Full disclosure: I know next to nothing about biochemistry, oncology, or just about anything to do with mammalian health. Heck, I can't even tell when my cats are sick. Take everything I say with a large grain of salt.
We all hate cancer and want it to go away. To accomplish this there would seem to be two broad avenues of attack: prevention, and cure. I suspect that complete prevention of all types of cancer is pie in the sky for the indefinite future, if not forever, although research on risk factors and efforts to eradicate them are of the first rank in importance. Apparently cancers arise from mutations, and mutations in turn arise from a dismaying number of sources, over many of which we have little or no control. (Others, of course, we can control. Stop smoking!) Somewhere or other I read the cheery pronouncement that, if we live long enough, we'll all get cancer. (Of course, this is an intrinsically untestable hypothesis: how long is "enough"?)
So, what about cure? At the moment, apparently, we can cure some cancers absolutely, and others some of the time. Still others are even worse. For a readable, if at times horrifying, account of the history of cancer and attempts to cure it I recommend The Emperor of all Maladies, by Sidharta Mukherjee. As an aside, I recently read a short blurb in The Economist magazine reporting that a group in Zurich (the ETH) has succeeded in engineering a molecular "computer", small enough to insert in a single cell, that can recognize the biochemical "machinery" of cervical cancer, and kill it. Good news, indeed. Go get 'em, guys!
However, for the most part we seem to be stuck with surgery, radiation, and chemo. Often these merely postpone death, as was the case with Linda. This may change. Nevertheless, with some cancers ultimate cure or significantly increased longevity depend critically on early detection. The research group I am trying to help is focused on early detection of ovarian cancer - something that might have given Linda and me many more years together. We (my research group) have a "trial" going on right now, and if you (females, that is) would like to participate give me a call (360 676 8471) and I will tell you how to volunteer.
And if for reasons of gender or whatever you can't do that, look for other anti-cancer trials going on. I did two; prostate cancer prevention. They were downright fun. And of course you can always give money. The American Cancer Society leaps to mind, or the Ovarian Cancer Foundation. Personally, I prefer to cut out the middlemen and donate directly to Fred Hutch. One way to do this is to go to Linda's "tribute": http://getinvolved.fhcrc.org/goto/lindajoycebeck* and follow the instructions.
Rats! I really did start writing this over lunch. I got carried away, and now my soup is cold. Oh well.
Myrl
*I don't know why this doesn't light up as a link. There's lots about blogging I don't understand.
I thought I posted on this entry earlier, but maybe the posting is delayed? Anyway, I just want you to know that I'm following the blog. I wish I could be in your group, but Seattle is far to go for blood tests.
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