# "He's defied disease that has felled lesser men...." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998 "2011-12-13T05:00:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/1 "2011-12-13T05:00:22Z")
Jim Stynes is an ex-Irish, ex Melbourne (Aus) Australian Rules Football player who was yesterday presented with the **Victorian of the Year** award. And IMHO, it couldn’t have gone to a better bloke. Jim has always been considered a bit of a hero in Melbourne for his footy prowess and his youth-work stuff anyway, but then he was diagnosed with cancer. Being a public figure, his medical struggles have never been far away from headline news. And it has been touch and go on a number of occasions, not a sort of publicity I’d ever wish for, that’s fer’ sure. But today in Melbourne’s local tabloid, (the Herald-Sun) came the sub-header: **“He’s defied disease that has felled lesser men…”** :rolleyes: Cancer doesn’t give a fuck if you’re a good or a not so good person. Cancer doesn’t discriminate on the basis of karma or Brownie Points. Cancer doesn’t stick it’s tail between it’s legs and run whimpering away because you are the bigger, tougher guy and it’s afraid of being called nasty names. Cancer doesn’t care doodly-squats that you used to be a footy-player. Jim hasn’t _defied_ a disease. Defiance implies that he has some personal choice about whether he has or does not have cancer. He is under medical care and treatment and for the time being at least, it is keeping death away. It’s terminology like this though that gives me the complete and utter shits: those who live longer or come into remission are better fighters. And therefore the converse must be true: those who succumb to the disease are somehow weak-willed and lacking intestinal fortitude…they just give up the ghost and die don’t they?? How must this impact on the families of the many thousands who lose a loved-one to cancer every year? Shit like this implies that fighters WIN the cancer battle, but pathetic losers lose. And even if the fighter loses, it was only after a valiant effort of course. :rolleyes: Doesn’t everyone with cancer want to come back from a scan/biopsy with a clean result? Doesn’t everyone pray to the heavens that they’ll wake up tomorrow morning? Doesn’t everybody face the same horrendous surgical/chemo/radiation therapy regimen with the same dreams and fears? Defied disease that has felled lesser men? How crass. :mad: PS…This is to cast no aspersions upon Jimmy Stynes and I wish him well in his treatment and hope he is around for a long time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/2 "2011-12-13T05:06:40Z")
Personally, I find the whole concept that some dipshit is a “great man” because he knows how to kick a ball around more repulsive than the idea that mentally and physically stronger people have a better chance of surviving cancer. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/3 "2011-12-13T05:19:03Z")
He’s not a great man because he knows how to kick a ball **Absolute**. He happens to be a pretty decent bloke _regardless_ by all accounts. When you can’t get one single person in a city of six million to say a bad word against an individual, you can bet they’re pretty fucking squeaky clean. I’m happy to acknowledge Jim as a good man. I’m just not so happy to attribute that goodness to his current survival. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/4 "2011-12-13T14:30:14Z")
He doesn’t always drink beer when he’s undergoing chemo-therapy; but when he does … he drinks Dos Equiis. ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/5 "2011-12-13T14:51:39Z")
That kind of shit drives me nuts, too. I hate it when people say someone died because they “gave up” or lived because they were a “fighter.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/6 "2011-12-13T19:18:52Z")
> [@Brynda](#): > > That kind of shit drives me nuts, too. I hate it when people say someone died because they “gave up” or lived because they were a “fighter.” Ditto for “keeping a positive attitude”. According to a recent study, cancer doesn’t give a crap how positive you are. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/7 "2011-12-13T19:34:46Z")
Breaking: A Rupert Murdoch publication has stupid, inaccurate headline. News at 11. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/8 "2011-12-13T22:04:21Z")
How old is this guy? I’m making a little list. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/9 "2011-12-14T01:29:09Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > How old is this guy? I’m making a little list. He’s 45. Why? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/10 "2011-12-14T01:42:42Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > He’s 45. > > Why? There’s this little game called the Death Pool, over in the SDMB’s Game Forum. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/11 "2011-12-14T01:45:23Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There’s this little game called the Death Pool, over in the SDMB’s Game Forum. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/12 "2011-12-15T21:05:21Z")
