A google search with the phrase “how close are we to a cure for cancer” results in approximately 21,700,000 hits. The first page shows roughly ten hits ranging from a short CNN Health article (2009), an informative Time magazine article (2009), to medical sites, such as QualityHealth.com with peer reviewed articles from the Medical Advisory Board, non-profit cancer research organizations, such as BreastCancer.org, to Yahoo Answer blog posts providing an array of personal stories and links to informational sites. Needless to say, finding a cure for cancer is a huge concern to many people.
One article I found states that everyone will have some experience with cancer at some stage in their life. I don't know whether it is the different reading choices I have made in the last ten years, or so, or if it is the success of outreach efforts by organizations appealing for more money for cancer research, but cancer quite literally seems to be everywhere. The CNN article asks a more pointed question “Where's the cure for cancer?”
| From the discovery that some cancerous tumors can be removed from the body in surgical procedures if the tumor has not attached to surrounding tissue, credited to Scottish physician John Hunter (1728–1793) in the eighteenth century (Cancer.org), cancer research has come a long way, but there is no one cure for cancer. In fact, like the drug cocktails that are given to AIDS patients to slow the progression of the disease, scientists believe that the cure for cancer will take the form of a series of treatments and medications that are specifically tailored to the particular form of cancer a patient has and the stage of its development. Current research is focusing on controlling the spread of cancerous cells rather than eradicating the disease entirely--which would be a monumental task because of the various strains of cancer and the numerous factors that condition metastatic growth. | Early Surgical Instruments for a Mastectomy
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Wellcome Library, London, 1748
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One article I found states that everyone will have some experience with cancer at some stage in their life. I don't know whether it is the different reading choices I have made in the last ten years, or so, or if it is the success of outreach efforts by organizations appealing for more money for cancer research, but cancer quite literally seems to be everywhere. The CNN article asks a more pointed question “Where's the cure for cancer?”
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