Fighting Cancer

There have been interesting theories submitted about how and why we get cancer and how the best way to treat it. I am fascinated by medicine and thought at one point that I could be a research scientist, but I am terrible at math and I never was smart enough to understand the sciences too much. But when new technology comes out to make people well, I am intrigued by how they came to that decision. I read an article today in Time Magazine about the “new fight on Cancer”. This article dealt with scientists who are working to understand the DNA of cancer cells which will in turn lead to a personal treatment for each cancer patient.

I think I blogged on a presentation given by William Li, whose theory on starving the cancer tumor made so much sense to me. His theory was that by eating the right foods, you can actually starve the cancer cells and shrink tumors. By this way you can derive anti-angiogenesis which prevents the growth of blood vessels that feed a tumor. He suggested that eating cancer-fighting foods was the best way to live.

Both of these articles had the underlying message that cancer is caused by too much sun, radiation, smoking, or other excesses which turn healthy cells in to cancer cells. Both of these articles indicated that by living life simply that cancer could be prevented, but that if we come down with it that there are new treatment options that can be used. But can they really? What is the average person’s chance in using these options? I suppose if you have enough money that anything is possible, but the regular schmoo’s insurance sure isn’t going to pay for the newest treatment option even if it promises to do the trick. The insurance industry is in business to make money, not to save you from your illness. So I guess the best option is to try not to get cancer in the first place. Maybe someday the research will come up with a cure, but for now, we can continue the fight.