Is ignorance really bliss?

I regularly rage against the demonisation of cancer, of the lumping together of 'cancer' as one 'disease'. I am reminded of this yet again today when I read that a newspaper columnist has died 'after a long battle with cancer'. There's no information of what sort of cancer this was, at what stage it was discovered - issues that make a huge difference to survival rates. Again and again we see this refusal to talk about cancer. It really does make me angry - it's not going to go away just because you don't discuss it. Ignorance breeds terror and a belief that cancer is always a death sentence. It isn't - look at me! It was a nasty experience and one I'd rather not have had, but the first thing my surgeon said to me after telling me the results of my tests was, 'But this is one we can cure if we catch it soon enough', and it was those words, not 'You have cancer' that I carried with me through my treatment, along with the nurse's comment, 'You're someone who's had cancer. You don't have it now'. For goodness' sake, what is it about cancer that causes such secrecy, such terror? I've even heard of people who haven't told anyone they had cancer because they didn't think it was appropriate to do so. That makes me so angry! Why should anyone be made to feel that their illness has to be hidden? And, even more important, why won't people talk about it? It's only through talking and sharing our experiences that we can destroy the demon!