Tuesday 27 May 2014

The Jonathan Dimbleby doctrine: You don’t beat cancer by not talking about it -

While I was having an afternoon cup of tea this afternoon at Treacle (where I had not been for a while) I read this article in The Independent Newspaper.

I find it incredible that back in the 1960s that having cancer was such a taboo - Dimbleby believes "The reasons for the taboo are complex, but were in part because people were “terrified”.

In the last 50 years, not only has the cancer taboo begun to break down, but huge leaps have been made in the treatment of cancer. This year – for the first time – Cancer Research UK has predicted that half of all people diagnosed with the disease today will survive.

"Treatment, Dimbleby says, is “light years better” than that which his father received."

But then I remembered my Auntie Myra had breast cancer back in the 1970s - it was a taboo - no one spoke about in the family and she became a recluse and only survived a few months after diagnosis. This happened in my life time!

I thought about my own diagnosis and treatment and how different my experience has been. I have been open about having cancer since the start. I could not have gone through what I have been through without the support of my lovely family and friends - how terrible isolating it would have been to have gone through this experience without them being there for me at every step of the way.

I am so grateful that we have made progress in tearing apart the taboo surrounding cancer. I appreciate that not everyone will have been able to be so open about having cancer and I hope that they find some support through their diagnosis and treatment - as the Cancer Charity Macmillan advertising campaign emphasised - No one should face cancer alone.

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