Cancer Cure Breakthrough?

It’s estimated that nearly 40% of us will be diagnosed with crappy cancer in our lifetimes and, until very recently, we’ve had three basic options for dealing with that news. We’ve had surgery for at least 3,000 years. We added radiation therapy in 1896. Then in 1946, chemical warfare research led to the use of a mustard gas derivative (yes, you read that right) to poison the person, err . . . . .I mean the cancer cells, with chemotherapy. More recently, we also started poisoning crappy cancer through drugs that attempt to starve tumors of nutrients or blood supply.

Those traditional “cut, burn and poison” techniques are effective in less than half of cases. It’s a laudable medical accomplishment that also leaves behind the other half of cancer patients. According to the World Health Organizations international agency for research on cancer, that translates to 9,055,027 deaths worldwide in 2018 alone!!!

Recently, the Nobel Prize was awarded for two breakthrough scientific discoveries heralded as having “revolutionized cancer treatment”, and “fundamentally changed the way we view how cancer can be managed”. One of them went to a charismatic, harmonica-playing Texan named Jim Allison for his breakthrough advances in cancer immunotherapy. His discovery had resulted in transformative outcomes for cancer patients and a radical new direction for cancer research.

Crappy cancer is a HUGE money maker for the health care industry. How is it possible that cures have been discovered for polio, and many other diseases, but not cancer? One reason, I'm told, is because it's not just ONE disease. There are many different types of cancers. I had crappy breast cancer, but there's not just one breast cancer....there are many. I won't go into them all here, because if you are anything like me, you don't care unless you get it. THEN, and only then, will you educate yourself on the types, classes, stages, etc.

I pray that there is a cure in my lifetime, but my hope is in heaven and crappy cancer was not successful in killing me, so I'm blessed.  I remain hopefully skeptical in a cancer cure breakthrough.