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!

[squoosh]

The episode of the Royle Family where Nana dies is the one thing guaranteed to make me howl with laughter and blub like a baby.

[Nancy66]

Squoosh - I agree. when Barbara is doing nana's hair, such a brilliant mixture of pathos on comedy. From that great line about soup of the day to nana saying she never wanted to go into a home. sublime.

[Youdontneedacriminallawyer]

Of course lung cancer is self inflicted if you smoke. What an odd thing to say OP.
Still sad though, but no sader than anyone else with a terminal illness.

[Bahhhhhumbug]

My older brother died of lung cancer at aged 59, a lifelong smoker of around ten to twenty a day. He always said himself it was his own fault for smoking , bless him , he never felt sorry for himself or asked why me. But he grew up in an era when it was almost a rite of passage for a young man to start smoking and they didn't know/advertise as much then about the dangers.
One thing I do know is he didn't deserve to die that way , he was a lovely gentle person and having been with him to the end I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
What's the prognosis for Caroline , is it advanced ? My brother was diagnosed quite late on and was misdiagnosed as having COPD initially and sent home with an inhaler and quit smoking pack.

Poor girl, hope she pulls through.

[Nancy66]

there's a woman I used to work with who had huge tits and was a bit brassy and who we nicknamed 'Beverly Macca'

[Owllady]

Nancy :o
Every time I see a Dyson I think of Mary in the Hoover
And baby David

[ShadyLadyT]

Whether or not one will contract cancer of any sort is much more complicated than a simple causal relationship.

And believe me, I know more about lung cancer than I want to. My DH died of it (a fit, young, healthy never-smoker) as did my father (a smoker). It's not straightforward to say my Dad's smoking caused his lung cancer. As it happens, he had beaten skin cancer, and then 20 years later, lymphoma, and developed the primary lung cancer ten years after that. As for my beloved DH, the theory was that as his mother had died of breast cancer at a relatively young age, there was a faulty gene - did you know there is a link between breast cancer and lung cancer? Also, lung cancer rates are SO high that the ten per cent like my DH who have ever touched a fag amounts to a LOT of people in the UK; yet lung cancer research is chronically underfunded and miles behind other cancers because there is such a stigma to it - people just shrug and say 'it's your own fault'. Much like some of the charmers on this thread, in fact.

[squoosh]

I'm welling up a little just thinking of Barbara doing Nana's hair for her. And the scene where

[MrsMaturin]

My bil died from lung cancer. The cause was probably smoking.

When he was going for treatment he scrubbed and scrubbed at his fingers to get the nicotine stains off because he didn't want the nurses to judge him. How heartbreaking is that? That's the effect of what some of you are saying. Your smug judgement makes the people suffering this illness feel guilty and ashamed. Guilty and ashamed whilst they ARE DYING.

Lung cancer is an awful disease. If you're more bothered about what caused it than the effects it has on the patient and their loved ones then I have no (printable) words for what I think of you.

[thegreylady]

Lung cancer is often a secondary and when it is it is completely unrelated to smoking. it is very common place for breast or bowel cancer to metastasize.

[MaidOfStars]

She (and her brother, I think) had retinoblastoma as children. This will mean she carries a mutation in a gene called RB1. This gene makes a protein that is involved in stopping cell division and growth. Therefore, if you lose this gene, cells will divide and grow unchecked i.e. cancer.

Everyone has two copies of RB1. Even one working copy is enough to keep cell division under control; therefore, to get cancer, you need to acquire mutations in BOTH copies of RB1 in a single cell. This is biologically and mathematically unlikely. We may all pick up the odd mutation in one copy, but this is unproblematic. Caroline Aherne (or anyone with familial/hereditary retinoblastoma) already has one mutation in one copy of RB1 in every cell of her body - she only needs one mutation event to get cancer.

I won't be drawn into speculating about why someone with a clear and well-studied genetic predisposition to cancer might choose to hurry the necessary second mutation along by smoking. That doesn't detract from the sadness of this news. I hope she recovers.

[BadgersNadgers]

It's really sad news. I doubt there is one person on here so blameless that they are really in a position to pass judgement.

[Monroe]

I think it's terrible news and feel so sorry for her and her family. I live in the area she is from and met my now dh in the pear tree (it now has a different name but is the same pub)

I saw her in our local shop a year or so back and she was laughing and joking at the checkout, her voice was unmistakable. Her brother is very close friends with my
Cousin and is lovely. So sad, she truly is a comedy genius

[deakymom]

or passive smoking is a factor i was in a very smoky atmosphere most of my life when i came out of it i began smoking because i was already addicted to it took me years to quit

[dexter73]

thegreylady - that is true. My dad had bowel cancer which metastasized but he actually died due to an infection in the tumours in his lungs. Horrible way to die.

[FoxSticks]

My mum died of lung cancer,it's a horrible way to die. Like a previous poster, the first question I was always asked was does/did she smoke? When I said yes there was pretty much always a change in facial expression,a notable reduction in sympathy because in their eyes,she bought it on herself. It's really crap to be made to feel ashamed when you are already dieing. It's horrible to watch someone openly judging your loved one,and downgrading their levels of empathy.

Perhaps some of you who are being realistic and not sweeping things under the carpet could remember that when next faced with someone in this situation.

[OwlCapone]

As someone else pointed out she no longer smokes and that her brother has stated that the three cancers she has been treated for are genetically linked

Which means a lot of what is being spouted here is irrelevant.

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

FiL died from liver cancer and we've been asked before if he was a big drinker (no he wasn't and, anyway, it actually wouldn't alter how fucking sad it was even if he had been ) I love Caroline Aherne - currently enjoying her voiceover in Gogglebox. Wish her well.

[squoosh]

It's weird the way people try and weigh it up in their mind, tragic illness v self inflicted illness.

[AvonCallingBarksdale]

I think it's because people feel "safe" if they judge someone else as having brought it on themselves IYSWIM. So, "X got lung cancer and they were a smoker. I'm not a smoker, ergo I won't get lung cancer, so I am better and protecting myself more". Weird and horribly lacking in compassion IMO

[Nancy66]

lots of people make bad calls in their life - smoking is one of them undoubtedly but it doesn't make them a lesser person.

I have a close friend who has beaten cancer twice yet still she smokes. baffling to most of us but, ultimately, her decision. she likes fags, says she's miserable when she's off them and would rather die at 55 on the fags than 85 off them.