Living with cancer

I hate to read obituaries that say "he lost his battle with cancer." It makes the person sound like if he had just tried a little harder he might have survived. No one says of a man hit by a car, "he lost his battle with a drunk driver." No one says a woman who had a stroke "lost her battle with a blood clot." In any case, no one ever gets out of here alive.

I never knew what "living with cancer" meant until my husband was diagnosed. While it seemed at first that his cancer would consume us, that every waking moment of every day would somehow relate to his cancer, "living with cancer" has indeed become our way of life. It is not our choice. We live with cancer. We manage cancer. But we don't battle cancer. Life should not be a battle; otherwise, why live it?