When a patient is told that he has a malignant disease, typically there would be one of these three types of responses.

The first group will just take it in their stride after the initial shock. They will then become proactive in learning about the disease, following the doctor's prescription for treatment, changing his lifestyle and diet, and start to fight back. Often this type of patients do very well, and many of them, if the initial stage is not too advanced, overcome the malignancy and become a healthy person again. Because of the positive lifestyle change, he may even live longer and healthier than otherwise.