Embrace It Like He Did: A Reaction Paper on The Rhetorics of Cancer

Cancer – one of the few things humans are most afraid of. Even I tremble upon hearing this word. And it breaks my heart knowing that a number of people out there suffer this sometimes incurable disease.  Hearing cancer stories (or even reading about them on the net) is really heartbreaking. But hearing it from the cancer patient himself is a completely different story.

Andrew Graystone was diagnosed with cancer three years ago and until now, he is still suffering from such. He recounts his experiences while suffering from this killer disease and it is indeed evident that he wants to get rid of all the cancer cells in his body. Well, who wants to have cancer in the first place anyway? I assume that no one wants it. But the worst can always happen, and it may come to you when you least expect it. Graystone even said that people with cancer like him are conscripted into a battle against the self – with their bodies made into war zones, cancer as the enemy medical professionals and any medical treatments as heroes of the battle, even though they want to fight the battle or not. He tried so hard visit so many hospitals and institutions to ask for help but in the end, his view on cancer changed because of St. Francis of Assisi. He said that if he battled cancer, he is just putting himself in conflict with himself, so why not embrace it like ‘family’ like what St. Francis did.

It is indeed heart warming that you get to listen to Graystone’s podcast about his own illness. It gave me a new view on having serious (or even not-so-serious) diseases. When we speak of illness, people usually want one thing: to get rid or to cure themselves of the illness. But Andrew taught us that there is another way of handling it – a much more peaceful way of dealing with whatever disease you are suffering from. He is quite right though. As a matter of fact, I find myself agreeing to what he said – that it is better to embrace the disease and accept it since it is a part of you already. And besides, I know that we want to treat ourselves since we want to avoid the one thing that scares us the most: DEATH. But let’s face it. Death is inevitable. Even the most powerful being or the richest person cannot escape from it. When it’s your time, it’s your time. There is no need to prolong your agony. Better yet embrace it, like he did.


Bea Cristine T. Ledesma
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