TY - JOUR T1 - The meaning of cancer JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 847 LP - 847 VL - 57 IS - 543 AU - Mike Fitzpatrick Y1 - 2007/10/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/543/847.abstract N2 - Following the death last month of his wife Jane, from breast cancer at the age of 43, Mike Tomlinson paid tribute to her courageous 7 years of sporting achievements and campaigning, saying that this could help to ‘redefine what it means to be a cancer patient’. Jane Tomlinson's marathons, triathlons, and long-distance bicycle rides were extraordinary achievements for somebody undergoing treatment for disseminated breast cancer. Yet, while extending sympathies to her husband and three children, I am doubtful whether Jane Tomlinson provides a role model that we should commend to patients with cancer.Far from representing a new and enlightened approach towards cancer, the Tomlinson story of defying her prognosis (she was ‘given 6 months to live’ in August 2000) through exertion revives the 19th-century concept that disease can be challenged by will. This notion … ER -