The next schedule of programmes on the University of Malta’s radio station Campus FM (103.7) includes a courageous programme entitled Il-Vjaġġ Uman tal-Kanċer (the human journey of cancer).
The episodes will give listeners a glimpse of what patients and relatives go through from diagnosis to recovery, or the loss and mourning of the patient. The programme centres around conversations with different people. Starting with the cancer diagnosis and communication of the news, the series proceeds to explore the aftermath, without shying away from the pain – physical and existential – that persons involved experience. This includes diagnosis, breaking the news, dealing with the news, waiting, getting treatment, dealing with existential questions, undergoing tests and receiving updates, recovery, deterioration of health, dealing with loss, palliative care, death, and mourning.
To explore these aspects, a number of guests will be interviewed, including an oncologist, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, a nurse, a priest, patients and relatives, artist, philosophers, depending on the subject being discussed.
The programme aims to address: the stigma of cancer; the philosophical thinking associated with the illness; how illness changes one’s perspective on life; the slow losses of the cancer patient due to progression of the illness; hope and hopelessness; the concept of waiting; the language used; loneliness; how faith helps or not; values; and life changes that emerge.
The initiative to produce the programme was taken by Dr Pauline Dimech from the University of Malta’s Faculty of Theology and Faculty of Education; Dr Christian Colombo, from the Faculty of ICT and Chair of the Malta Humanist Association, and counsellor and family therapist Jenny Zammit, formerly at the Department of Psychiatry.
Zammit commented: “Cancer patients and relatives are often an inspiration, through self-help, artistic expression, grief, anticipated grief and bereavement, death and dying. The topics of the programme are not easy to tackle but the reality is that 1.7 million people die from cancer every year in Europe, and 6,000 of these are children. 2.7 million are affected. It is hoped that the programme will contribute to diminishing fear and stigma around cancer, and raise awareness towards this chronic disease, and easier for people to speak about their experience of cancer, just as other chronic diseases are more easily spoken about.”
The initiative is part of a larger project called Dialogue and Existential Inquiry Platform (DEIP), initiated by Dr Colombo from the University and Dr Tyrone Grima from MCAST, which is aiming to explore existential issues in a spirit of openness to different viewpoints and philosophies of life.
The programme will be aired every Tuesday at 13.30 with a repetition on Thursday at 12.30 starting on Tuesday 5 April 2022 and goes on for 13 weeks. The first programme is a conversation with the oncologist who gives the news, treatment plan, and diagnosis or prognosis.