Cancer – The Battle Continues
From the initial attitude of “I am confident that I can win the battle against the malady inside my lung” to “I think the disease is slowly devouring me,” and ultimately, “I tried, but it has killed me.” The three sentences are what a cancer patient said during his early-stage, mid-stage, and late stage of fighting against cancer. From the sentences, a cancer patient’s attitude turns from hopeful to hopeless and finally to desperate. Even more so, cancer patients with an eventual attitude like that are not uncommon; in fact, more people are suffering from cancer than anyone can think. Cancer took 606,880 lives away in 2019 (Cancer Facts &), 589,430 in 2015 (Cancer Facts and), and 569,490 in 2010 (Cancer Facts &). This creates an apprehensive problem because the exceedingly large deaths mean that United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) number four, Good Health, is not achieved. The goal’s purpose is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.”
On that account, actions are needed to conciliate everyone’s concerns. As cancer deaths continue to strike globally, the urge to find and develop a better treatment as well as reduce its mortality rate has been an overly concerning topic; the three most focused aspects of cancer treatment are the current world’s situation on cancer, what has been done to prevent deaths for the past few decades, and what still needs to be done in order to avoid cancer deaths and suffering, medically and personally.
Cancer, Overall:
Cancer, one of the scariest and most deadly diseases, is caused by a disease inside one’s genes. It is traumatizing because it is different from infectious diseases that scientists could have developed effective treatments for (Rubin). Genes control the way our cells work, but the changes in genes can cause cells to malfunction, making them grow and divide in an abnormal way. Ultimately, these abnormal cells become cancer (Understanding Cancer). Due to the fact that cancer is caused by changes in one’s genes that control the way the cell functions (Bilby), and there are trillions of cells in our body, cancer types vary significantly amongst every patient. There is still no cure for cancer until now is also due to how complex and different cancer types are. They are not all caused by the same mutations, and they are not all going to respond to the same kind of treatment.
More than 200 individual cancer diseases fall under the large “cancer” umbrella (Are We Any) and finding an efficient cure for all 200 and more cancer types is a long way to go. Furthermore, two kinds of cancer might occur in the same organ, but they might not behave or react to treatments in the same way. As well as the genetic makeup for various cancers can further complicate cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment (Are We Any). The complexity of cancer is problematic because patients suffer without a real cure, in many cases leading to hopelessness, desperation, and ultimately, death.
The Misery:
What furthermore makes cancer so concerning is that the process of fighting against cancer is usually miserable. Achy, sharp stings, burning pain, and fatigue are all experienced while fighting against cancer (Mayo Clinic Staff). These torments can be caused by the pain of cancer itself, side effects of chemotherapy, and a combination of other factors. (Cancer Pain). Nevertheless, these physical pains are not all the worst; the physical pains patients experience are usually the foundations for aggravated psychological and social pains. Depression and anxiety are some of the most common types of psychological pain patients struggle with during their initial cancer stage. (Kuuppelomäki). When diagnosed, patients often feel a sense of helplessness and desperation, which leads to depression or even suicidal thoughts. Psychological and social struggles are often problems the doctor cannot help a cancer patient, for example, the sense of isolation and detachment from everyone and everything. Patients with cancer start living a “parallel life” separate from the regular life, and everyone that is helping patients to survive cancer is in that “parallel life.” The constant detachment results in a disconnection with patients’ friends, regular lifestyles, and all (Gorelik). The isolation is real, and it is like adding fuel to the already burning fire.
Most Importantly, Death:
As a result of the toughness when battling cancer, the death rate worldwide is relativity high. Cancer continues to be the second most common cause of death in the U.S, and a total of 1,529,560 new cancer cases and 569,490 deaths are projected to occur in the U.S in 2010, which is more than 1,500 deaths per day. (Cancer facts and). It is hard to imagine and discouraged to acknowledge, but recently, the calculated number was even bigger. In 2022, 1.9 million cancer cases and 609,360 deaths are expected to occur. (Cancer Statistics and). Despite the massive number of cancer deaths and cases each year, some particular groups of people are more vulnerable to cancer than anyone else in the world, and that is called cancer disparity. For example, black women have a 41% higher breast cancer death rate than white women; cancer survival rates are lower for black people than white people for almost every cancer type. (Risk of Dying). These disparities usually include the black race due to the inadequate health care in their country and the lack of awareness about the deadliness.
Fighting against a combination of physical, psychological, social pain and a disease with a high death rate and no proper cure is like trying to reverse an already decided ending. Therefore, tragedies often occur. This is a problem since good health is not equally applied to everyone worldwide. Some patients gave up fighting against it and took the time to enjoy their last moments of life, while others have cancer striking them too hard that they cannot win the battle against cancer inside their body.
On the Way of Finding a Real Cure – Treatments
——“Accelerating declines in the cancer death rate show the power of prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment, and our overall potential to move closer to a world without cancer.” (Risk of Dying).
Luckily, actions have been taken to prevent the occurrence of more cancer deaths and more cases internationally. Treatments such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy, with a combination of early detections through screening and blood tests can greatly hinder the number of deaths and aggravation. The occurrence of these precautions is attributed to the increasing advance medically.
Chemotherapy, short for Chemo, is a type of advanced cancer treatment where it is used to kill cancer cells that are rapidly growing in one’s body. Applying chemotherapy can stop the cancer cells in one’s body from reproducing, which prevents them from growing and spreading to other parts of the body (Chemotherapy). Chemo is effective and widely recommended amongst doctors because it may help relieve signs and symptoms of cancer (Chemotherapy), or to some extent, chemotherapy can act as a real cure for cancer.
