This comes to me via a New York Times piece quoting a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology stating:
[S]ingle patients were 53 percent less likely to receive appropriate therapy than married patients. The finding suggests that maintaining grueling chemotherapy and radiation schedules and taking medication as prescribed is easier for people who have help from a spouse compared with single people who must manage the logistics of cancer treatment on their own.
This makes logical sense to me. If you're on your own, you don't have someone else pushing you to go to all the treatments and get things done when you're tired.
It also shows that men benefitted from being married more than women did. It's not to say that men don't support their wives, but rather, single women were more willing to reach out to friends and form their own support network.
That also makes sense. Men are more "I don't need to ask for directions" than women are. I'm not sure why that's hard-wired into our Y chromosome, but it is.
My takeaway is that you have a better fighting chance against cancer when you have a support network. Joining together with a partner has advantages in almost everything we do in life. Doing things on your own has certain advantages, but for the most part, many hands make light work.
Speaking of cancer and teamwork, I'm walking in the Columbia Relay for Life to raise money for breast cancer research. If you're feeling so inclined, here's the link to donate on my page. Any amount is greatly appreciated.
Many hands make light work.
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