cancer metaphors

Journalists use military metaphors when they talk about cancer. You read it on the news all the time. There is a war on cancer going on, at least since Nixon declared it. In this war, cancer is the enemy. Tumors are targets. Doctors generals. Chemotherapy, radiation and surgery are the weapons. I guess nurses are the soldiers and the war strategists are the scientists who develop the new drugs. Our care givers are our allies.

We, the cancer patients, are often described as (war) heroes, victims or survivors. I would say that we are more like Prisoners of War. At least that is what I feel like sometimes.

Even though I have also used these war metaphors, I am not sure they fit.

Often my friends describe me as a hero, a warrior or a fortress. With such kind words, they give me strength, that's true. How can I disappoint them?

But I am not a hero. And I certainly don't feel like one.