Catherine, Princess of Wales, announces she has cancer

[Joinfortmill]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/22/uk/kate-princess-of-wales-cancer-diagnosis-intl-gbr/index.html


My words: The press owes this woman and her family an apology.

London CNN
—
'Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed Friday she has been diagnosed with cancer and is in the “early stages” of treatment.

The princess described the diagnosis as a “huge shock” in a video statement released on social media. The news comes two months after she had temporarily stepped away from public life following what Kensington Palace said at the time was surgery for a non-cancerous abdominal condition.'

[lisa58]

1. Absolutely true

[BannonsLiver]

2. So do the internet nutjob sleuths on Twitter.

[CatWoman]

19. with all due respect

the palace tried to gas light nearly everyone by releasing phony pics and videos. pics that were manufactured using other pictures and a video of a woman who clearly was not Middleton.

no one owes them anything.

[BannonsLiver]

31. Yeah the palace made people spend hours upon hours having online CT orgies over a woman's health.

Looks like some folks around here got caught up in it.

[CatWoman]

37. 1. what is " CT"?

2. It's not about her "health", it's about both the palace and the british media lying and trying to gaslight people. and it was so very fucking obvious.

the exact same thing occurs here when our government, aided by our media, lies to us. WMD, anyone?

[ripcord]

38. It was never any of the people's business

If she doesn't want to discuss her health problems it should be her choice, not the choice if the jackals in the media. If she wants to lie about her health in the face of these assholes more power to her, you don't need to know everything about everyone.

[CatWoman]

40. i think it became the people's business when she and the palace went on the attack against her sister in law's myriad of

health problems.

can't have your cake and eat it too. people were/are quick to point out the hypocrisy - especially when it was her husband's office who leaked to the press her sister in law was having mental issues.

also, people are contrasting her health problems with that of Charles.

Charles came right out with it. Had photos and videos of himself reading get well cards and visiting his doctors.

Catherine mysteriously disappeared in December, after cancelling appearances and meetings, and then it was announced she was having planned surgery. Then the palace said she would be out until Easter. Pair that with the abrupt killing of her manufactured mother's day message by major media outlets.

People found that strange and of course asked questions.

[lapfog_1]

51. The difference is that she has 3 young children

just old enough to hear from the media that their mother has cancer and that her life is in danger, and yet young enough to where this news will affect them in many ways.

I think their mother was just trying to keep the news about her condition away from THEM and keep it private.

Unfortunately, their attempt to do so ( Kate and the staff that surrounds her ) made a mess of things in the process. That is actually a good thing in one way... at least we know they are real amateurs at this sort of thing.

[Diamond_Dog]

3. I really feel for her.

I saw her in a short interview and she’s got that grayish look. Same way I looked when I went through chemo. I’ll bet she feels pretty lousy. I wish her all the best. It is indeed a scary thing.

[LeftInTX]

5. She's seems so young, but according to wikipedia, she's 42.

My sister in law was dx with breast cancer when she was 44.

[shrike3]

6. I was 49. Huge shock. It is for everyone, I think.

[DFW]

43. My wife was 49 when she had the first round with cancer.

She was 64 when she was diagnosed with “the murderer,” an always-fatal form of cancer. She was that one-in-ten-thousand who beat it. Luck is a lot of it. Both of my parents and all of their siblings had cancer. With me, it’s not “if,” but “when.” I’m not in any hurry.

[shrike3]

54. Definitely luck plays a role.

My sib is an oncologist. They said when I was diagnosed, "One out of eight women get breast cancer. You were number eight."

So, so glad your wife is still with you.

[DFW]

56. I would be totally useless without her

I am not a hermit by nature, but it would have been unfair to ask any other woman to replace her, so I would probably have faced a couple of decades of either loneliness or frustration if I had lost her. I don't know what the survival rate is for breast cancer, but the survival rate for the second cancer she had is just about zero. Maybe one in ten thousand. In Germany, it is called "der Mörder"--the murderer. He oncologist said she was the only patient he ever treated who survived it.

