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Working With Cancer

Interesting article in the WSJ regarding survivors of childhood cancer who go on to have tremendous difficulty in the workplace - from obtaining jobs, to keeping them - all as a result of the ongoing effects of the disease that linger on later an life.  I remember reading the article and then saw this post:  Cancer Rots:  But Try Working With Cancer on Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's Work in Progress Blog.

My pfamily has been particularly lucky over the years with few significant illnesses.  However, earlier this year my sister was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  Suddenly my pfamily was thrown into the gut wrenching insanity of everything that comes with it.  We bought and wear the purple ribbons, bought plane tickets to Wyoming where she lives juggling vacation time and other demands, have had endless chats with doctors, and hung out in the chemo room when there was nothing else we could do.  Perhaps it's my age, but suddenly everyone has cancer - my sister, a former employee, a long time "coworker" at a staffing company I work with and, heck even one of my cats.

My sister  will hopefully be returning to work in January after 7 months of horrific treatments and treatments that will continue long after she goes back to work.  So some of the lessons I've learned along the way... 

• Cancer is something that happens while you are trying to live your life.  The folks at the oncology center dutifully show up for treatments along with living their day to day lives.  Some come with family, some come alone, all have the weight of the world on their shoulders and in their eyes.  For the families, it is consuming, and something we think about every day.  Since I put my purple ribbon on months ago, it hasn't come off and I look at it every day.  Four years ago I left the corporate world.  That decision enabled me to spend almost a month with my sister this year.   As difficult as some of those visits were, I wouldn't give them up for the world.
  
• Everyone needs to hang out in an oncology center for an afternoon, particularly those in HR who exhibit an demonstrated lack of empathy when family members call about work-related issues for sick family members.  Every friggin' rule about privacy and all the other seemingly inhumane rules come flying at you like a ton of bricks.  Perhaps its because the HR person doesn't want to deal with the ugliness and uncertainty of all of it or doesn't know what to say -better leave it to voicemail.

In any event, I hope this little post makes any HR reader think about how they deal with employees who are either sick themselves or their family members.  It pretty much sucks, there's not much you can say, but a little empathy and understanding go a loooooong way.

Full post as published by Strategic HR Lawyer on December 26, 2007 (boomark / email).