Progress on Cancer Statistics
Cancer is an illness that no doubt has touched all our families in one way or another. I still find it amazing all the advances in science and we still struggle to find a cure for cancer. I was reading in the Boston Globe about their journey to improve deaths from cancer. Mind you I always smile as my nan is 97, smoked all her life, presently at about 40 a day and has a horrific diet of high fat! We keep telling her that smoking is not good for her health, she looks and says when you get to 97 you can advise me on health!!
“Half of all cancers could be avoided if people didn’t smoke, adopted a healthy diet, increased their physical activity and cut their alcohol use, DPH said. About 18 percent of people in the state smoke.
Lung cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer in both men and women. The lung cancer death rate fell by 11 percent for men, but for women it stayed the same.
Breast cancer, the most common cancer in women, fell both in new cases (by 7 percent) and in deaths (by 10 percent). Prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men, also dropped in new cases (by 19 percent) and in deaths (by 24 percent).”
One day we will find a cure for cancer, one day the hurt of losing someone to this illness will be gone forever….
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POSTED IN: Cancer and Illness
2 opinions for Progress on Cancer Statistics
Shari
Oct 2, 2007 at 8:42 pm
One of the reasons that lung cancer claims so many lives both male and female is that by the time symptoms really start to show up it has spread to other parts of the body. My husband of two years seemed to be a very healthy active man until he started getting severe headaches one day. Two weeks later he passed away from lung cancer that had invaded his body. We had no clue that he had it as there were no “breathing” problems. He did have other vague problems that we learned were signs of lung cancer: chest pain,back pain, dizziness, forgetfulness were a few. But by the time we learned about the lung cancer, it was not treatable.
It is so important to support research to find ways to detect and treat cancer earlier. And more importantly to educate the public on warning signs that might not seem to be lung cancer related.
Speaking from a broken heart, I want to stress the importance of getting physicals yearly and talking to your doctor about those little things that are happening that don’t seem to be related to any one specific illness or condition. He/She can do the detective work and hopefully rule out the bad stuff. Remember the saying, “It’s better to be safe than sorry”. It applies here as well.
anna
Oct 3, 2007 at 8:55 am
I totally agree with the proactive checking…before it is too late. There is nothing worse than having that “What if” question in your head when it is too late…thank you for sharing that thought
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