Cancer |
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CANCER is perhaps the most feared of all diseases, yet among doctors or researchers it does not inspire fear so much as respect and appreciation of the need for aggressive treatment. Cancer is, if untreated, fatal; but it is curable if treated promptly and properly. One third of all cases of cancer in the United States are being cured today. In lately, there were million of Americans alive who had been cured of cancer. That is, they had survived, free of the disease, for at least five years since treatment. Many American men, women, and children who have been treated for cancer during the past five years will live to join the ranks of those cured. Nevertheless, the full possibilities of cancer treatment are far from being realized. The gap between potential cure and real cure is not solely a medical problem; it is also a communication problem. Not enough people know cancer's Seven Danger Signals or heed them promptly. Not enough people have annual health examinations. Too many resist going to the doctor when they think they might have cancer, usually out of fear caused by lack of information. Cancer is a disease characterized by an unrestrained growth of abnormal cells which, if untreated and unchecked, eventually destroy the patient. There have been only small number and proved cases of cancers that have cured themselves. This is such an extremely small number, fewer than 1 in 100,000 cases, that if offers no alternative to anyone who hopes to be cured. Since cancer attacks all living things, a wide variety of creatures has aided human science in its pursuit of cancer's causes and cures. Bumblebees, bread mold, the fruit flies, whales, mails and monkeys have all been "guinea pigs" in testing the use of hormones and chemicals or reactions to viruses, x-rays. The ugly toadfish is a cancer hero, for it is the toadfish's simple kidney and insulin-producing mechanism that has made it possible for researchers to observe blood sugar changes caused by an anti-cancer drug. Even trees, ferns, clams, and salamanders are helping researchers run down cancer clues. Ultimately, of course, the treatments must be tried on man himself. And in this field numberless anonymous volunteers have written an heroic chapter in medical research. |
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