[xmas74]

25. I was 47. Nt

[NanaCat]

34. My brother was 31 when he got a diagnosis

It can strike at any stage.

I donate art and creative writing supplies to our local children's hospital on the regular. Back before COVID, I used to deliver them in person. The number of kids with cancer was always heartbreaking.

[Irish_Dem]

4. All the accusations against her and William are a disgrace.

I am glad she made a public statement.
Hopefully the trolls will leave her the hell alone now.

[ripcord]

12. She never should have had to make a statement

Her health isn't a spectator sport, although lately the press has made it a circus.

[Irish_Dem]

13. She had no choice at this point.

The accusation were totally vile and despicable.

Yes she shouldn't have had to make the statement but there are a number
of very bad players out there who wish her ill.

[meadowlander]

15. Yes, and staff at the hospitals illegally accessed her medical records and were selling them to the tabloids

so it was all about to come out anyway.

https://time.com/6958671/kate-middleton-medical-records-breach-hospital-watchdog-probe/

So shame on the "professionals" who violated their oath to protect medical privacy and the jackals in the media who created the incentives for them to do it and to anyone who thought this was their business in the first place and consume this kind of information even after Kate Middleton made it clear she wanted to wait until Easter to make a public appearance again.

[Irish_Dem]

16. Yes it appears that the records were going to be released.

So Kate had to get ahead of the news.

The rumor is that it might not have been medical staff.
But people from outside the hospital who accessed the hospital records.
Perhaps they entered the hospital in person.

We don't know yet.

The trolls and some other bad players have been horrible.

[NanaCat]

35. The royals created the public attention beast

Because it served their interests. The problem is that, once you start feeding the beast of media and pubic attention, you have to keep feeding it, or they will turn on you. You also can't keep the juiciest bits for yourself, either.

This is part of the bargain of choosing to live a highly public life. They can't expect only positive publicity from royal weddings and other assorted feel-good appearances at Trooping the Colour or Wimbledon; they have to suck it up and deal when the publicity goes bad as well, for the beast craves a good scandal or health scare as much as they do a royal wedding.

[Raine]

7. Wishing her all the best. 🙏🌹nt

[obamanut2012]

8. No, her husband and PR people owe her the apology

[mainer]

14. I agree.

Blaming Kate for the photo. Making it all worse by a blackout. Charles handled it right and got public sympathy.. William and his press office handled it badly.

[leftstreet]

22. +1

There was no need for altered pictures or false sightings, etc

Dumb

[CatWoman]

24. and they are the one's who created this hornet's nest with all the lies and leaking they did on the Sussexes

when it came to the Sussexes, nothing was out of bounds.

[AllaN01Bear]

9. another one .

sending vibes .

[MineralMan]

10. So, maybe the media, etc. will leave her alone.

Sadly, that's unlikely.

[lindysalsagal]

11. IMHO, William "married up."

The Windsors don't deserve her. Brilliant. I wish her well.

[CatWoman]

20. actually, he did not

he married out of his class because no one in his class would have him.

Middleton waited 10 years before he finally saw the light and proposed.

[NanaCat]

41. Well, TBF, his father technically married down

Diana wasn't a princess before marriage, but the daughter of an earl, a peer of the realm, not royalty. That's why she had the title of Lady Diana before her marriage, not princess. Royals have been marrying the daughters of peers for a long time now because the eligible pickings amongst royals are on the rare side, and that situation has only grown worse since so many countries rid themselves of monarchies.

Plus, the modern UK public has no appetite for foreign consorts of any kind anymore. They're especially far too racist to have accepted a non-European princess, like, oh, Princess Mako from Japan, one of the few eligible royal women close to the age of Prince William. No matter what fine qualities she may possess, the British public would never have accepted an Asian woman as a queen.

