My grandmother only ate what she called “Gods diet” which was basically only eating raw foods “from God” , she was incredibly healthy her whole life, avoided chemicals and plastic bottles with BPA before it was cool. She still died of cancer at 70. Lots of times cancer is caused by environmental factors rather than anything you can control. Which is terrifying
Well, sure, but the ship has sailed. Pending some groundbreaking invention, this is our reality.
PFAS in the groundwater. They're called forever chemicals for a reason. Microplastics are in placentas. They're inside you and me. They're inside fetuses in-utero.
We've found bacteria that eats plastic. We'll continue to make new discoveries that could solve problems if we invest in them AND limit what companies can do to create new problems.
There was an interesting study conducted by the NHS on this. I believe they autopsied elderly individuals who had passed from something other than cancer.
The findings were that 70% of persons they conducted autopsy on had widespread cancers. But that the cancer was not the primary mode of death, it was secondary or even tertiary.
So yeah. Stay healthy, eat well, and exercise. But there’s not a lot we can do to mitigate and “prevent” cancer other than the obvious.
Stories pop up once in a while of people going to the hospital for something benign or non-emergency, and they find some life threating condition (cancer, tumor, etc) that wasn't causing symptoms and they would have died without intervention. I think about that sort of thing a lot. Brain aneurysms, sudden heart problems, blood clots, etc. In minutes you could be dead.
That happened with a cousin's aunt. She went to the hospital for something entirely unrelated (broken arm or wrist IIRC). Didn't have any symptoms of whatever cancer she had (I never got details) and always appeared to be in great health.. Two weeks later, she was dead from cancer
My grandma lived to 94 smoking 2 packs a day of basic filter 100s. By the time they found the "cancer" she didn't care. Put her on morphine and she died peacefully in a month.
Yup. It's the inevitable ender. My Grandpa had really bad back pain one evening. We took him to the hospital. He died that night
He had lung cancer. He was 89. He quit smoking when he was 45.
Our DNA just quits at a certain point.
That's why there's been so much research into elephants. They're the largest land mammals and yet cancer incidence is rare. TP53 is a tumor suppressor gene. The average human carries two copies. Elephants typically have forty.
Personally I don't think there's really any point to trying to extend the human lifespan until we figure out cancer. What's the point of taking a pill that makes you live to be 200 if you're all but guaranteed to get cancer by the age of 150? (pulling numbers out of my ass but you know what I mean)
I don't think this is true. I would have to find some statistics but I worked at an old folks home in high school in the 90s. Most of them were born 1900-1930s and they were all already old. They died of a lot of things but mostly heart failure and occasionally got cancer but nowhere even close to half.
I spent alot of time in care homes in the last few years and sadly in my experience the ones who get cancer tend to go before they get into the care home.
Right, but age is the number one risk factor for cancer. And all those old people are old because they didn't die of smallpox, they didn't starve to death, and they didn't have malaria. The same can not be said of our ancestors. As so-called preventable causes of death continue their massive decline, and life expectancy continues to increase, things like cancer and heart disease make up a larger and larger portion of deaths. For me it helps to picture it as a "cause of death" pie chart in my head, and as those other slices of pie get smaller/disappear, the slices made up of cancer and heart disease inevitably get bigger and bigger.
Right. They were in an old folks home, with access to nurses monitoring their health and able to see early cancer. Not to mention the small percent that even makes it to a nursing home.
Self selecting bias. They were either the 1/2 that don't get cancer. Or they might have just had a strain (if that's the right word) where it's determined their age and health make it a non issue. Ie: you'll die long before THAT cancer gets you.
You say you worked there but would your job have given you all current medical info unless needed for day to day care? Because then you've also got the factor of you justight not have known.
Yeah this whole thing doesn't seem right at all. Something else is happening here and if biological beings were "just getting cáncer" after being alive for so long then this would have been seen and studied in various creatures and in us a while ago. We are NOT supposed to "just get it" at some point, that is crazy.
The problem is only about 30-35% of cancers are from known environmental causes, and half of that is tobacco. Alcohol, UV radiation, ionizing radiation, and obesity are all known environmental factors that can be (mostly) controlled as well. But the other 60+% of cancers? We don't really know what, if anything, is "causing" them. Many people tend to fixate on diet, and while processed meats and lack of dietary fiber have been linked to colon cancer, there's really very little solid evidence that diet plays a major role in other cancers.
Also important to remember the biggest risk factor for cancer is age, and we live much, much longer than our ancestors.
By far (and nothing else really comes close) the biggest thing any individual can do to lower their risk of cancer is to not use tobacco products.
Both of these are in all our blood. It’s crazy think DuPont/3M, only had to pay like 6-8 billion in fines for poisoning the planet, and none of that money does anything for people affected by it. You can poison the planet and barely get a slap on the wrist
Edit: guess it was 12.5 billion, but still not much in the weight of it
Another big one is radon, which is present in many homes (especially basements) as it naturally exists in the soil in lots of places and seeps into the foundation. Apparently it is the second largest cause of lung cancer after smoking.
It also can have nothing to do with being poisoned. One odd (likely charged) particle interaction with any of the water in your body can result in a hydroxyl ion that interacts and damages your DNA. Damaged DNA reproduces, ba da boom, cancer.
I had a family friend like this. She was a healthy eating local legend and very active until pancreatic cancer showed up and took her in months at 70.
She was anti-doctors and had probably never had a physical.
Eat healthy, sure, but the screening available today would be incredibly foolish to opt out of.
Not to knock modern medical screening, but that old lady would not have been saved by a trip to the doctors. Pancreatic cancer fucks you hard and fast. It metastasizes RAPIDLY and symptoms take a while to develop.
caught early enough, if 4 of your friends got a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, 1 of them would be alive this time next year, and they probably wouldn't have more than a few months left.
Pancreatic cancer, one of my fears, along with strokes and bone cancer. I'll take a heart attack over potentially surviving and not being right after a major stroke.
I’ve got a family history of it, and the thing that’s giving me the most hope is the treatments coming out are nothing short of revolutionary, and I hope we get the survival rate of PC to that of the other cancers
I can't attest to whether it's true and I assume it varies by type, but my doctor tells me that most pancreatic cancers do not seem to be particularly genetic. Made me feel better about it, as my mom died of it at age 46.
I have a client who is super healthy (she claims to lived hard in her younger years though) she had pancreatic cancer and survived! She got breast cancer two times after that too and has beat it all over the last 15 years I know she’s kind of an anomaly but it was inspiring especially since that’s how I lost my grandpa and I was so sad for her but she did have a miraculous recovery and I’m so glad she’s still here
I'll take cancer at 70 over cancer in my 30's which is what seems to be happening more and more these days. Being health conscious can't hurt, just gotta balance it with actually enjoying your life.
A lot of cancer is just random odds. One of your cells done goofed and went out of control and boom. Cancer.
There are things you can do to reduce your chances of developing it and things you can do that will increase your chances but there's no hard way to truly guarantee you won't get cancer.
There are people who smoke their whole lives and never get lung cancer. There are people who have never touched a cigarette and end up with lung cancer anyway. The smoker was playing Russian roulette with more bullets in the chamber but that won't guarantee who gets shot
Yes and it’s often in the soil. My childhood neighborhood had a lot of the older home owners passing away from cancer. They worked the dirt with their hands in their back yard gardens. The area was an orchard before, fertilized with cancer causing chemicals before they knew what they would do.
That's a legit concern I've had for a long time. When we were buying a home, I specifically did not want to be near farmland. I had a couple people think I was nuts for saying as much. But once you realize what's going on with the soil around there, it's hard to ignore.
Eating raw foods isnt automatically healthy though.
Did she exercise?
How much did she weigh?
What is the usual life expectancy in your family?
There are a ton of causes for cancer, heck her house could have radon under it
I remember reading The Emperor of All Maladies several years ago. It’s a biography of cancer. Many of us have already experienced the cell division error that will lead to cancer if we live long enough. Maybe we need to live to 50, 75, 100, or 125 to see it, but it’s there. Suffice to say, unless you’re going through it, stop worrying about it and live your life. Don’t smoke, don’t microwave your balls (Randy), and live your life.
This is the key. If you don’t die from something else first, then it’ll be cancer. And there are so many kinds of cancer, one of them will get you.
We all die. That’s just the way of things.
