What can I do if I cannot pray during cancer treatment?

This happens to most people at some point in treatment, and it is described throughout the Christian spiritual tradition. Long infusion days, steroid-driven insomnia, fatigue and fear all make concentration difficult, and someone who prayed the same way for thirty years can find they cannot manage a decade of the rosary.

Things people find help:

• Short repeated forms. A single line on the breath, such as Lord, have mercy, works in an MRI scanner where nothing longer will. One decade of the rosary is a complete unit and does not have to be finished.
• Being prayed with rather than praying. Ask spiritual care, or ask your parish whether someone visits patients.
• Asking other people to pray for you and letting that be the arrangement for a while.
• Something physical to hold. Most hospitals will let you keep a rosary or medal with you during procedures, though it is worth asking before surgery.
• Letting the liturgy carry it. Mass on the room television, an audio rosary, or a recorded office asks nothing of you.

The Catechism does not treat this as failure. It says illness "can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God," which is a description rather than a rebuke.