John Fields said:
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Perhaps I didn't make my point strongly enough.
What I was referring to, gently, was that if it wasn't for people
like you, who seem to be so firmly convinced that resistance is
futile once cancer has taken hold that they infect others with that
belief, there might a lot more survivors walking around.
There are plenty that "fight" their asses off, and die. If the
choice to "fight" is their own, that is perfectly all right.
But if they are only fighting because they were told to do so,
it leaves them with the guilt of not performing well enough.
They might feel that they have dissapointed their loved ones,
by not having "fought" hard enough.
If there is a statistic figure that indicates a good chance of
recovering (like walking again after broken knee caps) then by
all means tell a patient to "fight" for his or her recovery.
But if the chances are extremely grim, don't ask for the
impossible. Let them decide for themselves if they want to
fight or not. They are not helped with our well meanted
advice.
For instance, if there was any reason for it, I would ask you
to climb on the roof of your house, but never to climb the Himalaya.
Out of respect, I will not ask you to do something you're clearly
not fitted for.
Also, if you told me that you intend to climb the roof of your
house, I'd say "You can do it". If you told me that you intend
to climb the Himalaya, I'd say "Yeah, nice, let's go fishing
instead.". Again, out of respect. I don't enjoy seeing people
fall flat on their face, well, not often anyway.
What do you think?