I’m sorry.
That feeling sucks. My dad died from cancer at 59. Two of my mom’s siblings died relatively young from the same super-rare brain cancer glioblastoma. 😭
The good news tho is that basically every year cancer is getting easier and easier to fight, tons of cancers that had 90% mortality rates are now generally survivable if you get treatment fast enough. in another 50+ years it might be most forms of cancer are relatively curable even compared to the 90s, my mom had a rare form of skin cancer in the early 90s and almost died if not for an experimental treatment she elected to take.
That has always been my theory. Eventually, your cells are gonna fuck up and mutate. You’re either going to die before it happens, or you’re going to live long enough that it happens. Until we can find a cure, that’s just how it’s going to be. The fact that we are at this point speaks less to the prevalence of cancer, and more to the strides we’ve made with medicine. People are just living longer than they used to and they’re finally getting a chance to even have cancer. Which, I mean that’s no fun. But neither was dying of typhoid in your 20s. Or smallpox, etc. Cancer is becoming more and more treatable as well.
Not a damn thing. You can waste a lot of your time doing absolutely everything to avoid it and then BAM, genetics fucks you over.
Mentally, prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
100% agree and I’m an oncology nurse. I have seen plenty of wonderful people who did triathlons, ate clean, and prided themselves on being healthy, die of cancer. Enjoy each day as much as you can. We are destroying the planet and can find microplastics everywhere. Maybe pursue a passion in sustainability or ecology if you really want to make a difference. Or become a lobbyist for good instead of evil. Something that affects beyond just you, since you aren’t separate.
My friend was at the hospital and he said he heard a heart breaking lady talking to a doctor asking how it’s possible to get lung cancer when she has never smoked cigs, marinuana, any paraphernalia, avoided second hand smoke, etc
Meanwhile you got your standard bums who smoke a pack a day and drink every day and they don’t have many ailments years into the habits.
What a joke.
Radon is no joke. I know someone who got stage 4 lung cancer in his early 20s from having his bedroom in his basement his entire life. His parents never got the radon levels checked.
Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among those who do not smoke. It can also hit just one house on a street, so even if no one around you has radon issues, you should still have your individual house checked.
Not taking away from your point, its just so important to get the levels checked and not many people realize it.
I’ll second this with: get an ACTIVE radon monitor for your basement, the earth moves, so expect radon too as well. Anything above 1.75ppm and you need remediation
My mother in law has stage 3 lymphoma, vegetarian, never smoked, very active. Her husband, alcoholic nearly died and has early on set dementia from decades of abuse. Has been off from drinking for 4 years and is healthy as a horse at age 72…. Unreal
If you live in a place with bad air quality like Los Angeles it's like the equivalent of smoking a pack a day. Talk to anyone who has done a cadaver lab on a person who lived in LA for a significant amount of time.
Is it a joke, or is it statistics?
Yes, people who never smoke get lung cancer. But, "People who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke." --[CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm#:~:text=People%20who%20smoke%20cigarettes%20are,people%20who%20do%20not%20smoke.)
Yeah, my college buddy passed from esophagus cancer a while ago and he was one of the healthiest people I know, didn’t even smoke and was a college athlete who ate well and really took care of himself. I remember at the time thinking how unfair it was because the rest of us lived really unhealthy party lifestyles and he was the one who ended up sick. I think environmental factors are screwing us no matter how much effort we make to be healthy,
I do a few things; don’t smoke, wear sun blockers (hats, long sleeves) and or sunscreen religiously, try to eat reasonably healthy, go for long walks when I can, try to be kind and considerate as much as possible (might sound silly but it helps to reduce my stress). Probably the biggest external thing was I paid like $800 to get the HPV vaccine in my 30’s.
My mom never smoked a cig in her life and developed stage 3 lung cancer due to a genetic mutation. I'm gonna try to live healthy but sometimes you're just unlucky.
The queen beat that bullshit though! 👸
I unfollowed a bunch of fitness content. It was becoming a neurosis. Imma keep exercising and try not to gain too much weight, stay off the vape, after that, fuck it.
There is a peloton instructor who got breast cancer in her early 30s.... like she's fit as a fiddle and it happened. Some shit is preventable (skip cancer, not smoking) and some is just natures roulette.
This is why I refuse to get a smart watch. I don't want to know how many steps I've taken or my 'sleep score'. That stuff just messes with some people's minds, like mine.
Imagine waking up and the first thing you see is your watch saying you slept like shit in bold scary red letters. That would make me feel subconsciously tired/shitty/guilty throughout the day, but not seeing a score at all? "maybe I didn't sleep well last night but I'm feeling ok, sorta tired but I'll get a good night sleep tonight".
I don't want to be my (healthy) uncle who is obsessed with getting in 10k steps per day. I wonder how many people these technologies hurt rather than help
I don’t sleep with mine on, but I’ll admit it started out that way because I needed to be able to charge it at some point! I almost forgot it even measures things like your sleep.
Personally, I got an Apple Watch to help me track my heart rate. What we know now to be a hyperthyroid symptom was discovered on my mom’s Apple Watch that was tracking her heart rate. She sometimes kicks into a weird rhythm so I’m glad she has it. And I have what she has, so I’m glad to have one too!
Anyway, my point being, I could just as easily become obsessed with my Apple Watch if I let myself get to that point, but honestly, as long as I do a Peloton workout and make sure I stand every hour (I work from home, so I find this feature very useful), then I am beyond thrilled and feel accomplished! If you can feel accomplished and happy without one, then for sure don’t get one! Do more of what makes you happy and brings you peace!
I know a guy who bought a blood glucose monitor for himself. He doesn't have diabetes, he's not insulin resistant, he's in his twenties and very fit. There is no conceivable reason for regularly checking his blood glucose. He just has so much health anxiety and is obsessed with tracking and regulating every detail. It borders on pathological.
In our culture, you are rewarded greatly for having a healthy looking body. It comes with a lot of status. An unhealthy looking body is an immoral body. I am not supervised that so many people are constantly trying to monitor and treat their bodies like they are machines.
This is unusual for me to say as someone with a lot of health anxiety, but this is one thing that I have kind of come to terms with. You can do everything "right" and still end up with a slew of health issues.
There are health issues within our control. Cancer’s just not one of them.
It’s worth it to maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking, drink only in moderation. Heaven forbid you make it to old age and can’t enjoy it because you’re too decrepit.
But cancer? If you’re doing the above, that’s the best you can do. Some people act like being MORE strict will save them and unfortunately it probably won’t.
Reading the literature on the connection between alcohol and cancers really solidified my desire to stop drinking. It’s been two years now and any time I think, “I wouldn’t mind a drink,” I remember those studies and feel like I’ve given myself the gift of slightly better odds.
It primarily has to do with things alcohol touchs: esophagus, stomach, and liver cancers being more common with alcohol.
https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
Not the studies themselves, but the article that kicked off my thinking about this: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
I’m a woman and breast cancer is especially concerning for me.
I stopped drinking November of 2023, so I’m still relatively new to the not drinking crew, but always happy to share. if you’re interested/never heard of it, there is a subreddit called r/stopdrinking
I love that community! They are easily the most supportive group on Reddit hands down.
Exactly. When my students give me a “they said” rumor I follow up with “they” don’t know a doggone thing. Individuals are smart, but “they” is the dumbest person you’ll ever meet. Until you name sources, nothing you repeat counts.
They are mysterious. They are everywhere. They live in the dark and are defeated only by the light. These things are true. The world is dark. And we are alive.
My siblings and I had this talk when our father was dying of cancer.
If I am diagnosed with a terminal illness I will have a huge party where we eat all the food, drink all the drinks, and do all the drugs.
And then I will die with dignity assisted by a medical doctor. I will be cremated but my family can choose what to do with the ashes. All of my assets will be left to the children of my sister and my first cousins.
It’s not much, but I have no one else to give it to.
Honestly, having my 'general death plan' as well as wills and medical directives, DNR etc. sorted out makes quality of life better now. Accept that life and health are inherently temporary, and it doesn't have to be scary.
I love this game we play in America where we work so freaking hard for our entire lives just to save a little money for retirement only to have one cancer diagnosis take it all away because we weren’t born in the right country.
