This one's a bit tricky to write but its something I feel I really do want to talk about.  Last November, the highly respected BBC Broadcaster and Journalist Nick Clarke died of cancer.  Before he died he recorded a moving, powerful programme about his experience of the disease.  The programme is to be repeated on Friday 12 January on BBC Radio 4 and I urge you to catch it http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 /news/fightingtobenormal.shtml.  There is a particularly poignant section where he talks about his reluctance to go to the doctor and the fact that when he did his tumour was a very large lump at the top of his leg.  I found this particularly moving and resolved on the spot to go to the doctor if I ever suspected the slightest thing was wrong.

Then I read "Our Futile War on Cancer" opinion piece in New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com /channel/health/mg19225825.400 -our-futile-war-on-cancer.html , a compelling article that argued, in part, that most of the improvements in cancer medicine are down to early diagnosis rather than more efficacious treatments.  I'm not entirely convinced but the statistics Ralph Moss cites are pretty startling.  His credentials suggest he knows what he's talking about too.

Then I learnt that someone I know had had a malignant melanoma removed.  They noticed a mole had started to grow, went to the doctor who said it looked suspicious and referred them to a surgeon who took it out.  The pathologist confirmed the malignancy and now they are entering the difficult watching and waiting phase to see if it will return.  The good news is that the prognosis is promising, but that does not remove the anxiety – and I'm speaking for me not them.

These three things have been going through my mind for some time now and there is one simple message.  Get checked out.  Any doctor would rather confirm someone as healthy but anxious than have to send another patient off to the oncologist.  I know this message is not new, but it needs to be repeated.  Regardless of whether cancer medicine really is improving or not, catching any tumour early is always going to be better than waiting until it is impossible to ignore.