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Cancer & Work Reflected in a New Film

Scott Sinclair on October 11, 2024

tags: At Work, Reasonable Accommodation, Side Effects, Working Through Treatment

A big hobby of mine is going to the movies. Last weekend I caught an early preview screening of We Live In Time which showcases a beautiful central romance between two characters played wonderfully by Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield. Pugh’s character has a moment where she receives a cancer diagnosis. It’s something that many of you have experienced. The two of them are in her doctor’s office when she receives the diagnosis. The first thing she asks her doctor is: How will this affect my job?

We talk about this moment a lot at CAC. For many in the U.S., maybe most, the need to work is at least partially tied to having a paycheck and/or keeping health insurance. People also continue to work during treatment because they simply want to. Because they love what they do. Because it’s part of their identity. Because it is how they can contribute to something greater. This is the case in this film, Pugh plays the owner/head chef of a Michelin Star restaurant and it’s made clear how dedicated she is to her job and her business. However, I was disappointed to hear the on-screen doctor’s response—just as I am when I hear this happen in real life–which was (I’m paraphrasing a bit): Your job is too physical and you’re not going to be able to continue to work. Later on in the film, there is a fight between Pugh and Garfield because he catches her when she’s been sneaking out to work. He yells at her that she can’t work while in treatment. 

It was frustrating to see the film perpetuate this idea that people can’t—or shouldn’t—work or that the person experiencing cancer treatment isn’t the one to determine what is best for their whole self. CAC was founded to empower and educate people to make their own decisions around work after receiving a cancer diagnosis—whether that is to take time off or to continue on the job or to find a wholly new opportunity. There is no one way and no right way to balance work after a diagnosis. 

Often, even with a physically demanding job like having to be on your feet for long hours being a chef, if the individual wants to continue to work there are ways to do so. One example is something called a reasonable accommodation, which is a modification to your job that makes it possible for you to perform your essential functions. Access to reasonable accommodations comes via the Americans with Disabilities Act or a similar state fair employment law. Both employer and employee must be eligible under the relevant law. 

I spent the rest of the film thinking through ways that Pugh could have modified her job (and how she could tell off her partner and doctor for trying to speak for her). Someone like a chef who is standing all night might consider asking to put a stool in front of their station. This could alleviate side effects like fatigue or neuropathy. She could potentially take more of a supervisory position and let her sous chefs and other kitchen staff do the heavy lifting of preparing the food. I’m no expert and have never worked in a restaurant, but if watching The Bear has taught me anything, it’s that the head chef is not doing much actual cooking, just yelling at people for doing it wrong. Now I don’t think Pugh’s character would be yelling, but she could delegate jobs to other staff and use her energy to give feedback and make sure everything is running smoothly from a more comfortable position. Or she could consider a change to her schedule. Maybe she wants to still oversee ordering supplies to keep the quality control of what food they are serving, so she works for a few hours each morning when she has some more energy, and then hands the keys and knives over to a trusted employee or business partner to temporarily run dinner service each night. Or maybe she only does Friday night because that’s the most important night of the week and takes the other days off to rest. 

These of course are all fictional solutions to a fictional film but present a very real problem that we see every day. For those who want, or need, to continue working through treatment, there are lots of things to consider and creativity you can use. Think about the specific challenges you are facing, or anticipate facing, and then think through what might help relieve some of that challenge. It likely won’t make working a breeze, but it can make the day-to-day more manageable.

For more on this visit:

  • Requesting Reasonable Accommodations
  • Managing Treatment Side Effects
  • Work & Your Cancer Treatment
  • The Job Accommodation Network

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