When Reality Changes, Hope Can Too
A quarter of a century or so ago, I was the junior doctor tasked with explaining to an elderly man that his prostate cancer had spread extensively through his body and that it would probably end his life within the year. Sensing my discomfort as I stumbled over explaining the scan results, the man said, “it’s ok son, you’re doing a good job”. You see, he was trying to comfort me, even though he was the one receiving terribly bad news. A humbling experience, but one that taught me much about compassion and helped shape my career approach to such profound moments. Over time, I realised that my job isn’t to rescue someone from the reality of a painful moment - it is to be honest and help them face it instead. Such moments represent immense change for someone. Whether it’s health to illness, certainty to uncertainty or comfort to discomfort. What these changes have in common is that a new reality is emerging. In the past I perhaps assumed that new reality means that hope must fad...