Advice on ceasing treatment

It's a good question Mel. Culturally, many Australians have a reluctance to talk about death. I think that, coupled with our often misplaced faith in modern medicine, contributes to a preference to believe something can be done. That 'they' should be able to fix what ever is wrong. Acknowledging the failings in our systems is something many people do not want to do. The cynic in me who has been involved in a variety of fundraising and marketing exercises also sees why the dark side is often underplayed.

I work for Cancer Australia assessing research grant applications. The amount of money that is spent on trying to sort this mess out is astonishing. The thing that isn't discussed is the fact that the overwhelming majority of ideas fail. Completely. In theory, the failures add pieces to the jigsaw puzzle, clues on what paths through the maze go nowhere. Anything that looks promising requires years of work and millions of dollars to--possibly--come to fruition. If the general public knew how much of the funds raised through cakes stalls, the sale of flowers and thousands of km each year spent plodding around regional ovals went absolutely nowhere, there might not be so much enthusiasm for the collective effort to find the money. Good news sells.

You are right, the focus on MBC, and other terminal cancers, is very narrow. Don't get me started on the issues with lung cancer and other forms of the disease where pink muffins are just not appropriate marketing tools.

It takes guts and determined advocacy to change societies views. Hopefully you can make some sort of positive changes using your own experience. You can always get on here and have a good yell. Sorry if you felt like I was trying to divert your discussion--like many here there is little I can say except for make suggestions from my own experience which may help. Mxx