Thinning the herd

[justin case]

My wife and I had a miscarriage in our first year of marriage. We decided not to take on that responsibility, and have remained childless for going on 19 years. My thought was I'd be 60, when my child was coming of age. I'm really happy for our decision, because that would be one less child to worry about future cancer problems. I have two boys, from previous marriages, and I already have worries for their well being. As far as I'm concerned, my herd wasn't that big to start with, and I had no problem taking care of them, so just leave my herd alone
Bro Nut

[Nik Colon]

I don't trust that no one has found a cure yet, the government probably paid them to keep quite or took them out!

Seriously, there is a cure for everything out there somewhere.

[sjring]

This is actually a really interesting philosophical question. At times I like to be an optimist (and yes they do threaten to take away my CPA license when I think like that).

I do think we are on the brink of some demographic leap in treating cancer. Between Immunotherapy (we may not have found the RIGHT compound, but I think it's an interesting direction to go) to the University of Pennsylvania Researchers working with GSK who have found a protein that cancers cells need to survive and healthy cells have in small quantities but apparently don't need them (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49807). The problem is that the cancer that most of us have is a different cell from other types of cancer, so the one magic bullet theory probably won't ever work. But I think research is headed in the correct direction.

Will we find a cure for cancer? Yes I think we ultimately will. However nature will come up with some other mechanism for population control. Maybe ultra radical religious groups as there is no pharmaceutical cure for that or some other disease we haven't even thought of yet.

Then again, a friend of my wife sent me water from Lourdes, France. What the heck, it can't hurt (I hope).

[WifeOfMike]

Hello everyone,

Although I lost my hubby to this disease, I am still an overall optimist & I believe in my gut that we will someday have this as a manageable disease and someday a cure. Colon cancer is trickier than some other cancers, in that it is a more complicated cancer to begin with and often times extremely resistant to the arsenal of drugs we have to work with now. BUTT, it takes research, clinical trials, money, and needs the help of us to get there. Which is why we as a team (hubs & I) decided to part from FDA approved drugs and he participated in clinical trials. We knew he would more than likely follow the journey as it ended, but we would help others get a hair closer by our participation in the process. There was always the "possibility of a Miracle", no matter how small- than what we faced had we chosen the FDA approved route his entire journey.

Being the mother of three sons, who now have 3 family histories of Colon Cancer on their father's side....(and no sign of Lynch syndrome) I have a very real fear for my kids. I have gone one step further & set up a Colon Cancer Research Fund in my hubby's honor, and donated personally. I wish I were a zillionaire- I am FAR from it, but did what I could & set up a donation mechanism for some of our friends & family to easily follow. All we CAN do is try, hope, and keep communication open loud & clear..... like we do HERE. They have cured so many diseases over the course of time, science has come so very far. We have to keep hope alive for all touched by Colon Cancer, for ME, for THEM, for YOU and those in the future. I am with you Michael...... Leave MY herd alone!

Hugs to all,
Vicki

[skypup]

...so just leave my herd alone
Bro Nut

Ditto, Michael and Vicki!

[MamaN]

I agree leave my herd of one alone! Hes getting a colonoscopy this summer . Early screening could be part of cure.

[Carolinabluetec]

If Cancer is thinning the herd , it is not doing a very good job. In 1970 the world's population was 3.7 billion, in 2015 it will be 7.4 billion.

[Val*pal]

I'm also an optimist. I believe that there will be better treatments for colon cancer (and all cancers) in the not too distant future. And I do NOT believe the medical/pharmaceutical world is sitting on the cure to make more money. That's so nuts, it makes me see double.

As for our individual insignificance within the universe, yes, that's true. But we are each our own universe so trying to feel insignificant to ease our suffering is a hard pill to swallow.

My husband Danny passed just 8 months ago from this horrible disease. I woke up this morning remembering yet another dream I had about him. It was a mild nightmare of me attempting to ease his suffering as he lay dying. Though he did not have excruciating pain, those last few days will stay with me forever. Like all the other cancer patients, it just seemed so unfair and no one can convince me his life was insignificant.

For those still getting treated for colon cancer, stay the course. You never know what can happen in the research world tomorrow. I really, really feel that something good is going to be discovered soon that will extend the lives of those who right now are forced to make do with present-day chemo.

[Sleen]

I believe there will be many cures; maybe as many cures as there are types of cancer.
People are going to figure it out.

Celine

[KWT]

I hate to say it but we need more of the rich and powerful to get a little cancer then maybe things will move a little faster.

[rp1954]

I don't buy "bad genes" rather inadequate medical science, mismatched environment and nutrition for the genes we have. To me, the real biochemical cure will be personalized prevention. One line of my forebearers has had mCRC, sibling half dozen big polyps in 30s. Off and on supernutrition, megaD3, and aspirin, because I had GI issues but I've only had two small polyps at decades older, well past previous generations' actual mCRC expiries. Maybe "lucky", but I don't really believe it.

[exaussie]

I truly believe that as we have vaccines and antibiotics available to us, we do not suffer the diseases that previous generations had. Our children do not have to have meningitis, small pox etc. And we don't have diphtheria or cholera. We have looked into our geneology and have records of families losing multiple children a lot of the time. As we eliminate diseases, we still have others that come up. My son, would have died from meningitis as a child in those days and never would have suffered from cancer. We were able to enjoy him for another 24 years! for which we can be thankful.

[Carolinabluetec]

I hate to say it but we need more of the rich and powerful to get a little cancer then maybe things will move a little faster.

Check out this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_diagnosed_with_colorectal_cancer

[KWT]

I hate to say it but we need more of the rich and powerful to get a little cancer then maybe things will move a little faster.

Check out this list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_diagnosed_with_colorectal_cancer

Good list, add the net worth of all of those people together probably wouldn't be close to the Koch brothers. We need the big bucks behind us

[rp1954]

Money in solving a problem is +- by 1-2 orders of magniude. How did the Koch brothers get so rich? Partly because they solve numerous problems with applied, focused brain power, theirs and their hires.