The Irish writer Sinéad Gleeson shared a truly moving article on the Wellcome Collection’s website about the connections that can develop among people facing illness and disability.
Gleeson’s own experiences of health crisis, including having been treated for leukemia as well as for severe arthritis that began in childhood, are beautifully documented in her book Constellations, which will be published in the US in March of 2020. (Expect a review here!)
One of the key points I took away from Gleeson’s essay was the importance of reinforcing connection around the challenging, alienating experience of illness. Being sick isolates us from the rest of the world (and Gleeson underscores the ways that hospital and other health-care settings can increase that isolation). It often feels like nobody understands the journey through sickness, whether it is taking us toward recovery, toward a place of stasis and readjustment, or simply toward a hastened end to our lives.
A personal goal I have set myself for 2020 is to reach out to others experiencing chronic illness, and to listen open-heartedly to people living with illness and disability. We need each other. No one is an island, no matter how much it may feel that way in an infusion chair or on a hospital floor.
