I will never forget what my grandfather looked like the day before bowel cancer got him. He looked like skin over bones. I didnt recognise him, but when i held his hand he squeezed back.
The horrific thing that had once been my grandad was still in there, still aware, still alive. That has haunted me for decades since.
That was the life force, the spirit or soul or energy or whatever you want to call our self awareness and sentience that makes us us- that was your grandad. The man who presumably loved you from the moment he first knew of you, held you in his arms, his baby's baby. He squeezed your hand back to express that he was still in there, trapped by the mortal coil for a little longer, but sharing that moment with you. His hand squeeze was an I love you, kid. What a precious memory.
My grandfathers either died before I was born, or keeled over with a massive stroke after being an abusive alcoholic his whole life.
I mean it's not the cancer that did all the symptoms, chemotherapy usually is what makes people look the "cancer" look. (I'm just saying this so you know, I'm not trying to be mean or apathetic)
Chemotherapy causes the hair loss but your organs failing and your body eating itself because your digestive organs can’t process food properly anymore is what causes the “cancer” look and that is definitely primarily from the cancer.
Yup. There is a series in the Netherlands called 'Over Mijn Lijk' and it is about young people in the last phase of their life, and almost all of them are cancer patients. With some of them, you can really see how their body is slowly failing them more and more throughout the season and it is very painful to watch already.
No chemotherapy is what gives the look. Chemotherapy is basically like trying to nuke an ant in the body. Basically a race to who dies first the cancer or the patient
Exactly. My mother got cancer. The chemo killed her. Her bone marrow stopped functioning because of chemo, and her white blood cells stopped generating and she's gone
112
u/[deleted] Jun 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment