It’s A Law????
What did they call it before they called it cancer?
Do you ever wonder what they thought it was before they gave it a name and started to study it?
When you think about it, cancer research really kicked-in about 41 years ago…when President Nixon signed The National Cancer Act. It amended the Public Health Service Act to strengthen the National Cancer Institute and give it the backing to carry out an all out effort to bring an end to this disease. So in effect, we have a law on the books in this country that says “get rid of this stuff, NOW.” It’s a LAW!!
Well, in 41 years I think it’s safe to say there have been many discoveries about cancer and it’s true, treatments have advanced.
It just seems like I”m hearing about so many newly diagnosed victims lately, it’s disturbing.
I remember back many years when there really was just a single chemo therapy that treated so many cancers and not well. I think it did more damage than good for the patient. And families who were coping with a loved one who had cancer, rarely used the word. It was just whispered that someone was “very sick” and if they died, it was after “a long illness.”
Now we use the word every day. At least those of us in this community do. Hearing it in a sentence, it still hangs in the air longer than any other word. It is a word that carries clout.
But wouldn’t it be great to some day drop the word from our vocabulary?
It will happen…some day, a long time from now, some one will make a motion to erase The National Cancer Act from the books.
Until then, buckle-up, it’s the law…. don’t drink and drive, it’s the law…. and find a cure for cancer.
January 19, 2012 @ 12:02 pm
I think we know there won’t be a “one cure fits all” for cancer. But I do see a lot of progress related to cancer treatment. As for the rise in numbers, there is the fact of early detection. Also, they are learning about how environmental toxins are lethal and now there are even “cancer alleys” in Louisiana and Texas. Also, as we learn more about cancer and genes, there may some partial answers. Those are enough reason to keep this dialogue going.
January 13, 2012 @ 6:34 pm
I follow our prayer list at church. It just seems that there is an explosion of new cancer patients….brain cancer, breast cancer and the list goes on….I ask myself, what gives? Is it that the diagnostic techniques have become more sophisticated and therefore cancer can be identified, categorized so much earlier or is it that there is truly an epidemic? I think the answer is YES.
It just makes what we offer here so much more important…….IF, these newly diagnosed patients could find their way to this “safe harbor’…a place where we are the “old salts”, we know the way in the cancer world, we can help them navigate more successfully, we can help allay some of the stress they feel by relating our experiences, we can listen, hear with our ears and our hearts and sometimes to comment or just be silent because a rant is often cathartic. It makes our job so important when someone new comes along. We want them to trust us and to return again and again because they know we care, we’ll help and we’ll listen.
To find a cure would be a true blessing for all who suffer with cancer. Let us pray for this outcome.