Dear Abby: I’m hiding my cancer from my mother, who thinks I’ve abandoned her

Dear Abby: I have cancer. I have been expecting to be diagnosed with it since I was a teen. It is my family’s disease. My mother is 100 and still has her faculties, but she is frail. I have shared the diagnosis with my children, and I assume they told my grandchildren. My husband and my best friend know of my condition. The doctors say that because I caught the cancer very early, they expect a cure and are not just prolonging my life.