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Nehkara · 06-13-2009, 05:46 PM

This is a good question to ask.

First of all, there are around 200 types of cancer in all so its a big job to cure them all. One cure will not work, cancers will need to be cured in groups or, in some cases, individually.

An understanding of what cancer is, is important in understanding why cures and treatments are difficult to find. Cancer the alteration of normal cells in your body, damage to their DNA, that causes them to begin replicating rapidly and uncontrollably separate from any control by the body. Because they are still cells that originated within our bodies, it is difficult to find treatments that don't do harm to the rest of your body... especially for aggressive cancer that must be treated with treatments that are in and of themselves very dangerous.

Now, the money that is raised goes usually to various foundations set up to fight a specific cancer such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation which I believe is the one you speak of in your post. That foundation gives funds to various institutions such as universities and hospitals for them to carry out research/development/studies on that specific cancer or groups of cancers.

The cost of the equipment needed for the research, the cost of the people smart enough to do it, the cost of the facilities needed to do the research, and the cost of development of the resulting treatment are all very high. Everything costs a lot of money and even if you do find some cure or treatment it takes years and years of testing before it can ever be used.

However, we are making progress.

Between 1992 and 2000 in Canada the chances of surviving prostate cancer averaged over all ages, went from 85% to 95%.

Averaged overall all cancers, all genders, and all ages the chances of surviving a cancer diagnosis went from 57% to 61% between 1992 and 2000.

All of the money and time and effort is helping.

One of the most recent and most important cancer "cures" is Gardasil. 70% of all cervical cancer is caused by a few specific strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV). A vaccine branded as Gardasil was found for those strains of the virus and now it is being integrated into regular vaccinations such that, if every girl is vaccinated, we have now eliminated 70% of cervical cancer.

Now... the chances of eliminating all cancer of every type within our lifetime seems slim... but treatments are getting much better and will continue to get better... hopefully to the point where, within our lifetime, getting cancer will be like getting a wart.

06-13-2009, 05:46 PM	#5
Nehkara Franchise Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Exp:	This is a good question to ask. First of all, there are around 200 types of cancer in all so its a big job to cure them all. One cure will not work, cancers will need to be cured in groups or, in some cases, individually. An understanding of what cancer is, is important in understanding why cures and treatments are difficult to find. Cancer the alteration of normal cells in your body, damage to their DNA, that causes them to begin replicating rapidly and uncontrollably separate from any control by the body. Because they are still cells that originated within our bodies, it is difficult to find treatments that don't do harm to the rest of your body... especially for aggressive cancer that must be treated with treatments that are in and of themselves very dangerous. Now, the money that is raised goes usually to various foundations set up to fight a specific cancer such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation which I believe is the one you speak of in your post. That foundation gives funds to various institutions such as universities and hospitals for them to carry out research/development/studies on that specific cancer or groups of cancers. The cost of the equipment needed for the research, the cost of the people smart enough to do it, the cost of the facilities needed to do the research, and the cost of development of the resulting treatment are all very high. Everything costs a lot of money and even if you do find some cure or treatment it takes years and years of testing before it can ever be used. However, we are making progress. Between 1992 and 2000 in Canada the chances of surviving prostate cancer averaged over all ages, went from 85% to 95%. Averaged overall all cancers, all genders, and all ages the chances of surviving a cancer diagnosis went from 57% to 61% between 1992 and 2000. All of the money and time and effort is helping. One of the most recent and most important cancer "cures" is Gardasil. 70% of all cervical cancer is caused by a few specific strains of the human papilloma virus (HPV). A vaccine branded as Gardasil was found for those strains of the virus and now it is being integrated into regular vaccinations such that, if every girl is vaccinated, we have now eliminated 70% of cervical cancer. Now... the chances of eliminating all cancer of every type within our lifetime seems slim... but treatments are getting much better and will continue to get better... hopefully to the point where, within our lifetime, getting cancer will be like getting a wart. __________________ Huge thanks to Dion for the signature!