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.

Of course she is! The disease is the same and that’s horrible but the treatment and other worries are miles apart.

@Strictly1 chemo is shit whether provided by NHS or private. Young children finding out mummy has cancer is shit too, or do you think because they have a nanny they don’t care about their mum?

This is not really about Kate though, is it?

it’s about the horrible way the journalist wrote - as if the general population isn’t trying hard enough, almost? Without any acknowledgment that ‘lesser mortals’ have to deal with buckets loads more crap than the royals.

It was crass and insensitive.

I very much doubt any posters are trying to diminish what Kate is going through, on an emotional level especially.

But it would have been very useful not to have deal with so many of the other practical, financial and time consuming issues as well as the cancer!

Wishing the royals well, of course. AND wishing things were easier for the ‘mere mortals’.

The journalist however, needs to give her head a good old wobble.

She wasn't born int RF, was she?
I sympathise with her, but I also keep my eyes open to what huge privileges she has.
OP, I am sorry to hear what you have to go through, I hope it gets easier.

She's still a mother who has had to face the possibility of not seeing her children grow up.

Your experience sounds awful OP.

In contrast, my 88 year old mother in law has secondary liver cancer and and her NHS care has been nothing short of fantastic.

I didn’t say that but you’re a fool if you think the NHS treatment is as good as what she’s getting!

My relative used to phone me in tears due to the pain because the nurses still hadn’t got round to giving the pain relief they’d promised because they were overstretched.
Cancer is shit - I know - I’ve experienced enough loved ones dying from it. But to make out that Catherine is one of us and experiencing the same is absolutely ridiculous - nanny or no nanny!

Agree with you. Obviously I hope that the PofW will be ok. I wish her and family well. I also wish that everyone could get the same well organised treatment access.

The media beast that loves a shiny new narrative to make money from is to blame for the insensitive commentary.

Build them up, tear them down, build them
up, tear them down and repeat.

It’s going way too far on the build them up phase now with Kate but I think that’s an over correction after how low they went with the ‘where’s Kate’ narrative.

The journalists who write a lot of this stuff don’t mean it literally when they talk of ‘lesser mortals’ - they aren’t thinking of real cancer patients, they aren’t even really thinking about Kate as a person, it’s just ways to fill column inches and try to say something a bit different each time you write about the same story for three weeks in a row.

@Strictly1 couldn’t fault the treatment DF had under NHS for his cancer, can’t imagine it would have been any different under private. I have had 3 occasions to be under 2 week pathway (once during COVID) again couldn’t fault NHS.

For some cancers don’t they recommend you go through NHS rather than private

of course she has it easier?!

still horrible for her both women but of course one of them is having a harder time of it. Use your brain.

What a fucking nasty, mean thread.

Yep 😥

I wish my family member’s treatment had been like that. It was horrific. I put a complaint in that was upheld but it still doesn’t change the pain etc that they had to endure. It was only when we brought them home and they went under the local community nurses that things improved.
I’m pleased that it’s not like that everywhere but for us as a family, it was cruel.

Agreed.

What? She has it a million times easier. Money makes things so much easier.

Cancer is not a competition.

I’m so sorry for your difficulties OP.

I can safely say Kate is dealing with none of them. Yes she is facing her own mortality and worries about her family but you are facing that on top of everything else.

Best wishes for the future.

Of course it's bloody easier for the Princess of Wales. People are mistaking "easier" for "easy". Cancer is never easy. But God knows it's easier when you've got resources and access and don't have to cook the kids' tea while going through chemo.

Cancer is a lottery, are you saying that if she dies but a poor person survives, Kate still had it easier? Silly.

Her and William's lack of openness and treating it as if it is shameful and she needs to be hidden away is awful, they are meant to be part of a modern Royal Family but their public response is as if we were in the dark ages

Maybe she is cooking the kid's tea and worrying about their school work and being a normal Mum...how would you know? Maybe she is extra worried about doing those things right incase she doesn't see them grow up. Maybe she wants to spend as much time as possible with her kids and wants to take them on holiday and out to fun places but can't because of the arsehole press and her Royal position. Struggle is relative!

@Blinky21 can’t win can they. Mention her cancer they are wrong as rubbing other people’s noses in it because they are having it easy, don’t mention it they are in the wrong as making it shameful

In her treatment? Of course she has.

No one is saying shes had it EASY. But she absolutely has had it easier than people like OP, for which I am sure she is very grateful.