Table 5.

Indicative quotes: competing priorities and the diminished social attention to cancer.

Participant	Indicative quote
Patient, F 51–70, endometrial cancer, United States (speaking about husband who was in cancer treatment in 2020)	I think, probably, one of the hardest things with my husband's journey was getting people to- well not necessarily getting people to realize, but people not realizing what he was going through because everybody was in, “Oh my gosh, the world is coming to an end. This is chaos” mode. And people not realizing that on top of everything everyone else is already experiencing, you know, he was going through his cancer journey at the same time. And people going, “Oh my gosh, this is horrible. I haven't been out to eat in three months.” And I was like, well that's great, but that's not the end of the world.
Patient, F 30–50, lung cancer, Australia (a)	So, I actually was never worried about COVID, I'm still not, I'm really not, because, yeah, I don't think there's anything worse than being told what I've been told. You'll never know what it feels like to have that kind of life. So yeah, I take COVID seriously, but I don't see that as a priority in my life. I really don't want to live my life in fear, and I never will. It's just another thing that I'm trying to navigate, to be honest.
Patient, F 51–70, breast cancer, United States (a)	So, I've got to hand it to them, they don't want to put me at risk it's just that it has restricted them a lot… my youngest son, I feel the worst for him because he has lost a year and half of college and college life. You know, he came home in March of 20 and his summer internship was supposed to be in New York, on Wall Street. So he ended up doing it here at home, virtually, and that was 16 hours a day. So he didn't get that experience and now school is still online- because he is back in LA and so he's lost like a year and a half of college… Yeah and so he went back to LA- I can understand that- I wanted him to stay here but he went back to LA so he could at least be around, not really, but some people – you know, his roommates, his girlfriend. So you know, so at least he could feel a little better… His one roommate was a little reckless. He said he was on Instagram and saw that the roommate was out at frat parties and stuff- and he said, “Dude, I've got to go home to my mom, can, you know, tone it down for like a week or two?” And the guy said, “No.” And so my son checked into the University Hotel.
Patient, F 30–50, lung cancer, Australia (a)	But for me personally, it took away another part of what I was really hoping to do, which was to travel, and to see my real world. And to get that sort of taken away, it felt really limiting to already what felt like a limited life. So, in one sense, yeah, I hate the fact that it's stopping me from doing what I really, really wanted to do. And I don't think people understand it on that level because you will get out of this, we will get out of this, but I will not be able to get out of what I have. That's my reality… I feel limited. I feel really, really, even more so, because I have such a limited time. I feel like it's limiting me.
Patient, F 51–70, lung cancer, Australia (b)	When you don't know how much time you've got, each day that you're stuck at home is taking another day away from making a really positive experience. So, yeah.
Patient, F 51–70, neuroendocrine cancer, Australia	Yeah, second wave has shut that down. Well, I was meant to be in Canada in April and I was meant to be in the snow at the end of this month, and now I'm not. So, I'm really worried about dying during COVID without ever having done anything else meaningful. Interviewer: Can you elaborate on that for me? What do you mean by “meaningful”? What's going on there? Well, sitting on the couch, watching TV, painting miniatures, doing puzzles, it's not really life. It's not like I'm sad about it, but, well yeah, in some ways I'm sad about it. I want to be out having adventures or doing fun things.
Son, M <30, lung cancer, Australia	So [my siblings] were initially getting married this year, but that got postponed due to the pandemic. But it was hard for them because they were not sure whether to try and bring things forward because they weren't sure how soon Mum will become unwell, and they want Mum to be well enough to enjoy the wedding and stuff like that.