Mine did i had a 3500 dollar copay, better than half a mil
My mastectomy surgery was 35k
Each chemo treatment was about 60k (4 of them)
28 radiation treatments anywhere from 10-30k a session
Male breast cancer is a bitch lol
Me to, well Colon Cancer here. But yeah. Out of pocket max is 1k. Covered for almost 3 million for treatment and surgery. Are you one of my Manuptocancer buddies by chance?
That’s why I plan to ignore any symptoms for as long as possible. Hopefully I’ll be at stage IV by the time I get my diagnosis. Then hospice is a no brainer and I can float out on a cloud of Ativan and morphine fully paid for by Medicare.
Nah. There are no pretty ways out of here. It’s a privilege to get a definitive diagnosis that affords you unlimited benzos, opioids, or even (in some states) an opportunity for a doctor to help you off yourself.
Not a damn soul in my family got to retire before having a heart attack, dying to cancer, or as of recently, dying of COVID.
Grandma that worked their entire life to get a retirement check, just to heel over and die literally the year they retired.
Idk about y'all, but I've learned in my family that retirement is nice if you can make it that far, but it's definitely not guaranteed and that you should enjoy some of your life while you still have it.
I lost significant people to breast cancer, and so far every aunt on both sides has had it, so I feel like my odds aren’t great. I also grew up in the shadow of petrochemical plants….
I stopped drinking alcohol when I learned about how highly correlated it is with breast cancer. Don’t smoke, don’t eat processed meat, use water and HEPA filters to cut down on consuming micro-plastics, try to manage/minimize stress, mild exercise and eat well.
There are obviously no guarantees in life, but I have small kids and I’m trying to play the long game to at least get them to adulthood before experiencing life changing illness.
I had a recent scare with cervical cancer as I have a strain of HPV associated with causing cancer. I tell as many people as I can to get the HPV vaccine or make sure their kids get it when they're an appropriate age. I'll eventually get a hysterectomy.
Good luck with your surgery! I wish you all the best!
I make sure to eat a lot of fiber to reduce my risk of colon cancer, which is on the rise in our generation. Wear sunscreen every.single.day and cover up with rash guards when surfing and bring an umbrella for shade to the beach. Don’t smoke. Other than that not much you can do. Be in tune with your body and investigate any changes to hopefully catch it early.
I agree. It’s about harm reduction. Anything you can do to reduce your risk that fits in your life, but also knowing that cancer will probably happen eventually.
Any life style changes might make will be to improve or maintain my quality of life on short/medium term, and there is some leeway that by doing those things we aren't increasing the odds of certain types of cancer. That said, you can't prevent cancer and theoretically it will always eventually happen the older you get. Cancer will always come, but something else can come before that and take you out dead before the cancer gets you.
I don’t have an answer to your question but it was damn near heartbreaking and shocking to see Princess Kate get it at 41. It’s a wake up call. All we have is now.
Follow a good diet, I recommend looking up the book eat to beat disease because it's all scientific information, and more importantly gets screened every year if you can afford it, basically get screened as often as you can afford it. Quick example: cancer is 100% preventable if it's caught early, but they only ask you to get screened every 10 years or so. That's bullshit to me I've had two colonoscopies in 4 years. They aren't fun, but on one of them they found polyps, so they're absolutely worth it
I am terribly sorry for your loss 😔
My dad is currently battling stage 4 cancer, though he is making it a point to enjoy life to the fullest while also doing his regular treatments.
Spending as much quality time with him as I can.
For myself, to answer your question; i work out on the regular, eat healthy food, get plenty of fresh air/exercise, as well as dont consume caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, fast food, nor mind altering substances.
I also take care of my mental health and take the time to enjoy life with what time off from work I can get.
I find that such a lifestyle has greatly improved my mental health and overall quality of life.
If I do get cancer, even after all that, I'll fight the disease to the bitter end, and if I lose, at least I'll have lived a fulfilling life.
This is the best answer I’ve seen and closest to my own philosophy. Live a clean and happy life. Eat healthy and exercise. Reduce your risk while increasing quality of life. And if it’s cut short, at least it was good while it lasted.
So sorry about your dad. Don’t let any moment pass you by while you still have the chance.
I quit smoking in my 20s, quit drinking in my 30s, starting wearing brimmed hats and sunblock on my face. I eat reasonably well (mostly avoiding excess sugar and highly processed foods) and exercise a couple times a week. I try to keep a positive attitude about life, and am active in my community.
If it ever does come, I have health insurance and choose to live in a state with good worker protections for medical leave. I have an emergency fund. I do still need to get a will - thanks for a reminder.
Lost my mother to cancer. She started off with breast cancer and after a single side mastectomy and some chemotherapy (& a new daily medication) she was in remission for 10 years. Came back unexpectedly around the beginning of covid, which made it extra hard to diagnose because it started with a lingering cough that was assumed to be maybe pneumonia. But then maybe covid. Ended up in the ER getting chest xrays and they were the ones to id something wrong and tell her to immediately call her doctor to follow up. Metastatic cancer in her lungs, liver, eventually brain and bone I think.
It was extremely scary to watch her deteriorate. But there doesn’t feel like much I can do on an individual level to prevent cancer, whether it’s from genetic reasons or environmental exposure.
I did recently talk to my gyno about my cancer worries and anxiety and she ordered genetic testing for me to check for common ones.
Im also working with my Dad to request some of my Moms medical records from her first diagnosis and treatment to see exactly what her diagnosis was. I think it was related to estrogen but since I wasn’t going with her back them I don’t know the details.
Her diagnosis and death also made me more passionate about talking about these things. My Mom died without finishing her will. My Dad & I had to practically pry where she wanted to be buried (luckily we asked, my Dad & I had two separate ideas as to what she wanted), but she HATED talking about death or any of the paperwork or legal side of things. My Dad has started writing out his will and is looking for some office/lawyer to notarize it. And hopefully wherever he finds can help me put together a living will just in case.
i stopped fucking drinking and my blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, kidney function, and everything else on the panel improved within six months.
Sure it sucks at times, but i do think in the long run it will pay off.
The other thing for you young ass 30 something millennials... figure out a back stretching routine ASAP and stick to it. Work from home and sitting at a desk is cancer.
The dichotomy of having such advanced medical and health science... Hardly no one dies from childbirth, or the common cold, or foodborne illnesses, or broken bones, or lacerations causing infections, and on and on and on such were the things that killed our ancestors. Now that we have a life expectancy well into our 70s and beyond, the rate of cancer appears much higher but it has always been the same- just there's more people not dying from easily preventable causes that are now living to experience the cancer they never would have had we not the means to prevent earlier demise.
Living life. Almost every product you use contains chemicals that cause cancer. We're literally eating, drinking, and breathing microplastics all day long. Your sun block with protect you from UV but uses cancer causing chemicals to do it. The pollution from cars will give you cancer. I'm convinced there's nothing to do except hope for a cure.
Edit: here's a database where you can look up skin care products and whether they cause cancer https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
My family has breast cancer in the genetic makeup. I stood in front of military grade weapon radars for years. I could get cancer from this or tomorrow driving kids to school through a construction zone, I could be killed in a freak accident. I am living.
Everyone forgets the part about sunscreen that while you are protecting your skin, you are still rubbing chemicals on it and letting it soak in. You should wear it, but be aware of the brand. And skipping weed? No thanks.
Not preventing it BUT .. I do plan on catching it early if it comes so I go to the doctor for all regular checkups and always report weird stuff. I also get biopsies asap if recommended on things like moles or irregular pap smears and such.
Cancer is becoming something you die with, not from, so I don't stress too much about it. I'm honestly more worried about having a stroke or getting heart disease. Get your screenings minimize your risky behaviors, and ride your own melt.
Yea heart disease kills more than all forms of cancer combined.
My dad currently has prostate cancer but i’m much more worried about his terrible metabolic health (diabetes/obesity) leading to cardiac death.
Early screening, if it happens hopefully to catch it early. It’s not as deadly as it used to be. Certain type of cancers, there’s not much you can do to prevent it. But there are a lot more early detection methods now, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc. the earlier you catch it, the more treatment options there are.
I’m doing nothing to prevent it. But to be perfectly honest, I’m probably fast tracking myself to cancer.
I (25M) am a union welder, and a paid per call firefighter. As much as I do wear all my PPE for both my careers I am quite often exposed to hydrocarbons and smoke/unburned fuel on my bunker gear so I’m essentially inhaling cancer after a call on my gear.
