European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Psychiatrist Rene Mastrovito there is no other illness with this mystique. E impressions of cancer patients interviewed by Theyon times were consistent with the findings con Din a study done for the California division of ther ctn cancer society by prof. Frances Lomas Feld of the school of social work at the University of in California. The study dealt primarily with the Knees of cancer patients in work situations. More than Hall of the people we talked to had for emotional problems related to cancer diag inv Laid professor Feldman who conducted her Ray to the los Angeles area. Idman told of one woman whose employer was Glade bet return to work but whose co workers moved desks away from her and do not join her in Coffee a they had  woman who had a breast removed because of or was asked by a co worker How does it feel to be partly a woman her social isolation became Eveni terrifying when her 15-year-old child lost her Best 1 because the other child s parents were afraid her might be a Carrier of , one of the Foremost facilities of its in the nation no medical expert has found evidence oort the notion that cancer May be contagious idea is nonsense said or. Lewis Thomas the Insi president. ,. Edward s. Be attic jr., general director and chief Cal officer at Sloan Kettering Points out that Patho a there devote almost All their working time to sex tag tutors and there is no evidence that they have a incidences of cancer  by with cancer what is known does not comforte nto fear the unknown a fear that is bared not by by Lay people but also by physicians who an not Kama in cancer research. Me interns and residents in new York hospitals a Tedge they have tried to avoid shaking hands Wither patients. And a gynaecologist told Helen Fisher if she continued to have sexual relations with her and Robert who has leukaemia she ran the risk of acting the disease. ,. To. Fischer did not heed the advice but acknowledged the admonition had created additional stress in Andy strained marital situation. The Fishers have i separated and although both agree cancer was Tause it placed a further emotional Burden on them by were trying to solve their  also feels that his cancer has at the very Lea touted to the problems he has encountered at Hilly s business Fisher Brothers steel corporation of Wood . Before learning of his cancer Fisher de More than poo a week As sales manager and do Ive Contact work with prospective clients. He says his cousins who Are the principal executives m the Stion have More recently offered him an inside Job w around $200 a week. ,. Tort Fisher president of the company c0T1""T the organization had decided that Robert was Best suited for a Job that did not entail meeting the Public but he declined to discuss the Issue further explaining that the company s relations with Robert were a complicated  negotiations Are under Way to Pur Chase Robert s share of the  Fisher was told three years ago that he had three to eight years More to live. I Haven t been dying those years i be been living them he said. I now have a life without fear. I m healthier now in the real sense that i Ever  summer he took a 500-mile bicycle trip to ver Mont. He studies pottery making in Greenwich Village once a week and despite his marital and employment problems credits cancer with giving him values he wished he had a Long time  in t so bad to have cancer Fisher said i think that having Hay fever is  Fisher s wry sense of humor has seen him through a difficult time in his life. The mechanism for dare Lambert is a forceful Candor that quickly emerges when anyone asks her about her experience with  is the most important thing in my life said Lam Bert a . Candidate at the new school for social re search. I Tell people up front that i have cancer. I m still bitter bitter because of the suffering because of other people because of their perceptions of , who got Hodgkin s disease tends to regard herself As cured. There has been no sign of it for five years but she makes it Clear that the emotional stresses that accompanied the disease Are very much with her. She recalled that in one to pita where she was patient some nurses stopped talking to her after the disease was diagnosed because they were about my age and they related to me and it made them feel uncomfortable that such a Young person got  her isolation from Young nurses was so apparent she recalls that one night an old nurse stopped by her room 10 own Abo re metered vividly the Day she told one of her professors that she had cancer and he said of my god Jesus Christ and ran from the room leaving cancer is the Modem Day leprosy. People have the idea that if you use the same Telephone you re going to get it " her alone and with the distinct impression that she Wouldhave to do much of her coping alone. Cancer is the modern Day leprosy. People have the idea that if you use the same Telephone you re going to get it she  s View of the situation is by no Means unique. A cancer patient in los Angeles told professor Feldman the employment interviewer asked me to Exchange the pen with which i was filling in an application for Pencil pencils Are cheaper to discard. To be sure not All cancer patients report such Bleak experiences. Janet Goldberg a Young stockbroker i Manhattan who had a Mastectomy reports she has had no problems because of it. Nobody was afraid to look me in the Eye she  night before the operation there was a party in her room attended by Many of her co workers and , she has not been rejected by men she said. The male population of this City is surprisingly to Gether she said. The people who accept me have that much More  if the times s Survey is any indication Jane Goldberg is something of an exception. She has a personality that is quite Strong and positive. There were Only a few others who had her Outlook anther experiences. Red Velepec. A business executive in Queens who had cancer in his jaw Bone recalled that once a drunk came up to him in a bar and with on Abra Sive admixture of honesty and belligerence asked. What s wrong with your face Velepec took it in stride and said of i just had Little cancer  the drunk wandered off less drunk than he was before he asked the  maintains that ugly incidents like that have been few and far Between. And like Janet Goldberg he i Strong enough to Deal with them. Others show strength too but the Way they Are treated Speaks ill of a society that prides itself on its social awareness and its rejection of the kinds of inhumanity More commonly associated with the plots of Dickens  Nevin. An eighth grader from Cherry Hill. N.j., talks convincingly of his friends and their support after he lost a leg from Bone cancer. But at the same time he can recall a Middle aged woman who came up to him in a bus station gawked at his body demanded to know what happened and when told it was cancer retorted he did t have no cancer doctors just like to Cut people  Winter the children of one neighbor never tired of calling Gimpy and Peg leg and once when he dropped a Glove they quickly threw it Down the sewer. His Mother Patricia Nevin has not talked to the parents of the children involved because she feels that in this particular Case it just would t do any  the problems Timmy remains vigorous optimistic and does t regard himself As crippled in an sense of the word. Gleefully he recalled the Day some of his friends confronted one of his tormentors who had been teasing him about the hair he had temporarily lost because of chemotherapy they flushed his head in the toilet Timmy  in Yonkers 17-year-old Joseph Nice Leno another Bone cancer patient can remember when five of his Clos est friends shaved their Heads when he lost his hair from chemotherapy treatments so that people would t stare at him so. Joseph said that most of the staring was done by babies and  a Young woman who Learned of her leukaemia Juntas she was embarking on a career in Law in t sure at because her cancer cannot be seen. But from he friends and relative she got a sense of urgency and Lack of sympathy. In her opinion they resented her because they Felt that with a cancer patient around they should t acknowledge their own needs. Then they began to chide her forgot taking her illness seriously enough. Some old ties with relatives and friends have broken Down and May never be  through this illness is nothing compared to taking the emotional blows she said. Dealing with physical problem is much easier. Nobody can mend a broken  the stars and stripes