Cancer and diabetes are constantly used as examples of diseases when arguing about alcoholism, and whether or not it's a disease. I've known people who had/have cancer and diabetes, and any one of them, if given an opportunity to work 12 simple steps and a guarantee that if worked and reworked, these 12 steps would arrest their disease would jump at the chance, rather than take the necessary treatment. Here we have people arguing about the word disease just to get out of working those 12 steps. This discussion in itself is proof the dis-ease exists. The ego is a powerful thing.