Well, what can I tell you about statistics and survival rates, or specifically the renal cell cancer survival rates? Everything is relative. And whatever you are about to learn this or any other cancer website, keep in mind: those are just numbers, and you are not a number. You don’t know in what category you fall. Later on I will give you a good example why cancer statistics are almost completely irrelevant to the individual patient, at least in my opinion.

It is only normal if you have just been diagnosed with renal cell cancer that you want to know the survival rates of your type of cancer. All cancer survival rates refer to the so called 5-year survival. It basically means the percentage of survivors of at least 5 years after their diagnosis.

Alright, let’s have a look at the official numbers, issued by the American Cancer Society.

Stage          5-Year Survival Rate for Renal Cell Cancer              

I                     81%
II                    74%
III                   53%
IV                    8%

Good, let’s put that behind us, because you really should not get hung up on data and stats. Let me tell you why. Cancer statistics can mean anything and nothing. For instance, based on my age and overall healthy condition, there was only less than a 2% chance of me getting diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. Yet, the blood in the urine and the dull pain in my abdomen had nothing to do with kidney stones, the more likely diagnosis in my case. No, it was kidney cancer. It was very surprising to all of us, because hey, there was only a 2% likelihood.

On the flip-side of that; I’ve met and heard of many kidney cancer patients whose cancer was found in early stages and ALL of those cases, everybody is doing great, decades after their initial diagnosis. Of course, the later a cancer is being detected, the more difficult it is to treat. But everybody is different, everybody reacts differently to cancer treatments. And especially with kidney cancer, there is so much you can do to actively boost your immune system and strengthen it in its fight against the RCC. You might have heard of immunotherapy. This whole method is solely based on exactly that concept. And if you are a skeptic, this has nothing to do with alternative cancer treatment options. Immunotherapy is a scientifically proven method and has been used for a long time by conventional oncologist in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

So again, have a look at the chart and then never look at it again. It’s irrelevant. Because as I said, you are not a number!