At my Writer’s Group last week a woman, old enough to be Jade Goody’s mum, fake yawned and drawled “I wish that Jade would just hurry up and die, I am sooooo bored with her”. It was an ugly moment.
The coverage of Jade’s illness is doing women favours that could last their lifetime by booting them up onto the doctor’s couch for a cervical smear. Numbers of women presenting for a smear have soared since Jade’s condition was first made public.
Jade’s suffering helps to demystify female cancers which not so many years ago were unmentionables. The poor women of my dear mum’s generation with breast, cervical or ovarian cancers suffered as much with embarrassment and shame as they did with their actual disease and often died scared and alone in a general hospital ward. Warm and welcoming home from home hospices with open visiting hours, pink ribbons and moonwalks were beyond their wildest morphine induced dreams. Cancer has ‘come out’ and that’s because so many sufferers have been brave and generous enough to share their life and death experiences. Add Jade to that roll of honour.
Another common jibe at the terminally ill Jade is that she is’ only famous for being famous’. Reality TV let the genie of celebrity simply for it’s own sake out of the bottle a long time before Jade ever appeared on our screens. And that genie is not going back in any time soon. Jade is very good at what she does and the money she’s earning now isn’t for handbags and shoes, it’s to buy her essential peace of mind that her boys will be looked after when she’s no longer with them.. And as she’ll be paying tax on any money she makes,what’s to complain about ?
Last time I read the tabloid press it was crawling with people lauded solely for being famous ; and unlike Jade they do not drive around in a car or live in a house paid for with their own earnings. Hello Chloe Madeley, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and assorted top heavy with silicone WAGs.
A female columnist in the Daily Mail led the packed field in last week’s race to trash Jade in the press. Firing on all cylinders and in rude good health of her own she was inspired to write that getting cancer had been a good career move for the 27 year old mother of two. So insightful.
Commentators should get their integrity out before writing about the nearly dead to cancer. Or at least wait until they or a loved one become riddled with the disease . Then their ignorant, cruel and useless opinions on the subject may change and be worth hearing. Ditto that woman in last week’s writing group.
I wonder if the woman in your group knows anyone who has died of cancer? Surely she does – it’s everywhere. Her remark was v thoughtless and cruel. And as for the Daily Mail journalist… Well, what can we say to that?
My sister died of cancer 7 years ago and I still miss her terribly.
My heart goes out to Jade and her kids. I’m glad she can raise a bit of money and plan their futures with other people. My sister also left behind a daughter and it is v hard to see a child grow up without their mother, though my own mother is her guardian, which is great.
I’m glad Jade got to have her wedding – my sister loved a good party while she was dying, though she was often v weak and terribly sick. The will to live and mad hope remain even in the face of a poor prognosis. It’s quite amazing.
Nuala, thank you for your response, it was very moving. I was choked to read about the loss of your sister. So many people are talking about Jade at the moment and zoning in on celebrity and class and taste angles. I am shocked that they have so little compassion for this very sick young mother and her family.
Well, that’s it, isn’t it? The absolute lack of compassion. On another forum a (male) commentator was saying Jade should fess up about her sex life, basically because he believes she is to blame for her cancer. Disgusting line of thinking – I was appalled.
Some people are mad, I guess.
And you know, all these condemners would be the first to be ultra defensive about their own choices, relationships etc. Let s/he who is without sin etc etc
Anyway, Anna May, we won’t solve the world’s problems but it helps to know that there are others who feel for Jade and her kids, as a fellow mother and human being, going through incredible suffering.
Nuala x