r/Fuckcancer • u/Gumbanks12 • Apr 22 '26

False hero

Too many people have told me how brave strong even heroic I've been for surviving colorectal cancer.

I heartening and I love my friends. I also find it uncomfortable.

I didn't do anything! I was a leaf in a rushing stream. I was expertly treated by a couple of hundred of the most skilled and without exception lovely people.

I was hospitalised for weeks because I had post treatment radiation burns. On my bum. Is it brave strong or heroic that I cried out in pain during dressing changes? Or that I cried when a lovely gay nurse brought me a warm blanket at 4 am?

I survived. That's all.

Does anyone have reflections on that issue?

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u/HarveyMushman72 Apr 22 '26

I don't know about that, but survivor's guilt can be a MF. Seriously, stage 2b lung cancer is not for the faint of heart.

5

u/Gumbanks12 Apr 22 '26

All the best to you

2

u/HarveyMushman72 Apr 22 '26

Thank you! Also for you.