[arista]

This has been debated all morning today
its a hell of lucky dip to escape cancer
in your whole life time

[Nedusa]

I agree it looks a bad headline but two things:-

1. Since people are living longer statistically more of us will eventually succumb to Cancer in our old age, and to be honest Cancer treatments have improved dramatically in the last 50 years so much so that Cancer is not the automatic death sentence it used to be.

Caught early enough most Cancers have robust treatments that offer a chance of recovery or at least give the sufferer far more time than in previous years. With new treatments and therapies including Gene therapies and magic bullet targetted treatments now becoming available and a host of new Anti-Cancer drugs this disease is becoming far more treatable.

2. The reason also that more of us will develop cancer is because other killer diseases like heart disease and strokes have receded in recent years due to improved health and diet coupled with a range of drugs aimed at preventing these conditions from developing. Due to this again people obviously have to eventually die and Cancer seems to now have a larger share of this unfortunate statistic.

So overall it's not all doom and gloom, I for one would like to see far more money,resources and effort put into fighting Dementia like Alzheimers which destroys peoples lives but can still leave the sufferer physically able even though the mind has been ravaged.

Terrible disease and one that is on the increase.





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[Redway]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

I agree it looks a bad headline but two things:-

1. Since people are living longer statistically more of us will eventually succumb to Cancer in our old age, and to be honest Cancer treatments have improved dramatically in the last 50 years so much so that Cancer is not the automatic death sentence it used to be.

Caught early enough most Cancers have robust treatments that offer a chance of recovery or at least give the sufferer far more time than in previous years. With new treatments and therapies including Gene therapies and magic bullet targetted treatments now becoming available and a host of new Anti-Cancer drugs this disease is becoming far more treatable.

2. The reason also that more of us will develop cancer is because other killer diseases like heart disease and strokes have receded in recent years due to improved health and diet coupled with a range of drugs aimed at preventing these conditions from developing. Due to this again people obviously have to eventually die and Cancer seems to now have a larger share of this unfortunate statistic.

So overall it's not all doom and gloom, I for one would like to see far more money,resources and effort put into fighting Dementia like Alzheimers which destroys peoples lives but can still leave the sufferer physically able even though the mind has been ravaged.

Terrible disease and one that is on the increase.





.

Exactly. It annoys me when people still appear to labour under the illusion that cancer remains the death sentence it once was. It isn't. (In many cases.)

[AnnieK]

Originally Posted by Redway

Exactly. It annoys me when people still appear to labour under the illusion that cancer remains the death sentence it once was. It isn't. (In many cases.)

No, it isn't but many people have lost someone to cancer so the fear will remain and it still is a huge killer in the UK so yes, survival rates are up but it still needs extensive research into newer treatments.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

No, it isn't but many people have lost someone to cancer so the fear will remain and it still is a huge killer in the UK so yes, survival rates are up but it still needs extensive research into newer treatments.

I agree and I think there's a very good chance that within a century or so, people will look back on current treatments (aggressive surgeries, poisonous chemotherapy, radiation bombardment) and consider them to be primitive or even barbaric. I hope so, anyway.

There's so much that's still unknown and so much that is known that most people don't realise. For example, there are many minor types of cancer that if left untreated, the body can actually fight off completely. No chemo/radiotherapy or drugs required at all. In fact, it is thought that many people might well develop, and recover from, small cancerous tumors during their lifetime without ever even knowing about it. That's not something that's very well known and also, a lot of the time if these tumors are discovered, people are given surgery to remove them (and surrounding healthy tissue) or even put on courses of chemo/radiotherapy that are actually not necessary, because it's a big unknown so these things are given to be "on the safe side" when milder treatment might have worked. Understandable, of course, but hopefully they will find a way to identify the "severity" of the cancer accurately, as chemo/radiotherapy can cause a lot of damage themselves. Even investigative techniques (for example, x-rays and biopsies on breast lumps) that end up showing the lump to be benign, actually carry a risk of causing cancer.

