I think the way we talk about cancer has really evolved. I remember the way my grandmother used to talk about it, like a death sentence, no-one would even mention the word.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
We may have to learn to live with cancer rather than die of it. It means a big change in our mindset and how we do research. We haven't quite reached there yet.
I wish I could never spend another second talking about cancer and all it does to everyone it surrounds, but unfortunately, that cannot be because of my life.
Not many people come through esophageal cancer and live to talk about it, or not for long.
Cancer is something that touches everyone's lives.
Each of us knows a few or several young people whose lives have been devastated by cancer. I don't mean to be nihilistic about it, but it is very much an active killer of people now.
We all live with cancer, whether it is present in ourselves or affects someone we love.
One of the pitfalls of writing about illness is that it is very easy to imagine people with cancer as either these wise, beyond-their-years creatures or else these sad-eyed, tragic people. And the truth is people living with cancer are very much like people who are not living with cancer.
The word 'cancer' carries with it enormous fear, fear for the future, fear for family.
In a way, cancer is so simple and so natural. The older you get, this is just one of the things that happens as the clock ticks.
We talk about cancer as a noun, as if it's a one time event: 'I've got cancer.'