reality check
I’ve been really moved this week by the death of Jade Goody from cervical cancer, I think mainly because she was the same age as me and also a mum. I just can’t get my head around the sheer, gut-wrenching terror she must have felt when they told her she was dying and would have to leave her two little boys. It’s so true that once you are a mum all concern for yourself goes out the window, and all you care about is your children and so it is completely logical to me that Jade wanted to do the only thing in her power to provide for her sons after her death by selling the rights to her wedding etc.
I’ve debating whether to write this for a while now because essentially I feel it’s got nothing to do with me. I am also acutely aware that nobody close to me has ever died from cancer and for that I feel extremely lucky. But I must take issue with those who feel that the publicity surrounding Jade’s death from cancer is in some way an insult to all those thousands of people who succumb to this awful disease each year, facing their fate without fanfare but with a bravery I can’t even begin to fathom.
Firstly, considering that Jade’s entire life since her appearance on Big Brother seven years ago has been lived under the media spotlight, it seemed logical to me that she might also live her final weeks in the public eye. Watching her various TV shows it became eminently clear to me that facing the press head on was much easier for Jade than to have them skulking in the bushes taking sneaky snaps (which they would have done, even if she had requested privacy). She was often criticised as being ‘famous for nothing’ but in this age of WAGs and glamour models at least Jade never pretended to be anything else. She embraced the media that helped her become a celebrity, inviting them into her life and her home on her terms – surely this is more laudable than the behaviour of those ‘celebs’ that tip off gossip magazines as to their whereabouts, and then make a disdainful appearance in bug-eyed sunglasses before complaining that the paparazzi won’t stop hounding them?
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I think the negative reaction to Jade’s decision says more about us than it does about her. So many have said she should have withdrawn from the media glare and lived her last days “with dignity” – but don’t they just mean she should have gone away and died quietly, so the rest of us didn’t have to watch? It’s a sad truth that many young women die each year from cancer and we never hear about them – but does that make their deaths any more dignified? Does it make them any different to Jade? The only difference I can see is that Jade’s very public death made it impossible for us to sweep cancer under the carpet; the pain and the injustice of it could not be put to the back of our minds. She raised the profile of this insidious yet hugely preventable disease and doubtless made many a complacent young woman realise that yes, it could come to her door. I’m one of them; I’ll never put off having a smear test again. Thanks to Jade Goody, reality TV star, I and thousands of women like me have just been given a huge reality check.
One Response to “reality check”
Great post Claire and thought-provoking. Sometimes it is hard to imagine that disease, old age, weight gain and all these real issues ever touch our celebrity world when you see them mincing up the red carpet.
I think Jade’s tragic condition has made everyone think a bit about their own mortality and how delicate life is. Cancer doesn’t discrimminate. I’ll be holding my kids a little closer tonight. x