xkcd

by **CrayolaTwo** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:31 am UTC

My mom got breast cancer in 2002 and it recurred in 2006 or so. The recurrence meant Stage IV, which means it spread, specifically to her liver and to her bones. Bones especially are impossible to get rid of cancer in, so once it gets there you know you have a long, constant fight ahead of you. She died June 30th of this year, so she wasn't part of that 60%, but the way her doctor explained it to her when it first came back (oh, you could live several more years) meant that she kicked its ass for longer than most people expected. She was only 52.

And since marijuana has been brought up... in the last year, I became a bit of a dealer for my mom. Being 23, I have some nice access to quality pot. Pot didn't cure her cancer, didn't improve it either, and it never was going to. What it did do is provide pain relief at a time when she was constantly on narcotics and improved her appetite on days when chemo made her feel like she was crawling out of her skin. It's incredibly helpful and made life better for her at a time when it just sucked ass. I'm for legalizing it (or at least decriminalizing it) just for that alone.

by **TheWhiteDeath** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:45 am UTC

I have to be honest-- I don't think anyone will disagree with the widespread "fuck cancer" sentiment.

But even with that said, Jesus Christ. This made me cry. The only other comic that's ever done that is "Spirit".

by **Catalyst23** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:46 am UTC

I lost my mother on June 19th this year. Esophogial cancer. She got it twice. The first time she was "cured". The second time there was no cure. We had the money to get top notch treatment. I can't imagine what's it like to go through this agony while wondering if medicare will cover chemo. I would buy a t-shirt of that last panel if it raised money for those in need of cancer treatment.

by **cjbnc** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:37 am UTC

My wife Shelley died 5 years ago this month. She was diagnosed with stage 4 oral cancer (non smoker, non drinker, non male - none of the obvious risk factors for that type). She lived through two months of chemo/radiation and subsequent surgery to remove the nodes in her neck after the drugs failed to clear her. Along with that, they had to remove all of her molars, put her on a feeding tube, and she could never again open her mouth more than 3/4 inch after the radiation destroyed her facial muscles. What little reprieve she had from the cancer was lost to the pain killer addiction which plagued her attempts to return to normal life after the chemo and again after the surgery. In spite of all that, one of the neck tumors came back anyway. She lived (if you can call it that) 19 months after diagnosis.

Fuck cancer.

Randall, with all sincerity, I hope you and yours work out better. Thank you for posting this one. It sucks that people don't understand, and sucks far far more that anyone ever has to.

by **TheGrammarBolshevik** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:39 am UTC

uzumaki42 wrote:
TheGrammarBolshevik wrote:Why not give us the best of both worlds? Show us the research supporting your claim. That way we aren't just taking your word for it, but we also don't have to waste time groping around in the dark for whatever research you're citing.

Sorry, I'm not your servant. I have planted the seed. It's up to you if you want it to grow.

You must be a rich bastard, then. If you're really holding back conclusive evidence of a miracle cure for cancer, it would be hard to imagine anyone so apathetic to suffering or so greedy with her time.

by **Bakemaster** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:48 am UTC

Please do not smoke up the troll.

by **arbivark** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:01 am UTC

Okay, we'll start with the coal that's probably fuelling your computer right now

that's right, but it gave me a very steampunk image.

i turn 51 in a couple of weeks, ready to start part II of my life, pre-singularity anyways, if i can base that on my grandmother, who lived to be 99. on the other hand, men in my family die on average in their 60s, usually from cancer. there was a drop of blood in my poo last time i had tests run which is a warning sign so i need to go for more tests, could be cancer, could be nothing. 7 years ago some punk had a gun to my head, so i don't have much to complain about if i only have a few years left - but i'll be pissed if i miss the singularity.

by **Retsam** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:09 am UTC

Richard. wrote:Ban all carcinogens. Now.

Okay, then, burning toast is now illegal.

by **KingBobson** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:27 am UTC

After reading this, I, being the person I am, decided to see what the chances of survival are for the author's fiancée, who was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer in October, according to the comic.
If my calculations are correct, she has only a 5 in 13 chance of surviving 7 years, and her chances of survival drop below 50% in 4 years.
I want to cry...

by **addams** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:32 am UTC

Maybe, we could type about how important it is to live well.

The number is days is important. But; Do we live well?

To love and to be loved in return is important for a life well lived. There is a time to discuss the issue of quantity of days lived and how well those days were lived.

To have a good friend is so important to how well a life was lived.

by **edmooring** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:23 am UTC

This is the way it is. This is the way it feels. Thanks to Randall for expressing it better than I ever could.

