Two years ago I lost my best friend to inoperable brain cancer.
This is reminding me how, year after year, there are graduating kids on TV who are going on to college, claiming they want to cure cancer.
Year, after year, after year, after year, this TIME of year, etc. etc. etc.
It’s been years that I heard it said that if cancer were cured, think of all the related jobs that would dry up - - the many buildings devoted to cancer research - - etc. etc. - - hmmmmmm
Meanwhile, I am prone to believe it is the immune system that attacks cancer, therefore we should keep this system well boosted.
It was brutal. There have been advances in early detection and treatment of ovarian cancer since then, but not enough. A diagnosis is still a death warrant, with few exceptions.
Your point about the immune system is interesting. I'm certain there is some truth to it. Compounding matters for cancer patients is that the treatment often virtually destroys the immune system, leaving very sick people very exposed to secondary illness. My poor mother lasted only a year after diagnosis... she beat the odds, believe it or not... but was continually sick with colds, flu, infections. Of course, treatments are at hospitals, so the exposure is continual. I remember when I flew to see her after her treatment, my dad made me strip to my skin in the garage and put my clothes in the washing machine before I could enter the house. Then I had to take a hot shower with antibacterial soap before I could even hug my mother.
Work on immunotherapy for cancer has been around for I think decades but we are just now getting the key breakthroughs that will leverage the immune system’s inherent ability to do its thing and keep all kinds of health threats at bay.