There is a word called Cancer’s Gift. It seems to be used to mean the realizations, new encounters, and wonderful experiences gained from having cancer. When you search for Cancer’s Gift in English, it doesn’t seem to be used in that sense, but when you search in Japanese, many people use the word, so it seems to be a word that is mainly used in Japan. It may be a unique Japanese way of thinking that is linked to the respect for the importance of perseverance and overcoming difficulties, as symbolized by the TV drama “Oshin,” and I also feel that I have received many Cancer Gifts by having cancer.
The biggest thing is that it made me realize how grateful I am to my friends and family. The messages of support and appropriate advice I received from my friends when I announced that I had cancer became a very strong support in my fight against cancer afterwards. My family who was by my side was an indispensable emotional anchor more than anything else. Having cancer made me realize how important my friends and family were to me.
When I was first told that I might have stage 4 pancreatic cancer, I tried searching the internet to find out more about cancer, but there was so much miscellaneous information, including dubious treatments, that I didn’t know what to trust, so I announced that I had pancreatic cancer on Facebook, and the post is below.
Dear all friends,
I had been receiving treatment for chronic pancreatitis since August, but it was recently discovered that I had pancreatic cancer. There is a possibility that it may metastasize to the liver, so the fight against cancer will begin from now on.
Since there was inflammation in my bile tract, I was admitted to a hospital in Kawasaki the day before yesterday for treatment, and as soon as the inflammation subsided, an anti-cancer drug device will be implanted and treatment with anti-cancer drugs will start. Once successfully metastasizing to the liver disappears, surgery to remove pancreatic cancer will be performed.
My wife tells me that I don’t need to make anything public, but I’ve always been the type of person who get power when I receive voices of support of many people. I got good goals at soccer games with a lot of spectators, and I hit better shot on the teeing ground where there are a lot of people watching.
Now I need to battle with a very strong opponent, so I posted this to get voice of support from many friends as strength to fight.
Also, I’m sure there are quite a few cancer survivors here, so if you have any tips for fighting cancer or wisdom for overcoming it, please let me know.
I am facing this illness surprisingly calmly and am determined to overcome cancer. Currently, I am in a normal condition with no abnormalities, even I feel like I can play soccer right now, so I would like to prepare my body properly and prepare for the fight against cancer that is about to begin.
The next day, I received advice from several cancer survivors, and what they all had in common was that they were very positive. A senior colleague at work who had undergone five surgeries to remove bladder cancer taught me the joy of watching movies in a private room at the hospital using a small projector, a colleague who had undergone a full course of surgery, anti-cancer drugs, radiation therapy, and inhibitors told me stories of how she had overcome each treatment with great interest, and a person who had recovered from pancreatic cancer taught me the importance of living a normal, enjoyable life every day.
After being diagnosed with cancer, cancer patients seem to go through the “shock stage” of despair and denial, the “unstable stage” of depression and loneliness, and then after a few weeks, they enter the “adaptation stage” where they adapt and start to face the cancer. In my case, I was able to enter the adaptation stage quite early thanks to advice from a friend.
Two days after I posted on Facebook, my bile duct became clogged with pus and I was hit with excruciating pain. It was the most painful pain I had ever experienced in my life, and I was rolling around in bed. Until then, I had only experienced mild stomach and back pain as symptoms of pancreatic cancer, so I was quite depressed at the thought of having to face such severe pain from pancreatic cancer. However, as I lay in bed looking at the messages of support I had received from many friends, I thought to myself that I had to do my best because so many friends were supporting me, and so I wrote the following Facebook post in bed, clutching my aching stomach.
Dear friends,
Thank you very much for the messages of support from such a many people.
I thought I had strong luck. I have been able to overcome adversity and hardships, and I have won all the battles I had to win.
However, as I read the messages while thinking about the faces of each and every one of you, I realized that what I have is not the luck of overcoming adversity and winning the battle, but the luck of having someone to give me advice and help me in times of adversity. luck of having someone coaching me how to win before the battle, and luck of having someone who fight strongly alongside me.
Your messages of support really give me strength.
Advice from cancer survivors was also very helpful.
I think the advice from cancer survivors can be summarized as follows
# Stay positive
# Enjoy daily life more than ever.
# Do what I want to do to the fullest.
# Do exercise thoroughly
# Eat, eat, eat, no matter how painful it is with the anti-cancer drugs.
I will keep advices of cancer survivors in my mind.
However, it won’t be such an easy battle.
When times are tough, I will read your messages of support over and over again to receive strength from you.
Thank you very much.
In fact, I was already in bed, suffering from intense pain, and I was getting strength from reading over and over the messages of support from many friends. Looking at the names of each of them – my friends from junior high school nearly 50 years ago, my friends in the Middle East nearly 30 years ago, my friends in Asia nearly 20 years ago, and my friends in Europe and the United States – I remembered episodes of him helping me out and her supporting me at that time, and I vowed to myself that I would definitely get better because I had received so much support.
After that, I was able to always face cancer in a positive manner thanks to the presence of my friends who sent me many messages of support and advice every time I posted about the progress of my treatment on Facebook, and it was one of the great Cancer’s Gifts for me that they made me realize how important my friends are.
Another Cancer’s Gift was that it taught me the importance of a family that is there for me. The reassurance of my wife who cares for me and thinks of ways to fight cancer together, the kindness of my children who care about me and my wife and call out to us and come and see us, and my grandchildren who have an overwhelming healing power and cheer us up. This made me realize once again how important family is.
And another Cancer Gift I received taught me the importance of spending every day with a smile. I think because cancer patients fully realize the importance of time, we can understand that spending each day with a smile is necessary in order to suppress cancer and coexist with it. When I read blogs by cancer survivors and patients, I see many of them are grateful for each day and spend their days happily with a smile, and I would like to keep a smile no matter what situation I find myself in the future.