When I was in
chemotherapy my
wife and I similarly called this "putting it on the
cancer." As in: "I was really
hungry but we don't have any
money, so I called up some friends who worked in a restaurant and put some
food on the
cancer." Like it was a
American Express card or something....
Maybe not the most
moral idea in the world, but I was potentially
dying, in
pain, and majorly
inconvenienced.
Cancer patients don't become
angels, with only pure
motives, just because they happen to be
victims. Often they are particularly looking for ways to
vent their
frustrations at the lack of control over
life and inevitability of
death. I don't consider this a darker side of cancer victims, but an essential
humanness.
Also, this was one of the only ways my wife and I could find to poke
fun at the situation we were in. We were both 19,
broke, uninsured, had been
married a month, were preparing to move, and boom! I get diagnosed with cancer.