Who Does Cancer Affect? Friends & Acquaintances of Patient and Patient’s family Cancer Patient Family & Close Friends When I think about how cancer affects us, it’s like a drop of water falling in a pond. Consider the person who has just been told they have cancer to be the drop of water falling in the pond. The first ripple moving away from the drop of water represents the family and close friends of the cancer patient. The second ripple represents friends and acquaintances of the patient and the patients family. The outer ripples represents the community, especially in small towns. A good example is prayer chains. Community