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Ever since Anthony Bridges found out he had prostate cancer six years ago, he hasn\u2019t stopped talking about it. He told his Facebook<\/a> friends immediately.<\/p>\n Now, the 68-year-old man from Georgia spends time working with others to encourage other men to talk to their doctor about getting screened.<\/p>\n Not everyone is as eager to share, for cultural or privacy reasons \u2014 or because they just don\u2019t want to talk about it.\u00a0Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin<\/a>\u00a0kept his prostate cancer quiet, including from President Joe Biden. And more recently,\u00a0Kate, Princess of Wales<\/a>, waited weeks before publicly disclosing her cancer.<\/p>\n Austin described his diagnosis as a \u201cgut punch\u201d and his instinct was to keep it private. In a video statement, Kate said it was a \u201chuge shock\u201d and that she and her husband, Prince William, had been trying to \u201cmanage this privately for the sake of our young family.\u201d<\/p>\n Their reactions hardly surprised experts. Dr. Otis Brawley says he\u2019s encountered men who don\u2019t even want to talk about their prostate cancer with their own doctors.<\/p>\n Brawley, a professor of oncology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University, recalled a time decades ago when cancer simply wasn\u2019t spoken of, called the \u201dBig C\u201d instead.<\/p>\n Public conversations around prostate cancer changed, he said, when former\u00a0Sen. Bob Dole<\/a>\u00a0announced his diagnosis and publicly spoke of erectile dysfunction, a side effect of treatment.<\/p>\n For breast cancer, it was\u00a0first lady Betty Ford<\/a>, who spoke openly about her surgery and treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cThat opened the floodgates. It was then OK to talk about cancer,\u201d Brawley said.<\/p>\n In the U.S., death rates from cancer have been declining for decades, which is attributed to progress against lung cancer, screening and better treatments. Still, it remains the nation\u2019s No. 2 killer, behind heart disease, and cases are increasing as the population ages and grows.<\/p>\n Elaine Smith, who counsels patients at City of Hope Cancer Center Atlanta, said a patient\u2019s openness often depends on personality. Some don\u2019t want to be identified solely as a cancer patient.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many of my patients say people talk to them with a different tone of voice,\u201d Smith said. \u201c\u2018They lean into me differently, they look at me with their eyes differently.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes people worry about how their coworkers will react when they have to miss work for appointments and treatments.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many cases, we may not acknowledge it, but \u2026. that can sometimes have a role in how they are judged in their work performance,\u201d said Dr. Bradley Carthon, of Emory University\u2019s Winship Cancer Institute.<\/p>\n Patients usually share with their family, experts said, but even that can be difficult.<\/p>\n Kate noted it had taken time to explain \u201ceverything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them and to reassure them that I\u2019m going to be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe has the added challenges of having young children,\u201d said Dr. Christina Annunziata, a cancer doctor at the Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, Virginia. \u201cAs hard as it is to explain to friends and family, or even coworkers. It\u2019s even harder to explain to young children.\u201d<\/p>\n The downside of keeping it private is that \u201dyou\u2019re dealing with this all alone,\u201d Carthon said.<\/p>\n Dr. Paul Monk, who treats cancer patients at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said it\u2019s important for patients to bring along a family member or other support to appointments.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think they hear everything I say,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so when you bring someone else to your doctor\u2019s visit, that\u2019s another set of ears and I think that\u2019s critically important.\u201d<\/p>\n Bridges\u2019 wife, Phyllis, served in that role for him when he started treatment for advanced prostate cancer in 2018. He said he had no symptoms and had only gone for a checkup at her insistence.<\/p>\n Bridges felt called to share his story with others, especially with Black men, and is now part of a program called Project Elevation. Working through local churches, the program\u2019s goal is to remove some of the stigma surrounding prostate cancer and provide information about screening.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to change the mindset,\u201d said the Albany, Georgia, resident. \u201cWe have to dispel the fear.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nSubscribe to Well Adjusted, our newsletter full of simple strategies to work smarter and live better, from the Fortune Well team. Sign up<\/a> for free today.<\/div>\n