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what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 4:30 pm
by helen098
another woman in my department has breast cancer so out of 7 people (3 men 4 women) in my department
four of us , all the women , have had cancer 3 breast and my colon (help I am surrounded by pink people)
its very weird and i think we have proably messed up the numbers
I was just wondering what the odds are in general of getting cancer? and why couldn't we have won the lotto instead :)

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 5:25 pm
by Ashlee H.
Just my opinion of course, and I have no medical training...but I remember hearing we all have cancer cells in our body...just normally, our body fights them off. It's when they go crazy that you become a cancer patient. I work with a group of about 120 people - and we have had all kinds of cancers over the years - colon, breast, skin, throat, bone, brain, etc. Most of the time, it is caught in the early stages, so these people are around to share their journey with the newbee cancer victims. I would think the odds are very high that you will get cancer - especially if you don't do screenings and worship the sun rays. Even if they never find a cure for the cancers, if they continue to have better tests to find it early - there will be so many more people who survive this dreaded disease. I can't help but think if I had a colonoscopy in my 40's, I might have only had to have a cancerous polyp removed instead of now dealing with my Stage IV status.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 5:54 pm
by Lee
I was diagnosed with stage III colon cancer at the age of 46. Because of me, hubby was checked and at the age of 47 was found to have precancer polyps. Sister in law was checked and at the age of 44 and again at 47 and was found to have several polyps. My brother at the age of 46 was the only clean person among us. That is 3 out of 4 people not blood related with no family history of colon cancer yet dealing with colon issues. Sort of distorts the odds of people under the age of 50 being diagnosed with CC. Two of my son's teachers got colonoscopies (again mid 40 range) because of me, and again one was found to have precancer polyps.

The Dr at the time of my diagnoses, said its only a matter of time before they drop the 50 year mark as too many people are dealing with CC issues earlier in life.

Lee

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 7:36 pm
by SkiFletch
Despite all the stories we hear of friends and loved ones getting diagnosed with cancer, I'm PRETTY SURE the overall inicidence of cancer in the population is under 10%

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:02 pm
by LLVV
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I believe I read an article a few months ago that stated the average adult's lifetime risk of developing a malignancy is 40%.

I also read that every single human body produces cancer cells, however, the immune system usually kills these cells.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 9:53 pm
by jmarie
Out of 6 good friends that I grew up with I have stIV CRC, another has stII BC and a 3rd was just dxd with MS. I know MS doesn't really apply here, but we were just talking about how crazy it is for us all to be dxd at 30/31 of such debilitating diseases. On a happy note, my Aunt just had a scope last Friday and had a few polyps removed, waiting on biopsys. She has had the same GI problems I had for 10 yrs prior to my dx, so I was very scared for the worst. She is 49 I think.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 11:13 pm
by seussfan
Don't know much about odds...but as far as cancer goes they have all been against me!

First colon cancer, then 2 years later breast cancer. This coming April it will be 2 years since my breast cancer diagnosis...hoping the "every 2 years" thing isn't a trend. Pretty sure my emotional state cannot take another cancer hit.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 7:45 am
by beccab1
I don't know anything about the overall stats but I decided that my husband should start playing the lottery after I read this...

Sherr estimated that only 300 annual cases of rectal cancer, on average, were diagnosed in people under the age of 40 in the entire country between 1973 and 2005. He said the risk of a person younger than age 40 being diagnosed with the disease during that time period was about four in a million.
However, an analysis of U.S. statistics shows that rectal cancer has been increasing by an average of 2.5 percent a year. While that amounts to fewer than 10 extra cases each year compared to the previous year, it's still a "real and significant increase," he said.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:11 am
by Joy
I'm an "overachiever".......Colonrectal cancer stage III. . I was given a diagnosis of Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia (not Chemo induced) but now I am very anemic and Hemotologist/Oncologist is testing for a much more aggressive Leukemia caused by Radiation/Chemo used in treatment of Colonrectal.

Sister died of ALS, other sister died of Esophogal Cancer..............I'm the only one left and thought I had "dodged the bullet" after my bout with Colonrectal.

This "generation" is the first to show Cancer, our family had a history of Heart disease :shock:

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:16 am
by Russian27
I read this statistics somewhere and can not privide a link. Only 1% of Americans live with cancer. I guess the chances are 1:100.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:30 am
by r_mark
Wish the numbers were better than what they are. I heard this on the radio the other day and couldn't believe it, but here it is from the American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerBasi ... rom-cancer): 44.29% of men and 37.76% of women will develop some form of cancer in their lifetimes (overall risk for the United States population).

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:03 am
by r_mark
I gave one stat without giving another that is also important to this discussion: again from ACS (http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerBasi ... prevalence), in 2006 there were 11 million people living in the US who had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. Given that the US population crossed the 300 million mark in 2006, that puts the prevalence of cancer in the US at 3 - 4%.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:50 am
by PGLGreg
And the same source gives the lifetime odds for developing colon or rectum cancer as 1 in 19 for men, 1 in 20 for women. (http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerBasics/lifetime-probability-of-developing-or-dying-from-cancer)

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:56 am
by garbovatwin
I would say that living in America, Toxic America, increases that risk of cancer more and more each year.

If you add to that an American diet, of processed foods and junk food, increase those chances even more.

It is easy to follow a pattern of higher incidences of cancer in countries that are eating more like us here in the states.

America is one of the most toxic countries in the world, not surprising really.

Re: what are the odds of getting cancer?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:35 pm
by boweltumor
The odds are pretty high. Although each specific cancer has a low probability there are over a hundreds of types of cancers. I read that there is a 1/200 chance of developing cancer before the age of 20 and a lifetime risk of 1/3.