Cancer mystique
Sir: As a sufferer from cancer myself,. I should like to question two points in Ehs: abeth Whipp's review of Susan Sontag s book Illness as Metaphor (17 March). First, it should indeed be emphasised that cancer is curable. (I write with feeling, having iust been discharged from Dr Whipp's ow° department at Hammersmith Hospital fiv.e years after contracting the disease.) But it should be explained much more clearlY which forms are curable and how such cures may be encouraged. Cancer phobia will no.t be cured any more than cancer itself ilia proper steps are taken by the cancer pro' fession. At the moment the whole cancer phenomenon is obscured by euphemisrns and evasions. Alarming forms of treatmen! like radiotherapy and chemotherapy aren t fully explained. Even the most persistent and articulate patients have difficultY 111 getting the facts about their own condition 1 did so only by consulting the American textbooks myself. No wonder so much mythology about the subject circulates both in rumour and in print. Second, it should surely be understood why cancer is seen as a 'metaphor' in Susan Sontag's word. Most people can understand illness caused by the organism breaking down (heart disease, old age) or by the organism being attacked from outside (infection, poisoning), but can't understand illness caused by the organism apparentlY attacking itself (insanity, cancer). If the doctors involved learnt more about the research and passed on their knowledge t° their patients, we would all be better off. Nicolas Walter 134 Northumberland Road,
Harrow, Middlesex
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