From a cartoonists point of view

[betplace]

Someone sent this link to me from another list I am on, I thought you all might enjoy it. A cartoonist documented his Mom's fight with stage IV LC. It is really well done.

Here's the link:

http://www.momscancer.com/

[Snowflake]

Thank you, Betty. I read it....very educational, don't ya think?

[teresag]

That site is GREAT! I'm going to ask my students to look at it when we cover cancer. Thank you for the heads-up, Betty. - Teresa

[cindi o'h]

thanks Betty,

That artist is quite remarkable. I dropped him just a short note. He was definitely paying attention.

Thanks again, Betty.

Cindi o'h

[JaneC]

Betty,

Thank you so much for sharing - I read it all the way through and thought it was excellent!

[BeckyCW]

Wow! I didn't MEAN to read the whole thing right now, but I couldn't stop! Thank you for posting this!

BeckyCW

[pecola]

I did the same thing as BeckyCW and others and started out just wanting to take a peek but ended up reading it all. Great!

Gina

[Andrea]

This is a MUST READ for everyone!!!! I was so hooked, like an hour went by and I read all the way through Thank you!

[betplace]

Katie,

Thats what I felt too, it was great except the cartoon about it being caused by smoking and the one about smakers deserving it. The rest was marvelous, and he is entitled to his opinion on those as you say.

I am glad every one enjoyed it, I love it when I can give back a little of the tremendous help I get from this wonderful group!

Blessings

Betty

[Brian F]

I'm the cartoonist who did "Mom's Cancer," pointed this way by a couple of you (hi, Cindi and Snowflake). I appreciate the comments very much, especially from a group so involved and knowledgeable.

I just wanted to touch on one thing, about the sequence where I wrote about smokers "deserving" lung cancer. I don't really believe anyone deserves such an awful disease; what I was trying to show was the anger that made me want to slap cigarettes out of people's hands and yell at them for being idiots. I wanted to drag every single one of them to my mother's bedside and say, "Is this what you want? Because it's where you're headed!" And I wanted to ask my mother, "How could you not see this coming, and why didn't you do something to stop it?" I know it's not a particularly rational or compassionate response, but I thought I needed to show it honestly even though, frankly, I knew it didn't make me look very good. A lot of patients' family members have written to me to confess that they felt the same but were afraid or ashamed to say so.

I hope that explains my thinking a bit. I'll stand by that strip as an accurate view of how I felt in that situation on that day, but add that most of the time I try to be a better person than that.

Best to you all,

Brian

[Lisa O]

Brian,

I love your honesty and really appreciated your post here. You authored a great cartoon.

[Snowflake]

Hi, Brian!

I didn't get here by smoking, but I HAVE to admit, when I see ANYONE smoking, I get the urge to take an ol' 2 x 4 to their forehead. My big "ESPECIALLY" is the high schoolers that light up just one step outside of the school zone - to be "cool"... (and by the way, this DOES include my step-kids, except they rate a 4 x 4 as they were there in the hospital with their dad while I was going through an extreme allergic reaction to my pain medication and saw the whole nightmare of recuperation and the ol' slice in my side and STILL light up...and my father rates that same 4 x 4 for lighting up again after quitting with a triple heart bypass four years ago).

...and I smell it on those I work with, those who know the hell I've been through and I wonder how they can be so stupid, since THEIR odds are at least ten times higher than mine of walking in my very shoes!

So, yeah, I DO hear what you are saying, but I truly do not blame anyone for where they are if they happened to smoke. Their odds are higher, but most smokers do not get lung cancer.

But my patience for those who smoke around me or my family? Absolute zero. It compromises my health and that of my son, that is not acceptable.

Welcome, I'm glad you stopped in!

Becky

[cindi o'h]

Brian, Thanks again...

I totally "got it" and understood that smoking part....it has to go through everyone's mind when someone they love is diagnosed with lung cancer. Anger is part of it...lashing out is another... I hope you keep it in there. It doesn't mean that is how you feel presently....but, that it is a very real part of an emotional story. I took no offense to it at all.. It is part of truthful art.

I think it would help if all families could have access to your cartoon. That is why I think it would be a hit being published. I think that the medical profession could use it as well as those who listen to us while we lie confused and scared on their leather couches... You brought up so many details that were comprehensive. It is not just about the lungs. It is not just about the cells. It is about real life and real people and real actions and reactions.

I hope that you come here often. I think that you have a sensitive soul.

Cindi o'h

[Tiny]

Betty=

Thank you so much for the cool link. Hope things are going OK for you.

Brian-

Thank you for a wonderful treat and for your gut-felt honesty. I AM glad that you don't really feel that ANYONE deserves this disease because they absolutely don't, no more than obese people deserve diabetes or heart attacks, etc. We all have feet of clay in some way, and may God bless and keep us.

[appleton]

I couldn`t "put it down" till I finished it.