My best wishes to you and your fiance, and everyone else who has to deal with cancer, whether your own or a loved one's.

by **Ephemeron** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:41 pm UTC

This topic can be summed up as "Get out of my head, Randall. I've had cancer and/or have known someone with cancer."

Randall has got in our heads with the one thing that unifies us all, death.

(My implied sympathies to other commenters, this is not a troll post)

by **Geronimo Andrews** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:51 pm UTC

Have lost way too many people to cancer who were close to me: father (inoperable brain tumor), wife's daughter (breast cancer) -- she was 38, and good friend at work (non-Hodgkins lymphoma) -- he was only 30.

Fuck cancer, indeed.

by **Ephemeron** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:15 pm UTC

I must make this a meme.

by **juliang** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:02 pm UTC

Since the comic referenced the inability of surgeons to detect cancer cells during surgery, I thought this might be of interest:

Surgery with molecular fluorescence imaging using activatable cell-penetrating peptides decreases residual cancer and improves survival
PNAS March 2, 2010 vol. 107 no. 9 4317-4322

There is a concerted effort by a handful of labs to do just that. This article describes a method where a fluorphore can be activated by enzymes that cancer cells tend to over-express, i.e. the peptide becomes colorful once it hits the cancer cell... a promising method of coloring cancer so surgeons can avoid escapees.

All the best to Randall & family. Fuck cancer.

by **infected** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:29 pm UTC

Hugs go out to Randall and his fiancée, and anyone who's ever been touched by cancer.
My paternal grandfather died of cancer before I was born, and my maternal grandfather was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few months ago. My friend was diagnosed with leukemia at 14.

I registered because of this comic ... haha. It's such a beautiful metaphor. Thank you for sharing this one with us, Randall, and for having the courage to tell us about what's been going on. I hope for the best for you and your fiancée. May your lanes continue for a long, long time.

by **Sir_Read-a-Lot** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:31 pm UTC

I was rereading the comic and a slightly improper thought rose into my head:
"Merge left! Merge left! Merge left!"

by **CommanderApaul** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:57 pm UTC

Lost my Opa last month to lung cancer that metastasized to his bones. Thought they got it all with a leg amputation, and we were planning for more radiation/chemo after the leg healed up enough for his immune system to take it. They didn't get to it in time, and he went on his own terms.

Fuck cancer indeed. Powerful comic.

by **Poopenheimer** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:36 am UTC

This comic is very powerful. (I totally didn't steal it from ^that guy)

This really puts the whole issue of cancer into perspective. How big the whole thing is. Not just the lanes, but the problems it causes in families.

Fuck cancer.

by **jpk** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:31 am UTC

Sir_Read-a-Lot wrote:I was rereading the comic and a slightly improper thought rose into my head:
"Merge left! Merge left! Merge left!"

Perhaps the slogan "Merge Left" would be a suitable alternative to "Fuck Cancer". Combined with the lower "lanes" panel, it would certainly invite some conversation.

by **Catalyst23** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:23 am UTC

addams wrote:Maybe, we could type about how important it is to live well.

The number is days is important. But; Do we live well?

To love and to be loved in return is important for a life well lived. There is a time to discuss the issue of quantity of days lived and how well those days were lived.

To have a good friend is so important to how well a life was lived.

Your days are numbered, make them count.

A favorite quote of mine.

by **drc** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:49 am UTC

This nails it. Really does.

Me. Terminal Cancer 6 years ago. "Dead in 12 to 16 months" I was told. Obviously didn't happen. Got a new Doc instead. Fixed me up. But yeah, I thought about getting handed a "Lane" as in the strip.

Tell you two secrets: 1) After a while you park it and get on with your life instead. 2) No one gets out of this world alive.

Cancer Survivor? Not me. I'm a mutha-fookin' cancer WARRIOR. There is a difference.

by **Beardhammer** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:07 am UTC

Tyrannosaur wrote::(

nobody's highway goes forever.

Yeah but some people get to go out in a big way by slamming into a divider at 120 mph, while most everyone else just eventually runs out of gas since the exits don't go anywhere but right back into the freeway.

by **Tyrannosaur** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 6:11 am UTC

Beardhammer wrote:
Tyrannosaur wrote::(

nobody's highway goes forever.

Yeah but some people get to go out in a big way by slamming into a divider at 120 mph, while most everyone else just eventually runs out of gas since the exits don't go anywhere but right back into the freeway.

