That would be a nice change from posturing over domination, natural resources, and ideological differences. But I don't expect it to happen.

I find the meme "Fuck <thing that doesn't care>" to be a reflection of the 'accept, accept, accept' mantra. Sort of like the old "Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke." where the term meant more 'I expunge them from my consideration' rather than any overt sexual overtones.

I take it as nothing more than an emotional statement that cancer sucks.

The nations of the world aren't going to unite and solve the problem, but the people reading HN could try to figure out what more can be done. Think about these people that we've lost due to pancreatic cancer and maybe it'll motivate enough people, or the right people, that something significant can be done.

Randy Pausch

Steve Jobs

Stephen Buchheit

Patrick Swayze

Ralph Steinman

After Steve Jobs died I looked into where best to give money for research, but I haven't followed through yet. Seems like Stanford or Randy's site might provide the best leads:

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/stephen-beck/randypaus...

http://cancer.stanford.edu/help/gift.html

Any other recommendations?

While that would be outstanding, it's not really what I meant.

What I meant was that cancer so painfully takes from us - almost all of us - so much that I wish to assign it all of humanity's anger and pain, while at the same time being indifferent to it and living life to its fullest to spite it. All the while understanding that it is a huge and complex beast, and if not cancer, another dreadful parisite of the human condition.

So yeah, I can think of no better expression than Fuck Cancer to express such convoluted emotion.

When I say it, I mean that I'm not fucking letting it break me.

Last year cancer ate my mom's brain. Knowing that it was almost certainly fatal, she still fought it all the way: surgery, chemo, radiation, and a host of complications. She may have died, but cancer didn't win. Even though more tests were the last thing she needed, she participated in a study. After she died in hospice, her body went back to the university hospital so they could take extensive samples for an astrocytoma tissue bank. I'd say that's a fine fuck-you to cancer.

It would certainly nice if nations stood together, et cetera. But if they don't, fuck them. Why? Fuck cancer, that's why.