Cancer patients deserve sympathy not slurs, Jennifer
I WaS diagnosed with breast cancer in april, resulting in a mastectomy and reconstruction in May, followed by chemotherapy, which I’m due to finish at the end of this month. Jennifer Saunders’s suggestion that some people wear cancer like a badge because of the attention it attracts is the most outrageous thing I’ve heard in all of my 52 years. a cancer diagnosis turns your world upside down, and if it wasn’t for the healthcare professionals and support groups available, many of us would not be able to cope. Jennifer goes into great detail about her chemotherapy, Herceptin, vodka binges and catheter, then has the audacity to announce that as an actress she is used to receiving attention — unlike the rest of us, who crave the attention a ‘cancer badge’ would give us. I sympathise with those who’ve been recently diagnosed and have had the misfortune to read her comments.
DEBORAH BAXTER, Pinner, Middlesex. HaVING had cancer, I felt great empathy with Jennifer Saunders — but, sadly, it appears she doesn’t feel the same way towards other sufferers. Her comments on hair loss and ‘wearing cancer like a badge’ were crass and insensitive. I’ve lost my hair on three occasions and it was a truly traumatic experience. I wasn’t lucky enough to be in Jennifer’s position, able to spend a lot of money on a custom-made wig. Many cancer patients also lose their income and have to struggle to survive on benefits: the worry about finances just adds to the stress. I’ve met many cancer patients and never witnessed anything other than relief when given the all-clear. No one I know ever wished for their illness back, and the joy when your hair and eyebrows start to regrow is indescribable. Jennifer is lucky: she’s been given the all-clear and, hopefully, will never have to go through more treatment. Some of us are not so lucky and wait for that piece of good news; as do our families. I’m sorry that in an apparent attempt to stir up controversy to promote her autobiography, she feels the need to upset and offend so many people who surely have enough to contend with.
LYNDA KOZAK, Nottingham.