IT'S not so long ago cancer was the C-word - the disease not spoken about in polite circles.

We've developed a rather more sensible attitude to cancer in recent years. The incidence, impact and the search for a cure are all discussed, debated and reported on with a refreshing openness and candour.

But not all cancers are the same. While some, such as breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men, receive plenty of attention from the medical and media establishment, others do not.

Today we draw readers' attention to bowel cancer, a form of the disease which is highly prevalent and has a high death rate. It is the most common cause of cancer deaths after lung cancer.

We have particular problem with bowel cancer in the North-East. There are 200 new cases reported annually in the area covered by the James Cook university hospital in Middlesbrough. That's 50pc higher than the national average.

And yet, it is a comparatively easy cancer to treat if doctors get the chance to deal with it in the early stages. Sadly that is not often the case, probably because people feel an understandable reluctance to discuss this particular part of their anatomy, even with their doctor.

One organisation is campaigning in this area to raise funds for research and, perhaps more crucially, to raise awareness of the need for early diagnosis. Against Bowel Cancer (ABC) is locally-based and organised and the Darlington & Stockton Times has agreed to give the charity its full support.

ABC has plenty of fundraising events coming up which we hope readers will feel able to support.

We also hope readers will think of their own fundraisng ideas and join us in doing what they can to support the charity and help overcome a natural squeamishness about a unpleasant disease affecting an unpleasant part of the body