Yeah I don't have a ton of experience with it either, but I did have a grandfather that died from it when I was 7. I remember because it was days before my birthday. Probably not something that would make a difference one way or the other to an adult, but at 7 it really sucked. Anyway, he had lung cancer from smoking, and this was before a lot of imaging technology and such, and so they opened him up to take care of the big tumor they knew he had in his lungs, and once inside apparently there was cancer EVERYWHERE. Once it gets on the move it can be nearly impossible to stop. More so back then. They didn't even bother removing the original tumor it was so bad.
He was 57 so while not young, it was definitely early to die.
There are better options now, and the biggest thing is it's much easier to prevent or catch early. But once you have a bad case, there's always a chance for it to come back. Sometimes in the exact spot it was, sometimes in a completely different spot.
Although we've come a long way now, I have noticed that many people will 'beat' cancer, only for it to show up again a few years down the road and it gets them the second or even third time. That's happened to a few people I knew, or knew of. Again, it could be the same cancer in the same place, the same cancer that's spread to a new place, or a completely new cancer.
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