From a distance, it may look or sound like an opportunity to get extra perks and attention. The attention is certainly there, but it's not the type of attention many of us enjoy - pity, fear, sadness at the sight of you. It's a type of attention many cancer patients desperately want to avoid, though recognition as a cancer patient also invites approaches and connections with survivors who can truly empathize. As an Alopecian, we want desperately to be accepted as "assumed to be healthy" because we are in fact healthy, even when you see us in a doctor's office.
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From a distance, it may look or sound like an opportunity to get extra perks and attention. The attention is certainly there, but it's not the type of attention many of us enjoy - pity, fear, sadness at the sight of you. It's a type of attention many cancer patients desperately want to avoid, though recognition as a cancer patient also invites approaches and connections with survivors who can truly empathize. As an Alopecian, we want desperately to be accepted as "assumed to be healthy" because we are in fact healthy, even when you see us in a doctor's office.
Thanks for the ideas!
July 27, 2011 - 1:07pmSusan
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