All Fun, All the Time: Cancer and C.P.

Add Comment Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Apr. 7, 2009

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Regarding Steven Wells’ recent cover story about his second bout with cancer:

This piece is fabulous, and honestly the most accurate depiction of what it’s like to really be sick and in the hospital for an extended amount of time.

I don’t have cancer but I was recently diagnosed with and treated for a chronic disease of the digestive system that took two years of tests, months of torturous hospital “treatment,” scary drugs and their scarier side effects and ineffective pain management, all of which left me a shell of a person.

After several operations, I’ve been left with only parts of my digestive system and mere shreds of my dignity intact. It will take me years to recover, physically and emotionally.

I don’t think Steven Wells is looking for sympathy here, and neither am I. It was just damn refreshing to read about someone’s experience similar to my own who isn’t into the “spiritual sewage” that tends to get dumped on the sick.

When things are bad, people say, “Well, at least you have your health.” When you don’t even have that, the world can seem a pretty unforgiving place, and we all deserve to complain now and then.

KATIE RIECKS
via philadelphiaweekly.com

I’m sending positive vibrations in Steven Wells’ direction. It seems as if only the poignant writers meet horrible ends in this city while the whiny assholes live healthy and worry free. Life sucks monkey shit!

DONNA Di GIACOMO
Germantown

It’s funny like Hornby, a war story like Hemingway (although not at all) and a terrific piece of first-personreporting. A shame you had to go through it, though. Good luck and keep up the fight. And please, keep writing.


WILL FENTON
via philadelphiaweekly.com

 

 

Wheeling in Anger


Regarding Liz Spikol’s recent column about Lars Winberg’s struggle to get his wheelchair repaired:

Excellent article. It’s so refreshing to see a well-written piece about people with disabilities that doesn’t classify us as “heroes.”

I too have cerebral palsy and can attest to the racket that is wheelchair repair. Seems as though specialized companies have monopolies on wheelchair repairs/sales in local areas. So, in a jam, Lars and the rest of us are screwed.

If I might make a suggestion, local colleges (at least those with offices for Students With Disabilities) might have some ideas as far as resources for repair are concerned, especially if students who use wheelchairs live on campus. Also, Veterans Affairs Centers might be able to point you in the right direction.

Well-done article. Good luck Lars!

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