Besides the treatment chemotherapy, another newly introduced, and seemingly effective treatment has arisen – Immunotherapy. It has marked a huge breakthrough in cancer care over the last twenty years (New Ideas in). To make one’s immune system fight against cancer, immunotherapy is necessary. It is a type of biological therapy that uses substances made from living organisms to treat cancer. Immunotherapy functions as a therapy to strengthen one’s immune system inside a patient’s body, and since one’s immune system “detects and destroys abnormal cells and prevents or curbs the growth of many cancers,” immunotherapy accelerates and optimizes the process of detection and destruction (Immunotherapy to Treat).
Apart from the improvement in therapies, the awareness of early detections and screening for cancer are raised. Screening is the use of a simple test across one’s body to identify present diseases that do not have symptoms yet. This test is crucial because through screening, cancer can be diagnosed at an early stage when treatments are still capable of destroying all cancer cells and helping one overcome cancer.
Even more so, the idea of the deadliness of cancer and to start preventing cancer before it hits oneself have become more aware amongst populations. Cutting down fatty foods, be more active, and limit the amount of alcohol one drink has been taking into action in modern people’s lives (New Ideas in).
With the combination of treatments and early detections, the drop in deaths due to cancer for the past decades is apparent. Overall, the risk of dying from cancer in America has decreased over the 28 years according to annual statistics reported by the ACS (American Cancer Society).
Declining Cancer Deaths – Statistics:
Overall, cancer death rates decreased 2.2% per year on average amongst males and 1.7% per year amongst females (Annual Report to). Keeping the trend of the declining death rate per year, from 2001 to 2020, the death rate for women and men combined fell 27%, from 196.5 to 144.1 deaths per 100,000 population (An Update on). More recently, the mortality rate for cancer dropped consistently by two percent a year starting from 2015 and until 2019. In detail, 11 of the 19 most common cancers in men showed decrease in mortality between 2014 to 2018. For women, 14 out of the 20 most common cancers in women showed decreases in mortality at the same time period. Similar to the trends in the declining death rates for adults, children and young adults also have a steeply declining pattern. Cancer death rates decreased an average of 0.9% per year in adolescents and young adults, and a 1.4% average decrease per year for children (Annual Report to).
Rather by looking at deaths as the ending, the relative-survival rate for many types of cancer is also making an ideal progress. The five-year relative survival, the percentage of people in a treatment group who are alive after five years after they were diagnosed with cancer, for all cancers increased substantially since the early 1960s from 30% to 70% amongst the white population (Cancer Facts & Figures). The 40% increase is an immense number of people surviving, thanks to all the preventions and precautions taken. Looking at specific cancer types, the three-year relative survival for lung cancer had increased from 21% to 31%; breast cancer patients can almost all survive (98%) for five years or more when diagnosed at an early stage (Breast Cancer Statistics); and for prostate cancer, more than 9 in 10 people diagnosed in England were able to survive for five years or more (Prostate Cancer Statistics).
Cancer Study and Research in Finding Solutions:
Furthermore, cancer care cannot improve so much only with the discoveries of new and effective treatments. The field of scientific research for cancer has also made breakthroughs in its findings. One area that has gained a lot of popularity is Cancer Epigenetic. Epigenetics is the study of how cancer cells react to their environments and discover ways to control those reactions (Cancer Epigenetics). It is looking at the second level of genetic code – not the changes in sequence, but things that regulate the organization and expression of DNA. Since for cancer patients, their epigenetic profile is altered, and by studying cancer epigenetic, there are now drugs introduced that can regulate the epigenetic profile (Are we any).
Good, but Not Enough
When everything seems to go on the bright side for cancer care, and gradually moving on to a world without cancer; the side-effects for all kinds of treatments, including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and the overall picture of cancer mortalities would pull everyone back to reality. Given the fact that cancer is “hundreds of diseases”, and it is “as individual as the person who has it” (Ohm), what has been done is not enough. 136,084 people still died from lung cancer and 51,869 people still died from colorectal cancer in 2020 (An Update on). This means that more precautions and actions need to be taken in order to make Sustainable Development goal number four valid.
What Still Needs to be Done?
One action to reduce cancer rate is to invest in more funds from national, state, and local levels in cancer research that expands knowledge and advances treatment options. As well as to make sure that successful cancer control interventions are more broadly and equitably applied to all populations (Risks of Dying), since cancer disparities continues to happen.
The War Against Cancer Continues
If cancer is the so-called “demon disease”, then everyone in the world should be heroes fighting against the demon. From patterns of declining death rates globally and medical improvements on cancer treatments, it is apparent that we have taken the initial steps for having a utopia, a world without cancer.
Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go in all aspects whether it is cancer care or cancer study. The goal is to make cancer patients feel “I am confident that I can defeat the cancer inside my body” to “I finally conquered this disease after all treatments.” The goal is to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.” The goal is also to make cancer patients’ lives brighter and full of hope. Cancer should not take one’s life away, conversely, one should defeat cancer like overcoming one negligible barrier that occurred in one’s life. If anyone happens to encounter someone with cancer, telling them that the cancer diagnosis is nothing but a brief interlude in your overall enjoyable life will help them a lot. We want all cancer patients regardless of race, gender, or age to know that they are not alone, and there will soon be light shining through their lives.
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