[Kitsa]

from what I've found, there are a lot of reactions. Some people research. Some people are just so completely terrified that they don't want to hear anything about the disease, don't want to know anything, basically want to stick their heads in the sand.

Some people form an intense affiliation with one specific doctor and say, "I will do whatever this doctor says and then everything will be okay."

And then some people act casual on the surface but are frantic on the inside, and they're the ones who listen when people come up to them with stories about so-and-so's friend's brother-in-law's neighbor who had cancer or when something about cancer's on TV.