Edgework is a concept that describes situations where people exist close to the edge between life and death, safety and danger and must use significant skill to navigate their way across, and survive, this edge.
When we look at the lived experience of cancer patients, we can see that many people find themselves living in a similar edge space between certainty and uncertainty, life and death. They must confront and navigate existential edges, existential threats, as well as real, immediate serious challenges.
This perspective helps us see the patient as an active presence, someone who is navigating risk with the help of their social networks and health professionals.
It encourages us to see the courage and adaptation capacities of patients as they deal with life and death situations, and the new forms of awareness, connection and purpose that can come with their negotiations of the edges that their cancer presents to them.
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 