General Cancer Information

I have cancer! Will I die? When will I die? A cancer diagnosis triggers a lot of questions. And most of them we cannot answer, which makes the whole situation even more frustrating. But there is also a good side to this, I will explain in more detail in a little bit. 

When my wife got diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 2009, we tried to gather as much information as possible, mainly by using online cancer resources. And almost inadvertently you come across with numbers, data and of course, many statistics. To make matters worse, a lot of them actually contradict each other. One of the questions we were trying to answer was: how many people die from cancer each year in the United States? And there was another important one: how many people are diagnosed with cancer each year?The data we found was mind boggling. Cancer used to something that was 'remote'. You might have someone in your family who has or had cancer, but usually, it was not really something that we used to perceive as an immediate threat. But things have changed over the past two decades - at least that's what it looks like. 

Anyway, let's look at some data first. The attached slide presentation was put together by the American Cancer Society. It is a very comprehensive slide deck with some interesting break-downs all around most recent cancer data, specifically looking into the question of how many people will die from cancer in 2010: 

Of course, cancer is a world-wide issue. The numbers of people dying of cancer are actually on the rise, even though some statistics suggest the opposite. In 2007, almost 8,000,000 people died of cancer. According to expert opinion that number will rise to 11,500,000 by the year 2030 , or maybe even earlier. Interestingly enough, especially in the so called developed countries, cancer is even more present than in the rest of the world. Remarkable, right after heart disease, cancer comes in second in the mortality rates statistics. Cancer used to be propagated as this big unknown disease and even expert health care professionals used to believe that it is sheer randomness that makes a person develop cancer. But nowadays it is commonly acknowledged that most of the cancer diagnoses could be prevented by opting for a healthier lifestyle, specifically by avoiding tobacco, alcohol, obesity and exposure to carcinogenic substances.  

How many people die from cancer in the US in 2010? According to the American Cancer Society, roughly 570,000 patients. Lung cancer leads the statistic, followed by colon cancer, prostate cancer and cancer of the pancreas.  Okay, no let me share my two cents regarding statistics. I am not saying they are all baloney, however, you don't know where you fit in into all that data. Let me give you an example: according to the numbers, when I encountered blood in my urine, there was only a 2% likelihood that I would actually get diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma, the cancer of the kidney. Well, it was cancer and my left kidney had to be removed via a laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. Numbers can be looked at in many different ways. If you have been diagnosed with cancer, don't worry too much about where you fit into all these numbers. Try to focus on receiving the best possible treatment and adopt a healthy lifestyle. There are things that you can do actively fight your cancer.