ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

Some time ago the news that a member of my family might have cancer filled me with terror: in my mind a positive diagnosis would have been a death sentence. But in recent decades the place of cancer in our society has transformed, treatments have improved and yesterday’s report from Macmillan Cancer Support told us that survival rates are rising quickly.
However, when it comes to illness and the end of life there’s no such thing as unalloyed good news. Living longer means that many of us can expect to contract cancer at some point and more of us will survive it. The Health Service will face extra costs while individuals will face the medical and psychological challenges that come with surviving cancer or caring for someone who has.
On yesterday’s programme an oncologist questioned how well equipped we are to deal with the after-effects of cancer and its treatment. We seem to find it easier to address the physical consequences of illness than to think about the psychological ones, even though these are often devastating. In working with people experiencing chronic pain and illness, I’ve seen how many of us get angry when doctors fail to produce a full recovery, or fall into anxiety and depression. The oncologist suggested that, behind the difficulties we experience individually and as a society lies the taboo that still surrounds death itself...