats kids from families who otherwise could not afford treatment. And you know what? I fuckin' applaud them for that. Because you know what? They will probably the ones to find a cure for my cancer as well as the brain tumors and spinal tumors that affected the other kids who had cancer in my hospital with me. I'm sorry if you think that's unfair.
a few radio stations around here do fundraising for St. Judes. I've given a bit every time-even if i could only afford 5 bucks. I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I couldn't've afforded my cancer treatment or if I had no insurance. (I was 22 at the time) Even though my cancer was highly treatable if detected early (and props to my doctor for figuring out so quickly what was wrong with me. its a long story.)
The fact that heartstring tugging annoys me aside, and the majority of children/parents bug the piss out of me-i'll still bawl like a baby at some of the stories told.
im not trying to hijack your struggle-joss knows my chemo was not that intensive or damaging (hell, i was embarrassed when they offered my a "survivor" sash at a recent cancer walk, and would only take a "loved one" sash) but i just want you to know that someone agrees wholeheartedly.
I have nothing against St. Judes. I support what they are doing. They have every right to raise money in whatever way they feel will work. They are doing great work. BUT what I wish is that our society didn't have such skewed perceptions. The commercials bother me because they remind me of this state of society.
O RLY?
why should we bother trying to find a cure for my other friends' mom, who will soon be starting chemo for breast cancer?
Yes, because no research is being done at all on breast cancer. That poor little cancer gets absolutely no media attention whatsoever. Especially around this time of year. It's not like there are endless clinical trials going to find better treatments. I guess when my mom was going through experimental high dosage chemo to treat her stage 4B breast cancer was all a figment of my imagination or perhaps it was secretely research for children.
You act like there is a complete void with funding of research for adult related cancer. If that's the case why was there a recent news story about finding a new way to detect prostate cancer earlier? What about the funding that went into finding the first ever cancer vaccine which treats cervical cancer? Don't lose any sleep over it, the big name adult cancers are getting plenty of research.
Childhood cancers deserve their own seperate research and funding. Their cancers have different causes than adult cancers. Treatment has to be different since their livers process meds differently. In general it's trickier and more complicated.
After watching both my parents die of cancer any funding going to save people and preventing them a slow agonizing death is a good thing no matter what their age is. I don't care who that funding it going towards because it's going towards a good cause.
I get the annoyance though.
Last night I saw one of those "Every quarter helps" cardboard donations things (you put a coin in an empty slot) for curing Leukemia and Lymphoma.
The picture on the donation? A little girl.
I guess they figure it tugs at the heart strings or something.
My heart strings are tugged by the nastiness of the disease, not the faces of the people.
Child or adult, it's horrible, I agree, but there's no reason to snark on a commercial because it has children in it or think that more attention is given to child cancer patients. Children are people too - I think sometimes with all the rants in this community, CFers forget that.
And no, that was not a bingo towards anyone. Just an observation.
I wish this was not the case. I wish that people were moved as much by the sufferings of adults as by the sufferings of children. It bothers me that people are less likely to respond to pictures of people who are older and perhaps not as conventionally attractive. Suffering is suffering. But people respond better when the suffering is by children.
I want compassion for all suffering. But, to even it out, I don't want the children to get any *less* compassion than what they are getting. I want the adults to get more. Unfortunatly, that's not how the brains of many people work. I'm glad that the charities are taking advantage of this to get in more funding, because when it comes down to it, all medical research benifits, in some way, all people with diseases, even the research that seems on the surface to be disease-, sex-, or age-specific. But why does it take suffering children to get people to open their wallets? That aspect of society really bothers me.
Not like it matters, but awesome of you to do that.
I despise these heartstring-tugging methods in any commercial.
Breast cancer is a big one for me. It bothers me that, no matter what I do, no matter how healthy I am, I could still wind up with breast cancer. It just isn't right.