Cancer – the Big C or a polyp spreading into trouble? A death- sentence too frightening to talk about, or a frequently occurring disease that new medical science can confront with some success?

The Brighton And Sussex Medical School Debate with chairman Nick Timmins and an august panel of doctors, scientists, writers, ethicists and psychologists chewed facts and fantasy towards the united goal of an altered perspective.

Malcolm Reed, academic surgeon and new dean of the BSMS, offered statistics and comfort: we could help ourselves to some extent and surgery came in handy.

Marion Coutts, highly articulate author of her late husband’s cancer memoir Iceberg discussed the need for a refreshed vocabulary. Her own acknowledged skills made warrior or yogic euphemisms unnecessary, perhaps why she could be so forceful on the importance of transparent communication.

Professor Lesley Fallowfield explored the role of health care professionals in the ‘emotional catastrophe’ which followed a cancer diagnosis.

Professor oncologist Peter Johnson for Cancer Research UK, discussed new treatments. Biomedical ethics professor Bobbie Farsides, memorable from Dementia Debate 2014, broadened the debate into contemporary experiences.

Audience questions were startlingly brave and relevant, provoking real focus – and admiration – from the panel.

Four stars