Phelan questions use of terms such as 'cancer warrior' and 'fighter'

"Just because somebody dies from cancer, maybe after six months or a year, does it mean they didn’t fight it as well as anybody else?" said Vicky Phelan  Photo: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

Cervical cancer campaigner Vicky Phelan has warned that well-meaning words of encouragement like "cancer warrior" or "battler" or "fighter" can increase the pressure on newly diagnosed patients who are feeling vulnerable and scared.

Ms Phelan, from Annacotty, Co Limerick was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014.

Earlier this week Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding shared her breast cancer diagnosis with fans on Instagram.

It led to a large outpouring of support online. Invariably these included messages along the lines of fans calling her a ‘fighter’ who would ‘beat cancer.’ 

Ms Phelan says that people often don't know what to say to the newly diagnosed and opt for words like "fighter" or battler."

“I think in Ireland, we are very poor at sympathising with people or being honest. I would prefer if people said to me when I was diagnosed first, ‘Jesus Vicky, this is shit. I am so sorry that you have got this diagnosis.’ Ask me about my treatment but don’t say to me, ‘oh you are going to beat this.’

Just because somebody dies from cancer, maybe after six months or a year, does it mean they didn’t fight it as well as anybody else?"

Ms Phelan told Newstalk radio it isn't fair on the person who is living with cancer or on the family that is left behind to use such terminology.

“I have had this conversation with people when they are saying, ‘do people think she didn’t fight hard enough?’ There is an element of that. This is a shit situation; you have got cancer and nobody knows what will happen at the end of the day.

"Some people get diagnosed at a very early stage and still die from cancer so it is a lottery and even for me to still be alive today, I have seen so many women die from this disease over the last number of years. That is why I get upset about this type of language – because any of the women I know who died from this disease fought bloody hard until the end."

Ms Phelan says that new and revolutionary treatments are allowing people like her to live with cancer for long periods of time.

“I am living with this disease and that is what I always say. I say I am living with cancer; I don’t say I am fighting it because you can’t fight it; you have got this disease in your body and you have to learn to live with it somehow."

When Ms Phelan was diagnosed with cancer she was given the all-clear after prolonged and intense treatment.

However, three years ago she was informed that an audit carried out by CervicalCheck found that her 2011 smear test had been reported as a false negative.

Within weeks a CT scan revealed the cancer had returned. The diagnosis was terminal. She went public with what had occurred and her tremendous efforts sparked a debate on the treatment and care of cancer patients in Ireland.

Ms Phelan documented her journey in life in her award winning best selling book "Overcoming."

Meanwhile, Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding (38) has indicated that whilst she was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year she recently discovered it had transferred to other parts of her body.