Cancer At Home
There is a tendency for things to remain irrelevant until they happen to you… It came as a shock to me too, when one minute
living with cancer is just a theory, and the next it's a reality. And while I know I wouldn't wish a cancer diagnosis on anyone,
the harsh reality is that it's more present than you might realize...
Hey, I didn't tell a lot of people I've met that I had cancer, so reading these
posts might come as a shock to them... Also, my apologies to those people...
Cancer Undercover
I have come across people in the last 15 years that seem completely ignorant to the concept of cancer. I've had to explain that
no, cancer is not contagious (if it were, I'm sure my parents, brother, close friends, and every oncologist on the planet would have
it too). Losing my hair was a side effect of chemotherapy, not my shaving my head to identify as a cancer patient (besides, why would
I shave my eyebrows too?). After it grew back, I looked like everyone else again. It's not like there are obvious signs that I've been
living with cancer for the better part of the last two decades...
What? So I didn't tattoo it to my forehead!
Truth is, cancer can be hard to see, which is why raising awareness is so important: it can be sitting right in front of you, but you might not see it.
A mare usque ad mare
Cat's Out
I did a little research and found a lengthy document that highlights what cancer means for the country I call home. All of these facts
are reported in the 2014 Canadian Cancer Statistics1 publication and the Canadian Research Society website.
♦ Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada
♦ 2 in 5 Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetime
More specifically, every male has a 45% chance of developing cancer in his lifetime, while women have a 41% chance...
♦ 1 in 4 Canadians will die from cancer (crazy, right?)
Okay, so I realize I might be freaking people out, so just know that there are several factors that go
into calculating the probability of developing cancer in your lifetime, like age, environmental factors, and lifestyle choices i.e. smoking, unhealthy diet,
lack of physical activity, etc.
Show Me The Money!
Where do cancer research dollars go? To understanding the disease: what causes it, how it spreads, how to treat it, how to detect it, how to prevent it;
and, according to the Canadian Research Council, these efforts have resulted in a 60% survival rate (in 2005) compared to the 40% survival rate in 19752.
Furthermore, cancer prevention efforts have prevented over 126000 cancer deaths since 19881.
Crazy, right?
But seriously, the money...
1 Canadian Cancer Society’s Advisory Committee on Cancer Statistics. Canadian Cancer Statistics 2014. Toronto, ON: Canadian Cancer Society; 2014.
Link to document: cancer.ca/statistics
2 www.crs-src.ca/understanding-cancer
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" - Stephen Hawking
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