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Abstract
Breast cancer is a life-threatening illness. This paper reports on a study of women with breast cancer, through which I sought to explore human finitude and the social management of human mortality. Fateful moments, awareness of finitude, and the suppression of human finitude are central themes that emerged from my interviews with women. Their experiences of life-threatening illness were powerfully shaped and disrupted by the social management of human mortality. There were also patterns of living and healing within these women’s lives that resisted the prevailing social suppressions of human finitude, and acknowledged the limitations of lifetimes. This paper locates the findings of this study of women with breast cancer within a discussion of the sociology of dying, death and human mortality. It also highlights the intersections of gender, illness and human finitude.