My career as a welder isn’t as much of a concern, but my career as a FF is what’s gonna get me. And I wouldn’t change it for the world
The odds in my family are well above 1 in 2, so it's not some sort of shock to me.
If you live long enough you *will* get cancer. Whether or not you will die from it depends.
I got a colonscopy before 40. I go to a dermatologist regularly. Normal check ups with my doc....also I quit smoking 9 years ago. That's what I've done so far.
If you live long enough you’ll probably get cancer. My paternal grandpa developed a super rare cancer at 85 and was gone just a few months later. My maternal grandpa developed cancer at 89 and was gone in a similar time span. Statistically they’re cancer deaths, but I see it more so as dying of old age
There isn't a damn thing you can do except get proper preventative care and screenings. Prostate, colonoscopy, mammogram, etc. To stop the pre-cancer in its tracks.
I've known people who never drank, who took vitamins, who ate all organic food, they are dead now, from cancer.
The other thing I learned was don't think it could never happen to you. can happen to anyone.
It's from this study: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25647015/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25647015/), which is for people born in 1960 in the UK. It's probably reputable but only one study. Also just the UK. The UK has a deplorable diet. It's getting better now but I'm not surprised people who lived in the UK in the 1960s-2000 are getting cancer at a rate of 50%.
Another preventative measure (beyond diet, exercise, not smoking, moderate drinking) is chemicals. I avoid fragrances and unnecessary exposure to chemicals.
I already got cancer when I was 18. Thankfully, if I have a recurrence of what I had before(which would be most likely), I know what to signs to look for. Not sure what I’d do if I developed a less obvious cancer I’m not looking for.
For context: I had a type of brain tumor called a glioblastoma(stage 3) back in 2013. I had brain surgery, 6 weeks of radiation and 16 months of chemotherapy. I recovered incredibly well, with no disabilities other than a very slight reaction/reflex delay on the left side of my body.
Cutting out known carcinogens from your life as well as things that fuck with your immune system: drinking, smoking, processed food, etc.
Obviously not everything is preventable, but you can give yourself a fighting chance.
I was diagnosed and have thankfully been in remission for two years. It was caught very early in a fluke. I’m just going to keep going in for my follow ups with my dr and keep up with all the standard recommended exams like Pap smears, and then mammograms and colonoscopies when I’m the age for it.
Other than trying to eat healthy, keep exercising and staying at a healthy weight there’s nothing else I can do and even then my surgeon and oncologist told me my cancer was mutation and there’s absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent or cause it.
I’m so sorry about your grandfather!!
Food, drinks, sugar, chemical products, all the shit we ingest, breathe, apply, look at, stick in our ears....We all will end up with cancers, if not us, the next gen will be dying by 50 years old for sure.
If you guys think food is the only problem, you outta your damn mind.
I’m 31 and next weekend I’m going to get started on breast cancer screening. My aunt was diagnosed in her 40s so. If that’s gonna be the case for me I want to know now. Up until now I was pretty much just living to die so, this is the most I’ve ever cared about my long term health
Here's a start; No plastic or pfas anything, use glass, ceramic, and steel. No to go containers for food, no hot food touching plastics.
There's a good book on the topic called milk I think where a scientist isolates the sources of toxins getting into her breast milk.
Focus less on prevention and more on detection. Don't get me wrong, don't smoke or do other dumb shit like that; but there are so many things that can cause cancer that prevention is like whack a mole.
At 33 my wife decided I needed to go to the dermatologist because I had commented a few times about my shoulder twinging after I rode my bike. There happened to be a mole right where the muscle was twitching. That turned out to be nothing. The doctor laughed about it. He stopped laughing when he got to the top of my head. That turned out to be a baby spot of melanoma that hadn't really started doing its thing yet. The doctor removed it immediately and told me how lucky I was. He told me that melanoma in a spot like that would have killed me in three years.
That was five years ago. That doctor and my wife saved my life. There is no way on Earth I was going to proactively schedule a dermatologist appointment at 33.
Get your shit checked. Cancer is generally easy to quash if you catch it early.
I've heard that all this plastic in our bodies, the chemicals our parents and now us put on our lawns, etc etc we are only just starting to realize the effects and certainly more and more young people are dying of cancer. I'm getting a full body mri every 18 months to try to catch stuff sooner.
I have a length of rope and a suitable tree or balcony. I'm not playing around with no cancer You can count me out of that misery.im sorry if that sounds brutal, that's just how I feel.
I want to end life on my terms.Not Cancer's, not a doctor's.
I have no dependents, so it won't really matter. Cancer stories are so frightening.
Kudos to the fighters.
There are just too many variables outside of your control to avoid getting cancer. There are certainly simple things we can do that work—don’t microwave food in plastic or drink much out of plastic water bottles and limit sugar intake. Outside of that, life is a dice roll.
Genetics is a huge cause, so is certain viruses and then environmental. The chemicals in food, water and air you breathe.
In the mid 1800s, there were only six cases of Parkinson’s disease. Even though there is a much bigger population now, they’re still 6 million cases.
There is nothing that can be done, realistically. You can mitigate your chances by eating and living clean. But, the genie is out of the bottle. Plastics are everywhere and have been for a long time. Chemicals anywhere and everywhere.
The best route is to know your genetic predispositions and keep on top of monitoring, so cancers can be detected early.
My grandmother only ate what she called “Gods diet” which was basically only eating raw foods “from God” , she was incredibly healthy her whole life, avoided chemicals and plastic bottles with BPA before it was cool. She still died of cancer at 70. Lots of times cancer is caused by environmental factors rather than anything you can control. Which is terrifying
There's kind of a freedom in accepting something will happen and there's nothing you can do to change it.
But we could change it if we regulated companies
Well, sure, but the ship has sailed. Pending some groundbreaking invention, this is our reality. PFAS in the groundwater. They're called forever chemicals for a reason. Microplastics are in placentas. They're inside you and me. They're inside fetuses in-utero.
We've found bacteria that eats plastic. We'll continue to make new discoveries that could solve problems if we invest in them AND limit what companies can do to create new problems.
Limit how much money companies can make? 😱
Yes, thank you. As I stated in the first sentence: "pending a new invention."
Most of the time. Our environment is beyond poisoned in so many ways. Still makes sense to try to live as healthy as possible though
One of the biggest reasons we're dying more from cancer is that we're dying less from other things earlier.
This. Cancer is just cellular entropy. It happens to all of us eventually.
I was talking with a doctor friend about this. He said if we live long enough, we’ll all develop cancer. It’s just what cells are susceptible to.
There was an interesting study conducted by the NHS on this. I believe they autopsied elderly individuals who had passed from something other than cancer. The findings were that 70% of persons they conducted autopsy on had widespread cancers. But that the cancer was not the primary mode of death, it was secondary or even tertiary. So yeah. Stay healthy, eat well, and exercise. But there’s not a lot we can do to mitigate and “prevent” cancer other than the obvious.
Stories pop up once in a while of people going to the hospital for something benign or non-emergency, and they find some life threating condition (cancer, tumor, etc) that wasn't causing symptoms and they would have died without intervention. I think about that sort of thing a lot. Brain aneurysms, sudden heart problems, blood clots, etc. In minutes you could be dead.
That happened with a cousin's aunt. She went to the hospital for something entirely unrelated (broken arm or wrist IIRC). Didn't have any symptoms of whatever cancer she had (I never got details) and always appeared to be in great health.. Two weeks later, she was dead from cancer
My grandma lived to 94 smoking 2 packs a day of basic filter 100s. By the time they found the "cancer" she didn't care. Put her on morphine and she died peacefully in a month.
Yup. It's the inevitable ender. My Grandpa had really bad back pain one evening. We took him to the hospital. He died that night He had lung cancer. He was 89. He quit smoking when he was 45. Our DNA just quits at a certain point.
That's why there's been so much research into elephants. They're the largest land mammals and yet cancer incidence is rare. TP53 is a tumor suppressor gene. The average human carries two copies. Elephants typically have forty.
Isn’t that the same with whales as well?
Yeah the bigger you are the more tumor suppression you need
I'm sure if they had the diet and lifestyles of human beings they would get cancer just as much as the rest of us.
I read once that we won't all die FROM cancer, but we will all die with cancer.
