Jade Goody’s Cancer Embodies The White Working Class
JADE Goody has “only weeks to live” advertises the Star’s front page.
“Doc gives Jade miracle drug,” says the Sun on its front page.
“My last chance,” says Jade on the Mirror’s front page. “She’ll fight on for sake of the boys.”
Here’s hoping that cancer can be shouted down or glassed in the face or if, say, Jade’s love Jack Tweed steps in, smashed about the person with a golf club. Fight!
Back to the Mirror’s “exclusive” – although why it should think the news of a very ill young woman is a scoop is questionable, not least in the other papers that have seen the same press release.
Says Jade:
“Over the last three or four days my view has been, ‘How long have I got?’ Now I’m thinking, ‘Maybe there’s a chance’.”
Take as long as you like, Jade. The papers aren’t going anywhere. Unless the Arabs and Israelis start shooting or Big Brother starts, the covers are yours. The papers are here to listen and to broadcast your battle with cancer to the nation, tear by tear.
So what are her chances?
Specialist Prof Martin Gore said the drug offered a glimmer of hope and promised her: “You’re a young woman with two young children. We’ll do everything possible for you.” However, other experts warned topotecan may shrink the tumours but is unlikely to cure them.
So says the Mirror’s Will Payne. (Dickens was right – you do grow into your name.)
In the Star, Jade is in a wore state than in any other apper. The paper gives readers a third opinion:
A spokesman for the Star said: “She’s determined to fight it all the way to the end. It’s a big blow. She was hoping to win the battle.”
And do not doubt that Jade is important. Why, Jade is a totem for the white working class:
So are we back to class warfare? …Sociologist Bev Skeggs looks at the way working-class cultures are subject to “diminution”, from the “cultural colonialism” of middle-class educationalists to the public’s treatment of reality TV star Jade Goody and the patronising approach of makeover experts Trinny and Susannah. She asks: “why are the middle classes not held accountable for the levels of symbolic violence that they enact in daily encounters with others?”
Is Jade the embodiment of the white working class’s lot? In south London there be dragons talking in bad English, racially abusing Asians and suffering for our entertainment. And lest you doubt it:
Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona demanded that the Big Brother star deserved “nothing but credit” for talking about the disease.
Can she make it?
She was warned that doctors were now treating her to prolong life rather than save it. Jade will start the new treatment immediately with three weeks of Hycamtin and chemo, a week’s rest, then three more weeks’ treatment. Scans will reveal if the tumours are responding.
What are Jade’s options? What are her chances? The Sun has an idea:
Sarah Harman said: “If you are losing blood and collapsing, your cancer is established.”
She’s a lawyer.
It’s strange it wasn’t diagnosed. Jade’s symptoms should have been investigated. If previous biopsies and smears show the same cancer fingerprint as the current one and her chances of survival fall below 50 per cent, she could be in line for a loss-of-earnings payout. Ms Harman said: “I respect the fact she doesn’t want to sue the NHS, but she has two children to think about.”
The NHS should hand over the cash now to show it cares. Better yet if it can amke teh cheque payable to the Sun’s Jade Goody Foundation, and present it somewhere public, like on the 10 o’clock news…
Posted: 5th, February 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts Comments (57) | TrackBack | Permalink
