I think there is something very wrong. Everywhere, something is wrong and I want to find out what it is. In the last year, three of my closest friends have been diagnosed with cancer, of varying shapes and sizes. They were not “Omg I totally think I might be sick”. No. Diagnosed. With cancer. Surgically treated, waiting for outcomes, hoping for the best.
They are not elderly, they are not immune compromised, they do not smoke, they do not huff asbestos for a living. They come from ethnically, culturally, and geographically diverse backgrounds. They range in age from 29 to 31, they have healthy lifestyles and nothing in their family histories hints at trouble of this magnitude. They have nothing in common, really, beside the fact that they are funny, searingly intelligent, have all lived in Boston at some point, and are my heart and soul – some of the most important people in my life.
So. What’s wrong. Why are they sick? So sick at so young an age. Is cancer being diagnosed more now than ever before? Is there a cancer epidemic afflicting the young and able-bodied that I was not aware of? What are the reasons behind this wave? Am I the only one who thinks that there is something terribly wrong?
hm, the things this brings to my mind are two things. First: I have never had any of my birth mark /molars checked….[as in the post you linked to] it was never a thing when I was in Sweden. Here in the States I have met both Americans and Australians who have wondered if I ever checked my “marks”…. for cancer… and I have replied, “no..ehh… never thought of it”. Then again, I have checked them for growing and/or itching but sure, I should’ve checked earlier…
Second, when I lived in Vancouver as an undergrad one of my friends friend (i met her but she was not a friend of mine per se) turned out to have a brain tumor. She passed away within 4 months of diagnostics. And she was 23 years. And I was 23. It turned out to be one of those “moments” since I was so confused. I mean, she was so healthy – no smoking, almost no drinking etc…
I don’t no know what to say but I agree with your confusion. I have no answer. But I agree on the whole post. I wish them the best and hope all of your friends will turn out well. And yes, I would like to say something regarding he fact that I think cancer might be more prevalent at these days in younger years, but then again – I have no data to support my “feeling” so…. anecdotal at this time.
Now I am going to sleep. happy weekend. And really, I hope all works out to the best!!!
Anna, all my sympathy is with you and your friends. As it is my job to treat people with cancer, I’m often the first person to tell someone he/she has cancer. Even after doing this for many years, it is still difficult. And there is not only cancer diagnosed in young people or children, but also cancer first found during a pregnancy, second or third cancers, cancer after heart or kidney transplantation, cancer recurrence after 10 or more years, or cancers in husband and wife. And there is cancer with a good prognosis (detected early or because there is a good treatment option) and cancer that means the person only has a few months to live.
But we shouldn’t forget that cancer is common, and not only in old people. Most people get cancer without predisposing conditions such as smoking or family history. And because there are good treatment options for many cancers, we also have many cancer survivors. If you walk into a room with 50 middle-aged people, you will have one or more cancer survivors in that room.
Sorry to hear about your friends, Anna. I, too, know several people my own age who are afflicted but none of them are among my closest friends. I don’t know about a ‘wave’, though. I suspect that if we asked a large pool of people our age, a good deal would not have any close friends in their 20s or early 30s diagnosed with cancer. A smaller but sizeable fraction would be close friends to one such person, and a few would have two or three. It seems more likely that you’re on the edge of a rather depressing bell curve, rather than this being the norm. But, like Asa, have no data to support this. My best wishes for your friends.
Hi, Anna,
there is really an increase of cancer cases at all ages, not as a graphic of function of cancer cases / year about numbers increasing thanks to improvement in detection. In addition, there are hotspots where the cases greatly outnumber those of other areas (with values closer to the average). Leukemias and brain tumours in youngs (I mean, under “14 year” age). Female tumours, melanomas (UV), chemical pollution driven DNA damage. These are cases that exceed the expected life expectances in ageing people, i.e. stomach, lung, breast, pancreas tumours. But I remember medical college friends diseased or died of cancer in 1973-74, in their twenties. One positive aspect is that medicines and therapies have succeded to cure most of the cases, so we should not give up but try to find the best hospital and receive all the personalised medicine we need (understanding why we get sick more frequently that other people, linking it to our SNPs, mutated genes, etc.).