On The Topic Of Cancer

Apologies in advance for all these items on the one subject, which by chance I started collecting prior to my own battle with cancer, but have continued with ever since and they form an interesting collection:

No Ball Ache

Cancer awareness, and Testicular cancer awareness campaigns, have always made people uncomfortable. Most prefer to think that they will be in the lucky column of life and avoid this illness, so try to avoid thinking about it. However some health professionals are determined to make people think about it. 

No Ballache To Check

..... Lynda Kelley is one such chemist boss. She strung up a set of 'toy testicles' in her pharmacy window display, much to the discomfort of locals in Ivybridge, Devon. What struck me about this, was the idea that anyone makes 'toy testicles' ...

Topic of Cancer

1. Dr Richard Smith (ex-British Medical Journal editor) says that cancer is a better way to die than most, because sufferers can say their goodbyes better than for example dementia sufferers, who often die in terms of family recognition well before their bodies, and organ failure patients who spend their remaining time in hospital. "Death by cancer is achievable with love, morphine and whiskey" ..... Not sure I agree, but there you are.
2. Getting Cancer can be down to pure bad luck - while smoking has direct links to lung cancer, contracting other forms like intestinal cancer is often down to pure misfortune. US researchers found that out of 31 cancer types, 22 could be explained by simply having a mixture of the bad luck in having a mutating gene, environmental issues, and hereditary factors. Just call me unlucky!

New Hope

Cancer sufferer's have been given hope. A molecule that forces tumours to self-destruct has been developed. It's instructions are buried in the human genetic code.RNA - a genetic cousin of DNA - seems to trigger an ancient anti-cancer kill switch and is present in all human cells. Early tests in mice found it worked with no side effects. It appears to have been a carry over from organism ancestors 500 million years ago when it developed to attack rogue cells.

Or they could go to Turkey. A woman with Terminal Stage Four cervical cancer went for a pioneering new Chemotherapy treatment. She survived after the tumour shrank dramatically .... but she still needs a further £50k to finish the treatment. After coming back she thanked her ex husbands new wife, who had led the fund raising for her.

Wonder Cure

For obvious reasons if you read this blog regularly, I do keep an eye on 'wonder drugs' for the treatment of cancer. London's Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden hospital recently announced one such treatment. The drug is Tisotumab Vedotin, which when administered to patients who no longer responded to other treatments caused tumours to stop growing or shrink.

It works by acting as a 'trojan horse' and sneaks up on cancer tumours before destroying them ... unfortunately its power seem restricted to just 6 cancer types, and as usual further studies are required before it becomes clinically available.

Miracle Cure?

A team at Johns Hopkins University has demonstrated a test (CancerSEEK), can detect advanced cancers and that is less than $500 (£360) per patient, which is around the same price as a colonoscopy. It detects eight common forms of the disease via the tiny traces of their mutated DNA and proteins that the tumours release into the bloodstream. 

The tests were on 1,005 patients with cancers in the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, oesophagus, colon, lung or breast, that had not yet spread to other tissues.

Overall, the test found 70 per cent of the cancers, but was less affective for stage 1 cancers at 40 per cent and even less effective for precancerous changes ... Five or six years away at least, and not proven for early stage cancers yet, but something positive for a change.

Blood Deal

A  new blood test is offering hope for early detection of cancers (this being the key criteria for successful treatment). The test pinpoints DNA that has broken free of the cancerous tumour. The rates of detection vary considerably depending on the type of cancer but the scientist Dr Eric Klein, of the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio USA, hopes the team will be able to tune this application up to give higher rates across the board.

• Ovarian 90% detection rate
• Pancreatic 80% detection rate
• Liver 80% detection rate
• Lymphoma 77% detection rate
• Bowel 66% detection rate
• Oesophageal 63% detection rate
• Lung 59% detection rate
• Breast 58% detection rate
• Head and Neck 56% detection rate

Dental Care

Brushing your teeth 2 or 3 times a day can slash cancer risks by preventing bleeding gums passing bugs into the blood stream that trigger cancer tumours.

Trees Are Good

Planting trees can cut urban cancer rates. One tree can cut the amount of disease causing microscopic particles in the nearby air by 25 per cent.

An Aspirin A Day Is Beaten By Turmeric

An aspirin a day has been shown to help prevent breast, gastric, colon and prostrate cancers .... but a Chicago study suggests it doubles the risk of skin cancer in men. On the other hand Turmerics (curcumin) benefits keep growing. An Italian study by Velleja Research suggests its as effective as Ibuprofen and paracetamol but with less side effects. Its also effective against lung and heart disease, depression, and pancreatic, bowel and colon cancers. Another study suggests it may boost people's memories by nearly 30 per cent. It may also prevent osteoporosis a study by Genoa University found.
 
High Risks

MacMillan Cancer Support have claimed that getting diagnosed with a cancer is now more common  than becoming a first time parent or getting married in the UK. With 361,216 cancers diagnosed in 2014, this is greater than the 289,841 marriages that were registered in that same year. The number of babies born was 271,050 to first time mothers. One in 10 people fear getting cancer more than death.

A survey also showed that Cancer is the most feared of illnesses.

• Cancer 37 per cent.
• Alzheimers Disease 27 per cent.
• Stroke 7 per cent.
• Depression 4 per cent.
• Heart Disease 4 per cent.

They have good reason to fear, as in fact about 50 per cent of the population can expect to develop some sort of cancer at some point in time if they live a long life .... a staggering statistic.

Odd Fact

I wasn't aware of this but a cancer diagnosis in the UK is classed as a disability not an illness. This means employers have to adapt peoples work practices to the disability during treatment .... and I thought I was getting special treatment at work haha.