The courage to fight cancer

I don't mean to take away anything that Tony Snow is facing. He has a tough road ahead of him and a lot of people pulling for him, but I was hoping Mark could fill us all in on something, since not all of us can make it to White House press briefings.

It's great that there is another highly visible person bringing cancer into the national light and brining attention to the issue, but are reporters asking him all of these questions during times that has been set aside for dealing with national issues like Iraq? Are these coming at the beginning of a press conference before it has officially begun? After it's over? Right smack in the middle?

As usual Tony Snow displays much class and decency. More people need to emulate Mr. Snow and learn what they can from him. Bless you, Tony, and prayerfully you will win this cancer fight.

I disagree with Tony Snow's statement. Courage is as courage does, plain and simple, and the way he fights his cancer is as good an example of courage as anybody going into battle. He's affirmed that life, even when it's complicated by a painful, dangerous, disfiguring disease like cancer, is worth living. It'll be the way he goes about his days from now on that determines what he's made of, not whether or not he chose to have cancer. God bless him.

For the person wanting more details about White House press conferences, you can access a complete transcription by going into the Drudge Report and scrolling down to "Tony Snow" in the list of
writers. The press conferences are reported daily.

For Tony Snow and Mrs. Edwards, our prayers and thoughts for your complete recovery.

I noticed Ted Koppell is going to have a special on Discovery/times about living with cancer. The people they showed clips of were Lance Armstrong, John Edwards wife, and a few others. I am not taking anything away from their sruggles, but the first thing I noticed was they probably all have really good insurance. And if not insurance, then the money to deal with it.

nancy,

I agree; it's easier to have the courage to fight cancer if you are not also struggling, most of the time unsuccessfully, to avoid financial disaster.

When you have insurance with $2000 deductibles that reload every year, $5000 in ongoing and soon to go upward premiums, and 80/20 'cost sharing' it won't take long to push even well off Americans into bankruptcy court.

To add insult to injury, the cure may not even work.

Yes it is _much_ easier to have courage when you
can pay for the needed medical services and medicine. Many people in this country die for lack of it since they can not afford decent insurance. Pathetic situation.

Yes I noticed that all the people appearing on the show “Living with Cancer” were either well to do, or famous, or just well connected.
I would not allow my family with “teenagers”, to suffer loosing their home and whole social life for me, and put them into bankruptcy trying to find a cure for cancer.
The statistics are clear; it doesn’t look good for long term survival. Courage can also be to face death with your chin up, knowing you are doing your best to leave this world of your free will, and on your terms.
I don’t have the finances to live with cancer. I’m self employed and live month to month.
All I can hope for is to die before my life insurance runs out, so my wife and kids can have some sort of future. They can pay down some debt and at least stay in our home. The USA is becoming more like ancient Rome, in that if you are one of the important people you have opportunity, respect, and choice. If you are an “unimportant person” your death is meaningless and may even serve as entertainment for the “important people”.
Someone tell me if I’m wrong.
Do you think a four star general will get better treatment at the V.A. than a private 1st class?
Do you think as an average citizen, you will have the same survival rate of cancer as ANY member of Congress?
I watcher my brother die a long and painful death over 8 years that was due to an auto accident. He was a Roofer “one of those jobs American’s won’t do”, and had no insurance.
He was treated like dirt in the hospitals. Doctors rarely spent five minutes with him. His legs were smashed and kept getting infected; he was in a lot of pain! He was only 47 years old when I found him dead.
My Mother had a stroke at 66 years old. She survived and is doing well for her age. No thanks to the medical community. Again, they treated her like dirt, another “unimportant old Person” to have to deal with.
I’m going to die eventually, God give me the courage to die well, and not be humiliated by people who don’t care about me or my suffering.