Cancer is the No. 2 cause of death in Americans, second only to heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even when diagnosed early and attacked with the latest treatments, it still has the power to kill.
The dread and fear that can come with a cancer diagnosis have their roots in its killer nature: It's the No. 2 cause of death in Americans, second only to heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Even when diagnosed early and attacked with the latest treatments, it still has the power to kill.
To help raise money to find cures and treatments for cancer patients, the "Stand Up to Cancer" telethon will air on ABC, NBC and CBS and other networks and cable stations starting at 8 p.m. ET Friday. The telethon will feature a host of celebrity guests, including George Clooney, Denzel Washington, Renee Zellweger and Will Smith.
"'Stand Up To Cancer' represents collaborative efforts" to provide funding for cancer research, Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, told MyHealthNewsDaily.
"We would not be where we are if basic and clinical science wasn't funded," Lichtenfeld said. "Basic science teaches us about mechanisms, about how drugs may be effective, and we take that info and put it into a clinic to find out whether or not those new ideas work in cancer treatment."
While there are many successful treatments today that didn't exist just a couple decades ago, a wholesale " cure for cancer " remains elusive for many reasons. There are more than 100 types of cancer, characterized by abnormal cell growth. There are many different causes, ranging from radiation to chemicals to viruses; an individual has varying degrees of control over exposure to cancer-causing agents.
Cancer cells, and how they grow, remain unpredictable and in some cases mysterious. Even after seemingly effective treatments, crafty cancer cells are able to hide out in some patients and resurface.
About $200 billion has been spent on cancer research since the early 1970s, and the five-year survival rate for all people diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. has risen from about 50 percent in the 1970s to 65 percent today.
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6 comments:
Lets just hope you and your family get one of these deadly cancers.
Unless the major networks are replaying this, this was aired this past Friday.
9:14... really ? I don't know how any decent living person could possibly wish something so very, very devastating on anyone, no matter your feelings towards them. Just reading that made me nauseous
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/10/eveningnews/main6854537.shtml?tag=cbsnewsTwoColUpperPromoArea
Joe, Here is a link (hopefully) that shows the interview with my best friend's dad. It aired on Friday night. He had Stage IV lung cancer and the research they have been doing with this one drug is showing great and amazing progress. It is a sign of hope for those who have cancer or may have cancer in the future. Thought you might want to post this along with the article. Thanks, Beth
Yet conservatives hem and haw about money going to NIH and NSF. Who do you think performs the ground work needed to develop these drugs? Clue: it's not the pharmeceutical companies.
The password is: embryonic stem cells. Pass it on...
kind of reminds me of the war on drugs. do we really want to win it? seem's to me alot of people would have to find a new cash cow!
same for the drug companies, let's see if I sell you one pill and you are cured how much money will I make? but if I find a pill that you have to take everyday just to maintain your level of comfort, well now I hit paydirt!
wake up fools!
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