Through this text I try to analyze the appearance of the diagnosis of cancer in the social context of the affected person, using for this three theoretical points: (1) The irruption of the disease as a critical event within the life of the affected person. (2) The development of a process of identification, understanding the affected person as a reflective individual capable of facing the bankruptcy of old referents. And, finally, (3) the ideal of a healthy person as a unit of analysis derived from all the above, understanding as such a normative and autonomous individual with respect to whom the diagnosed person assimilates his new position. The articulation of these three elements, together with other components developed around my situation as a person familiar with the process I try to analyze, have been determining factors in the development of a parallel methodology. Resorting to two different research techniques: a first self-ethnographic work developed during and after my own experience, accompanied by the subsequent realization of in-depth interviews based on the idea of a biographical story. Taking into account three main analysis scales: the intimate sphere, the primary socialization group and the hospital institution.