Episode details

Radio 4,30 Mar 2020,28 mins
Fighting Talk: How Language Can Make Us Better
Available for over a year
When we talk about cancer it鈥檚 often hard to find the right words. As we search for the perfect thing to say, we find ourselves reaching for familiar metaphors; the inspiring people fighting or battling their cancer. Cara Hoofe is currently in remission from Stage 4 bowel cancer, she says it would be easy for her to say she鈥檚 beaten cancer. Yet she鈥檚 still uncomfortable with the terminology. If she鈥檚 won her fight, does that mean others have lost? In this programme Cara asks experts what impact these militaristic metaphors actually have on those living with cancer, and asks current and former patients what we should talk about when we talk about cancer
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