The difference between cancer life as a royal and as a "lesser mortal"

[sixtyandsomething]

not to derail other threads..

I have nothing against the Princess of Wales, I am sure she is a lovely person and I wish her well. however, let's not pretend she is facing the same struggles as the rest of us.

I bet you £10 she hasn't had to deal with any of these! (feel free to add your own)

-40+ calls to DWP, often being left on hold for 2 hours or more
-many months delay in benefits being processed, leaving you without any income at all
-DWP advising you to "find a food bank"
-struggle up the hill on crutches to get a bus to chemo
-appointments delayed and cancelled, blood tests lost and repeated, regular system "crashes" leaving medical staff with no access to your notes.
-never seeing the same medical professionals twice.
-consultant appointments cancelled when you have already travelled several hours to the hospital
-telephone appointments you have to sit and wait by the phone for, for the whole day
-worry on crammed full bus when you are CEV
-getting off bus because it is too full
-getting of bus because you are vomiting
-sitting on the pavement for 3-4 hours after chemo in the dark and rain, because you are CEV and don't want to get back on a crammed bus in the rush hour
-commuters swearing at you because you move too slowly
-commuter kicking you out of the way because you move to slowly, and doing it with an air of indignation, like they feel seriously injured by having to touch something so disgusting with their foot
-minimum 18 hour wait in A and E before being admitted with infection - once it was 28 hours
-further many hour wait in ER before being admitted to wards.
-spending night on chair in corridor, after being admitted to a ward
-being asked to vacate chair in corridor so doctor can perform ECG on patient who is currently standing up with nowhere to sit
-being warned by hospital staff to sleep in your glasses so they are not stolen
-having to buy a constant stream of new clothes, and having to go to charity shops - on steroids? go up two sizes, no chemo? go down 3- surgery? get front opening everything, in a range of sizes.
-not being able have a clean the house, wash up, open the window even, without calling a friend to come and help.
-council refusing to empty your bins because you are not capable of moving them to the right place at the right time
-giving away your pets because you can't take care of them, or afford them
-being told the waiting list to see a physiotherapist is around a year

I could go on

I am so grateful for the treatment I have had, and I hope the Princess of Wales does well and recovers, but the two situations are not the same, even slightly, even if the disease is.

What awful media outlet did this "lesser mortals" phrase come from?

Money and privilege mean nothing when you are facing the prospect of leaving your children motherless.

You tell that to a single mother solely responsible to pay the bills.

I wish nothing bad to anyone, no one wants to leave their children behind, but please stop just stop the crass comparisons.

Having a strong family support and unlimited wealth to know your children are taken care of anyway, will always be ok cannot and should not be compared about being the only one there for them.

As an aside, why does everyone always fall for all the shit pitting by the toxic tabloid press?!
It's not even anything Kate has said, who's just going about her life recovering.
It's some gobshite with an opinion using divisive sentences like "lesser mortals" in the press..
Stuff like that's best off ignored.

The post will encourage debate regards the institution of the Royal family and all the unfair advantages of that whilst the rest of us truly do suffer more in comparison ( because we absolutely do and will).

I don't read this as a direct attack on Kate at all.

But the responses that cannot see the reality of the true situation we live in is shocking. You need to spend a bit more time at the mercy of our NHS and you'll change your tune pretty quickly. I believe certain advantages will significantly impact health and cancer outcomes between us and the Royal family.

I'm not anti the NHS, I'm anti the absolute state it is in.

Is there ever going to be a way to get rid of the monarchy. But that's a whole other thread!

So to summarise

Kate has pre cancer
She's having preventative Chemo apparently.

How many people with pre cancer have been told to watch and wait? Never mind preventative Chemo.

She's not in the throws of dealing with cancer is she because it was pre cancer so why is she being treated as if she's at deaths door and dealing with everything that comes with it. It's making a mockery of all those people who struggle with full cancer and lack of treatments or delays.

The delightful Alison Pearson, in today's Telegraph.

