There are tons of references to tumors (cancers) in ancient literature. The ancient Greeks even did surgery to cut them out. I just finished reading a book about Rome and I would be willing to bet that half of the natural deaths that were described were due to some form of cancer. Of course they had other names for what was happening but the symptoms give clues.
Having said that, there is very little doubt though that disease was the big killer in ancient times, followed by accidents, starvation and killing in no particular order. Cancer might not have even been in the top ten.
There is a small amount of information on tumors, not ‘tons’ and no indication that they were “cancer,” so save us the Barbara Streisand.