Last class we discussed how the health care system places onus on the individual to prevent cancer and deemphasizes other factors such as the government or corporations. As I flipped through the Canadian Cancer Society pamphlet and stared up at the under-sized knickers, I reflected on my own experience with cancer and individual responsibility.

I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when I was 13 years of age. Obviously, it changed my childhood a bit. It became a full time job to manage chemo appointments, check ups, and my health. I was placed in a bubble with very strict regime to follow complete with fresh vegetable juice, cocktails of vitamins and medications and severe restrictions. I was not allowed to play sports, go to school, or occupy any public space without a mask. Now, cured, my health and behavior is still stickily policed by me and medical professionals despite my clean bill of health for the past eight years. My point here is to explore the ways in which we are told to avoid cancer though individual actions even though is may be unavoidable.

Every time I step into a doctors office, whether it be for something as simple as a persisting cold, I spend half the appointment telling my cancer story despite it’s irrelevance to my current medical concern. I’m bombarded with questions regarding my drinking habits, exercise regimes, and diet. Stories are the way we understand knowledge, so I tell them my cancer story and defend my lifestyle choices. My cancer story has become integrated into my identity and will be with me forever. Doctors always tie any medical concern back to my medical history. I think it would be similar if I smoked, or was overweight – these are barriers that they cannot see past. I need to defend my lifestyle choices to get them to finally address my current health concern. It’s a battle I face every time I step inside a doctors office.

The Mayo clinic offers seven vague strategies to avoiding cancer, found here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/cancer-prevention/art-20044816. I’ve listed them below:

1) Don’t use tobacco
2) Eat a healthy diet
3) Maintain a healthy weight and be physically active
4) Protect yourself from the sun
5) Get immunized
6) Avoid risky behaviors
7) Get regular medical care

Okay, sure, but we don’t know the true cause of cancer. These seven things are the most basic health advice your can receive and all put the onus on YOU to manage YOUR health. There is no mention of other determinants of health such as social status, employment, social and physical environments, gender, or culture. The structure of medicine is flawed and more emphasis needs to be placed on non-individual factors.

At 13, I received 100% in all these categories but I still got cancer. It could have been genetics, pollutants I was exposed to, plastics that were being mass produced by corporations, who knows. I was not able to be blamed for my cancer given I was a child but now that I’m an adult, that no longer applies. I’m criticized for my rare sun exposure and alcohol ingestion. But I’m patted on the back for my diet, weight, exercise regiment, and other generally healthy habits. I’ve been programmed from a young age to be healthy and I go to extremes to do everything in my power to never end up in the oncology ward again. The reality is that I, as an individual, cannot prevent the development of cancer in myself. Cancer is a medical mystery with no direct cause and effect but we are told that it is our responsibility to prevent cancer in our own bodies. I will be telling my cancer story to every medical professional I encounter and every time I will tell them how I’m successfully or not successfully fulfilling those seven vague cancer prevention strategies. I will still try to prevent the unpreventable. The institution of medicine will not let me separate my current health from my past health, or separate myself from my cancer story. I will always be held responsible.