Some cancer patients can find it hard to tell family and friends

By KENYA HUNTER
AP Health Writer

For some cancer patients, sharing the news can be a difficult decision. Not everyone is comfortable telling others, for cultural or privacy reasons _ or because they just don’t want to talk about it. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin initially kept his prostate cancer quiet. Kate, Princess of Wales, also waited to publicly disclose her cancer. Their reactions hardly surprised experts. One patient counselor said people sometimes keep it to themselves because they don’t want to be identified solely as a cancer patient. In the U.S., death rates from cancer have been declining for decades but it remains the nation’s No. 2 killer.