Boris is a fighter and confident he will recover - Raab

[Lelophants]

Should he really be that optimistic? The man is in ICU.

Also "he's a fighter". And all the 4000 who died weren't?

Yesterday he was all in good spirits. Feel like it's not worth them saying anything most days.

Timely article from Marina Hyde on this topic! www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/07/horror-coronavirus-real-imaginary-war-britain

My elderly father survived stage 4 lymphoma, by the skin of his teeth. I don't remember much fighting. I remember an awful lot of waiting, a lot of pain and frustration and sadness, fear and terrible humiliation as his body systems failed and he had to put up with his daughter dealing with his incontinence and sores and vomiting. Fighting wasn't part of the experience at all. It's meaningless.

Stop nit picking, Jeeeeesus. How many fucking times (really sorry ) have any of you said he/she is a fighter to someone to provide POSITIVITY, STRENGTH and SUPPORT? Go to bed.

How many fucking times (really sorry flowers ) have any of you said he/she is a fighter to someone to provide POSITIVITY, STRENGTH and SUPPORT?

Never, cos of all times I’ve read/been told that it’s insensitive by cancer patients. At least I’m consistent!

It is fairly idiotic and shows how little they understand about serious illness. But I disagree with
Probably salivating at the PM job
I thought totally the reverse. It looked like he was terrified of the prospect. The one salivating is
Gove, who would love the power.

@Butterymuffin agreed. I had painted him in my head as salivating for the job but tbh watching him up there he looks like he would much much rather be in the shadows on this one.

@Butterymuffin also agree Re Gove. He looked like was relishing it and feeling very important. Raab looked far less so

Oh that’s a good article by Marina Hyde. I hate the warrior aspect of it too.

I know it’s said to be encouraging but really once you’re ill there’s not much you can do but wait and hope.

It was a horrible comment to make, I think he looks terrified about being thrust into the limelight. Agree with previous posters that Gove would love it. I see he's out of action for 14 days now though

Gove would absolutely love the power, being an inadequate little man with a tiny cock.

@toryandproud you might find the article @AravisTarkheena linked helpful as well.

I suspect there's a cynical and deliberate intention to muddy the waters and not really specify how seriously ill he is. Not the first time they've manipulated facts.
I agree he will be painted as a front line hero who selflessly sacrificed his health for the nation. In fact reading some of the posts on here last night about people shedding tears for him it's job done.
I think admitting him to intensive care was inevitable - they certainly wouldn't dump him in a sideroom on a general medical ward. Equally being on 4 ltrs of oxygen as reported in the Times this morning certainly doesn't warrant ICU but how else do you treat the pm ? I think whole episode has inadvertently created a very positive emotional response amongst jo public at a time when there was quite alot of frustration about lack of ppe, testing and potential lack of resources.

I also don't like the term 'fighter'. Not professionally offended by it and it's well intentioned but suggests others who have 'lost' the fight to this disease and others had a choice somehow or their actions could have resulted in a different outcome.

Hope he gets well soon along with all the others.

Fighting has been used when talking about illness by many for a very long time

And has been reviled for just as long.

It is at best a marmite phrase, and that is why it is better to avoid it when there is a large audience

I wont be reading the Guardian as I don't read it, ever. I think you need to re-read what I wrote, however.

I didn't say that all people who fight beat disease or that all people who aren't fighters don't survive, or that "a positive mental attitude is all you need to bear cancer", like someone else fabricated. However, real life evidence and data backs up the fact that a positive attitude and illness perception yields better disease outcomes. You might not like this because it hurts your feelings, but the facts are plain to see.

There is a gigantic body of evidence bearing this out that you have chosen to ignore. A simple Google search would have shown this. One such recent study would be acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cncr.31634.

My fear is Gove having a go at the top job!
He really would be a nightmare I feel.
I hope Boris is ok : the ' fighter ' talk is just something to say really isn't it? It's what people want to hear, a meaningless cliche.
It's tough times for everyone.

Jesus christ trust mumsnet to over analyse glib common run of the mill statements and turn them into shit they are not. Even people who die get refered to as "fighters until the end" and why not. Your body is literally fighting an illness. What the fuck do you want people to say in these situations, "well its 50/50 luck of the drawer." Then again you would only get people whinging that luck doesnt exist its the skill of the nurses yada yada yada.

@toryandproud yes, that's one study, but there are many others that found the opposite. The fact remains that there is no proof that a 'positive fighting spirit' can help to cure cancer, or Covid-19 for that matter. Suggesting otherwise is grossly offensive to those who have lost loved ones.

@toryandproud to give you an idea of why studies are problematic - here you go. Don't worry, you'll like it - it's about the Daily Mail.

My fil really did ' fight ' his pneumonia till the bitter end. He hated the oxygen mask, he really didn't 'go down ' without a fight!
He died as he lived ! It was a death that actually lives with me as it was horrible and traumatic. Peaceful is much better I think!

I hope the PM makes a full recovery.

I despise this kind of language. Apparently, I “won a battle” when I “beat” cancer. No I didn’t. It was fortuitously found early enough to be treated by very knowledgable people, no more no less.

Being a fighter or otherwise has bugger all to do with whether people recover from a deadly disease.

For me, there is a big difference between accepting death and wanting to fight it. I have a number of elderly relatives who gave up. They were ready and wanted to go and once they had decided that, they didn’t seem to last much longer. I suppose you could say they ‘gave up’ but in all honesty, they didn’t really have anything left to fight for. Boris has so much to live for but that doesn’t mean he can fight it. He is not weak because he has become critical.

The language isn’t ideal but Raab probably won’t be as aware of sensitivities as his brief isn’t health. It is just more words coming from the government that are basically fluff.

Well I know two people who died of cancer . Both declared they were fighting it. I know someone with it now who doesn’t like that phrase. What right does anyone have to argue with them?

I guess some people are more positive than others but with this virus I don't think this really matters. He is apparently fitter than he looks so this might help , but who really knows? He will still be poorly for a long time and he will take time to recover fully from this.

Woah didn't expect so many responses!
I know it was nit-picking but with family members having gone through cancer, I agree that the term 'fighter' isn't great and is offensive to everyone who's died.