I think if “defy” as meaning to ignore or to refuse to acknowledge the existence of. If he defied the disease, if he spit in its “face”, as it were, he wouldn’t bother getting treatment. He’d be dead. Is he near death? I’m in the Death Pool too! ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/13 "2011-12-15T22:06:26Z")
Thank you. My dad was a strong, smart, funny, and loving man. He fought with everything he had, and then fought some more, because he didn’t want to leave his family without his love and support. We all went through a period of thinking/hoping he could fight off the cancer that was killing him. Education and experience taught us that couldn’t be the case for him. So we _grew the hell up_ and accepted some things were beyond our control, and there was no magical sky pixie that was going to grant a miracle 'cause we were _nice_ and Dad was trying _really, really hard_. Ten years later I still remember the comments that made me feel helpless and ashamed (then furious) because my wonderful father was being regarded as a loser. Thankfully, my dad was a good enough man to teach me to be tolerant, and kind to the ignorant. I’m trying Dad! ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/14 "2011-12-16T08:48:41Z")
No thanks needed **Ashes.** I just find this ‘fighting cancer’ paradigm a sham. It’s the language of advertising, and more to do with selling plastic wristbands and flogging Cancer-Fun-Runs rather than concern with the individuals who succumb to the disease. May you and your family find some peace. kam PS…you have to be kind to the ignorant, but you _are_ allowed to make fun of them behind their backs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/15 "2011-12-16T09:56:44Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > PS…you have to be kind to the ignorant, but you _are_ allowed to make fun of them behind their backs. 😃 That’s why they invented the internet, right?😛 Truly, I hardly ever get ticked off. I _do_ get tired of dilettant cancer cure supporters with their designer whatevers who think carrying an over-overpriced purse one day out of the year is fooling anyone into believing they care about anything real. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/16 "2011-12-16T11:01:56Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > Personally, I find the whole concept that some dipshit is a “great man” because he knows how to kick a ball around more repulsive than the idea that mentally and physically stronger people have a better chance of surviving cancer. He’s a great man because he was a very good role model for children in his playing days. He won the “Best and Fairest” award for the AFL in 1991 (same year he won the Brownlow medal and the players selection for MVP) in addition to 4 awards in his career for his clubs “best and fairest”. More importantly, when he retired he became the AFL’s Anti-Racism officer. Most importantly though, when he stopped playing he because a youth outreach worker, founding his own youth charity, Reach. He has also worked for several government boards on youth services and suicide prevention. Don’t be so quick to write someone off because he kicked a ball for a living. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/17 "2011-12-16T19:25:53Z")
The super cancer fighting muesli that is in the background of every family pic now being given more credit than medical science for his continued existence doesn’t grate a little? I am afraid Jimbo becoming a snake oil salesman has given this one in 6 million an unpleasant thing or two to say about the man. Anyone who doesn’t eat it only has themselves to blame if they die ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hes-defied-disease-that-has-felled-lesser-men/605998/18 "2011-12-17T02:14:34Z")
There’s some hideous glurgy poem about all the things cancer can’t do. Like, it can’t break your heart. It can’t make you sad. It can’t use spray paint to vandalize the beautiful world built out of unicorns and rainbows and pixies and dildos that is your heart. Um . . . _the **fuck** it **can’t** _, asshole. Depending on the type, stage, location, and details of a particular cancer, it can do all that _and_ take a great big [Type 7](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale) dump on your entire world and the worlds of all those who care about you. To quote another longtime Doper: “The world is not fair. It’s round.” Cancer sucks, and batting your eyelashes and believing your sweet disposition gives you a +bajillion on your Death By Horrible Death Saving Throw does not help anyone.