America's 40 year war on cancer

[What_the]

And the other way is to start counting all the cancer patients I see today as opposed to twenty five years ago. And at younger ages, so it's not just the elderly.

25 years ago I was spending most of my tween and early pubescent years hanging around the oncology ward at children hospital watching my brother go through chemo therapy. At the time only 5 in 26 survived. Luckily he did, at a serious cost to him and the rest of us. Psychologically.

I get honestly annoyed at people when they say big pharma, cancer and cure.
Sure, we all now someone with cancer, statistically one in three Canadians will deal with it, but it's not until you see the looks in the eyes of the RNs, doctors and oncologists, all of which spent minimum of 4 years to 12 years becoming authorities and experts in the field that one can see that this disease has environmental and genetic components that are diverse and broad..

40 years ago a cancer diagnosis was a death sentence. Today, with several exceptions like pancreatic cancer, the prognosis with early detection is favorable.

[Fancy]

My idea of success is having the rate of cancer go down, not up. It wasn't that long ago that children rarely got cancer.

Don't think that's realistic - maybe not diagnosed properly or families just didn't talk about it and certainly cancer has always been around. The Ontario Cancer Institute was established in 1952, merged with other hospitals (I think) and certainly had children admitted.

Pediatric cancer care offers one of the most striking examples of progress in modern medicine. In the 1950s, less than 10 percent of children with cancer were cured. Today, nearly 80 percent will survive the disease.

http://www.cancerprogress.net/timeline/pediatric-cancer

Another note - Amish do get their children vaccinated and can suffer the same illnesses as anyone else (contrary to an earlier post).

Genetics play a strong role regarding cancer which is why if someone has died from this disease, keep an eye on the next generation and play it safe - get them tested early.

[Fancy]

40 years ago a cancer diagnosis was a death sentence. Today, with several exceptions like pancreatic cancer, the prognosis with early detection is favorable.

The worst conversation I ever had was from a young child saying she was dying from cancer and I didn't know what to say being so young myself. I don't know anyone that hasn't been touched or have had it themselves. Early detection is so important at any age. I don't discount the treatments available now as they have saved so many lives as opposed to the alternative.

[zzontar]

zzontar wrote:
My idea of success is having the rate of cancer go down, not up. It wasn't that long ago that children rarely got cancer.

Don't think that's realistic - maybe not diagnosed properly or families just didn't talk about it and certainly cancer has always been around. The Ontario Cancer Institute was established in 1952, merged with other hospitals (I think) and certainly had children admitted.

https://www.bcaa.com/trip-planning/trip ... advisories

Even as the cure rate continues to improve, the incidence of childhood cancer has been steadily increasing over the last few decades, from about 13 children per 100,000 in 1975 to over 17 children per 100,000 since 2005.

Seems realistic to me.

[zzontar]

Another note - Amish do get their children vaccinated and can suffer the same illnesses as anyone else (contrary to an earlier post).

https://internalmedicine.osu.edu/nephro ... fm?ID=5307

The study of Amish suggests that clean living can lead to healthier life. Overall cancer rates in this population were 60 percent of the age-adjusted rate for Ohio and 56 percent of the national rate.

I'm not saying the Amish can't suffer the same illness, I'm saying it's much more unlikely.