Long-term cancer survivorship is an emerging field that focuses on physical late-effects and psychosocial implications for the inflicted. This study wishes to cast light on the underlying ontological aspect of long-term survivorship by philosophically exploring how being in life post cancer is perceived by survivors. Sixteen in-depth interviews with 14 Danish cancer survivors were conducted by the author. Having faced a life-threatening disease but no longer being in imminent danger of dying, survivors still considered death a defining yet dynamic component in their approach to life as a moving toward the end, sparking a sense of vitality in mortality. In order to unfold the interviewees' renewed existential understanding post cancer, this study employs Martin Heidegger's ontological analysis of death. In survivorship, my participants can thus be understood as being left with the perpetual choice between living in inauthenticity or in authenticity. The difference between the two modes of existence exhibits two diverging ways of relating to death, self, and being-in-the-world. At the same time, the role of death in long-term survivorship reflects back on the magnitude of the initial existential and moral upheaval triggered by the cancer diagnosis. Understanding the role of death in long-term survivorship can positively inform the field of cancer rehabilitation and long-term survivor care.

中文翻译：

---

死亡的生命力：走向死亡和长期癌症幸存者

长期癌症存活率是一个新兴领域，重点关注患者的身体后遗症和社会心理影响。本研究希望通过哲学探索幸存者如何看待癌症后的生活，从而阐明长期生存的潜在本体论方面。作者对 14 名丹麦癌症幸存者进行了 16 次深度访谈。面对威胁生命的疾病，但不再面临死亡的迫在眉睫的危险，幸存者仍然认为死亡是他们对待生命的方式中一个决定性但动态的组成部分，作为走向终点的方式，激发了死亡的活力感。为了让受访者在癌症后重新认识存在主义，本研究采用了马丁·海德格尔对死亡的本体论分析。在生存中，因此，我的参与者可以被理解为在生活在不真实或真实中之间做出永久的选择。两种存在方式之间的差异表现出两种与死亡、自我和在世相关的不同方式。与此同时，死亡在长期生存中的作用反映了癌症诊断引发的最初存在和道德动荡的程度。了解死亡在长期幸存者中的作用可以为癌症康复和长期幸存者护理领域提供积极信息。死亡在长期生存中的作用反映了癌症诊断引发的最初存在和道德动荡的程度。了解死亡在长期幸存者中的作用可以为癌症康复和长期幸存者护理领域提供积极信息。死亡在长期生存中的作用反映了癌症诊断引发的最初存在和道德动荡的程度。了解死亡在长期幸存者中的作用可以为癌症康复和长期幸存者护理领域提供积极信息。