Never too young


She sits still on the hard plastic chair in the side room wearing a poorly-fitting hospital gown. Her face pale from pain and chronic anaemia . Her husband sits near her, face furrowed in concern. She is young with two little kids. I am about to destroy her world.

The scan shows that she has bowel cancer and it has spread; grown into other organs and insinuated itself into her liver and lungs. Time seems to slow down, I hear laughter outside the door, the clatter of crockery as lunch is served to the other patients. dust motes swirl in the summer breeze. I tell her gently at first- “there is a mass”. Then more strongly so she is clear – I use the c (cancer) word. Her face crumples and she grasps her husbands arm. I tell her we can do an operation, but it won’t cure the cancer. She will need chemotherapy and maybe other operations on the liver and lungs……..

They said that the anaemia was from her periods, they were wrong.

They said the bleeding was from piles, it wasn’t.

They said the pain was her irritable bowel syndrome, they were wrong.

They said that she was too young to have cancer, she wasn’t.

I feel a sting of tears in my eyes, I am not supposed to cry. Fuck that and fuck cancer too.


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