Late Diagnosis

I went to see a woman this morning, a friend of sorts, with Stage IV cancer (there is no Stage V). Unusually, she was first diagnosed with Stage IV -- in spite of having sought help from doctors much earlier. This is unusual. I have however come across it a few times in ministry. Under the circumstances, I felt that she was coping fairly well. OBSERVATION: In some cases (not the case here) there is a late diagnosis because a patient deliberately does not want to know. This was the case with my late wife -- who, incidentally, could not have been saved with an earlier diagnosis.