to feel really upset about Caroline ahern and lung cancer

[sarahhammer]

I'm horrified to hear people on the radio showing no sympathy for her, just because she smokes it does not make lung cancer self inflicted!

[Cereal0ffender]

She is one funny women, there aren't enough funny women on the telly I wish her all the luck in the world.

[Reddeb]

Such a horrible horrible attitude, my father died of lung cancer in his early 50s he had never smoked a cigarette in his life or worked or lived in a smoky environment. Sometimes lung cancer just happens for no reason that we know about just like any other cancer. Also the latest research from the us shows that 40% of lung cancers occur in never or former smokers ( defined as given up 10 or more years). And as someone has said already such a large number of people suffer from lung cancer even 10% is a lot of people. Due to stigma it is the most underfunded unresearched cancer, no one seems to give a shit. Anyway no one deserves such a cruel disease even if the did smoke, but causation isn't so simple. If smoking cause lung cancer full stop, then all smokers would get lung cancer and no never smokers would ever get it.

[kinsorange]

You do read sometimes that you should eat more of something or other to stop getting cancer or whatever.
But you can then read say the next week that that is one of the foods to not eat too much of if you want to avoid a heart attack or whatever.

Everything in moderation I suppose. Avoid harmful substances if you can. Take some exercise.
And I would probably add, take a bit of notice of what is in your family history, and sway towards or away from those foods to a certain extent?

But we will all die of something or other.

Boy, that sounds grim, and preachy.

[EverythingCounts]

Swannery bloody hell, really? You can't do right for doing wrong sometimes...

[Swannery]

I read that pancreatic cancer can be caused by taking vitamin C tablets, which some people take because they think it protects them from cancer...

[expatinscotland]

None of us has the right to fuck all in reality, but feel free to get sanctimonious, everyone on here does, and waste their energy on self-righteous anger at all kinds of shit.

We will all die. Millions stop smoking, and live to get dementia. I'd take the cancer any day.

This lady had quit smoking.

Patrick Swayze did not. Instead he got pancreatic cancer, which is not related to smoking as far as anyone knows.

[IdkickJilliansAss]

Sadly a lot of people take up smoking as children under the age and as such are not really best placed for thinking about the future

[hackmum]

"And we have a right to talk about that, and to be furious - not angry with the victims, only their family members really have the right to feel that, but with the people who are still pushing this stuff all around the world in pursuit of profit."

Yes, that's true. It's a shame that people still point the finger of blame at individuals when there is a huge industry out there making vast amounts of money from selling a product that kills people. They are exactly the same as drug pushers, except for some reason they are not ostracised by polite society.

[AintNobodyHereButUsKittens]

That's a bit defeatist expat. There are millions of ex-smokers in the world - almost all of whom have been influenced in that choice by the knowledge of the damage it does to your health. Day by day their bodies are recovering and they are getting further away from the risks of a horrible premature death. Yes they could get run over by a bus tomorrow or contract an unpreventable cancer. But all those risks pale by comparison with the magnitude of the risks of smoking, which doubles your risk of dying at any given age, and which will kill half the people who don't quit (and many of the ones who do quit but not early enough). And we have a right to talk about that, and to be furious - not angry with the victims, only their family members really have the right to feel that, but with the people who are still pushing this stuff all around the world in pursuit of profit.

[expatinscotland]

Newsflash: people never think it will happen to them no matter what.

As the mother of a child who died of cancer, some of the responses on this thread really make me sick.

[kinsorange]

People never think it will happen to them despite all the knowledge they have about the risks

Sadly it catches out a lot of people

[Latara]

I think people like to find a 'cause' for other people's ill health because it makes them feel safer themselves - if you can blame for example the person's weight or smoking or drinking habit for their illness then it means you can stay 'safe' from that illness by not being overweight or drinking or smoking.

But obviously the truth is that despite the fact that drinking, smoking and being overweight contributes to a lot of illness some people are just unlucky and there is NO apparent cause of their illness.
Diabetes type 2 is a case in point - people love to blame obesity because it makes them feel immune when in fact some poor people like my friend's dad have no contributing factor in getting it.

Anyway, it's very tragic whether smoking was the cause or not - 50 is unbelievably young to get such a horrible disease.

[hackmum]

"Hackmum -as I said upthread (so have many others), 10% of lung cancer is contracted by never smokers like my late DH. That is thousands of people in the UK alone, every year.

It's so glib to say it's just a disease that smokers get, ergo it's self inflicted."

Sorry to hear about your DH. Luckily I didn't say that it's just a disease that smokers get. Smoking, however, is the principal cause of lung cancer, and the overwhelming majority of people who get it do so because they are or used to be smokers. That's why there is a massive public health campaign to stop people smoking. Governments don't put money into these things just for the fun of it.

Acknowledging that a person's lung cancer is caused by smoking doesn't mean they deserve to have it.

[tethersend]

crazynanna

My cousin died of lung cancer at 37. He was a smoker. It was still a fucking tragedy.

[JakeBullet]

Really sad to read the news yesterday.

For those berating her for smoking.....she hasn't smoked for a few years now and this cancer is related to cancer she had as a child. HTH you when you are feeling all judgey!

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

Oh well, the shitlist spreadsheet grows ever longer.

About what we've come to expect from MN of late.

Windchime- you're all heart, you really are.

Crazynana (and others who have lost/are losing loved ones to this bastard thing) hide the thread. You don't need to read vicious shit like this.

[DioneTheDiabolist]

This thread reminds me of one a few months ago regarding Stupid Things People Say to the terminally ill, those facing bereavement and the bereaved.

Is there a lack of compassion being shown by those who say it's "self inflicted"? Yes because they are not showing any compassion, they are making themselves feel better.

[sharonthewaspandthewineywall]

Bleeurghh I hate the term 'self inflicted' it's so smug and self righteous

[Owllady]

:(

[crazynanna]

My mum has lung cancer. She is dying. She smoked for years. Makes no difference to me. She is still dying. She is only 67.

[MaidOfStars]

There is a very fine between acknowledging clear risks for certain cancers and suggesting that people 'deserve' cancer because they ignored those risks. I cannot comprehend the idea that anyone 'deserves' cancer, even the most disgraced of criminals.

[brdgrl]

I had cervical cancer. In an argument once, my sister said something to the effect of my deserving it because I'd had multiple sex partners. (Just to clarify, I was hardly promiscuous! - I'd had a couple of long-term relationships that both ended when the guy cheated on me, and a couple of casual relationships.)

We long ago made up from the argument, but I haven't ever forgotten the remark...it was so hurtful.

[windchime]

As someone who lost both parents to smoking-related cancers, I have no sympathy. Educated people know the risks. And as Aherne had already suffered from one form of cancer, you would have thought she would have at least minimised the chance of developing others. Smoking causes cancer and anyone who believes otherwise has their (smokers) head in the sand.

[AnyFucker]

Gosh, this is sad news. I hope she can be successfully treated.