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Original poster

Farah Fawcett - anal cancer - the last taboo?

23 replies

mulranno · 20/05/2009 19:23

Read yesterday about FF's desparate media campaign as she fights for her life with anal cancer. The article (Dr writing for the Independent) also spoke of the link to anal sex. Very common amongst Gay men. Caused by a virus similar to cervical cancer this left me wondering is this the last taboo ?can you imagine a public health campaign advising to wear condoms for anal sex...? Or maybe this advice is already out there?

OP posts:
nickytwotimes · 20/05/2009 19:24

I had no idea.
I mean I know tht you can get cancer of any part of the body, but gosh, that is awful. Poor woman.

LouLovesAeroplaneJelly · 20/05/2009 19:29

I remember seeing a doco about a woman who had anal cancer that became vaginal cancer and pretty much ate away at her groin. She had an op that removed everything and they took a big flap of skin to cover the whole area. She had a groin like a Barbie Doll with a colostomy and the whole works. I thnk she was onyl 40. Gave me nightmares for weeks.
I have to say good on FF to speaking about a life threatning and also probably never much discussed cancer.

ThingOne · 20/05/2009 22:24

But if you read the stories closely it appears that she is dying because she refused to follow her LA doctors' advice and have a colostomy. Instead she went to Germany for experimental techniques which, I surmise, did not involve removal of the anus therefore made it easier for the cancer to return.

If my assumption is correct it could well be vanity that is killing her. That doesn't make her quite such a good role model in my book.

Disclaimer: not seen programme, just read a few articles

ProstetnicVogonJeltz · 20/05/2009 22:27

not sure that wanting to avoid a colostomy could be described as a vanity issue.

Portofino · 20/05/2009 22:27

I don't really think the choice of a colostomy bag or not is a vanity thing. More of a dgnity thing....

Greensneeze · 20/05/2009 22:29

I think that's a tad harsh ThingOne. Is it really vanity to have trouble coping with the idea of having part of your body - quite an important part - cut out and a bag attached for your bodily waste? Women can have huge problems psychologically when they feel that their bodies have been ruined by breast cancer, hysterectomies etc. Ifelt butchered after my third degree tear and still don't like the idea of my patchwork crotch - I'm not generally a vain person. I don't think it's as shallow as simple vanity.

I hate this trend on MN of implying that it serves celebrities right when they are suffering from cancer or something equally devastating. Is it hip and right-on now to have no heart?

firsttimemama · 20/05/2009 22:30

Isn't this the same as colon cancer?

thisisyesterday · 20/05/2009 22:30

that's sad thingone. I guess if I felt it had a good chance of working i'd take alternative therapies rather than have my anus removed.

ThingOne · 21/05/2009 09:29

Believe me, I do have a heart. I'm not implying it serves her right - you are reading that into my words.

I'm in a very similar situation. I was advised I had to have a colostomy. I read up, extensively, as you would. It was very clear that if the site of the primary tumour is not removed the risk of recurrence is much higher. Alternatives to removing the anus and rectum have been tried for years. Nothing, so far, has worked.

It's true that very few people would choose a colostomy. I repeat that I don't know that she did refuse, just my reading of the articles. To me they read as a justification for refusing a colostomy, and seek to validate that choice. If this is the choice she made, I think it was a wrong decision.

Colo-rectal cancer comes in many forms and can affect different parts of the gut, from start to finish.

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 21/05/2009 09:32

My Grandad died of bowel cancer, it's a horrible devastating thing. He refused the colostomy bag, mainly due to pride. He said at his age he'd rather pass with dignity when the time came. He didn't want to have to depend on anyone.

noddyholder · 21/05/2009 09:35

I had a vulval tumour 7 yrs ago and the doctors were v worried about how it could spread.it is caused by the same virus as cervical cancer and is a form of skin cancer that can become agressive.If caught early though it is v treatable

ThingOne · 21/05/2009 09:51

You see Devil-ish one, it's views like your Grandad's and FF's (putative) that I think need challenging. The flip side of "refusing due to pride" and "passing with dignity" is that I - or anyone else with a colostomy - don't have pride or dignity. That is clearly preposterous but it is the underlying tone of so much that I read here or elsewhere. I'm sure you'll understand that reading this time and again is frustrating and demeaning.

Sure it's up to anyone to refuse any treatment they wish and to die how they wish. I have small children. It would have been utterly selfish of me to refuse the operation. As well as signing a suicide note .

Mulanmum1 · 21/05/2009 10:06

Good for you, Thingy, for choosing to live and watch your children grow up. My uncle had a colostomy when he was in his late 40s. Twenty years later he is still alive, having lived a fit and active life and raising his daughter and becoming a grandad. I wish the same for you. The colostomy didn't take away his dignity - he was the same strong, lovely man after the operation as he was before.

I saw the FF documentary on YouTube before NBC got it taken off. Ryan O'Neil (her partner) said that Farrah did not like the idea of a colostomy. Obviously, it was her decision to make but I would have run a mile from the quacks in Germany who she allowed to treat her - they were scary.

squeaver · 21/05/2009 10:10

To answer the question in your post, I would have thought that all the Aids awareness campaigns run by people like the Terrence Higgins Trust aimed at the gay community are about using a condom for anal sex, aren't they??

Greensneeze · 21/05/2009 10:11

I am sorry I was rude to you ThingOne, I didn't know your situation (and shouldn't have assumed) and posted too hastily

TheDevilWearsPrimark · 21/05/2009 10:18

That's slightly different though thingone, he was in his 80's had had a long and full life, and the operation and colostomy would have possibly given him a few more months, no guarantess. plus the risks associated with surgery on a man of his age with an already weak body.

A friend of mine has had one fitted, she has severe colitis. For her as a woman in her late 20's there was no questioning it, though she does hope it can be reversed at some point.

ThingOne · 21/05/2009 10:21

No worries snotface.

Mulanmum, it's a scary thought to think I could be a Grandma in twenty years. They were only babies last time I looked ... (5 and 3).

EvenBetaDad · 21/05/2009 10:23

In a very minor way I understand the 'pride' and the 'vanity' arguement.

As I described on another thread the other day, I have to sometimes wear adult 'StayDry' pants due to an incurable urinary condition. I will never let my wife see me wear them.

DW also has a scar running form groin to navel from when she had ovarian cancer and had her ovary removed. It still affects how she feels about her body - although I have told her many times it has no impact on the way I feel about her.

I had never heard of anal cancer before. It sounds a horrible condition.

ThingOne · 21/05/2009 10:46

Yes, Devil, I totally understand. Any major operation at the end of a long life can easily be too much.

EvenBetaDad the point about your DW is surely that she did have the op. I understand the psychological body issues very well.

Mulanmum1 · 21/05/2009 11:19

ThingOne

Sorry - just being supportive. Didn't mean for every word to be taken literally.

ThingOne · 21/05/2009 12:02

Eh? I was only joking. Don't you find it a scary thought how soon you could be a grandparent?

Mulanmum1 · 21/05/2009 12:59

Nope. I'm an older mum of a young child so will just be grateful if I get to be a granny

ThingOne · 21/05/2009 13:07

I wish you hadn't made that point. Now I'm adding up. Gulp.

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