For now there's still so much guesswork. It's so unpredictable. A colleague of mine's husband has had cancer for nearly 12 years after being given a year to live. It's not getting worse or better... it's just stalled. They can't give any sort of estimate at this point. It could be the same for another 12 years or he could be dead in a year. On the other hand, a relatively young customer of ours (in his early 40's) got the same type of cancer last year and was dead 7 months later, and had seemed completely healthy.

[Nedusa]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I agree and I think there's a very good chance that within a century or so, people will look back on current treatments (aggressive surgeries, poisonous chemotherapy, radiation bombardment) and consider them to be primitive or even barbaric. I hope so, anyway.

There's so much that's still unknown and so much that is known that most people don't realise. For example, there are many minor types of cancer that if left untreated, the body can actually fight off completely. No chemo/radiotherapy or drugs required at all. In fact, it is thought that many people might well develop, and recover from, small cancerous tumors during their lifetime without ever even knowing about it. That's not something that's very well known and also, a lot of the time if these tumors are discovered, people are given surgery to remove them (and surrounding healthy tissue) or even put on courses of chemo/radiotherapy that are actually not necessary, because it's a big unknown so these things are given to be "on the safe side" when milder treatment might have worked. Understandable, of course, but hopefully they will find a way to identify the "severity" of the cancer accurately, as chemo/radiotherapy can cause a lot of damage themselves. Even investigative techniques (for example, x-rays and biopsies on breast lumps) that end up showing the lump to be benign, actually carry a risk of causing cancer.

For now there's still so much guesswork. It's so unpredictable. A colleague of mine's husband has had cancer for nearly 12 years after being given a year to live. It's not getting worse or better... it's just stalled. They can't give any sort of estimate at this point. It could be the same for another 12 years or he could be dead in a year. On the other hand, a relatively young customer of ours (in his early 40's) got the same type of cancer last year and was dead 7 months later, and had seemed completely healthy.

Good Post - I agree we still do not really know all the factors that cause Cancer, what factors make it more aggressive or what factors actually help the body to fight off the Cancer.

We don't know enough about what chemicals in the air or additives in our food or steroid drugs in our livestock actually contribute to our chances of developing this condition.

Are we programmed genetically to develop it ? if so at what age ?

As another poster said young people catch develop Cancers because their metabolism is too fast, I think perhaps it has something with their immune system being too charged or aggressive as the body then destroys its own cancer killing antibodies leaving the cancerous mutations to grow.


Point is we don't know and this leads me on to my next point, All the millions and Millions of pounds/Dollars given to Cancer research Worldwide every year for decades, it seems to me that we are not really any further forward in the understanding and treatment of this disease.

We still use so called primitive treatments like radiation therapy or Chemotherapy where to cure we must inflict further damage to an already weakened body.

Given all the money spent why are we no further forward, what are all these Scientists actually spending our money on. How many Cancer research papers are published every year, where are the promised breakthroughs ?

I think to a degree it is a business and a big business at that, playing on our fears of this disease and always promising that the cure is just around the corner, when clearly it is not given the Headlines at the start of this thread.

So what to do....... keep giving I guess but I would like to see more money given to Dementia research.

I would also like to see more diverse resaerch into Cancer undertaken as it may be the cure lies in a different direction. Clearly all the time and money spent in trying to cure this disease in the current conventional research is not paying off. Perhaps new approaches should be considered.






.

[Kizzy]

Originally Posted by Redway

Exactly. It annoys me when people still appear to labour under the illusion that cancer remains the death sentence it once was. It isn't. (In many cases.)

It annoys me when people just offer random flippant remarks on delicate topics.

My dad found out he had cancer in november and passed in the following march.
My sister in law found out she had it and passed 7 months later. My aunt had it survived breast cancer only to get a secondary cancer 2yrs later that killed her.

There are lots of contributory factors, but it still quite rightly is a very scary prospect to be faced with.

