Tough Questions

I've decided to cut my hair. At this point it's most of the way down my back and since I always wear it up anyway, it seems kind of pointless to have it. So, like the last time I cut my hair, I will chop it all off and donate it to a charity that makes wigs for kids with cancer. This got me thinking about all the people in my life who have had cancer and realized just how many of them are blood relatives (both grandfathers, my grandmother, my aunt, and my father). I realize that apart from this illness, I know very little about the medical history of my family, it's just something that we keep hidden in the attic. Knowing that my own medical history is quite complicated, I've decided that I really do need to make my own medical family tree. After doing a bit of searching online, I've found some simple forms that I can adapt to add a few more details I would like to know and now have to figure out how to get my relatives to fill them out. Some questions are no big deal, such as do you have allergies or migraines, but how do I ask a family that just doesn't talk about these things about miscarriages, mental illness and alcoholism? Does anyone really want to reveal about these issues? My mother is the most open, maybe I should just start with her and see what happens.