by Linda Girgis and John A.H.
Cancers are among those diseases that everyone dreads. Patients fear to hear any of those diagnoses, and doctors try to detect them early enough so that treatments, if not cures, are possible. However, there are certain cancer stigmas and stereotypes that essentially make this goal difficult to attain. Our aim with this post is to reveal these stigmas and report the truth. We hope this article raises awareness of the dangers cancer stigmas pose for those suffering from these cancers.
One stigma is that breast cancers are women’s diseases. Admittedly, the vast majority of breast cancer patients are indeed women, but some of these cancers also occur in men. Many people are under the false impression that these are diseases ONLY of women. This is a dangerous myth. As a result of this wrong thinking, men tend to get diagnosed later and do more poorly. They often need to go for treatments in women’s medical centers. This makes them feel out of place. Not just this, but it is also a concern that breast cancer treatment in men has not been as well studied. Men are embarrassed to tell others that they are suffering from a “women’s” disease. So, while they may be dying, many are often unable to tell others why.
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In some Middle Eastern countries, women are stigmatized for developing a breast cancer. Women with breast cancer are made to feel shamed by their families and society in general. They tend not to get screened and are often diagnosed at more advanced stages. This is important because it has been projected that by the year 2030, 70% of all cancer cases worldwide will be in developing countries.
When people think of those with lung cancer, many assume that these people are smokers. Yet, 60 % of new lung cancer diagnoses are made in people who never smoked or are rare smokers. Ten to fifteen percent of Americans who die from a lung cancer this year will have been, by definition, non-smokers. These tend to be younger people. Often, they are misdiagnosed early in their diseases. The truth is evolving that genetics plays a role. Having a germline, i.e., inherited, mutation in the EGFR (chromosome 7) or BAP1 (chromosome 3) gene is known to predispose an individual to certain lung cancers. Also, the WHO recently declared air pollution as a major cause of lung cancer. Similarly, smokers are often made to feel responsible for their cancers. In addition to learning diagnostic and treatment options, these patients often need to overcome the shame of the stigma that they are somehow responsible for their cancer.
To sum up, people who otherwise might live are dying because our society perpetuates ignorance regarding cancers. That ignorance sustains and is sustained by stigmas that must end now—that only women develop breast cancers, that a woman could somehow “deserve” a breast cancer or a smoker a lung cancer, that only smokers will become lung cancer patients. Knowing and speaking the truth to power now is our shared responsibility.
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