And that's all before getting into whether or not WIlls would have liked any royal woman enough to marry her, or she him.

[CatWoman]

44. Diana was more blue blood than Charles

[Sympthsical]

17. Just going to C&P what I said the other day

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18792362

No amount of Very Serious Internet Commentary makes it any more care-worthy - that's just people self-justifying why they wasted so much time on this. Because they, being Very Serious People, would never be so stupidly frivolous about gossip.

But I'm reminded of Diana. Before she died, the tabloids were rotten to her. The readers loved it the more rotten they got. The public was totally awful. And then she died. And it was instant canonization by the press. People wept in the streets. "She was our living angel!*sob*" Oh, was she? Was that before or after you eagerly devoured three articles slut-shaming her over your morning tomato beans? And so they all decided this was somehow Queen Elizabeth's fault. For . . . reasons? Because they had to deflect their own shittiness somewhere.

Kate had serious surgery. She noted when she'd be recovered. The end.

But people had to do what they do. Good thing it wasn't more serious. Imagine if Kate was in a bad way and died? It would instantly be William's fault everyone was being so shitty and weird about it. Obviously.

[Ladythatvotesblue]

18. Princess Kate

May God bless her and keep her close during this trying time.
She has 3 beautiful children to live for.
Sorry to here this, as she is a nice lady, and loving mum.

[Niagara]

21. Healing energy and vibes, Kate!

[beaglelover]

23. Her statement was really well done.

My guess is she has cervical cancer. I hope she beats it. She has small kids and I feel for William potentially losing his beautiful young wife after losing his beautiful young mother.

[xmas74]

27. Maybe

I had abdominal surgery and it was ovarian cancer. A former coworker had abdominal surgery and it was endometrial cancer.

It doesn't even need be a reproductive cancer. Stomach,kidney,bladder,etc.

[beaglelover]

28. Very true. And who knows what her abdominal surgery was for. I'm hoping that they just discovered the cancer

as a result of the surgery and they have found it at an early stage and the chemo will get rid of it.

I have a work colleague who had a moped accident about 6 years ago and got full body scans in the ER so they could find all her injuries. They found lung cancer in the scan. Caught it at an early stage. She had part of her lung removed and had follow up treatment. As far as I know she is cancer free today.

[LeftInTX]

36. That's how Congressman Castro found out about his cancer. He got in a accident while in Spain.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/02/27/joaquin-castro-cancer-surgery/

[Lunabell]

26. Ok! Now,everyone leave her alone!!

It's out there. Give her and her family the privacy they need and deserve.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

29. So why wait so long to reveal this?

In reality, people would have been vastly more sympathetic to her in the first place if they'd announced (as Charles did) that she had cancer.

Pretending the surgery was scheduled (clearly it was scheduled no more than a couple of hours before it took place) and then staying in hospital two full weeks? That alone made it obvious something was seriously wrong with her. That said, I do wish her the best and hope that she beats it.

Of course, a lot depends on just what kind of cancer she has.

[CatWoman]

30. they can't get the truth (or lies) straight

Last edited Fri Mar 22, 2024, 08:49 PM - Edit history (1)

Link to tweet

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[muriel_volestrangler]

50. You know that date of that headline was Jan 17th, don't you?

https://www.themirror.com/news/royals/palace-confirms-kate-middleton-not-291613

so, no, there's not "can't get it straight" going on here. It was found to be cancer after her operation, and after that headline.

[MerryBlooms]

33. Because maybe it was no one's fucking business?

All ya'll talk like you know all the details. Yet, all in on women's atonamy? Guess what, it's none your business, nor anyone else. She doesn't owe you a press announcement. But she finally did. No one owes us a press announcement on their heartbreaking health diagnosis. No One!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

52. She is an extremely public figure.

And being so secretive simply fuels speculation.

King Charles said immediately after his prostate surgery that a cancer has been found. That's the way to handle it. Even without telling the specific cancer diagnosis, people are reassured.

