I suppose by the official terminology I could be called a “survivor” although there is something that irks me about that term. The fact that I am still alive is a combination of luck and good medical care. Perhaps I’ve helped things a long a bit through some lifestyle choices. To be honest, however, had I lived 20 years ago, before the current treatments existed, all of the lifestyle choices in the world would not have changed the course of this disease.

If I am a survivor, what does that make the people who didn’t make it?Were they losers? The ones that got voted off the island? The ones who didn’t take their wheatgrass? Were they too passive? Did they bring on their own death? There is a smugness to the term survivors that implies a character trait rather than just good luck. How about new terms like “I got lucky” or “ I didn’t die”. If we need a noun the word “escapee” fits my feelings better than survivor.

Your thoughts on this?

Sam