Man Shares Most Depressing Find at Thrift Store: 'My Heart Sank'

A photo of a mug has been dubbed the "most depressing" find at a thrift store, owing to its heartbreaking message.

Eric Broderick was in the Californian shop when he spotted the crockery, which appears fairly innocuous at first glance.

On the shelf alongside a $3.49 Merry Christmas design mug, it could easily be overlooked, but on closer inspection the writing is about cancer, the second leading cause of death in America.

The design reads: "This is my chemo mug. And I will smash it into a thousand pieces when this is all over."

Chemo refers to the common cancer treatment chemotherapy, explained as "special medicines that shrink or kill cancer cells" by the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The stark message prompted Broderick to take a photo to show his partner, and he later uploaded it to Reddit's Wellthatsucks forum.

He captioned it: "The most depressing thing one can find at a thrift store."

The post, shared on Thursday under Broderick's username, u/Paradigmfusion, has amassed more than 21,000 upvotes.

"I mean you see a mug like that for sale instead of smashed it brings up a few questions," Broderick told Newsweek.

Cancer is second only to heart disease as the leading cause of death among Americans. According to the CDC in 2019, the latest year figures are available, 1,752,735 new cases of cancer were reported, with 599,589 cancer-related deaths.

According to CDC data in California, where the mug was found, 178,202 new cancer cases were reported in 2019. The most deadly was lung and bronchus cancer, with a death rate of 23.7 per 100,000 people.

That was also the leading cause of death in the U.S. as a whole, with a rate of 33.4 per 100,000 people. The next biggest killer was female breast cancer, followed by prostate, according to the CDC.

The American Cancer Society urged people to attend regular screenings for certain cancers, including cervical, breast and prostate, saying: "Regular screenings can help find and treat pre-cancers and cancers early, before they have a chance to spread."

They advised people to reduce their cancer risk by protecting their skin, avoiding all forms of tobacco, staying at a healthy weight and ensuring regular physical activity, along with a healthy diet including plenty of fruit and vegetables.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Broderick's reflections on the message were echoed in the comments, with the consensus believing the owner had not survived their battle, and hence never smashed the mug, seeing it end up at the thrift store.

Although 53R105LY_commented: "Thrift stores often take in second hand inventory that never sold in stores, or at least that's what I'm telling myself to fight back the sad."

Nomchomp wrote: "Oh god why am I crying."

Dissjsjs admitted: "My heart sank a little bit."

Vaporaeon said: "Too many wonderful people in our lives lost to cancer or profoundly affected by it... This breaks my heart."

Shoulda-known-better replied: "Wow that just made me lose it in a completely inappropriate way at work..... this is heartbreaking..... and sadly I know the feeling my mother didn't get to ring the bell either."

Littleboypurple added: "Damn, I never thought the mere image of a mug would make me so sad."

JustAntherFckinJunki pointed out the mug may have ended up at the store for a different reason, saying: "Someone bought me that exact mug when I was going through chemo. Surgery removed what was left of the cancer. I never smashed it. I think I gave it away actually."

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