Which would you rather?

by **Cactus Wren** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 9:04 am UTC

Have you read Barbara Ehrenreich's article "Welcome to Cancerland"? She adapted it as the opening chapter for her book Bright-Sided. In the wake of her own breast-cancer diagnosis she comes down very hard on pink ribbons, teddy bears, oppressive positivity:

As an experiment, I post a statement on the Komen.org message board, under the subject line "angry," briefly listing my own heartfelt complaints about debilitating treatments, recalcitrant insurance companies, environmental carcinogens, and, most daringly, "sappy pink ribbons." I receive a few words of encouragement in my fight with the insurance company, which has taken the position that my biopsy was a kind of optional indulgence, but mostly a chorus of rebukes. "Suzy" writes to say, "I really dislike saying you have a bad attitude towards all of this, but you do, and it's not going to help you in the least." "Mary" is a bit more tolerant, writing, "Barb, at this time in your life, it's so important to put all your energies toward a peaceful, if not happy, existence. Cancer is a rotten thing to have happen and there are no answers for any of us as to why. But to live your life, whether you have one more year or 51, in anger and bitterness is such a waste . . . I hope you can find some peace. You deserve it. We all do. God bless you and keep you in His loving care. Your sister, Mary."
"Kitty," however, thinks I've gone around the bend: "You need to run, not walk, to some counseling . . . Please, get yourself some help and I ask everyone on this site to pray for you so you can enjoy life to the fullest."

and therapeutically correct language. She points out that until a person with cancer -- especially breast cancer -- has reached the status of "survivor" ("Hi, I'm Karen, and I'm a three-year survivor!"), the proscription against such words as "patient" and "victim" leaves no noun to describe her: "Instead, we get verbs: Those who are in the midst of their treatments are described as 'battling' or 'fighting,' sometimes intensified with 'bravely' or 'flercely' -- language suggestive of Katharine Hepburn with her face to the wind..."

I sent her a link to "Positive Attitude" (0828), btw. She liked it.

Fuck cancer. And fuck WITH A CACTUS the next person who says "You must have subconsciously wanted it" or "You have to keep a positive attitude or you're only making your disease worse".

by **thingtwo** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:30 pm UTC

My partner was diagnosed stage 4, five years ago.

The look in her face when she tells me that her knee hurts is horrible - that questions that neither one of us wants to voice, but it's always there, just under the surface. It'll always be there.

We're in the right-most quarter, and this is not something you want to be reminded of too often. You have to realize that we just don't know what this picture looks like past the 10 year mark - 10 is considered "survivor".

Our thoughts are with you Randall, you're not alone.

by **TheCycoONE** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:40 pm UTC

First, my mom got breast cancer when I was 16, it relapsed in her bones when I was 22 and she died before finishing treatment the second time. I had been under the impression since that no one is really cured of cancer, thanks for clearing that up Randall.

Secondly,

jpk wrote:
charolastra wrote:Once again, Randall hits the nail on the head.

I'm starting my 6th month of chemo and have 3 more to go. At 23, 10 months of my life (8 months of chemo, plus the 2 leading up to chemo filled with lots of tears, uncertainty, and appointments with crazy things like fertility specialists) are gone. The next 5 years, by necessity, I will have to be a hypochondriac. After 5 years without relapse, Hodgkin's Lymphoma is considered cured.

But after October 7th - my last day of treatment - there is no real relief. Just waiting and trying to live your life to the fullest. And trying not to swerve my car to hit people I see smoking or punching people who talk about going to the tanning bed. *ahem* I digress.

I dare someone to find fault with this. Go on. Try.

Not to find fault or anything, but... if you see someone risking their health, you'll try to run them over? When you're the one driving a vehicle that's putting out more carcinogenic gack in one afternoon than they'll manage all month? And if someone's willing to take a slightly different risk to their health, for what seems a stupid reason to you (and to me, frankly) you'll sock them?

I'm confused...

While I have no hate for anything but cancer itself after my mom died, my wife's father died in his 40s of a heart attack, and my wife hates fat people now - especially smoking fat people on scooters. As I understand it the feeling is something like: If you don't take care of yourselves you don't deserve to live, because my father took care of himself and didn't deserve to die. It upsets their notion of cosmic justice.

To clarify cancer/heart attack -> so young, innocent, didn't deserve this -> who deserves this? People who ignore the warnings(fat lazy people, smokers etc.) -> they should have suffered instead -> hate

Edit: If I didn't make it clear, My wife, and I understand the OP, hate people for getting away with what they're doing to themselves, not for what they're doing to others.

by **yurell** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:43 pm UTC

When I saw this, I couldn't believe how dark it was.
My sympathies to those afflicted by this horrendous disease.

by **charolastra** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:36 pm UTC

TheCycoONE wrote:
jpk wrote:
charolastra wrote:Once again, Randall hits the nail on the head.

