I thought I would temporarily stop by this blog for a small acknowledgement about actress Wendy Richards and reality show bird Jade Goody. Because I feel angry about it.
Wendy, a much loved actress here in the UK, has just died of cancer and Jade Goody at 27 has aggressive and terminal cervical cancer and is not expected to last more than a few months.
These stories are all over the news and naturally everyone has to comment. I have read some weird and horrible things on blogs lately that dismissed Jade Goody’s suffering in the media limelight because she is deemed a ‘celebrity’. The stupid way she acquired that ridiculous status is neither here nor there. And noone more than me has less time for celebrities and celeb idiocy.
But she is still a 27 year old human being facing a slow and painful death. And she is doing so with a lot of courage and an unbounding energy still to protect and secure the children she brought into this world - which is a damn sight more than some women of her background without any health issues to contend with.
It breaks my damn heart to read these stories. It is, as I have read elsewhere, simply not true to dismiss them because of their status because, well, normal people are suffering from cancer and so ‘what makes them so special’. It actually helps people who are suffering at any level or facing uncertain futures and all the back and forth with tests and uncertainty, to read stories of courage and smiles in the face of such tough stuff ahead however it pans out.
Jade’s story has also steered a sudden increase in early testing with some 27% more young women recently attending clinics early to have early tests.
My own grandmother died of an aggressive and painful as hell form of cancer. I know of several friends with parents about to die or who have died suddenly from cancers they left undiagnosed. I have a sister and friends who have been through the scares and the surgical procedures and come out okay, thank God. And I have tried to manage my own issues in this respect as best I can. I'm not here to talk about that. I am sure many people out there can tell similar stories. We are probably none of us special. But we are all still human.
In my view Jade needs the media and that strong connection because it makes her feel less lonely. We don’t need the media overkill and the death porn that seems so likely to occur and which is so rotten to the core but no less expected in our weirdly moulded fucked up societies these days. But Jade’s situation actually gives me goosebumps and makes my eyes well up. I’m a softie like that. And I wanted to pay my respects to these two women, these two human beings (who dealt with it differently but equally courageously) - regardless of how it plays out in the media for Jade.
I am not sure I can wish them any kind of blessing to end this post (and go back into my blog retreat) as some might do (God Bless them, keep them etc and so on). I find it hard to temper the idea of any benevolent God who would ensure such suiffering. And who indeed saw fit to create a needlessly painful and short life and death for David Cameron’s little son.
