I think the author overstates his position.  Saying somebody is a fighter doesn't demean those who don't win.  Weren't they fighters as well?  How do you lose if you don't first fight?

My parents both died of cancer and neither of them chose to fight it: my mother because it was was caught only a week before she died, and my father because he was satisfied with the life he'd enjoyed, and he was into his 80s.  He didn't want to spend his last days the object of sympathy.  He accepted it, as did my brother and I.

These choices are very personal and I find it unseemly to criticize someone for the choice that ultimately only they can make.

My dad didn't lose.  He just accepted it was his time and he had to die of something.  He didn't want to spend his last days hooked up to a dialysis machine.  I think he showed courage in his own way.  I would have liked to have held on to both of my parents but this is the way of life.  You live and then you die.  Is there anybody planning not to?