Abstract
Improvements in treatments for childhood cancers have led to an "epidemic" of survival. Yet we have limited understanding about the overall ramifications of survival and quality of extended life for this growing population of young people. In this paper I consider lived experiences of longterm survival following cancer in childhood from a social science perspective. I explore young people's negotiations of narrative identity and associated processes of coming to terms with their own subjective position as young adult survivors. Discussion is based on qualitative data collected from 57 young adults in 2000. I focus on three concepts that help to discern ways in which cancer becomes enmeshed in personal identity —the Delta factor, narrative dissonance and narrative repair.
Recommended Citation
Drew, Sarah
(2005)
"The Delta Factor: Storying Survival and the Disjuncture Between Public Narratives and Personal Stories of Life After Cancer,"
Storytelling, Self, Society: Vol. 1:
Iss.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/storytelling/vol1/iss2/6