Cancer is a word no one wants to hear, and a new study from the American Cancer Society reports that a lot of people have some serious misconceptions about the disease.

This may sound outrageous but breast cancer survivor Sybil Edgar says she's met a few women who really believed that some unusual behaviors could cause breast cancer. "I've heard some women say that if they hit their breast, or their significant other squeezes to hard they can get cancer, that is a myth, it is not true."

Oncology nurse Jonelle Thomas says that seperating fact from fiction when it comes to cancer diagnosis is one of the most important things you can do, especially if you are personally faced with a diagnosis. "The first thing I would do is to get as much information from my physician as I could to help me prepare for what's ahead."

Jonelle also says that one of the most frustrating misconceptions that many doctors hear is that cancer cannot be operated on because once it hits the air it will spread. That's simply not true, and believing it could be a deadly mistake. "Before you accept information about cancer from a friend or the Internet, you should always check with a professional to find out if it's true or not."

Sybil also says that with the internet today, you have to be very careful and make sure the information is coming from a reliable organization. "And of course if there is any confusion ask your physician, ask someone, check it out with the American Cancer Society and get the truth."

Your doctor will be your best source for accurate information and resources on the facts about cancer.

Perhaps the most common cancer myth is that the risk of dying from cancer in the United States is increasing - NOT TRUE -- the risk of being diagnosed with cancer and the risk of dying of cancer have actually decreased since the early 1990s. Fewer than half the people diagnosed with cancer today will die of the disease.