Why Cancer?

Why do some of us get cancer, and others don't? Why can some of  us live a wild, non-observant life not interested in protecting our health and live to be in the 80s or 90s, while others eat, drink and live healthy and still get cancer?

Like my husband Kevin, I believe there every one of us has some part of cancer in each of us. Also, that there is a trigger point that each of us that when pulled, the cancer will begin to grow. What is each of our triggers? What makes some people recover and others live longer?

The reason for all of my questions is the audio book of 20 hours which I recently listened to :The Emporer of All Maladies, A Biography of Cancer," by Siddhartha Mukherjee. This book details the origins of the first recognition of cancer, the treatments and studies of prevention and treatment. It is so overwhelming that it just prompted more questions in me. While I did learn a lot, it also reinforced much of what I believe about disease in general - regarding prevention, detection and treatment - that prevention is the way to avoid disease and cancer, detection is observance of one's own habits and choices, and that treatment usually mandates lethal chemicals pumped into the body or scary levels of radiation.

I am shocked by the huge amount of money spent on finding "cures" for diseases and cancer, when prevention is such a better way to go about solving a huge financial issue for our country. I am also in awe of the way people will listen to their doctors to treat a problem with drugs. With all of the side effects of drugs for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, allergies and all the other random maladies people complain about, why do they still take them? Why do you want a dose of a flu or chicken pox via a vaccine if you are just going to get a case of the flu or shingles? Pflooey to the government on it being a dead dose. Healthy living is the cure.

But back to my issue of questions about the book, although I didn't think that it would inform me more about what causes or cures cancer, it surprised me with all of the failed attempts to pin down either. Mammography and a Pap Smear may detect early cancer, but the media has expanded them both to make all women feel they must have one of each every year. Mammography before the age of 55 is really only said to be effective in 3% of women. Studies have also shown that a person who detects cancer early, is treated for it, and it relapses has the same lifespan as one who finds the cancer much later and then receives treatment. I would actually prefer to find it later, as the "curse of cancer" can be such a dreary way to live life, especially if one goes through awful chemo and radiation.

I also found that what Kevin and I believe about cancer being in all of us and a a trigger being what may cause the cancer is true. We have something called SARK cells in us that are pre-emptive to cancer. Cancer can be viral, genetic and caused by lifestyle. That may be unsettling to some, who don't want to change their ways to eating healthy (ier) and getting exercise and rest, but it gives me a sense of control over my destiny and lifespan.

I will ramble on about cancer and disease further at another time. Consider it pure joy, brothers, when you endure trials of many kinds. - James1:2