[JoshBB]

Horrible. Maybe if we could stop funding foreign wars (@ labour & tories) then we could use the money on investing in more cancer research so we can actually look after our own citizens

[Mystic Mock]

Originally Posted by JoshBB

Horrible. Maybe if we could stop funding foreign wars (@ labour & tories) then we could use the money on investing in more cancer research so we can actually look after our own citizens

I agree with your sentiment, but the parties will only start caring if they get it or one of their family members gets it, otherwise they see it as population control.

[Crimson Dynamo]

and if you dont get cancer then its alzheimer's

[arista]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

and if you dont get cancer then its alzheimer's

Maybe
or maybe not

[Crimson Dynamo]

Originally Posted by arista

Maybe
or maybe not

did you forget?

[Z]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

and if you dont get cancer then its alzheimer's

At least you could forget about them both if you had them both.

[Nedusa]

Originally Posted by Z

At least you could forget about them both if you had them both.

.

[Creggle]

Originally Posted by Z

At least you could forget about them both if you had them both.

Legend

[user104658]

If the reason that more people are going to get cancer is that more people are going to live into old age and therefore be at more risk of getting cancer... Then this is a bit of a non-story. A young person getting cancer is a tragedy, an 85/90 year old getting it? Really not so much. We all have to die of something, right?

[arista]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

If the reason that more people are going to get cancer is that more people are going to live into old age and therefore be at more risk of getting cancer... Then this is a bit of a non-story. A young person getting cancer is a tragedy, an 85/90 year old getting it? Really not so much. We all have to die of something, right?

No back in 1950's the food was better

now so many eat processed food that starts it off
not everyone , of course

[Kazanne]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

If the reason that more people are going to get cancer is that more people are going to live into old age and therefore be at more risk of getting cancer... Then this is a bit of a non-story. A young person getting cancer is a tragedy, an 85/90 year old getting it? Really not so much. We all have to die of something, right?

I agree.I just wish it didn't affect the young.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Kazanne

I agree.I just wish it didn't affect the young.

I find one of the saddest things about cancer comes from exactly how it works (cell mutation), because basically the faster your metabolism is, the faster and more aggressive cancer is. In other words, people past middle age can often get cancer and live for decades depending on the type because the spread is so slow. But when little children get it, because their bodies are designed to be growing fast and changing, cancers take hold quickly and spread fast.

It's one of my major fears in life, having two young children. I've never really feared for myself or my own health, I've always been very "what will be will be", I'm not afraid of death on a personal level... But one of my children getting ill like that would completely and utterly destroy me. I just wouldn't recover. It really is unthinkable what so many families have to go through.

I personally do have hope that a full cancer "cure" is possible, through, for all cancers. At the end of the day it's just cell mutation. If a way can be found to simply halt that in its tracks then in theory any cancer would be curable even if caught quite late.

[AnnieK]

They've said that whilst 1 in 2 will get it, the survival rate is higher than ever.

More research is needed but sometimes even that won't help. Some cancers only become symptomatic when it's too late. My mum died from cancer just before Christmas 4 weeks after the initial diagnosis and just weeks after symptoms sent her to the docs. Cancer will never be totally cured unfortunately but 1 in 2 is a scary thought

[arista]

Originally Posted by AnnieK

They've said that whilst 1 in 2 will get it, the survival rate is higher than ever.

More research is needed but sometimes even that won't help. Some cancers only become symptomatic when it's too late. My mum died from cancer just before Christmas 4 weeks after the initial diagnosis and just weeks after symptoms sent her to the docs. Cancer will never be totally cured unfortunately but 1 in 2 is a scary thought

Yes thats the good thing about all this.

[the truth]

can we draw up a list of best things to avoid .......processed foods is a start....radiation etc

[T*]

Originally Posted by the truth

can we draw up a list of best things to avoid .......processed foods is a start....radiation etc

You mean the daily mail?

[Crimson Dynamo]

and if you dont get cancer then its alzheimer's