Here are some tips on how to write a cancer patient without bugging those of us who actually were/are one!
After you have been a cancer patient you realize how they are inaccurately described in fiction and in film/tv. Parenthood got it right. Though you still had an actress in a bald cap and I completely understand–also there was always the chance they would need to shoot flashbacks so what do you do? That show was written so well.
The reason? The writer had been through it with his wife. He KNEW.
Here are 10 tips for writers plus a bonus tip!
1. Cancer treatment still sucks
2. We don’t all lose our hair
3. Some do
4. We don’t spend all our time throwing up but sometimes we feel like it
5. We don’t have a ton of energy but we might have more than you think.
6. A mastectomy is not a boob job: it is an amputation.
7. Radiation makes you tired too.
8. Parents going through chemo keep going for their kids–trying to keep normalcy.
9. You can work but you need to rest more.
10. Side effects are not all bathroom related.
One Response
Leslie Clingan
Oh, Parenthood. Such a fabulous show. They say write what you know. Bless your heart, so sad that you can write about cancer firsthand.