InTouch Magazine Articles Archive

Issue 16, March 2008

Cancer Patients & Friends

By Gina Coleman.

Although we’ve all read that, with early diagnosis, cancer can be treated and the prognosis is good, there’s always that – at least metaphoric – intake of breath and heart-stopping moment when a doctor tells a patient: ‘you have cancer’.

It’s not what any of us want to hear, whether the patient is ‘us’, a family member or friend.
So many questions come to mind …. Not just then, but throughout and after treatment, regardless of its success or otherwise. Because, sadly, not everyone manages to pull through.
Over 1700 cancer patients are newly diagnosed in Cyprus each year and, whether they are Cypriot nationals or other nationals living here, the first thought (if not in ‘denial’) can be ‘who can answer my questions? ‘Who can I talk to about my worries?’ and, if they’re living on their own, ‘who can help me get through this?’

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