I'm starting my 6th month of chemo and have 3 more to go. At 23, 10 months of my life (8 months of chemo, plus the 2 leading up to chemo filled with lots of tears, uncertainty, and appointments with crazy things like fertility specialists) are gone. The next 5 years, by necessity, I will have to be a hypochondriac. After 5 years without relapse, Hodgkin's Lymphoma is considered cured.

But after October 7th - my last day of treatment - there is no real relief. Just waiting and trying to live your life to the fullest. And trying not to swerve my car to hit people I see smoking or punching people who talk about going to the tanning bed. *ahem* I digress.

I dare someone to find fault with this. Go on. Try.

Not to find fault or anything, but... if you see someone risking their health, you'll try to run them over? When you're the one driving a vehicle that's putting out more carcinogenic gack in one afternoon than they'll manage all month? And if someone's willing to take a slightly different risk to their health, for what seems a stupid reason to you (and to me, frankly) you'll sock them?

I'm confused...

While I have no hate for anything but cancer itself after my mom died, my wife's father died in his 40s of a heart attack, and my wife hates fat people now - especially smoking fat people on scooters. As I understand it the feeling is something like: If you don't take care of yourselves you don't deserve to live, because my father took care of himself and didn't deserve to die. It upsets their notion of cosmic justice.

To clarify cancer/heart attack -> so young, innocent, didn't deserve this -> who deserves this? People who ignore the warnings(fat lazy people, smokers etc.) -> they should have suffered instead -> hate

Edit: If I didn't make it clear, My wife, and I understand the OP, hate people for getting away with what they're doing to themselves, not for what they're doing to others.

For me it's just frustrating because all I did to get cancer was possibly be exposed to mono/Epstein-Barr virus when I was in elementary school. And then had cancer growing inside of me for 3 or 4 years before it was detected.

Having this has stolen so much from me- I've gained a ton of weight as a combination of having no energy to do anything (hence buying the car- I used to walk everywhere and now I can barely make it up my 3rd story walk-up some days, much less the 5 miles a day I used to do), steroids, and eating whatever doesn't make me nauseous.

So I get really mad when I see people squandering their bodies. Smoking is the one that really gets me because even as a nonsmoker, I have something like a 50x chance of getting lung cancer so second-hand smoke sends me into fits of rage - it's not just their health they are risking, it's mine. I was raised in the American South and so, fitting a certain stereotype, a fair bit of my high school friends go to tanning beds weekly. A few even own them in their homes. I want to take them with me to a day of chemo just to see what it's like. One of my coworker's brother died at the age of 26 of melanoma - he was an athlete, always wore sunscreen, he just got really unlucky.

I was overweight due to some other medical issues but lived very healthily otherwise before being diagnosed with cancer. I can't wrap my head around the unfairness of the situation when I see other people my age squandering what good health they have.

by **hawkinsssable** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:09 pm UTC

Ephemeron wrote:This topic can be summed up as "Get out of my head, Randall. I've had cancer and/or have known someone with cancer."

Randall has got in our heads with the one thing that unifies us all, death.

(My implied sympathies to other commenters, this is not a troll post)

I can't directly relate (there have been a few times in recent memory immediate family members have had to be tested for either cancer or autoimmune disease, but thankfully everything came back negative) but, hell, after reading the comic (and this thread) I think I get it.

You learn something new every day. Something new and incredibly depressing.

by **Eternal Density** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:14 am UTC

Tyrannosaur wrote::(

nobody's highway goes forever.

A sober reminder.
Cancer is just one possible departure route from the road of life. The important thing is to make sure you take an exit heading for the right destination.

Death... the last enemy to be destroyed

by **Tyrannosaur** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 12:37 am UTC

Eternal Density wrote:
Tyrannosaur wrote::(

nobody's highway goes forever.
A sober reminder.
Cancer is just one possible departure route from the road of life. The important thing is to make sure you take an exit heading for the right destination.

Death... the last enemy to be destroyed

Well, depends. Living forever would not be a great existence either, and whether or not you believe life has a purpose outside of what is scientifically accepted, death does have a purpose. If I could have a foe to destroy it would be hate. Hate towards people is rarely useful and never the optimal way to do things.

