Cancer Poems

Cancer Poems

Cancer's Journey: Poems from Patients and Loved Ones Fighting Cancer

Cancer, the dreaded "C" word. It has become such an epidemic in our society that people are loath to even mention its name. Cancer is a disease that can affect many different parts of the body. Some of these diseases are more serious than others. It is not only the disease that is painful but also the many way of treating it. Radiation treatments may kill the cancer but are also dangerous for the body. Chemotherapy comes with many side effects such as hair loss and severe nausea. The many faces of this disease challenge an individual to show their fighting spirit and will to live.

22 Poems about Losing a Loved One to Cancer

1 - 20 of 22

  1. 1. Our Hearts Will Always Touch


    • By Ranja Kujala
    • Published by Family Friend Poems September 2007 with permission of the Author.

    When I lay there beside you,
    Could you feel me there?
    My arms were wrapped around you,
    And I was stroking your hair.

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    • Stories 105
    • Shares 4344
    • Favorited 108
    • Votes 3982
    • Rating 4.65
    Featured Shared Story

    My mother got cancer when I was 8. She survived and was in remission for a year, but when I was 12 she was diagnosed with cancer again. This time we all knew she would die, when she told us I...

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  3. 2. Daddy, Don't Be Scared


    • By Jade E. Mcnullen
    • Published by Family Friend Poems February 2010 with permission of the Author.

    Awaiting the news, we feared the worst and hoped for the best.
    Life was about to put my family through an unforgettable test
    Mom came in, evidence on her face, that daddy wasn't okay
    "daddy has cancer" mom cried "we won't see him for a couple of days"

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    • Stories 31
    • Shares 843
    • Favorited 36
    • Votes 1295
    • Rating 4.65
    Featured Shared Story

    I was touched when I read your poem. My husband was diagnosed with cancer a month ago and is about to embark on his treatment. Emotions running high, but my husband is positive, and he has...

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  5. 3. Goodnight Our Hero


    • By Juli Round
    • Published by Family Friend Poems June 2008 with permission of the Author.

    To be brave is to cry
    But still to fight on,
    And that's what you did,
    Our hero, our son.

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    • Stories 42
    • Shares 1658
    • Favorited 20
    • Votes 1059
    • Rating 4.65
    Featured Shared Story

    I am so sorry. My great grandma died from cancer and so did my grandma. It must've been so hard for you. I can't imagine what you went through losing your son. I'm so sorry for your loss.

  6. 4. A Stranger Comes To Call

    • By John Kehoe
    • Published by Family Friend Poems November 2013 with permission of the Author.

    Some weeks ago through medical doubt
    I met someone I'd heard lots about
    I never thought our paths would cross
    Our meeting left me at a loss.

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    • Stories 4
    • Shares 1123
    • Favorited 27
    • Votes 630
    • Rating 4.62
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    I just love this poem. I have lived through so many of these phases, as though I was the one writing it. My name is Sharon Gross. I’m 55, and in 2015 I was diagnosed with Adeno Carcinoma of...

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  7. 5. 5 Years Old

    • By Kristie
    • Published by Family Friend Poems May 2008 with permission of the Author.

    What would you do
    in 5 short years?
    Would you make them the most
    or hide from your fears?

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    • Stories 18
    • Shares 488
    • Favorited 21
    • Votes 788
    • Rating 4.68
    Featured Shared Story

    I have 2 really good friends who were diagnosed with cancer. It sucks. One girl was only 9 years old and fought. She won, but now has to take therapy.

  8. 6. Mother's Smile

    • By Tessa McGregor
    • Published by Family Friend Poems March 2008 with permission of the Author.

    I remember your brave face through all the pain,
    The day you told us and I tried to remain sane.
    "I have breast cancer," you said as a matter of fact.
    Yet you didn't shed a single tear; you stayed intact.

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    • Stories 23
    • Shares 530
    • Favorited 18
    • Votes 596
    • Rating 4.60
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    Hello, I am going to die from stage 4 breast cancer that has traveled into my lungs. My doctor told me that I had to think on the time that I had left. Was I just slapped, because I thought I...

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  9. 7. God Can You Hear Me?

    My eyes fill with tears,
    And I could hardly see
    This cancer is stealing my father
    Slowly away from me.

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    • Stories 9
    • Shares 1531
    • Favorited 63
    • Votes 791
    • Rating 4.63
    Featured Shared Story

    This poem touched my heart in so many ways! I'm writing this through tears. On June 23, 2019, I lost my dad to cancer. I had just gotten to meet him. That sounds odd, I know, but I didn't get...

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  10. 8. To My Mom

    • By Jennifer Correa
    • Published by Family Friend Poems December 2013 with permission of the Author.

    In your eyes I see the pain,
    Slowly the tears roll down, they won't refrain.

    I look down to the floor as if I'm hiding,

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    • Stories 7
    • Shares 1347
    • Favorited 25
    • Votes 831
    • Rating 4.61
    Featured Shared Story

    I am battling brain cancer. Doctors only gave me 2 months to live; that was 5 years ago. I'm now 36 and have 3 kids who need me. Every day gets harder to keep up the fight, but I can't...

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  11. 9. To My Brother, Who Lost His Life To Cancer

    • By Lisa Crisp
    • Published by Family Friend Poems April 2009 with permission of the Author.

    The time has come to say goodbye
    I will try not to cry

    It's been so hard to let you go

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    • Stories 0
    • Shares 600
    • Favorited 14
    • Votes 302
    • Rating 4.61
  12. 10. Cancer

    • By Jessica Louise Wheeler
    • Published by Family Friend Poems December 2013 with permission of the Author.

