Please Don't Put the Words 'Cancer' and 'Just Died' in the Same Sentence...Please!

Why is it that when people hear about my cancer experience, they feel the need to tell me about the people they know who have just died from it?

How bloody insensitive!

I know it happens and I know that it must be horrendous to lose someone to cancer but I'm in the middle of chemo, I don't want to know that someone you know has just died from breast cancer.

It all started the day after my first chemo when the hub and I went to a wedding in West Wales. Someone who I've never met before but had heard that I was 'the one with the cancer' at the wedding decided to tell me about his mum who died of cancer last year...I have no problem in hearing that, I find it weird that people need to tell me but anyway we started chatting about it and he continued to tell me that it wasn't actually cancer that killed his mum; after her 1st chemo she got an infection which turned into a virus which turned into pneumonia...and that killed her.

Why o' why would I want to hear that story... I actually laugh about it now in shock that someone felt the need to tell me that.

And then at the hairdressers when I had to get the fringe on my wig trimmed, the hairdresser started to tell me that his grandad recently died of cancer and his words were "and we were all so shocked as he was so fit and healthy!" WHAAAAT! Tell me that he smoked 100 a day and was 50stone, not that he was fit and healthy and still died! What am I supposed to respond to that with? It's bloody hilarious!

I'm not sure if people are being insensitive or they think that they're helping by telling me tragic cancer stories but please stop.

The reason that I'm writing this is because the last straw happened this week, a friend of mine emailed me with the subject line: Cancer (a shocker in itself) and told me that her friends mum has just died of breast cancer a few weeks ago and now her friend has got it...

again, what am I supposed to respond to that with...

Its a shocker, I honestly thought people would be more sympathetic about it and would only want to tell me survival stories to lift my spirits, not tell me about people who die, it's not fair, it's bloody scary and it's definitely not helping me get through this.

So in future, not just to me, but please be more sensitive to people who are battling their way through cancer. Once they hit remission and have been given their survival rate...if its a good prognosis then tell them your tragic death stories, but if its not good, don't kill their own hopes of survival...please....