PS I plan to get off at an exit for the right destination

by **calvinhobbesliker** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:16 am UTC

Has anyone seen the xkcdsucks post about this comic?

by **Eternal Density** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 3:02 am UTC

Just found an adorable site called dearphotograph and...
well you have to see it.
http://dearphotograph.com/post/72769154 ... emo-i-beat
awwwwwwwwwwwww.

by **erik.m.rehnberg** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 4:32 am UTC

ritvax wrote:Maybe we're taking the wrong approach here. There are many charities and foundations out there dedicated to cancer research. Do people pay attention until they are affected by it? What if there was a foundation charity called, "FUCK CANCER." Sure, it's not polite language, but maybe people would pay attention and be more likely to donate and support?

http://www.letsfcancer.com/

by **jpk** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 5:50 am UTC

charolastra wrote:Having this has stolen so much from me- I've gained a ton of weight as a combination of having no energy to do anything (hence buying the car- I used to walk everywhere and now I can barely make it up my 3rd story walk-up some days, much less the 5 miles a day I used to do), steroids, and eating whatever doesn't make me nauseous.

So I get really mad when I see people squandering their bodies. Smoking is the one that really gets me because even as a nonsmoker, I have something like a 50x chance of getting lung cancer so second-hand smoke sends me into fits of rage - it's not just their health they are risking, it's mine. I was raised in the American South and so, fitting a certain stereotype, a fair bit of my high school friends go to tanning beds weekly. A few even own them in their homes. I want to take them with me to a day of chemo just to see what it's like. One of my coworker's brother died at the age of 26 of melanoma - he was an athlete, always wore sunscreen, he just got really unlucky.

I was overweight due to some other medical issues but lived very healthily otherwise before being diagnosed with cancer. I can't wrap my head around the unfairness of the situation when I see other people my age squandering what good health they have.

I'm sorry for your troubles, but at some point you do have to let me make my mistakes on my own, I don't need your help. (as the man said)
The bit about second-hand smoke... well, you know, you are in fact operating a motor vehicle in your example. I can't possibly compare with the carcinogens you're putting out just going down to the Self-Righteousness Mart to pick up a six-pack of Smug. Either you're burning gas in your car, and polluting my lungs directly (good thing I'm taking it through a filter, yeah?) or you're powering your bourgemobile with electricity. In the US, that means you're almost certainly burning coal or maybe running on nuclear, both of which are pretty solidly linked to emitting carcinogens. So don't worry about running me down - just keep driving that thing, you'll get me sooner or later. And the irony is, you'll get me with your second-hand smoke - hah!

by **Ley** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:39 am UTC

I work at a cytotoxic pharmacy. that's where they prepare the chemotherapy. we don't have much contact with most of the patients, but we get to know their names. it's quite depressing to see all the names, hundreds and hundreds of poeple who could die any day...and when they don't show up for a while we don't know if it's because they "survived" and don't need chemo anymore or not. depressing.

by **tahrey** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:15 am UTC

All I feel qualified to put here is:

Having previously been the guy who runs the machine which detects the metastatic tumours that have grown large enough to actually be picked up by current technology (by which point, unless you're lucky enough for them to show up in a place that's treatable by chemo, radiotherapy or surgery, it's already time for... ahem... "palliative care only"

) and seen far too many people, of all ages and backgrounds, come through who were clearly on the off ramp but didn't yet know it, and I wasn't allowed to say...

I feel this one, and I hope you and your family end up staying on the freeway.

Even though my only personal experience of cancer is a somewhat distant uncle who died of it before I even properly got to know him, just getting a flavour of the suck from that, and the sheer number of people passing through our little room hoping to get the all-clear but being denied, was more than enough.

The only glimmer I can maybe offer is one of the doctors who we worked with trying to buck us up with the rather macabre statement - "unlike AIDS, most people with cancer will die with it, rather than from it". I wouldn't want to pit either disease against the other - fuck them both! - but, if it's true, it's a sign that our medicine has improved to an impressive level so far. There are no cures, but its possible to keep it under control until the end of your natural lifespan, when something else (that we also can't completely protect against) finishes you off. If you're one of the "lucky" ones, of course. I presume the "most" he mentioned is roughly 60%, after all... that's still a lot of people being taken out by it, and everyone who goes through the mill is deeply affected even if they survive.

Improved impressively, maybe, but there's still a long way to go.

Sincere best wishes, Randall & co, and anyone else on here who is affected.

by **dp2** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 1:44 pm UTC

This is the only koan I've ever felt I "got":

A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him.

Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!

by **jbrady33** » Mon Aug 01, 2011 2:23 pm UTC

As the husband of a brain tumor survivor (3.5 years out) - thank you for creating the second to the last panel (Trying not to worry that every ache and pain). The people around us don't seem to get that at all.

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