Like most people who have experienced cancer diagnosis and treatment first-hand, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else. So King Charles has my sympathy as he embarks on that particular path. His swift diagnosis and treatment has already set him apart from us commoners, of course. I wonder how that feels for the thousands awaiting tests, surgery or other life-saving treatment from an NHS that is face down after years of neglect?
If he’s lucky, the king won’t need the full battery of life-saving yet brutal treatments that many endure (surgery, five rounds of chemotherapy and debilitating radiotherapy in my case). But if he does need all of these, it will take several months.
Questions are rightly being asked about the impact this cancer diagnosis will have on His Majesty’s role (Charles’s cancer diagnosis will cast doubt on his future role, 5 February). But surely there’s another important question: at what point does he go on to statutory sick pay (SSP)? How on earth will the poor man manage without the money we pay him to reign over us?
As one of the lucky ones, I received full pay for six months. But nevertheless, on reduction to half pay, I groggily returned to work too soon. Others less fortunate are on SSP (£109.40 per week) as soon as they go off sick, as that’s all that workplaces are legally bound to pay. I honestly don’t know how people cope with this double assault: a cancer diagnosis and the prospect of financial ruin. By continuing to work between bouts of chemo or by delaying treatment, I imagine.
It’s probably laudable that King Charles has broken with royal tradition by publicly going off sick. If only he’d at least acknowledged that his experience of the “cancer journey” will not bear much resemblance to that of the rest of us.
Shirley Cupit
London
• How pleasing that the king has received such prompt hospital appointments in response to an alarming discovery of a significant health issue. My “urgent” referral in December for a liver biopsy has resulted in a consultation appointment for the end of June – 2024 though, so not all bad. Hopefully an actual biopsy appointment will occur at some point after that. Unfortunately, as just another one of millions of ordinary people suffering the effects of over a decade of Tory austerity on the NHS, I can’t jump the queue.
Jane Brunning
Penwortham, Lancashire
• While I wish King Charles the very best with his treatment, and all others in this world who are being treated for this disease, please spare a thought for those who were not so fortunate with the speed of the response to their diagnoses. My husband was informed he had a potentially cancerous tumour in July 2023. He received his first chemotherapy session in December 2023 – 142 days after the initial diagnosis. He died in January.
Chris Lee
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
• I wish the king a speedy recovery from his cancer, and he is right to go public, encouraging others to seek early diagnosis at the onset of symptoms. But I would like to see him ask why so few are able to have an early diagnosis and why so few are fortunate enough to obtain treatment which is vital to their chances of recovery as quickly as he has. Perhaps he would like to donate some of his wealth to be ringfenced in the NHS for this purpose.
Linda Sayigh
Brighton