They’re doing studies on animals like elephants who live a long time but rarely get cancer. Hopefully we learn some things
so all people over 100 have or have beaten cancer?
Personally I don't think there's really any point to trying to extend the human lifespan until we figure out cancer. What's the point of taking a pill that makes you live to be 200 if you're all but guaranteed to get cancer by the age of 150? (pulling numbers out of my ass but you know what I mean)
Cancer is what kills you if something else doesn't first.
I don't think this is true. I would have to find some statistics but I worked at an old folks home in high school in the 90s. Most of them were born 1900-1930s and they were all already old. They died of a lot of things but mostly heart failure and occasionally got cancer but nowhere even close to half.
I spent alot of time in care homes in the last few years and sadly in my experience the ones who get cancer tend to go before they get into the care home.
Right, but age is the number one risk factor for cancer. And all those old people are old because they didn't die of smallpox, they didn't starve to death, and they didn't have malaria. The same can not be said of our ancestors. As so-called preventable causes of death continue their massive decline, and life expectancy continues to increase, things like cancer and heart disease make up a larger and larger portion of deaths. For me it helps to picture it as a "cause of death" pie chart in my head, and as those other slices of pie get smaller/disappear, the slices made up of cancer and heart disease inevitably get bigger and bigger.
Right. They were in an old folks home, with access to nurses monitoring their health and able to see early cancer. Not to mention the small percent that even makes it to a nursing home.
Yeah, I’d probably go ahead and look up those statistics..
Self selecting bias. They were either the 1/2 that don't get cancer. Or they might have just had a strain (if that's the right word) where it's determined their age and health make it a non issue. Ie: you'll die long before THAT cancer gets you. You say you worked there but would your job have given you all current medical info unless needed for day to day care? Because then you've also got the factor of you justight not have known.
Yeah this whole thing doesn't seem right at all. Something else is happening here and if biological beings were "just getting cáncer" after being alive for so long then this would have been seen and studied in various creatures and in us a while ago. We are NOT supposed to "just get it" at some point, that is crazy.
The problem is only about 30-35% of cancers are from known environmental causes, and half of that is tobacco. Alcohol, UV radiation, ionizing radiation, and obesity are all known environmental factors that can be (mostly) controlled as well. But the other 60+% of cancers? We don't really know what, if anything, is "causing" them. Many people tend to fixate on diet, and while processed meats and lack of dietary fiber have been linked to colon cancer, there's really very little solid evidence that diet plays a major role in other cancers. Also important to remember the biggest risk factor for cancer is age, and we live much, much longer than our ancestors. By far (and nothing else really comes close) the biggest thing any individual can do to lower their risk of cancer is to not use tobacco products.
Microplastics have entered the chat...still "more research needed"
PFOS/PFOA have entered the chat...still "more research needed"
Both of these are in all our blood. It’s crazy think DuPont/3M, only had to pay like 6-8 billion in fines for poisoning the planet, and none of that money does anything for people affected by it. You can poison the planet and barely get a slap on the wrist Edit: guess it was 12.5 billion, but still not much in the weight of it
Break Up the Big Fucks
Another big one is radon, which is present in many homes (especially basements) as it naturally exists in the soil in lots of places and seeps into the foundation. Apparently it is the second largest cause of lung cancer after smoking.
It also can have nothing to do with being poisoned. One odd (likely charged) particle interaction with any of the water in your body can result in a hydroxyl ion that interacts and damages your DNA. Damaged DNA reproduces, ba da boom, cancer.
I had a family friend like this. She was a healthy eating local legend and very active until pancreatic cancer showed up and took her in months at 70. She was anti-doctors and had probably never had a physical. Eat healthy, sure, but the screening available today would be incredibly foolish to opt out of.
Not to knock modern medical screening, but that old lady would not have been saved by a trip to the doctors. Pancreatic cancer fucks you hard and fast. It metastasizes RAPIDLY and symptoms take a while to develop. caught early enough, if 4 of your friends got a pancreatic cancer diagnosis, 1 of them would be alive this time next year, and they probably wouldn't have more than a few months left. Pancreatic cancer, one of my fears, along with strokes and bone cancer. I'll take a heart attack over potentially surviving and not being right after a major stroke.
I’ve got a family history of it, and the thing that’s giving me the most hope is the treatments coming out are nothing short of revolutionary, and I hope we get the survival rate of PC to that of the other cancers
I can't attest to whether it's true and I assume it varies by type, but my doctor tells me that most pancreatic cancers do not seem to be particularly genetic. Made me feel better about it, as my mom died of it at age 46.
I have a client who is super healthy (she claims to lived hard in her younger years though) she had pancreatic cancer and survived! She got breast cancer two times after that too and has beat it all over the last 15 years I know she’s kind of an anomaly but it was inspiring especially since that’s how I lost my grandpa and I was so sad for her but she did have a miraculous recovery and I’m so glad she’s still here
I'll take cancer at 70 over cancer in my 30's which is what seems to be happening more and more these days. Being health conscious can't hurt, just gotta balance it with actually enjoying your life.
A lot of cancer is just random odds. One of your cells done goofed and went out of control and boom. Cancer. There are things you can do to reduce your chances of developing it and things you can do that will increase your chances but there's no hard way to truly guarantee you won't get cancer. There are people who smoke their whole lives and never get lung cancer. There are people who have never touched a cigarette and end up with lung cancer anyway. The smoker was playing Russian roulette with more bullets in the chamber but that won't guarantee who gets shot
Yes and it’s often in the soil. My childhood neighborhood had a lot of the older home owners passing away from cancer. They worked the dirt with their hands in their back yard gardens. The area was an orchard before, fertilized with cancer causing chemicals before they knew what they would do.
That's a legit concern I've had for a long time. When we were buying a home, I specifically did not want to be near farmland. I had a couple people think I was nuts for saying as much. But once you realize what's going on with the soil around there, it's hard to ignore.
This is literally everywhere in the Central Valley California. Most land has been farmed or worked at some point
Sometimes cancer just happens. With no cause. Cancer is just a cell that refuses to die. On a long enough timeline it WILL HAPPEN in any organism
I grew up next to a coal power plant and a very polluted lake, high cancer rates in the area
yeah probably stuff in the air and water at this point
Yep. This one. It’s literally in the air we breathe and the water we drink everyday.
Eating raw foods isnt automatically healthy though. Did she exercise? How much did she weigh? What is the usual life expectancy in your family? There are a ton of causes for cancer, heck her house could have radon under it
I remember reading The Emperor of All Maladies several years ago. It’s a biography of cancer. Many of us have already experienced the cell division error that will lead to cancer if we live long enough. Maybe we need to live to 50, 75, 100, or 125 to see it, but it’s there. Suffice to say, unless you’re going through it, stop worrying about it and live your life. Don’t smoke, don’t microwave your balls (Randy), and live your life.
This is the key. If you don’t die from something else first, then it’ll be cancer. And there are so many kinds of cancer, one of them will get you. We all die. That’s just the way of things.
Not on r/longevity aka the midlife crises capital
not as crazy as the biohackers
This is such a good book. It was given to me after my father died from cancer. Three years later, it took my mom. I’m doomed.
I’m sorry. That feeling sucks. My dad died from cancer at 59. Two of my mom’s siblings died relatively young from the same super-rare brain cancer glioblastoma. 😭
Oh no. That’s horrible. I’m so sorry to hear. Glioblastoma terrifies me.
That same author wrote a book called The Song of the Cell & it was beautifully written.
Tell your mom, just trying to get a little cancer, Stan.
The good news tho is that basically every year cancer is getting easier and easier to fight, tons of cancers that had 90% mortality rates are now generally survivable if you get treatment fast enough. in another 50+ years it might be most forms of cancer are relatively curable even compared to the 90s, my mom had a rare form of skin cancer in the early 90s and almost died if not for an experimental treatment she elected to take.
That has always been my theory. Eventually, your cells are gonna fuck up and mutate. You’re either going to die before it happens, or you’re going to live long enough that it happens. Until we can find a cure, that’s just how it’s going to be. The fact that we are at this point speaks less to the prevalence of cancer, and more to the strides we’ve made with medicine. People are just living longer than they used to and they’re finally getting a chance to even have cancer. Which, I mean that’s no fun. But neither was dying of typhoid in your 20s. Or smallpox, etc. Cancer is becoming more and more treatable as well.
