Well done Kate

It is tough talking about cancer. When I was a child people never used the word, as if the very mention of it might bring on the dreaded disease. I assumed anyone unfortunate enough to have that diagnosis, would inevitably die in the near future. Talking about it the other day with a friend, I recalled my aunt, who apparently - though I doubt I knew at the time because I was a young teenager and they didn't tell me things like that - had breast cancer in her fifties.  She had a mastectomy, and lived on to her later eighties, accumulating many prostheses and a new husband too.  It was my job to remove them, the prostheses that is, (one in every drawer it seemed) when I cleared out her cottage upon her demise. 

Everyone now knows someone with cancer or who has had cancer. What they probably don't know are the people who have had cancer about which no-one knows; or everyone but their close relatives had forgotten had cancer. I often think we should have a "living with cancer/I've had cancer" day when we all identify ourselves.  It's all around us - a veritable epidemic. 

So well done Kate for telling us your story and well done Your Majesty for starting the ball rolling by admitting to yours. I'm rooting for you and I know millions of people will be praying for you both to recover and to lead a long a happy life. When I was on my journey, I'm not sure if it was the knowledge that people were praying for me, sending me positive vibes, just wishing for my wellbeing, or what, but I did feel as if I was being carried along on a tide of good wishes. So for both of you, I wish you that feeling and the reality of total healing too.