This Guy’s Wife Got Cancer, So He Did Something Unforgettable. | Hacker News Reader

This Guy’s Wife Got Cancer, So He Did Something Unforgettable.

viralnova.com

91 pointstchalla25 comments

Maybe link directly to the guy's site, instead of some random content aggregator:

http://mywifesfightwithbreastcancer.com/

Thank you. I read the article, looked at the pictures, and when I got to the end with the "Like us on Facebook!" crap it it cheapened everything.

The traffic needs to go to the source page, not this bottom-feeder site.

Am I the only one that finds the blog section of the site a bit... odd?

I mean, many of the posts are repeat stories or events, and the whole thing reads like a bot that was designed to post boilerplate about the guy and his wife. Consistently, for the past several months, it's been Jen this, Jen that...

I'm not trying to not be empathic. It's just that it seems so... staged. Set intervals and patterns of pictures, along with these patterned "I miss her so much." and then immediately after "Be sure to buy my book!"

I know that emotion is hard to convey in text... but I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right.

Very touching. My own wife (at 33) was diagnosed with breast cancer this year, but I feel almost guilty to say everything turned out okay (we believe).

The disease is a motherfucker. I can't imagine watching someone I love going through the later stages, unable to protect them.

Now back to my regularly scheduled trolling.

Don't feel guilty. It's stories like yours that give other people hope that breast cancer can be and will be beaten. Thank you for sharing.

Don't feel guilty. Though if you haven't had kids yet and both of you want them, I hope you spoke to her oncologist about how to deal. If not, young survival coalition has some information on fertility and BC

http://www.youngsurvival.org/

At a previous job, I helped out on the web side for a photojournalist who spent a year documenting a mom and her young son's last year fighting cancer.

http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/8358

I saw those photos countless times up to production, and even years later when I come across them (the project won a Pulitzer and so is occasionally linked to today) I'll still tear up. It's funny that the blogspam title for the OP says the "The Last 3 Photos Destroyed Me"...In photoseries like these, I always find the photos of the patients struggling to live yet knowing the end is near to be much more heartwrenching than photos after the death.

Thanks for sharing this.

God...

what can I say? Disease is such a sad part of humanity. What a shame we can't eradicate it. People are having so many children in poorer parts just because they know not many will make it, from either disease or poverty, thinning out our resources even further. When will it stop?

When will captialism be thrown under the rug so that real medical and scientific progress can erupt?

This touches a personal chord. My dad recently died of IPF and while its not in the same category as cancer I'd say its a terrible journey to have a disease that literally takes your breath away, and not in a good way.

I personally understood how support systems fail, how folks would rather always hear that you are getting better but with IPF - you only get worse. IPF is as common in the US as breast cancer, the difference being that it is 100% fatal in 2-5 years on average. (Lung transplants can improve longevity but eventually fail)

This person's story is deeply meaningful and told in a profoundly beautiful way. I wish I could tell my dad's story with IPF in a similar way. I'm trying to spread awareness with a blog on IPF and by donating to the pulmonary fibrosis foundation, just wondering about what else I could do. Awareness is super important!

IPF - Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis - http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiopathic_pulmonary_fibrosis

What bothers me the most about this article, the charity work, the pink ribbons.

We have no idea what causes cancers, particularly breast cancer, in those who are young. We know some people carry risk factors (BRCA1 and BRCA2, certain subvariations of each) in their genes, and yet not all cases of people with the genes will get cancer, and not all people who get cancer young have any gene (in fact, most don't).

We also don't know why some cancers metastasized and some don't. Most women who get breast cancer at her age (39-40) survive.

I say this as someone who is extremely high risk (high enough that I have not hit thirty and I'm hunting for a new breast specialist who can get me MRIs instead of mammograms). I'd like to be able to know what to cut out to decrease my risk, beyond generic eat right and exercise (and I do eat right and exercise). I'm a tad angry that information is not available to me (I've looked). Because on a personal level, I'd like to stop seeing younger cancer cases.

It's upon seeing things like this I wonder what I'm doing with my life. Am I really making the world a better place? Am I really making life better? With software? I feel I have so much but have really and truly contributed back so little.

These pictures are beautiful, and I wish I had thought of doing this as well. As someone who has seen this disease run its course on a loved one, they brought back a lot of memories. Especially the effect chemo and a mastectomy usually has on that someone and their family. From losing their hair to having a swollen face due to retention of water, to being bedbound etc. The last 3 pictures are unfortunately all too familiar.

as someone who had a family member taken by cancer, i cried at the last 3 photos. thanks for sharing this.

I just can't imagine what it would be to suffer from a cancer. This is a horrible thing. A lot of pills and a lot of radiation treatment and watching yourself getting ___. I just can't even think about it. Rest in peace and I hope your husband will be happier now.

Very touching. I took some similar pictures of my mom as she fought pancreactic cancer, and of the emptiness she left on rooms and objects.

I find that contemplating the pain in this straightforward way prevents it from growing into some kind of monster in your memories.

Very depressing. These pictures may serve some purpose but I'd rather avoid anything that would reminds me of this horrible disease.

While I don't like seeing it too and rather wish to avoid it, but i feel like this avoidance attitude is not helping.

Actually really I'm not sure if anything helps that much, which is just as depressing..

... but I'd rather avoid anything that would reminds me of this horrible disease.

I think I understand this, but I fear this or similar feelings lead people to react with either disgust or avoidance when encountering chemo patients out in the world.

I can only image what it must be like to try to go about a pale version of your normal life, and have people avoiding eye contact or moving away.

I do understand your reaction. However, the fact that he can extract such beauty from utter despair is a testament to the human spirit. It might not be uplifting in a simple sense and it might not serve some immediate tangible purpose (raise money/awareness perhaps ?) but I did feel the series was worthwhile and deserving of attention.

I guess all that above ground nuclear testing wasn't all that great an idea...

I cried when I made it to the last photo.

http://cdn.viralnova.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/11-T86Pc...

I think that photo did it for me. Just the contrast between people with a smile on their face going about their everyday life, and someone a few feet away fighting for their life.

That...physically hurt to read.

This is "news.ycombinator.com", not "www.reddit.com".

Far too many of these posts lately.

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