Cancer - some thoughts

[Newt]

I have noticed over the years I've been posting on here that many of our members have either had or been directly affected by cancer. Cliff (CSJ2) and the situation with his better-half, Hazel, is simply the latest one in a long list of good folks who have had bad things happening.

 

This may be partly a result of the ready support available from AN posters who will happily fight about fish, conservation, animal rights, and nearly any other topic you can imagine but who will also close ranks and offer caring support for members facing personal hardships.

 

It is a good thing to see (the support) but I found myself wondering why some many of our members seem to have been affected (personally or a close relative) by the disease. I wonder if the information presented in This Page might be of interest and if anyone has other ideas/thoughts/etc.

[rob.imk2]

Interesting read. No less than twelve people in my family have died through cancer in three different generations most bowel cancer two skin cancer .one only three weeks ago. We are told that it could be genetic.My Owd fella 80 reckons it could be due to the fact that all of them worked in the cotton mills all of their lives plus the breathing of all the fumes from the times when coal was burned for fuel . I personally think that fall out from the Bomb testing when they were younger on top of natural radiation plus vehicle emmissions hve their part to play.

[RobStubbs]

I think it's just a fact of how many people actually get struck down with cancer as much as anything else. There's a lot of people on this forum and odds are that some of them get and die from cancer. On a plus side it does seem to bring out the best in people and hopefully bring a small bit of comfort for those unfortunate to be directly affected.

 

Rob.

[DoubleShotDamo]

My mate works for a pensions company. He gets to see quite a few death certificates, and nearly all of them (bar people being killed in an accident) have "Carcinoma" as the SECONDARY cause of death! Fisrt is normally organ failure, but the cancer causes the organ failure! Therefore, most people die of cancer, but not everyone knows that.

[Jim Roper]

My mate works for a pensions company. He gets to see quite a few death certificates, and nearly all of them (bar people being killed in an accident) have "Carcinoma" as the SECONDARY cause of death! Fisrt is normally organ failure, but the cancer causes the organ failure! Therefore, most people die of cancer, but not everyone knows that.

Can't be sure, but he may have misinterpeted the use of the word 'Secondary'.

 

From what we were told after our mother died, most cancers that kill, are 'secondary' cancers!

 

Our mother's death certificate was word something like: "Cause of death; Secondary carcinoma of the liver, the primary was never found, possibly in the bowel"

 

Our doctor told us that most primary cancers are in the bowel in this country.

[sam the man]

The stats for cancer are absolutely shocking when you actually think about it. Approximately 1 in 4 will suffer and along with heart disease it is one of our biggest threats. Life deals some mean cards and can be really cruel. We just have to accept it's the way it is and hope that modern medicine and technology will be able to help us take steps to overcome this nasty disease.

[Steve Walker]

If you live long enough you will eventually develop cancer. For most of our evolutionary history most people have not lived long enough for it to be an issue. The more that we eliminate other causes of death the more often cancer will be the thing that eventually carries us away. It's like throwing a many-sided die every year, and every year the number of sides with a big C on them increases slightly. I'm not being defeatist; there are ways of reducing the risk through the way we live our lives, ways of reducing the number of sides on the die with a C, but if we live long enough eventually we're all going to throw one.

 

At the end of the day, we all must die of something.

Edited April 4, 2006 by Steve Walker

[RobStubbs]

Can't be sure, but he may have misinterpeted the use of the word 'Secondary'.

 

From what we were told after our mother died, most cancers that kill, are 'secondary' cancers!

 

Our mother's death certificate was word something like: "Cause of death; Secondary carcinoma of the liver, the primary was never found, possibly in the bowel"

 

Our doctor told us that most primary cancers are in the bowel in this country.

 

I don't think so, in this instance it sounds correct. Death certificates just detail causes of death not the sequence of events. They would therefore not be concerned with whether the fatal cancer was a primary or secondary tumour.

 

Rob.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

Interesting read Newt, doing a fair amount of fishing over the years and meeting a number of old salts who looked liked dried prunes but lived to good old ages there could well be a bases for taking in a bit of sunshine.

 

As kids my family including adaults throughout the extended family were all sun worshippers nipping of to the beach at every oportunity and none have died from cancer, most live to a ripe old age, I have a great aunt of 103, my gran died at 99 and I have several uncles in their late eighties. Another interesting fact is most of the men smoke.

 

It does make me wonder having read that report.

[DavyR]

I don't think so, in this instance it sounds correct. Death certificates just detail causes of death not the sequence of events. They would therefore not be concerned with whether the fatal cancer was a primary or secondary tumour.

 

I think that's correct. Unlike a heart attack, which can kill you outright, cancer normally has a gradual effect on vital organs, so that the primary cause of death might be, for example, liver or kidney failure secondary to carcinoma.

 

Whilst it's true that cancer is primarily a disease of the elderly, I do seem to know of a lot of middle-aged people who've died from it in the last 10-20 years. I do also think that genetic susceptibility has a lot to do with your individual risk of getting it.