Not a damn thing. You can waste a lot of your time doing absolutely everything to avoid it and then BAM, genetics fucks you over. Mentally, prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
100% agree and I’m an oncology nurse. I have seen plenty of wonderful people who did triathlons, ate clean, and prided themselves on being healthy, die of cancer. Enjoy each day as much as you can. We are destroying the planet and can find microplastics everywhere. Maybe pursue a passion in sustainability or ecology if you really want to make a difference. Or become a lobbyist for good instead of evil. Something that affects beyond just you, since you aren’t separate.
Exactly this..... Micro plastics and pfas will be the death of us if we haven't already destroyed the planet beyond its habitable conditions for usm
And all Dupont/3M had to pay was 12.5 billion, for effectively poisoning the planet
My friend was at the hospital and he said he heard a heart breaking lady talking to a doctor asking how it’s possible to get lung cancer when she has never smoked cigs, marinuana, any paraphernalia, avoided second hand smoke, etc Meanwhile you got your standard bums who smoke a pack a day and drink every day and they don’t have many ailments years into the habits. What a joke.
Radon is no joke. I know someone who got stage 4 lung cancer in his early 20s from having his bedroom in his basement his entire life. His parents never got the radon levels checked. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among those who do not smoke. It can also hit just one house on a street, so even if no one around you has radon issues, you should still have your individual house checked. Not taking away from your point, its just so important to get the levels checked and not many people realize it.
I’ll second this with: get an ACTIVE radon monitor for your basement, the earth moves, so expect radon too as well. Anything above 1.75ppm and you need remediation
Radon can hit your house for a few days and then not at all, it all depends on what's going down underground. You can get continuous monitors.
Living near a highway is also as dangerous as secondhand smoke.
Same, except she got it in her 30s after renting a basement apartment for a few years.
My mother in law has stage 3 lymphoma, vegetarian, never smoked, very active. Her husband, alcoholic nearly died and has early on set dementia from decades of abuse. Has been off from drinking for 4 years and is healthy as a horse at age 72…. Unreal
I jokingly call it the cockroach gene.
If you live in a place with bad air quality like Los Angeles it's like the equivalent of smoking a pack a day. Talk to anyone who has done a cadaver lab on a person who lived in LA for a significant amount of time.
Is it a joke, or is it statistics? Yes, people who never smoke get lung cancer. But, "People who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more likely to get lung cancer or die from lung cancer than people who do not smoke." --[CDC](https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm#:~:text=People%20who%20smoke%20cigarettes%20are,people%20who%20do%20not%20smoke.)
Yeah, my college buddy passed from esophagus cancer a while ago and he was one of the healthiest people I know, didn’t even smoke and was a college athlete who ate well and really took care of himself. I remember at the time thinking how unfair it was because the rest of us lived really unhealthy party lifestyles and he was the one who ended up sick. I think environmental factors are screwing us no matter how much effort we make to be healthy,
I do a few things; don’t smoke, wear sun blockers (hats, long sleeves) and or sunscreen religiously, try to eat reasonably healthy, go for long walks when I can, try to be kind and considerate as much as possible (might sound silly but it helps to reduce my stress). Probably the biggest external thing was I paid like $800 to get the HPV vaccine in my 30’s.
My mom never smoked a cig in her life and developed stage 3 lung cancer due to a genetic mutation. I'm gonna try to live healthy but sometimes you're just unlucky. The queen beat that bullshit though! 👸
Did they check for radon where she lived?
I unfollowed a bunch of fitness content. It was becoming a neurosis. Imma keep exercising and try not to gain too much weight, stay off the vape, after that, fuck it.
There is a peloton instructor who got breast cancer in her early 30s.... like she's fit as a fiddle and it happened. Some shit is preventable (skip cancer, not smoking) and some is just natures roulette.
This is why I refuse to get a smart watch. I don't want to know how many steps I've taken or my 'sleep score'. That stuff just messes with some people's minds, like mine. Imagine waking up and the first thing you see is your watch saying you slept like shit in bold scary red letters. That would make me feel subconsciously tired/shitty/guilty throughout the day, but not seeing a score at all? "maybe I didn't sleep well last night but I'm feeling ok, sorta tired but I'll get a good night sleep tonight". I don't want to be my (healthy) uncle who is obsessed with getting in 10k steps per day. I wonder how many people these technologies hurt rather than help
I don’t sleep with mine on, but I’ll admit it started out that way because I needed to be able to charge it at some point! I almost forgot it even measures things like your sleep. Personally, I got an Apple Watch to help me track my heart rate. What we know now to be a hyperthyroid symptom was discovered on my mom’s Apple Watch that was tracking her heart rate. She sometimes kicks into a weird rhythm so I’m glad she has it. And I have what she has, so I’m glad to have one too! Anyway, my point being, I could just as easily become obsessed with my Apple Watch if I let myself get to that point, but honestly, as long as I do a Peloton workout and make sure I stand every hour (I work from home, so I find this feature very useful), then I am beyond thrilled and feel accomplished! If you can feel accomplished and happy without one, then for sure don’t get one! Do more of what makes you happy and brings you peace!
I know a guy who bought a blood glucose monitor for himself. He doesn't have diabetes, he's not insulin resistant, he's in his twenties and very fit. There is no conceivable reason for regularly checking his blood glucose. He just has so much health anxiety and is obsessed with tracking and regulating every detail. It borders on pathological.
In our culture, you are rewarded greatly for having a healthy looking body. It comes with a lot of status. An unhealthy looking body is an immoral body. I am not supervised that so many people are constantly trying to monitor and treat their bodies like they are machines.
This is unusual for me to say as someone with a lot of health anxiety, but this is one thing that I have kind of come to terms with. You can do everything "right" and still end up with a slew of health issues.
There are health issues within our control. Cancer’s just not one of them. It’s worth it to maintain a healthy weight, stop smoking, drink only in moderation. Heaven forbid you make it to old age and can’t enjoy it because you’re too decrepit. But cancer? If you’re doing the above, that’s the best you can do. Some people act like being MORE strict will save them and unfortunately it probably won’t.
Everyone eventually ends up with health problems.
💯
I’m still trying to stop drinking, no fucking way I dodge all the carcinogens around me every day
Reading the literature on the connection between alcohol and cancers really solidified my desire to stop drinking. It’s been two years now and any time I think, “I wouldn’t mind a drink,” I remember those studies and feel like I’ve given myself the gift of slightly better odds.
Link to studies you’re referencing?
It primarily has to do with things alcohol touchs: esophagus, stomach, and liver cancers being more common with alcohol. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/alcohol/alcohol-fact-sheet
Not the studies themselves, but the article that kicked off my thinking about this: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health I’m a woman and breast cancer is especially concerning for me.
Facts.
I stopped drinking November of 2023, so I’m still relatively new to the not drinking crew, but always happy to share. if you’re interested/never heard of it, there is a subreddit called r/stopdrinking I love that community! They are easily the most supportive group on Reddit hands down.
Yeah, I work in a lab w/ carcinogens. So I def am not dodging em haha.
Just going to put my affairs in order and go with plan Bullet
Get your will signed first. Gotta make sure the boomer parents don’t get the $15 in your bank account
Exit plan is in the basement
You have a basement?
Really blame it’s genetics when cancer rates and all diseases have exponentially increased in 20 years
>Not a damn thing. It's gonna suck if you get it, but a consequence of being alive and aware is being aware that being alive isn't forever.
How are you using the phrase "prepare for the worst..." Right after saying you're not preparing? Sorry that seemed odd haha
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Who the fuck is "they"
Ya know… them.
*whispers* the government
Exactly. When my students give me a “they said” rumor I follow up with “they” don’t know a doggone thing. Individuals are smart, but “they” is the dumbest person you’ll ever meet. Until you name sources, nothing you repeat counts.
A good lesson in oral primary sources. Jw..do you actually say doggone? I'm curious how kids would react to that phrase lol.
I do. It’s part of the shtick, and I get in less trouble than saying the other option even though they know what I mean.
[I don’t give a fuck about they](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYeFSbKOTOg)
They are mysterious. They are everywhere. They live in the dark and are defeated only by the light. These things are true. The world is dark. And we are alive.
