Comment by Glyptodon

FWIW, someone I know thought the kid with cancer was getting away with playing hookie, and only discovered what was actually happening years later (when we were randomly catching up). Similarly, through a personal connection to the cancer kid, I learned another kid had survived Leukemia in elementary. And I don't think almost anyone else knew. So it's not really a given that everyone even knows. (At a high school with like 7 or 8 hundred kids.)