Just read that Jennifer Saunders was diagnosed with Breast Cancer 9months ago & has got the all clear now.

Linky here.....http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1292958/Jennifer-Saunders-given-clear-good-spirits.html

That was quick. I thought it took a lot longer to get an all clear after a diagnosis of breast cancer.

I was in the same class at school as Jennifer Saunders husband, but he wasn't married to her back then.

I was in the same class at school as Jennifer Saunders husband, but he wasn't married to her back then.

So you really were one of the 'young ones', Alastair ;)

I wasn't married to my wife when I was at school either.

:huh:

That was quick. I thought it took a lot longer to get an all clear after a diagnosis of breast cancer.



Yep, that's right.

I wish Jennifer all the best with her recovery, it can't be easy going through it when you're in the public eye, and she's chosen to deal with privately, unlike other celebs who anounce their diagnosis from the start. Neither way is right or wrong, everyone deals with it differently.

It seems though that the press has got the wrong end of the stick with this (like in so many other celebrity BC diagnosis stories). You can't be given the all clear so soon after treatment, and it's worrying that so many media reports state things like this, as they make it sound as though it's just like getting over a bad dose of flu!

Breast Cancer can be treated, via surgery, chemo and/or radiotherapy, and you may be told that you are cancer free at that stage. Sometimes long term (1 year or 5 year) drug treatment (hormonal) depending on the type of cancer involved is also used to reduce the risk of recurrence.

However as Breast Cancer is so unpredictable, there is always the chance of a recurrence or that secondaries could flare up to haunt you at any time in the near or distance future though, so an "All Clear" statement is really putting patients into a false sense of security. There is a 5 year follow up of checks and scans to keep an eye on things, and even after this I don't think you are told "you are cured".

Its a cruel illness, but luckily more and more treatments are becoming available and any media coverage which brings attention to the disease has to be a good thing, but I just wish they'd choose their words more carefully before they announce it.