At her point of despair, she didn't have the energy to embark on radical diets and meditation courses as suggested in many of the books.

She wanted to know what people with cancer did to mentally cope with a "lonely disease''.

In her recently published book Secrets of Cancer Survivors, Ms Gould asks this question of herself and five other former cancer patients.

"A lot of them say they seem fine on the outside and other people marvel at how well they are coping. But in actual fact, they're falling apart on the inside.''

She learned many of her coping tools as a victim of a major crime, in which she defended her two children.

Two years later, she put the tools in action when she was diagnosed with cancer. She says one of her methods was to control what information she found out about the disease.

That meant being careful not to read negative stories and misinformation on the internet, and asking her oncologist only what she wanted to know.

For instance, she has deliberately avoided asking her specialist about her prognosis.

"There is a worry factor. No-one says you're better.

"Even in remission, there's that nagging thought in the back of your head that never goes away.

"The interesting thing was with the diagnosis there's the initial shock. Treatment starts immediately and you're in a life-and-death battle, but the most frightening time is in remission.''

She said many survivors' attitudes changed to something more "selfish''. They became more focused on the things that mattered to them.

"For some it becomes their career, for others it's their family.

"You don't worry about what other people think.

"It's more about big-picture stuff.''

The book has three sections of survivors' accounts: diagnosis, treatment and remission, as well as chapters on how "supporters'' can best help cancer patients.