False Hope and Terminal Illness – an alternative viewpoint

13 January 2026

This post was written in 15 April 2017 and reflects my thinking at that time.

Nipples to Kneecaps – to die or not to die with cancer?

That was the question.

To ninety-nine per cent of the people around us, the answer was obvious: my husband Steve would die — and die very soon.

Steve and I made up the one per cent who believed the answer was: he would not die.

Those around us — from the medical profession to our closest family — all thought we were clutching at “false” hope, that we were naïve and in denial. Some say, even now, that you should not give false hope to those with a terminal illness.

But what on earth is false hope?

Hope is either hope, or it is not. Do they mean people pretend to be hopeful and that’s why it’s false? Do they mean it’s a lie? Do they mean that if you have hope and the desired outcome does not occur, then you have failed?

Surely it is cruel to deny a person hope when there is always a possibility — even if it is only a one per cent possibility of success? People without hope die anyway.

Hope is an underestimated emotion, yet when harnessed correctly it can overcome the so-called impossible. Where there is a will, there is a way. Never give up.

Mandy’s way of viewing HOPE

Let’s start seeing HOPE as H.O.P.E.

How Ordinary People Evolve

or

How Ordinary People Endure, Escape and Emerge as Heroes

It annoys me when people whinge on about, “Oh, you shouldn’t give false hope.”

The dictionary defines false hope as wishful thinking, unreal hope, fantasy. I see nothing wrong with wishful thinking.

Now unreal hope — what is reality? What is real or unreal?

Fantasy implies something not of this world, something outside the norms. Well, isn’t that exactly what you might need when told you have three months left to live at most? Something above and beyond what exists in this factual world?

Ours was not false hope. It was real hope — and our hope became a reality.

My reasoning is that if it can happen once, it can happen again… and indeed, it has.

Wishing you belief, love and optimum health,

Mandy Brown

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Nipples to Kneecaps (still available): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076F9G59C

(Originally published on purechannelhealing.co.uk)