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.

Why?

Let the woman battling cancer air her feelings without the needless arselicking of a royal who doesnt need you to defend her. I bet money Kate would agree with OP.

Exactly this

It's not Top Trumps!
And for all the privilege, access to top notch treatment etc, if we have to obtain that by being in the public eye, constant scrutiny, criticism and bullying on social media then I think very few of us would want to swap places with the Princess of Wales.
So it's really not a simple comparison.

I hear you OP. It’s obviously easier to navigate an awful situation (any situation) if you have unlimited funds at your disposal so obviously, outwardly, they’d appear to be managing and coping very well.

Navigating NHS cancer treatment in the UK sounds extremely challenging and all those saying “but they’ve saved your life” should just shut the hell up. It does not have to be as hard as it is and the NHS should be doing better to make things easier for the people in its care.

The NHS is not free. People pay for it through high taxes no one should forget that because they don’t get a doctors/hospital bill.

Nobody's arse licking anyone, that says a lot more about you than it does anyone else. 🙄
Yes people are entitled to their feelings, of course they are.
It's possible to see others as human as well though, just because they're Royal doesn't mean they can't be suffering as well.

No one has said she isnt suffering.

EasIER. Not easy.

I dont know why people are struggling with this concept.

A few years ago I used to go and sit with a neighbour of mine who was dying from lung cancer, she suffered greatly and that suffering was certainly compounded by not being well off, for example, the chemo meant she really felt the cold but there was no way she could afford to run the heating as much as she needed. That is just one small but nevertheless important example of the disparity between privileged people and those who are struggling to get by

I am sorry for what you are going through OP and I hope your situation improves soon. It sounds like you have been through so much. I don’t think the majority of PP’s who are pointing out the inequalities in our health care system are being mean or nasty. Or that anyone has taken any sort of pleasure in the diagnosis’s the Royals have received.
It’s totally obvious that the POW and King Charles will be receiving or have received a vastly superior level of surgery/care/medication etc to the rest of the population even those with private medical insurance.

Kate is the one doing cancer best.

I’m sorry for everything you are going through, OP, but this is really unfair.

I’m sure she’d rather not be doing cancer at all.

It feels really inappropriate to be having a discussion around who has it “easier” with cancer.

I don’t think anyone’s cancer journey is easy.

I dont know why people are struggling with this concept.

I don’t think anyone is struggling with this concept.

It is just wildly inappropriate to be having such a discussion, especially when you have zero idea about someone’s cancer and prognosis.

We are talking about a mother of 3 young children here. Her cancer journey may be different, but not easier.

Did you read the OP?

Anyone who is rich or who has good private health (courtesy of a good job) will have better attention, not just the PoW.

I’ve had cancer and yes I didn’t get the same attention as her but I did get very good treatment and am still looked after over twenty years later, but I don’t resent her and wish her well. Blame the politicians who don’t care about anyone other themselves and their rich mates.

Sorry I should have been clearer. The sycophantic reader responses to the article were hilarious.

I'm in the US so no 'socialized medicine' or Royal Family.

The 'Cancer Road' each person travels is different, but not because of a person's 'status', but because of money.

Kate's journey would still be the same (IMO) because her family is rich. Not RF rich, but enough money that she would still have been able to 'go private', hire household help, etc. Yes, I know there's a debate on the fact that the RF is 'publicly funded', but that's a different issue than the level of care available for rich vs 'poor'. Her royal status isn't the reason she gets the level of care she gets, the money is, whether it's RF or Middleton money. That much is the same pretty much worldwide. Those with the resources (and/or medical insurance) are able to get probably better, or at least more options and more accessible care. The only difference is that Kate is in the public eye, even more so than a run of the mill celebrity would be. Would the outcry be the same if it were a film star or a footballer getting the same care that Kate is? They, too, can afford live in help and private care.

Of course it's different here because we don't have an NHS. But we do have Medicaid for low income people. Would they have many of the care options that DH could have chosen when he was diagnosed? No, they wouldn't because not all facilities or practitioners take Medicaid (the same I suppose as 'private' care in the UK) and our good insurance meant that we had lots of options. But in the end we chose a university medical center than also serves the medically needy community. Why? Because it had the best and most up to date staff and facilities. And those are available to all, Medicaid or private insurance.

