by ShortyGU12

Created on: April 07, 2009

The connection between celebrities and cancer is that they too can be diagnosed with some sort of cancer. A lot of people feel that celebrities are untouchable and sometimes they believe it themselves until they end up with cancer.

It isn't surprising that older actors from the 1960s and previous eras would be diagnosed with lung or throat cancer because they most likely smoked cigarettes, cigars, or used snuff (chewing tobacco). It was part of the lifestyle of the world back then the Surgeon General warning not being on the packages and what have you, making it difficult to believe that tobacco could cause cancer but anyone with some wisdom will tell you, "Too much of a good thing can be bad" or something similar to that.

We, as people who do not share our lives with the rest of the world, tend to be surprised when celebrities are diagnosed with a form of cancer but like our fellow neighbour, we hope that they beat it. People who are diagnosed with cancer will feel helpless because it's not something you can just rip out and throw away; it needs to be killed off and people feel like they have to do something about their situation; even if it means to educate people and that's what celebrities tend to do.

People with money can do a lot of things in this world and celebrities are no different. They tend to donate money to a cancer charity so they can continue researching for a cure, and they tend to go on television shows to try to inform people of whichever cancer that affects their life. Some do the marathons or telethons to help raise money for the cause.

People would be surprised as to how many celebrities have had cancer. Just to mention a couple, people such as Richard Wright, Terry Jones, Ronald Reagan, Christina Applegate, Sheryl Crow, Patti LaBelle, Kylie Minogue, John Forsythe, Nat "King" Cole, Ed Sullivan, Mr. T, Steve McQueen, Patrick Swayze, Jane Goody, James Brown, Roger Moore, Fred Zappa, John Wayne, Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr, and Fran Drescher.

Sometimes it's not the celebrity themselves but their relatives like Angelina Jolie's mother, Cindy Crawford's brother, or Keanu Reeve's sister who end up being diagnosed with cancer and they do everything possible to try and help them recover which includes new experimental forms of treatment whether it be in Europe or Asia, they will trek to the ends of the earth to try and help their loved ones live.

I think that the only comfort that people get from hearing about cancer affecting a celebrity's life is that we ourselves, someone we love, or someone we know have that particular cancer and there's a connection as human beings; we know something about ourselves and them because we go through a similar ordeal; the shock, sadness, anger, and the preparations as well. It's what helps us feel connected as strangers and it sometimes can be a stronger bond than having someone in your life because they understand without words what you go through, how you have to live, and so on. It's an unmistakably clear view that living is quite fragile and could be taken away as quickly as a breath taken in by living creature.

Knowing someone may die from cancer is like watching them slowly wither away even if they claim or feel to be strong and it makes people feel helpless and panicky. There's nothing really to do but try treatments and to be distracted.

Reference

Kantrowitz, Mark (2009) Celebrities with Cancer Retrieved on 7th April 2009 from http://www.kantrowitz.com/cancerpoints/celebrities.h tml

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