HPV and links to cancer – live webchat

Michael Douglas linked his throat cancer to contracting a strain of HPV virus through cunnilingus - but was he medically correct to make the causal connection? What is the truth about HPV and how is it linked to cancer? Our webchat discussed the issues

Michael Douglas says cunnilingus gives you cancer – but is he right?

Michael Douglas, who was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2010, says oral sex was the cause. But what's the risk?

How my molar pregnancy became a life-changing event

At first I assumed it was a virus, and then that I was expecting another child. But the truth was far more disturbing – and the start of a long and emotionally taxing battle

I discovered I had colon cancer while I was pregnant

At 31, Matilda Tristram was looking forward to having her first baby. Then she discovered she had cancer. Her comic chronicling the experience is raw, funny and still unfolding. Interview by Zoe Williams

Many US women can’t afford to do what Angelina Jolie did

Sadhbh Walshe: Angelina Jolie was brave to share details of her double mastectomy, but it's hardly an option for all women

I had a preventive double mastectomy at 20

One woman on why she decided not to wait after discovering she was at risk of breast cancer, but to opt for surgery

Why, unlike Angelina Jolie, I delayed having a preventive mastectomy

On discovering I had an 80% chance of ovarian or breast cancer, I decided to have my ovaries removed but not my breasts – and then learned I had breast cancer

Angelina Jolie has done something extraordinary

Hadley Freeman: In publicly discussing her double mastectomy, the actor has challenged the celebrity industry to rethink its bizarre values – and she has done all women a huge service

Cheers as Observer helps family win life insurance

Friends Life does U-turn on £100,000 life insurance payout to bereaved family of cancer sufferer

Victory for family denied cancer claim payout for father

Ombudsman ruling brings 'relief and joy' for widow and twins after insurer said victim did not disclose pins and needles

Lisa Lynch obituary

Writer who recounted her experience of cancer with engaging candour

Are sausages bad for you?

Felicity Cloake: New research says that people who eat processed meat have an increased risk of an early death. Does this mean we have to give up sausages – or will we be OK if we buy posh bangers and grill rather than fry them?

‘I had leukaemia, so I know how the patients must feel’

Dom Hurford's battle with childhood leukaemia has led to a life as a doctor on the wards where he was once treated

Teen fiction and the shadow of cancer

Mal Peet: From John Green's The Fault in our Stars to Jenny Downham's Before I Die, childhood cancer is becoming a taboo-busting subject for teen fiction

What doctors won’t do

From steroids to sleeping tablets, IVF to the flu jab – doctors reveal the treatments they would avoid