I don't think there was any dismissal of the awful seriousness of cancer. In my experience, those who 'know' T1D (via themselves or close family) tend to be _ex

I don't think there was any dismissal of the awful seriousness of cancer. In my experience, those who 'know' T1D (via themselves or close family) tend to be _extremely_ empathetic to the impact of most other health conditions, too. What I read in that comment about "being perfect every day" -- and what I notice about having T1D compared to the awful experiences of family w/ cancer -- is the distinction b/w experiencing suffering caused by some terrible external force (cancer) vs experiencing suffering that can be interpreted as caused by yourself. Or suffering for which it's always easy to partially judge yourself. The reason this post (notice even the 'defensiveness' in its title) resonates so much w/ those w/ T1D is because this condition presents one with non-stop, 24/7 complicated problems to solve w/ serious consequences...and yet, any time something goes wrong, it still feels like it's kinda your fault. Like you made a mistake. That is a non-stop mental grind that is unique to T1D and a small set of diseases. The uniqueness certainly does not make cancer less awful.