Cancer's Rough Ride

[Joe Washington]

One of the characters in my story will be dianogised with cancer and I plan to end his story with him committing suicide to save himself from any further suffering. Between being dianogised and his death, I want to realistically portray the progression of his illness and how it affects his daily life, and after he dies, I want to explore the impact of his death on his family. How would I be able to do that? This question is for those who lost people close to them due to cancer or knows someone who did and those who had personal experience with the illness.

 

[Captain Ice]

Why not ask a few people on the board what having cancer is like? I'd bet more than a handful have beaten cancer around here. Then you'd have the patient's experience as well.

 

[Rii]

Maybe he committed suicide out of remorse for physically abusing his ex-girlfriend who gave him cancer.

 

[Leroy]

It depends on the cancer, you realize some kinds of cancer are curable right? It's not an automatic death sentence.

 

[snakespeare]

Up in my neck of the woods, a few dozen people have chosen this option since it was made legal in October 1997. I believe there have been a lot of news stories, some sympathetic. Look up "assisted suicide" where you might find useful experiences.

 

[auntiehill]

I think you really need to be specific about what type of cancer you're talking about. I would suggest visiting some medical websites and read up on the specific type you choose for your character.

 

[Ohappydagger]

I work as a nurse on an oncology unit and its true that every case is totally different from the next, depending on what type of cancer, how far along it is when it is diagnosed, where it has spread to, e.g. has it got to the brain or not, etc. Sounds like this will require a lot of research.