Which is worse?

Today, I had a client who recently underwent surgery for colon cancer, has a colostomy (spelling?) bag, and is undergoing chemtherapy and radiation tell me, "If this is the worst thing that happens to me...to be honest, I'd much rather be going through this than what you recently went through." Oddly enough, I find that comforting to hear because it means that this person recognizes the pain I am going through. But on the life sucks scale, I personally think that we're pretty much even.