    One day you showed up,
    With no reason why,
    You claimed your victims,
    You've made grown men cry.

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    • Stories 2
    • Shares 688
    • Favorited 31
    • Votes 353
    • Rating 4.60
    Featured Shared Story

    Cancer is a life changer and heart breaker. It takes someone close to you and kills them. It has made grown men cry because they are sad that their loved one has died. We all try to fight...

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  13. 11. My Special Sister Vicki

    • By Barbara Looney
    • Published by Family Friend Poems June 2007 with permission of the Author.

    My special sister, I want you to know how much you mean to me.
    My special sister has strength and courage her whole family can see.
    My special sister showed us all how to handle life's blows.
    My special sister took it all in stride, smiled, and said, "That's how it goes."

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    • Stories 13
    • Shares 946
    • Favorited 9
    • Votes 563
    • Rating 4.60
    Featured Shared Story

    I cried like a baby while reading this poem. I was the care giver to a very good friend of mine, Peggy Sue Smith. She was given the awful news that she six months without treatment to one...

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  14. 12. I Hate You Cancer

    • By Carolyn Pritts
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2009 with permission of the Author.

    I hate you I hate you
    Oh why can't you see?
    How you took my heart and broke it
    When you took them from me!

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    • Stories 5
    • Shares 500
    • Favorited 25
    • Votes 308
    • Rating 4.58
    Featured Shared Story

    I totally relate!....unfortunately. My Mom fought and beat breast cancer almost 20 years ago. Hooray! Then 4 years ago got uterine cancer and beat that too!!! For 3 and 1/2 years. We just...

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  15. 13. Life's Lessons

    • By Amanda
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2008 with permission of the Author.

    It's not fair, I just can't let go.
    I sit here and plead, why must she go?

    She is my everything, my mom and my best friend.

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    • Stories 26
    • Shares 710
    • Favorited 25
    • Votes 574
    • Rating 4.55
    Featured Shared Story

    I am now nearly 16, and I lost my mum to a 3 year battle of Secondary Glioblastoma when I was only 9. She was 39 when she passed. This poem has quickly become more important to me than any of...

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  16. 14. Walking On The Edge Of Life

    • By Lorna Mahan
    • Published by Family Friend Poems November 2007 with permission of the Author.

    The world keeps moving forward
    as time stands still for me,
    I am the kid with Cancer,
    locked in battle to be free.

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    • Stories 11
    • Shares 309
    • Favorited 11
    • Votes 495
    • Rating 4.52
    Featured Shared Story

    My grandson, who's not even 3 years old yet, was just diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. We don't know how much time he has. They tell us he doesn't have the mutated gene, which is good,...

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  17. 15. Tethered To Today

    • By Rae G. Cabalse
    • Published by Family Friend Poems November 18, 2024 with permission of the Author.

    Every time I wake up it aches
    Never know till when I will break
    How many more days can I even take
    Can I let go, for my own sake?

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    • Stories 0
    • Shares 2
    • Favorited 0
    • Votes 4
    • Rating 4.50
  18. 16. Good Mommy

    • By Mary B. Downes
    • Published by Family Friend Poems August 2006 with permission of the Author.

    You can't prepare for this:
    the DNR in red letters,
    last rites over,
    the monitors off,

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    • Stories 2
    • Shares 46
    • Favorited 8
    • Votes 221
    • Rating 4.48
    Featured Shared Story

    Dear Mary - your poem resonated with my experience of losing my mum (Sept 11) hugely. I'm so sorry we and others have gone through this. I was looking today for something to comfort me as I...

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  19. 17. I Wish I Could Stop The Rain Falling

    • By Ellie
    • Published by Family Friend Poems November 2009 with permission of the Author.

    It was raining the day you told us,
    And ever since I feel like it has not stopped pouring down.
    I wish I could stop the rain falling,
    And hold your head up and not let you drown.

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    • Stories 4
    • Shares 238
    • Favorited 13
    • Votes 137
    • Rating 4.45
    Featured Shared Story

    My mother had cancer and just reading this tugs at my heart, and I start crying because I had the same experience as you. Just don't ever give up, things will get better. Just smile.

  20. 18. To My 2-Year-Old Little Girl Fighting Cancer

    • By David Austin
    • Published by Family Friend Poems March 2014 with permission of the Author.

    Being a father
    Is unlike anything else
    It makes you happier
    Than life itself

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 173
    • Favorited 3
    • Votes 294
    • Rating 4.44
    Featured Shared Story

    I really liked this poem. This really touched my heart.

  21. 19. Battling Cancer

    • By Heather Weitz
    • Published by Family Friend Poems January 2011 with permission of the Author.

    Feeling tired
    Feeling weak
    With all the pain you do not seek

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    • Stories 1
    • Shares 52
    • Favorited 2
    • Votes 133
    • Rating 4.43
    Featured Shared Story

    I feel every word in this poem.
    On June 2, 2010 I was told that I have stage four cancer. Still holding on.
    Please read "

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  22. 20. Pink Ribbon

    They said time would ease the pain.
    Every day I still feel the same.
    I wake every morning reaching for you,
    My pillow soaked with my tears like the morning dew.

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    • Stories 12
    • Shares 592
    • Favorited 11
    • Votes 239
    • Rating 4.43
    Featured Shared Story

    Death Anniversary - I lost my wife to brain cancer on July 16, 2003. We were married for 5 years. We took her to the best hospital in Pakistan, and at third stage we thought we had beaten it...

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1 - 20 of 22

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