Yes, I did.

For all we know, Kate could be picking out gifts for her children’s 18th birthdays and weddings - you have no idea what her situation is or what she has or hasn’t had to do.

Read your post op. Frankly what you are going through sounds f…… horrific. I had never thought about chemo patients getting home as I naively thought transportation was offered afterwards. Continually fighting battles just to feed yourself and family must wear you out. I so hope things get better for you. Sorry if this sounds trite, genuinely wish you the very best for your recovery. ❤️

I'm sorry, but there are degrees of awfulness, and being a rich cancer sufferer, while horrible is not quite as horrible as being a poor cancer sufferer.

Eg, I was extremely grateful that I could afford a taxi to take me home after some of the chemo cycles. It's much preferable to standing around in the cold waiting for a bus and trying to hurry on and off the bus on crutches. Many chemo treatments make being in the cold extremely unpleasant.

Or living in a house with only 1 bathroom if your stomach is badly upset is obviously worse than having your own bathroom.

@TeapotTitties you've misunderstood about 'doing cancer well' this is what is said about cancer patients who're managing to look good and get out and about, with a lot of help from other people , or are seeming to have a positive attitude. For some people just getting through each day is a huge struggle and they don't benefit from other people describing how well other cancer patients are doing.

OP I'm so sorry for everything you've been through. I also wish Catherine the very best.

We have no details about her cancer type or symptoms so it is not appropriate to speculate or compare.

I don't particularly wish to go into my own experience as I'm feeling quite settled if exhausted today.

I will say that was an absolute hideous article though and Pearce is a disgrace. Some people will churn out any old doggerel for money and have zero integrity or interest in producing any output of value or quality. It was even terribly written. That's what offended me the most. Why not find a profession she's good at?

To those comparing NHS vs Private in regards to Kate.

Her treatment will go beyond Private as a Royal, part of it will be provided at home care and tailored precisely to cater for her. She will have Nurses and Doctors going to see her in the Comfort of her home at times. So as I said it goes beyond Private care.

you are speculating. And maybe she is. No one has said that she’s having an easy time of it.

but it’s a hell of a fucking lot different being taken home in a private air conditioned chauffeured car than it is sitting at a bus stop in the pissing rain after chemo, isn’t it?

Don't be so silly. Of course she doesn't have to worry about kids' uniforms and cooking meals. She and William employ 50 members of staff including housekeepers, cooks and nannies. She also knows that if she dies her children will not be homeless or taken into care - a very, very, very real situation for many terminally ill mothers.

It is absolutely ludicrous (actually beyond adequate words) to suggest that someone with such wealth and privilege suffers the same lack of resources and hardships as someone like the OP.

Come on OP your argument is with the awful journalist who wrote that shite, you seem to be taking it as if POW gad expressed that opinion herself.

Of course anyone with money has a lot of burdens taken away. That goes without saying, but as with all aspects of life, you get what you can afford. It's not a level playing field and never, ever, can be.

I'm sorry for your suffering, but don't lash out at another woman who is also going through it. Take it up with the stupid thoughtless journalist who wrote that piece.

No it isnt. OMs brother had throat cancer and his entire family clubbed together so he could pay for taxis to go back and forth back and forth to his chemo appointments each day. But if you dont have the money or family members to help its easy to end up in the same situation as the OP.

There was a very well healed mum with a boy in my son’s reception class. Her family had it all. Skiing holidays, city breaks, summer villa holidays in Italy, designer jewellery, flash cars, a pony… She was dead from cancer before her son turned six. I’m sure her children would give up every bit of privilege they enjoy to have their Mum back. The fact that her life was already easier in all the ways that money can buy doesn’t change the fact that there are some forms of suffering money can’t alleviate.

I think its poor taste to target someone especially when they are been hounded so much, they have had to announce their illness.. its sick infact.

Why not use the example of wealthy people?! Why target one person, when the fact is, there are many privileged people getting better treatment rather then target that poor woman.