3/4 of Canadians who get cancer die of cancer

[Glacier]

Wow, I had no idea it was this high!

https://infobase.phac-aspc.gc.ca/datala ... og-en.html

[kgcayenne]

60% five-year rate is not good enough for me. If I'm diagnosed with cancer, no treatment for me, and I'm not telling anyone, either. I'm not going to spend my last good days being miserable with treatment side effects and watching people feel sorry for me or be awkward.

[gman313]

60% five-year rate is not good enough for me. If I'm diagnosed with cancer, no treatment for me, and I'm not telling anyone, either. I'm not going to spend my last good days being miserable with treatment side effects and watching people feel sorry for me or be awkward.

forsure but that 60% rate is overall. If you have a highly treatable form caught in the early stages your chances could be way better. Conversely of course you could have something that gives you almost no chance.

[Bsuds]

60% five-year rate is not good enough for me. If I'm diagnosed with cancer, no treatment for me, and I'm not telling anyone, either. I'm not going to spend my last good days being miserable with treatment side effects and watching people feel sorry for me or be awkward.

That's fine for an adult, but what about a child? Should you/they just give up?

My daughters nephew had cancer in his leg and it has now travelled to his lungs. They operate this week.

I sure hope they get it all.

[kgcayenne]

I don't know how you get the idea that my post indicates that my personal preference is applicable beyond my own person. Two things have killed my immediate family members: cancer & heart disease. I've watched too many of my loved ones spend their remaining few years (all over 50, like the stats indicate) being made sick being in and out of treatment and having their damn cancer be the foremost thoughts in theirs and everyone else's minds. My body, my life, my choice. A child doesn't have a choice.

[Glacier]

I agree with you, kgcayenne. Cancer is awful, and most often a death sentence. I know two people who had suspected brain cancer. The only way to get a biopsy is to drill deep into the brain, and hope you can get a sample without killing the person. The first person died from the biopsy. The second person was given 6 months to live after the diagnosis, and they went through chemo and such before deciding to stop wasting tax payer's money on a hopeless cause, so they went home to die at home without further treatment.

A family member had a biopsy on a breast lump that was so painful and awful that she vows to never get another one again. It was not cancerous, and has since learned that others in her family have had similar non-malignant lumps in their breasts. Her dad had suspected prostrate cancer from the "turn and cough" exam, and he said, "screw it" to the biopsy. His friend had the same thing about the same time, and he got the biopsy done, and that ruined his sex life because of it. He died 7 years later anyway while my family member is still healthy and strong some 15 years later.

[kgcayenne]

We carry-out our pets' end-of-life measures with more dignity than we afford other humans.

[OldIslander]

We carry-out our pets' end-of-life measures with more dignity than we afford other humans.

I see why you're saying this, and I believe it's partially true.

I've had family and friends go into Hospice with cancer, where they were treated with incredible respect and given outstanding care. Their final days were better for it. But I do agree that having seen a good many of them go through the indignities of a long downhill battle with cancer, I would not want to do that. In Canada, it is now possible to get end-of-life assistance (https://elplanning.ca/) and I'd like to think that I'd go that route rather than a long ugly decline.

But we never know until we're there, how we'll respond....!

[kgcayenne]

I see why you're saying this, and I believe it's partially true.

Yes, and I may have a 180 when I get that news. Yes, I said 'when I get that news' not only have I accepted this genetic predisposition, I also embrace my mortality for what it is: inevitable. I don't want to get old and helpless, either.

[Thinktank]

considering the fact nearly one out of every two people will get cancer,
I can now really see why it makes sense to avoid the more expensive natural foods
and buy the cheapest crap we can get.

We'll need all that money we saved for treating the cancers.

[Rider59]

considering the fact nearly one out of every two people will get cancer,
I can now really see why it makes sense to avoid the more expensive natural foods
and buy the cheapest crap we can get.

We'll need all that money we saved for treating the cancers.

You are one weird little dude.

[Thinktank]

Like, if one out of every two people will get cancer, you would think humans
would sit down and think about the way we do things.

[Glacier]

60% five-year rate is not good enough for me.

60% survive five years, but that's only the beginning. If my math is right, it goes like this:

30% of Canadians die of cancer.
40% of Canadians get cancer in their lifetime.
Of these, 60% survive 5 years. That represents 24% of Canadians.

60% of Canadians do not get cancer. Additionally, there are others who get prostate cancer and other slow growing cancers, and then die of something else.

Brace yourself because here comes the scary math. Only 10% of Canadians get cancer and then die of something else (100% - 60% who don't get cancer - 30% who die of cancer). In that 10% are those with prostate cancer. Let's assume it's really small, like only 1% of the population has cancer and then dies of cardiac arrest or car accident or pneumonia or something else.

That leaves a mere 9% of the population that gets cured by treatment.

So 24% of Canadians survive 5 years, but of those 63% die of cancer anyway.

In other words, your odds of dying of cancer after "beating cancer" are 50% higher than they are during the first 5 years.

My question is this: does modern treatment actually cure you, or does it just delay the inevitable?

[OldIslander]

My question is this: does modern treatment actually cure you, or does it just delay the inevitable?

I know several people (myself included...) who are 5+ year cancer survivors, and are enjoying life immensely -- possibly more than folks who have never been afflicted -- having looked eyeball to eyeball with their own mortality.

Who cares if the inevitable has merely been delayed. For them, the discomfort of the initial treatments was well worth the extra years of good living, seeing grandkids grow up, being with spouses everyday, having mud every week with all your old redneck buddies... That's the kind of stuff that we live for, and the more of it we get, the better....!

[Bsuds]

My stepmom was diagnosed with throat cancer about 10+ years ago. The survival rate at that time was 3 years.
She is still around and doing fine.

I guess it all depends on how strong your will to live is and how much you want to survive as long as you can.