We don't tend to write about disease in fiction - not just teen novels but all American novels - because it doesn't fit in with our idea of the heroic romantic epic. There is room only for sacrifice heroism war politics and family struggle.
Jesus didn't say 'Blessed are those who care for the poor.' He said 'Blessed are we where we are poor where we are broken.' It is there that God loves us deeply and pulls us into deeper communion with himself.
