World Cancer Day – I will FIGHT!

Why should we ‘celebrate’ cancer? After all it is something we never want to get. However, everybody knows “someone” who had cancer and was “cured” by eating magic Mongolian herbs or smoking the oil of Mary Jane. Every person in the street knows the word ‘Chemo’ as if it were the be all and end all of the cancer story. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Popular ‘cures’ are for me Pseudo Science and very close to fake news. World Cancer Day, February 4th has as its motto “I Am and I Will.” This is when organizations and people around the world unite to raise awareness about cancer and work to make it a global health priority. However, I think the motto should be “I have and I will fight”. Talking about emotive subjects such as cancer is not easy. People expect the magic pill, but we haven’t manufactured it – yet. But we’re working on it.Talking about emotive subjects such as cancer is not easy. People expect the magic pill, but we haven’t manufactured it – yet. But we’re working on it.Another difficulty to overcome is the fact that “cancer” is not a single entity. There are many different types of cancer, with lung cancer, prostate cancer, breast cancer and uterine cancers being a few of the better known ones. Now back to some real science/mathematics/statistics, the presumed increase in the number of cancer diagnoses is partly explained by the ageing of the population. Wider availability of testing and screening has played a role. In other words, we are getting more clever with our ‘looking’, so obviously found more. This does not mean that the death rates from cancer are significantly greater. Of the prostate cancer diagnoses, for example, the vast majority of males will die with the condition, and not from the condition! A positive approach to any cancer does return better results. Take the Mongolian herbs if you wish, but keep thinking ahead to good times and do it!