No im fairly sure she had cancer and it was removed at surgery, they then did chemo to ensure there were no remaining cells that would spread. Sadly which isn’t a guarantee it won’t come back

She's not in the throws of dealing with cancer is she because it was pre cancer so why is she being treated as if she's at deaths door and dealing with everything that comes with it

Because she's pretty, thin, white, and - crucially - royal.

Yes indeed but when I had cancer and small children nothing else mattered apart from the fact I knew I might die and leave my children without a mother. It really is the most primal feeling - to know you won't be there when your child is struggling at school or has a nightmare and calls out for their mum or is being bullied or needs advice or just wants a hug from their mum. This to me was far more terrifying than dying.
This is what Kate is facing as well as the effects of chemotherapy and being in the glare of the world's media. All the riches in the world can't change the fear a mother feels at leaving her children behind.

it does reflect the difference of medical care between 2 categories of the population, and not just the royals.

It's astonishing how people look at other countries in horror but turn a blind eye about their own.

There's no magical instant solution, but denying the obvious is astonishing.

She has it much easier what on earth makes you think that!

I guess for a lot of them, there's the stress of being in relationships that would have broken up in normal life (cheating, barely seeing each other etc) but they have to parade in public and make nice

100 percent she has it easier. Ridiculous to suggest otherwise. However much for her and family this an awful thing to happen.

I agree. They're royalty. They've branded as all down to earth but the point of royalty is to be better than lesser mortals. They literally think they're appointed by god to rule over the rest of us.

Yes mental health issues doesn't discriminate, all the money in the world wouldn't make up for that.
It's not always physical, and all the "she has money and good care, she's alright..."
Nobody knows that.

@GoodAfternoonGoodEveningAndGoodnight

she is having it easier.
have you even read OP’s thread and what’s she’s had to go through?!

7 of these are related to buses and commutes so no. She won't if but nor will EVERY OTHER cancer patient. I'm sorry things are so shit for you though

I think, from what has been made public, that cancer was found and removed. The POW Is now receiving adjuvant therapy to reduce the chance of reoccurrence.
Chemotherapy and /or radiotherapy while you are living with the tumor( which may be currently inoperable due to size , position, or spread )in the hope that it will stop growing or reduce In size = cancer in my book.
Adjuvant therapy ,to me, means cancer has been detected and removed and treatment to remove any undetectable malignant cells as a belt braces has been recommended.
If this seems a fine distinction to anyone I'd guess you've not been in the living with a tumor hoping it's responding to chemo situation.

Who is telling you this?

Nothing about cancer is easy. Stupid thing to say.

To be fair. Most people aren't having to deal with your circumstances.
Many would not be on benefits as they get sick pay
Many would have family to drive them
There is going to be a huge range from ultra poor to ultra wealthy.

Princess of Wales did not ask for that article and wording to be published. So she may be aware that many cancer sufferers are pissed off/upset today because of that article. Can't imagine that makes her feel great.

She may have some things easier than other patients, but very few people have to put up with the media hounding them (when she had just been diagnosed and as any mother with young children struggling to pass on that news to them, doesn't matter how privileged you are when having that conversation, those children will just see their mum being poorly). Media saying her husband had killed her, he was having an affair , he had fathered a child with another woman, she was having a facelift etc. That's not easy to cope with either.

Everyone commenting on her appearance yesterday, did she look ill, was she too thin, how come she has hair, is that her hair etc.

Having lost a parent to cancer and having my own child to potentially worry about this with, yes it does. Anything that causes pain and suffering to innocent children makes everything sadder.

Yes it does.
The additional unbearable pain of dying and leaving your young children is the cruelest part of all.

But I'm sure you worked that out already

Kate is a young mum and cancer and chemo is terrifying whatever privileges you have. I wish her the best.

But her "you are not alone" comment on that bench was spectacularly misplaced, ignorant, patronising and insulting to a very vulnerable group of people who are in ways she won't every need to consider, very very alone.