The Cornerstone December Issue | Page 17

While they wait in the hospital, happy, healthy students go to school and make jokes about the disease that takes the lives of so many people. Cancer is not a joke. Chances are that someone nearby knows someone who has had cancer or maybe even had it themselves. “You're giving me cancer/AIDS” December 2016 According to the American Cancer Society, about 595,690 Americans are expected to die of cancer in 2016, and it is the second leading cause of death. Though there are some treatments, like chemotherapy, for cancer, there are no guarantees that it will be successful. Not only are the patients extremely weak during the treatments, but they have to live with the fact that the treatment may not work. Living with cancer is stressful for the patient and their family. “About 595,690 Americans are expected to die of cancer in 2016.” N e a rl y 1 4 . 5 m i l l i o n people alive in the United States have had some type of cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Patients who are dying from cancer sit in the hospital feeling weak, hopeless, and miserable while they wait for their time to come. “Triggered” According to Psych Central, a trigger is anything that sets off a flashback or memory that takes the person back to a time of trauma that he or she experienced in the past. It can be set off by a number of things related to the incident. When a person is triggered by something they smelled, Meg Rocha Shane Prebe Freshman Senior “Though it may be meant as a joke, somebody could take it actually literally. I never like hearing it.” Another popular version of this phrase is “you’re giving me AIDS.” According to UNAIDS, about 35 million people have died from AIDSrelated illnesses since the start of the epidemic in 1981. Anything that can cause someone to suffer or even kill them should not be joked about. “It's not acceptable. The person saying it doesn't know what the other person might be going through.” !17