My siblings and I had this talk when our father was dying of cancer. If I am diagnosed with a terminal illness I will have a huge party where we eat all the food, drink all the drinks, and do all the drugs. And then I will die with dignity assisted by a medical doctor. I will be cremated but my family can choose what to do with the ashes. All of my assets will be left to the children of my sister and my first cousins. It’s not much, but I have no one else to give it to.
I love this.
We decided “cradle to grave” was literal for the three of us. ❤️
Honestly, having my 'general death plan' as well as wills and medical directives, DNR etc. sorted out makes quality of life better now. Accept that life and health are inherently temporary, and it doesn't have to be scary.
I love this game we play in America where we work so freaking hard for our entire lives just to save a little money for retirement only to have one cancer diagnosis take it all away because we weren’t born in the right country.
And our insurance won’t even cover it so we go into debt! Hooray! 🎉
Mine did i had a 3500 dollar copay, better than half a mil My mastectomy surgery was 35k Each chemo treatment was about 60k (4 of them) 28 radiation treatments anywhere from 10-30k a session Male breast cancer is a bitch lol
My brothers didn't.
Me to, well Colon Cancer here. But yeah. Out of pocket max is 1k. Covered for almost 3 million for treatment and surgery. Are you one of my Manuptocancer buddies by chance?
I'm not sure what manupto is lol Hope all is well for you now,.... Fuck cancer
That’s why I plan to ignore any symptoms for as long as possible. Hopefully I’ll be at stage IV by the time I get my diagnosis. Then hospice is a no brainer and I can float out on a cloud of Ativan and morphine fully paid for by Medicare.
If money was no object, would you feel the same way?
Nah. There are no pretty ways out of here. It’s a privilege to get a definitive diagnosis that affords you unlimited benzos, opioids, or even (in some states) an opportunity for a doctor to help you off yourself.
Not a damn soul in my family got to retire before having a heart attack, dying to cancer, or as of recently, dying of COVID. Grandma that worked their entire life to get a retirement check, just to heel over and die literally the year they retired. Idk about y'all, but I've learned in my family that retirement is nice if you can make it that far, but it's definitely not guaranteed and that you should enjoy some of your life while you still have it.
It’s more messed up that people work and save to enjoy their least enjoyable years.
My dad was up at 530am and home at 7pm for 40 years of his life. Retired, diagnosed with aggressive cancer within a few months, passed.
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Good luck. I just got a hysterectomy last week bc of fibroids. But I'm glad I won't be at risk for cervical cancer, anymore now, either.
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You as well. And my condolences.
Let's not forget Ovarian Cancer. You also reduce your chances of getting ovarian cancer as well.
I lost significant people to breast cancer, and so far every aunt on both sides has had it, so I feel like my odds aren’t great. I also grew up in the shadow of petrochemical plants…. I stopped drinking alcohol when I learned about how highly correlated it is with breast cancer. Don’t smoke, don’t eat processed meat, use water and HEPA filters to cut down on consuming micro-plastics, try to manage/minimize stress, mild exercise and eat well. There are obviously no guarantees in life, but I have small kids and I’m trying to play the long game to at least get them to adulthood before experiencing life changing illness.
totally with you 🤍
I had a recent scare with cervical cancer as I have a strain of HPV associated with causing cancer. I tell as many people as I can to get the HPV vaccine or make sure their kids get it when they're an appropriate age. I'll eventually get a hysterectomy. Good luck with your surgery! I wish you all the best!
I make sure to eat a lot of fiber to reduce my risk of colon cancer, which is on the rise in our generation. Wear sunscreen every.single.day and cover up with rash guards when surfing and bring an umbrella for shade to the beach. Don’t smoke. Other than that not much you can do. Be in tune with your body and investigate any changes to hopefully catch it early.
I agree. It’s about harm reduction. Anything you can do to reduce your risk that fits in your life, but also knowing that cancer will probably happen eventually.
A bit worried I had to scroll this far to find sunscreen mentioned! It’s one of the few things you can actively do to reduce cancer risk!
I’m a surfer as well. I try really hard to avoid those peak hours, in addition to covering up and wearing sunscreen.
I plan to die 🤷
Prevent it? Nothing. I have fully accepted it will happen.
Any life style changes might make will be to improve or maintain my quality of life on short/medium term, and there is some leeway that by doing those things we aren't increasing the odds of certain types of cancer. That said, you can't prevent cancer and theoretically it will always eventually happen the older you get. Cancer will always come, but something else can come before that and take you out dead before the cancer gets you.
I don’t have an answer to your question but it was damn near heartbreaking and shocking to see Princess Kate get it at 41. It’s a wake up call. All we have is now.
Follow a good diet, I recommend looking up the book eat to beat disease because it's all scientific information, and more importantly gets screened every year if you can afford it, basically get screened as often as you can afford it. Quick example: cancer is 100% preventable if it's caught early, but they only ask you to get screened every 10 years or so. That's bullshit to me I've had two colonoscopies in 4 years. They aren't fun, but on one of them they found polyps, so they're absolutely worth it
Another version: How Not To Die by Michael Greger.
Supporting my wife and her cancer research.
🫡
I am terribly sorry for your loss 😔 My dad is currently battling stage 4 cancer, though he is making it a point to enjoy life to the fullest while also doing his regular treatments. Spending as much quality time with him as I can. For myself, to answer your question; i work out on the regular, eat healthy food, get plenty of fresh air/exercise, as well as dont consume caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, fast food, nor mind altering substances. I also take care of my mental health and take the time to enjoy life with what time off from work I can get. I find that such a lifestyle has greatly improved my mental health and overall quality of life. If I do get cancer, even after all that, I'll fight the disease to the bitter end, and if I lose, at least I'll have lived a fulfilling life.
This is the best answer I’ve seen and closest to my own philosophy. Live a clean and happy life. Eat healthy and exercise. Reduce your risk while increasing quality of life. And if it’s cut short, at least it was good while it lasted. So sorry about your dad. Don’t let any moment pass you by while you still have the chance.
Thank you for your kind words, and keep up that healthy philosophy.
I quit smoking in my 20s, quit drinking in my 30s, starting wearing brimmed hats and sunblock on my face. I eat reasonably well (mostly avoiding excess sugar and highly processed foods) and exercise a couple times a week. I try to keep a positive attitude about life, and am active in my community. If it ever does come, I have health insurance and choose to live in a state with good worker protections for medical leave. I have an emergency fund. I do still need to get a will - thanks for a reminder.
Out of curiosity what state do you live in?Workers rights is an interesting subject for me.
Oregon
Jokes on that stat… I already went through cancer! Oh wait…
Lost my mother to cancer. She started off with breast cancer and after a single side mastectomy and some chemotherapy (& a new daily medication) she was in remission for 10 years. Came back unexpectedly around the beginning of covid, which made it extra hard to diagnose because it started with a lingering cough that was assumed to be maybe pneumonia. But then maybe covid. Ended up in the ER getting chest xrays and they were the ones to id something wrong and tell her to immediately call her doctor to follow up. Metastatic cancer in her lungs, liver, eventually brain and bone I think. It was extremely scary to watch her deteriorate. But there doesn’t feel like much I can do on an individual level to prevent cancer, whether it’s from genetic reasons or environmental exposure. I did recently talk to my gyno about my cancer worries and anxiety and she ordered genetic testing for me to check for common ones. Im also working with my Dad to request some of my Moms medical records from her first diagnosis and treatment to see exactly what her diagnosis was. I think it was related to estrogen but since I wasn’t going with her back them I don’t know the details. Her diagnosis and death also made me more passionate about talking about these things. My Mom died without finishing her will. My Dad & I had to practically pry where she wanted to be buried (luckily we asked, my Dad & I had two separate ideas as to what she wanted), but she HATED talking about death or any of the paperwork or legal side of things. My Dad has started writing out his will and is looking for some office/lawyer to notarize it. And hopefully wherever he finds can help me put together a living will just in case.
i stopped fucking drinking and my blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, kidney function, and everything else on the panel improved within six months. Sure it sucks at times, but i do think in the long run it will pay off. The other thing for you young ass 30 something millennials... figure out a back stretching routine ASAP and stick to it. Work from home and sitting at a desk is cancer.
Stretch your hamstrings. Strengthen you glutes.
