Cancer word play: why we need to stop using the language of war

Words associated with the disease don't have to be like walking into a battlefield

Fighting, battling, beating, combating and attacking are often words associated with the battlefield. So how have they managed to get into the vocabulary of cancer?

I noticed how fundraisers such as Channel 4’s Stand Up to Cancer are increasingly using battleground language to promote their events. A recent Twitter rant of mine opened up the quiet dismay from people affected by cancer that this language is used at all.

‘It may oil the PR machines, but it is unhelpful for people dealing with cancer’

Cancer, as a disease, can appear emotive and it has taken many years to openly discuss the disease across society. Indeed, anyone who has had someone close to them die of cancer will be only too aware that cancer has a mind of its