After a long battle

What does that mean? We use very aggressive words with cancer, you beat cancer, you defeat it, you win the battle, you battle cancer, you fight it.

I always feel for the obituary that says "after a long battle against cancer" It implies that cancer somehow "won". Pedantic semantics I may have but it is an unusual choice of words but what else could they be?

Cancer is an enemy
Cancer is aggressive
Cancer needs to be tackled aggressively

I don't think I am in a battle. I feel that I am approaching recovery different to say, a cold. You have to change your lifestyle and so you "manage" the disease and try to ensure that it never gets to a point of managing you. Whatever control you do have is focused on beating the disease so you can see how quickly I slipped back into the fighting vernacular.

Anyway, the next time someone had a long battle against cancer you'll perhaps give some thought to how long that battle was and what it meant to that person.