Cancer
What is it with cancer? Billions of dollars of research and they have probably found 1 billion ways that can't cure cancer. One day, lets hope, they do find a cure.
I've known at least 7 people touched by cancer. My Aunt Joan died of cancer just after my first daughter was born. My dad had lung cancer. They removed his lung and he has now been cancer free for close to 10 years now and is doing pretty darn good considering his age. There was someone I worked with at Nova Chemicals who died of brain cancer. My Uncle Tom died of lung cancer. Our friend Sue Geelan had a piece of her lung removed and is now living life to the fullest. A guy I worked with when I first started my job with Colt Engineering just passed away last week. And now my cousin Vern is fighting for his life with throat cancer. I am sure I have know others with cancer but their name escapes me right now.
There isn't really anything most people can do to help with finding a cure...except to support research by donating. I do.
6 comments:
I suppose you're right. There isn't much one can do to support the cause against cancer except donate money. And of course support friends and family as they fight it on the front line.
For me though it's a tougher question that I think shares the same philosophical roots as privatized medical treatment vs. public medical treatment: How far do we (or should we) go to keep people alive? The two sides as I see it:
Billions of dollars raised and donated so researchers can work and study and so far come up with a few alternative treatments to cancer - and I think that they have done a pretty great job considering their foe. There are tremendous effective treatments out there if the cancer is caught early enough. I think I heard that Cancer dropped from being the #1 killer in Canada to #3 - not sure on this. But Cancer has not sure cure nor does it have a sure prevention. So, what would have happened if the billions of dollars were used for something else? Like health education (nutrition, sanitation, fitness) for instance which may have preserved many more people in the long run (of course an immeasurable feat). Or third world micro-economic development?
On the other hand, my heart tugs for cancer patients. My friend Stephanie died of stomach cancer. I would love to report that she was cured because an extra $3 billion was donated to cancer research. I met a young woman last week who survived ovarian cancer and she is now adopting a baby from Guatemala.
Should we try to live forever here on earth?
As long as the people I love could live forever also, then I wouldn't mind living forever.
Living forever would be a curse if you're the only one who had to watch everyone else pass on.
Cancer just seems less fair than some other ways of dying that it seems we have more control over avoiding.
I think people get cancer for two reasons: 1) we live too long, and cancer is our body spiralling out of control.
2) We live in modern times. Everything we do and consume is a mixture of strange, synthetic elements.
Cibby...I think you've hit the right answer...everything we consume is a mixture of strange synthetic elements. One day the truth will come out about what we have been told is safe.
Blight...I wouldn't want to live forever...well actually I would if I could have my health so that I could enjoy it. I would love to see my kids grow up happy throughout life.
Zaak...there might be a prevention for cancer. Just like the Diet Coke I am drinking as I'm typing this...I am quite sure it isn't something that my body really likes and probably does more harm than good.
I think part of the problem is that 'cancer' is too big a 'basket' as a term. There are so many different kinds that we're very unlikely to find a single, magic-bullet type 'cure for cancer'. Rather, all the different types of individual cancers need cures... we've found some, but there are lots still to find. Certainly survival rates are much higher than they were for all sorts of cancers. But yeah, Suzie had the lung cancer, I lost my Mum to leukemia (kind of 'blood cancer'), and I've had quite a few skin cancers cut out or burned off me: they can get very nasty if you don't get them early.
On the lifestyle stuff and living forever... I think it's a balance of having a life, too... That is, I don't smoke, and I try to keep the other risk factors to a minimum, but if it came down to vegetarianism and staying completely out of the sun, and getting really 'thingy' about taking lots of antioxidants and... I dunno, at some point you give up the quality of life to chase the quantity.
I hear sex can lower your risk of cancer. Or was that lower your risk of a heart attack? Ah..why spilt hairs :-)
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