We have been watching the News more than usual and I noticed that the BBC news reader George Alagiah has been missing recently. The reason for this came out yesterday. He is a coronavirus victim. It is mild but it comes in addition to the bowel cancer he has suffered since 2014. he has had innumerable chemotherapy treatments but his condition remains at stage 4.
He was interviewed on the News last night and spoke in his dignified and warm-hearted way of his recent experience. One thing in particular rang a bell with me. He said that cancer sufferers are used to living with uncertainty and worst case scenarios and therefore are probably better equipped to deal with the present crisis: "In some ways, I think that those of us living with cancer are stronger because we kind of know what it is like to go into something where the outcomes are uncertain.”
I think there is something in this. Despite the generally encouraging statistics of survival, when you receive a cancer diagnosis the worst of outcomes is never completely out of your mind. However, you learn to live with it, drawing on whatever personal resources you have including faith. The threat of the coronavirus does not loom as large as the cancer itself and what strength has been built up in the cancer experience is there to face the new challenge.
Listening to George last night brought home to me the importance of shared experience. ‘I know how you feel’ is sometimes said in a glib way. And the response: ‘How can you possibly know how I feel?’ is understandable. But often shared experience can be a strength and an encouragement to sufferers. I know how much I have benefited from listening to and reading about fellow myeloma sufferers. What has been gathered in the experience of others has been a blessing. I think Paul knew about this:
‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.’ (2 Corinthians 1: 3-4)