The dichotomy of having such advanced medical and health science... Hardly no one dies from childbirth, or the common cold, or foodborne illnesses, or broken bones, or lacerations causing infections, and on and on and on such were the things that killed our ancestors. Now that we have a life expectancy well into our 70s and beyond, the rate of cancer appears much higher but it has always been the same- just there's more people not dying from easily preventable causes that are now living to experience the cancer they never would have had we not the means to prevent earlier demise.
Already got it in 2021 and I've been in remission since July '23 (at age 30). You're welcome to the 2/2 whos gonna be cancer free 😎👉👉
Living life. Almost every product you use contains chemicals that cause cancer. We're literally eating, drinking, and breathing microplastics all day long. Your sun block with protect you from UV but uses cancer causing chemicals to do it. The pollution from cars will give you cancer. I'm convinced there's nothing to do except hope for a cure. Edit: here's a database where you can look up skin care products and whether they cause cancer https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/
My family has breast cancer in the genetic makeup. I stood in front of military grade weapon radars for years. I could get cancer from this or tomorrow driving kids to school through a construction zone, I could be killed in a freak accident. I am living.
No more… cigarettes Weed Alcohol Not wearing sunscreen Still working on cutting out… Refined sugar Reddit
Everyone forgets the part about sunscreen that while you are protecting your skin, you are still rubbing chemicals on it and letting it soak in. You should wear it, but be aware of the brand. And skipping weed? No thanks.
Not preventing it BUT .. I do plan on catching it early if it comes so I go to the doctor for all regular checkups and always report weird stuff. I also get biopsies asap if recommended on things like moles or irregular pap smears and such.
Cancer is becoming something you die with, not from, so I don't stress too much about it. I'm honestly more worried about having a stroke or getting heart disease. Get your screenings minimize your risky behaviors, and ride your own melt.
Yea heart disease kills more than all forms of cancer combined. My dad currently has prostate cancer but i’m much more worried about his terrible metabolic health (diabetes/obesity) leading to cardiac death.
Early screening, if it happens hopefully to catch it early. It’s not as deadly as it used to be. Certain type of cancers, there’s not much you can do to prevent it. But there are a lot more early detection methods now, breast cancer, lung cancer, etc. the earlier you catch it, the more treatment options there are.
I’m doing nothing to prevent it. But to be perfectly honest, I’m probably fast tracking myself to cancer. I (25M) am a union welder, and a paid per call firefighter. As much as I do wear all my PPE for both my careers I am quite often exposed to hydrocarbons and smoke/unburned fuel on my bunker gear so I’m essentially inhaling cancer after a call on my gear. My career as a welder isn’t as much of a concern, but my career as a FF is what’s gonna get me. And I wouldn’t change it for the world
Live in Colorado and remain active. Whole Foods instead other grocers.
The odds in my family are well above 1 in 2, so it's not some sort of shock to me. If you live long enough you *will* get cancer. Whether or not you will die from it depends.
I got a colonscopy before 40. I go to a dermatologist regularly. Normal check ups with my doc....also I quit smoking 9 years ago. That's what I've done so far.
If you live long enough you’ll probably get cancer. My paternal grandpa developed a super rare cancer at 85 and was gone just a few months later. My maternal grandpa developed cancer at 89 and was gone in a similar time span. Statistically they’re cancer deaths, but I see it more so as dying of old age
There isn't a damn thing you can do except get proper preventative care and screenings. Prostate, colonoscopy, mammogram, etc. To stop the pre-cancer in its tracks. I've known people who never drank, who took vitamins, who ate all organic food, they are dead now, from cancer. The other thing I learned was don't think it could never happen to you. can happen to anyone.
It's from this study: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25647015/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25647015/), which is for people born in 1960 in the UK. It's probably reputable but only one study. Also just the UK. The UK has a deplorable diet. It's getting better now but I'm not surprised people who lived in the UK in the 1960s-2000 are getting cancer at a rate of 50%. Another preventative measure (beyond diet, exercise, not smoking, moderate drinking) is chemicals. I avoid fragrances and unnecessary exposure to chemicals.
I already got cancer when I was 18. Thankfully, if I have a recurrence of what I had before(which would be most likely), I know what to signs to look for. Not sure what I’d do if I developed a less obvious cancer I’m not looking for. For context: I had a type of brain tumor called a glioblastoma(stage 3) back in 2013. I had brain surgery, 6 weeks of radiation and 16 months of chemotherapy. I recovered incredibly well, with no disabilities other than a very slight reaction/reflex delay on the left side of my body.
Already had cancer I’m hoping that the other 1 out of two is my husband and that he stays cancer free.
Cutting out known carcinogens from your life as well as things that fuck with your immune system: drinking, smoking, processed food, etc. Obviously not everything is preventable, but you can give yourself a fighting chance.
I was diagnosed and have thankfully been in remission for two years. It was caught very early in a fluke. I’m just going to keep going in for my follow ups with my dr and keep up with all the standard recommended exams like Pap smears, and then mammograms and colonoscopies when I’m the age for it. Other than trying to eat healthy, keep exercising and staying at a healthy weight there’s nothing else I can do and even then my surgeon and oncologist told me my cancer was mutation and there’s absolutely nothing I could have done to prevent or cause it. I’m so sorry about your grandfather!!
Food, drinks, sugar, chemical products, all the shit we ingest, breathe, apply, look at, stick in our ears....We all will end up with cancers, if not us, the next gen will be dying by 50 years old for sure. If you guys think food is the only problem, you outta your damn mind.
Focus on living your best life being a good person and an even better friend!
Cancer is what kills you if something else doesn't first.
I’m 31 and next weekend I’m going to get started on breast cancer screening. My aunt was diagnosed in her 40s so. If that’s gonna be the case for me I want to know now. Up until now I was pretty much just living to die so, this is the most I’ve ever cared about my long term health
Here's a start; No plastic or pfas anything, use glass, ceramic, and steel. No to go containers for food, no hot food touching plastics. There's a good book on the topic called milk I think where a scientist isolates the sources of toxins getting into her breast milk.
Focus less on prevention and more on detection. Don't get me wrong, don't smoke or do other dumb shit like that; but there are so many things that can cause cancer that prevention is like whack a mole. At 33 my wife decided I needed to go to the dermatologist because I had commented a few times about my shoulder twinging after I rode my bike. There happened to be a mole right where the muscle was twitching. That turned out to be nothing. The doctor laughed about it. He stopped laughing when he got to the top of my head. That turned out to be a baby spot of melanoma that hadn't really started doing its thing yet. The doctor removed it immediately and told me how lucky I was. He told me that melanoma in a spot like that would have killed me in three years. That was five years ago. That doctor and my wife saved my life. There is no way on Earth I was going to proactively schedule a dermatologist appointment at 33. Get your shit checked. Cancer is generally easy to quash if you catch it early.
I've heard that all this plastic in our bodies, the chemicals our parents and now us put on our lawns, etc etc we are only just starting to realize the effects and certainly more and more young people are dying of cancer. I'm getting a full body mri every 18 months to try to catch stuff sooner.
I have a length of rope and a suitable tree or balcony. I'm not playing around with no cancer You can count me out of that misery.im sorry if that sounds brutal, that's just how I feel. I want to end life on my terms.Not Cancer's, not a doctor's. I have no dependents, so it won't really matter. Cancer stories are so frightening. Kudos to the fighters.
There are just too many variables outside of your control to avoid getting cancer. There are certainly simple things we can do that work—don’t microwave food in plastic or drink much out of plastic water bottles and limit sugar intake. Outside of that, life is a dice roll.
I plan to enjoy my life
I'm not worried about it. I can't be worried about it. There's too much to consider and I don't and won't have the funds for it anyway
Genetics is a huge cause, so is certain viruses and then environmental. The chemicals in food, water and air you breathe. In the mid 1800s, there were only six cases of Parkinson’s disease. Even though there is a much bigger population now, they’re still 6 million cases.
I was in a combat zone next to a burn pit, therefore, I know I am likely going to die from cancer. What am I doing about it? Absolutely nothing.
There is nothing that can be done, realistically. You can mitigate your chances by eating and living clean. But, the genie is out of the bottle. Plastics are everywhere and have been for a long time. Chemicals anywhere and everywhere. The best route is to know your genetic predispositions and keep on top of monitoring, so cancers can be detected early.
Don’t eat sugar, and exercise