Will you give up too soon?

One in three people develop cancer in his lifetime, and half of them will die within five years of diagnosis. No way to gloss over these grim numbers. And cancer will surely surpass heart disease as the leading cause of death here in the United States.

The Cause. The cause of cancer is the defect that occurs when healthy cells divide and die-off. This process occurs millions of times in a lifetime.
• Oncogens — order cells to divide and to multiply
• Tumor Suppressor Genes — directs old cells to die
• Cleanup Genes — correct mistakes made during the cycle

Cells of all living organisms are programmed to die. This is to make room for new cells. The longer a person lives, the more these defects will pile-up until one or more of the 3 types of genes multiply and go out of control. Eventually they can transfer or spread throughout the body.

The Hope. They can turn cancer into a manageable disease that is much like diabetes. Much as insulin is used to contain or control diabetes. When it seems most victims feel helpless, most doctors especially the oncologists feel hopeful. Easily tolerated drugs will replace chemotherapy in the next generation. Just as I said earlier insulin is being used to contain diabetes. To them, cancer treatment is finally on the verge of a transformation. Cancer specialists are hopeful that targeted therapies will overcome cancer. But should we say that this is a pronouncement to a cure.

The Hype. Do these drugs have had more failures than successes? Oncologists envisioned a containable, a more realistic and an attainable strategy. They are hopeful that within five years it may be possible that to keep cancer in check is to use new and precisely targeted drugs and therapies. And so as the victims live longer and relatively symptom-free lives.
Cancer survivors
The Reality. If targeted drugs are not a cure. Is there really a lightning speed in cancer treatment? What are the effects and side-effects of chemotherapy? Are they committed to the truth or to wishful thinking? Cancer cells can learn to evade the smartest therapy. Cancer cells so closely resemble normal cells there is a danger that a stimulated immune system will go after both types. Some cancer cells like the chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), a rare cancer of the blood, mutated to medicines until they were resistance. This is in fact FDA approved this first targeted therapy. A not so good conclusion may be sobering but to know the truth is definitely in the interest of patient and victims would-be. Does the cancer community overlooked many facts?

With the more than 70 cancer vaccines that are available and are in development, I believe several of these have a good chance of success. The problem that hampers in this whole field of cancer research is that the victims or should I say people are giving up too soon. But to realize the truth— doctors should only need to listen to patients.