Hiding the disease – the lonely battle of people with cancer

The patient went abroad to work and accidentally discovered a tumor in the colon. He decided to return to Vietnam to check again, “in case the situation is bad, treatment will be cheaper.” Sitting in the hallway waiting for an examination in March, he prayed that the “verdict” would not call his name. As a result, the patient had stage three colon cancer, which had metastasized.

Instead of finding a treatment regimen, he “begged” the doctor to keep it a secret from his relatives for fear of becoming a burden and being discriminated against by neighbors. He has only been married for a year, is young, and is the family’s economic breadwinner. Doctor Ha Hai Nam, Deputy Head of Abdominal Surgery Department 1, K Hospital (Hanoi), said that patients often go for chemotherapy alone, while in other cases they have relatives nearby. The side effects of the first chemotherapy sessions were “terrible”, causing them nausea and vomiting, not wanting to eat or drink, fatigue, and pain.

“The man didn’t say anything, but I understand you are alone in your fight,” the doctor said.

In another case, a man, 45 years old, had a stomach tumor, could not eat or drink, and insisted on self-treatment without informing his children. The patient said his two children were both having financial difficulties, so the patient did not want to be a burden. In addition, the concept that “cancer is a death sentence” made him give up, not wanting to get treatment, thinking “if he tells his family he will die, if he doesn’t tell his family he will die” so he chose to keep it a secret. The patient was determined not to go under the knife for fear of the evil cells spreading.

Currently, Vietnam does not have statistics on people with hidden cancer, but doctors have encountered many cases like the above during treatment. Vietnam is one of the countries with high cancer rates globally, with more than 300,000 people living with the disease, nearly 165,000 new cases and 115,000 patients dying each year.

Explaining the reason, Dr. Nam said that people who hide their illness do not want their families to worry, are afraid of becoming a psychological and economic burden, or even financially exhausted.

Cancer treatment is expensive, especially when using new drugs, such as targeted drugs and immune drugs. Currently, most traditional cancer treatments such as chemotherapy are covered by health insurance but have many side effects. New drugs cost up to hundreds of millions of dong, even billions for many batches, causing many people to give up.

In 2015, the George Institute for Global Health Research surveyed 8 countries with nearly 10,000 cancer patients, 20% of whom were in Vietnam. As a result, 55% of patients encountered financial disaster and died within a year of disease diagnosis. After 12 months of treatment, 66% of patients had to borrow money to continue treatment, 34% did not have enough money to buy medicine, and 24% were financially bankrupt.

Not to mention, many patients have the prejudice that “cancer is a death sentence”, “cancer is karma”, “having cancer is a punishment from heaven” makes them pessimistic, forcing them to hide their illness for fear of being discriminated against and slandered. Not only Vietnam, in many Asian countries, many people still consider cancer as “retribution”, a punishment for patients.

Some people believe that cancer can be “contagious” so they firmly stay away from people who have it, or women who are suspected of being “unfaithful” when they have breast tumors. The fear of being slandered makes patients more susceptible to depression, stress, excessive anxiety, and worse health conditions.

“Such false stereotypes about cancer appear not only in people with little knowledge but also in educated people,” said Associate Professor Le Van Quang, Director of K Hospital, Hanoi.

Doctor Ngo Van Ty, Department of Oncology, Hanoi Medical University Hospital, said that patients hiding their illness leads to many health and mental consequences. In addition to the shock of getting sick, they have to endure the pain alone, without anyone to share, encourage, or provide financial support, leading them to give up and give up life more quickly.

Normally, a cancer patient’s psychology will go through 5 stages including denial, blame, negotiation, depression, and acceptance. Most of the time, when the patient accepts the truth, they inform their family, making the treatment process more difficult.

Doctors advise people with cancer to share with their families, not to be prejudiced or blindly believe word-of-mouth treatment methods that have no scientific basis. In addition to the patient, the doctor will find ways to reassure the family, helping them fully understand information about the disease so they can fight together.

Currently, today’s medical advances have helped many people cure or prolong their lives, depending on the type of cancer and stage of the disease. For some types of cancer, the cure rate over 5 years exceeds 90% if detected at an early stage and treated promptly, such as thyroid cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. ..

“The most important thing is that they must believe in me, believe in medicine and accept treatment. Cancer that is detected early can be completely cured,” the doctor shared.