With Kate, taking so long in hospital (two weeks! I was out three days after a C-Section and test driving stick shift cars a week later.) it only made people thing the worst, think outrageous things, go a bit wild on the speculation.

[ripcord]

39. Maybe because it wasn't anyone else's business?

[meadowlander]

46. They were picking the right moment to tell the kids and waited for the Easter school holidays

so they wouldn't be distracted.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/prince-williams-personal-reason-for-missing-godfathers-memorial-now-revealed/XBZCKFRP55GKVM3GI4LR7DUPYI/

"The fact the Princess has only released details of her cancer diagnosis on the day her children have broken up from school for Easter is no coincidence.

Royal aides said the couple wanted to be able to tell their children at a time that was right for them and to “understand and process” the news before it became public. Only after the children had finished school for Easter did they feel that it was “the right time to share this update”."

Makes sense to me that they wanted to wait to share the news until the best time for three of the five people most impacted by it over the prurient interest of total strangers.

[xmas74]

48. My abdominal surgery was scheduled a few weeks before it happened

We thought it was just an ovarian cyst. I was also bleeding nonstop so the plan was to remove one ovary and the uterus,leaving the other behind. It wasn't until that first cut on the table that they saw the cyst and immediately had to change course on it. She knew it was cancer as soon as she saw it.

A coworker had a hysterectomy and it wasn't initially believed to be cancer. She found out when the final pathology report came back that yes, it was endometrial cancer after all.

Depending on the type of cancer her physician may have decided to let her heal a few weeks before exploring treatment options. She'd just had surgery so she probably needed the time. They probably gave it a few weeks,staged it, planned a course of treatment and then started. I recognize that grey tone as the same I had during chemo.and no makeup covers it.

They also have children. They might have wanted to wait and spend a holiday together as a family before making the announcement to the public. Charles was always going to go public but Kate could wait a few months.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

53. Kate's surgery was supposedly planned ahead,

but most of her staff were blindsided by it.

[xmas74]

58. It could also have been planned as an outpatient

And once started turned into an inpatient stay. I had a scheduled outpatient procedure that immediately turned into a multi day ICU stay. Thar sort of thing happens.

[pinkstarburst]

55. She has young children

And needed to figure out how best to reveal the information to them, while keeping in mind that the vicious media would create a feeding frenzy which would mean they would be drowned in questions of "Is your Mommy going to die?" from the moment it got out. I do not blame her one bit for wanting to control the story until she knew more, until she perhaps had more information about the stage of cancer, about scans, about treatments, about how those treatments were working.

Charles is 75 and his children are grown adults. It is a very different situation. And even then, one of his children is so traumatized by his childhood, he no longer talks to his brother or father much and has moved across the globe. I do not blame Kate and William at all for wanting to keep this private and handle it as a family and every person here who is blaming them for how it was released, every person who is harping over the mother's day photo or saying that is to blame--you are part of the problem.

Let this lovely woman fight her battle without nasty people picking apart her every move.

[BannonsLiver]

32. Meghan and Harry stans out in full force

[Sympthsical]

42. Meow

[CatWoman]

45. .....

Link to tweet

?s=20

[CatWoman]

47. you were saying?

Link to tweet

?s=20

[xmas74]

49. I like Meghan and Harry

But as a cancer survivor I'm also going to defend the decision of when or if another survivor announces it. They have three children and I totally understand waiting until after the holiday to possibly announce. (It looks like an initial announcement would have been after Easter.) By then they'd have an idea of how the treatment is going.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

57. Cancer and treatment is NO fun.

No matter one''s age or station in life.

Prayers to HRH and His Majesty as they deal with this.

[Butterflylady]

59. Yes, you are so right.

I was supposed to have 6 rounds of chemo but got only 4 because my body couldn't take anymore. Had to have blood transfusions. It was horrible. I actually thought It was the end.