Cancer by chance

[Richard_TX]

telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/0...

Two thirds of cancers are unavoidable even if you live a healthy life, study finds

[Newdawn Administrator]

Interesting and somewhat reassuring. I now know I'm just the victim of a typo on life's genetic keyboard.

Well they do say if you rely on Dr. Google you'll eventually die of a misprint!

I have my own theories about what triggered this though and I'm not sure it was avoidable either. Sometimes just playing the hand that life deals you carries its own risks.

Newdawn

[DMary]

In the midst of the frustrating debate over healthcare here in the US the least thoughtful comment I read was from a man who said his family was active, healthy and took care of themselves so he didn't want to pay for insurance. I guess he believes that insurance only benefits those who don't "take care of themselves."

I never thought I'd have cancer either, but it certainly didn't bother me to help pay for those who did. If/when a member of his family gets a cancer diagnosis he may be a lot less smug and self righteous. If he gets his way and the ACA safeguards are scrapped I hope his savings will cover the ridiculous cost of cancer treatment. If he thinks ACA coverage was too expensive I doubt that will be the case.

[cllady01 Former Volunteer in reply to DMary]

DMary, that healthcare comment and the congressman who said "If they are walking around with a cellphone, they can pay for healthcare. Let them get rid of their cellphone and get an insurance policy." The one's who make those statements usually have enough money to avoid paying for health insurance, get coverage paid for by their companies or, in the case of the congressmen, paid for by our taxes, or, they can pay for their care as the problems arise---about 2% of the population, I'd say. AND they are being granted tax cuts by the proposed replacement plan on top of that! I hear and share your frustration at the lack of caring for anybody but themselves and their families.

[newyork8]

No one really wants to pay for any kind of insurance until you need it. Obviously the system fails in that case. To me not enough attention is paid to the cost of health care. We need more competition. Let the hospitals bid on the next CT scan you need and watch the price go down. Many inefficiencies in the system.

[R-16728]

I'm not surprised at this finding. Many people with remarkably healthy life styles get cancer for no apparent reason. One factor still puzzles me. There are several groups in the world who don't contract with the same incidence as those of us in Western countries! How to explain except life style etc.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to R-16728]

Genetics...

[R-16728 in reply to Cllcanada]

I'd like to think it was just so simple BUT there is plenty of evidence that people who have very similar genetic makeup, even identical twins, contract the disease differently. SOME cancers certainly seem to run in families.

[Cllcanada Top Poster CURE Hero in reply to R-16728]

Certainly is a familial component in CLL, and it tends to run in families of Ashkenazi Jewish ethnicity from Central Europe...

My sister and I both have CLL so this is a particular interest of mine...

Here is a recent sibling paper looking at the genetics of this brother and sister

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

~chris