When we talk about cancer, often it sounds like a single disease. In reality, there are hundreds of different types of cancer, each with its own effect on healthy tissues, each with its own course and treatments.
That’s why, especially on the heels of another successful StandUp2Cancer event in September, it’s easy to understand that despite millions raised in the name of cancer research, we still have quite a way to go before we unlock cancer mysteries.
Here are a few things probably didn’t know about man’s centuries-old attempt to understand the many questions posed by cancer:
“Cancer,” the word, is traced back to Greek physician Hippocrates
Hippocrates began using the terms “carcinos” and “carcinoma” to described tumors he observed as far back as 400 B.C. In Greek, the words translate to “crab.” Later, Roman doctor Celsus translated those words to “cancer.”
We’ve fumbled for answers.
While we still had a crude understanding of cancer until the 1500s, the embrace of the scientific method didn’t lead to a correct understanding until much later. In the mid-1600’s, two Dutch doctors independently came to the wrong conclusion that cancer is contagious “” a notion that hung around for a few more centuries. In fact, first cancer hospital in France was forced to move from the city in 1779 because people feared cancer would spread.
Tobacco has been in researchers’ crosshairs for 400 years.
London physician Thomas Venner was one of the first to warn about tobacco dangers in an article published in 1620. In 1761, while tobacco used was rampant, another Londoner, John Hill, wrote extensively about the harmful effects of tobacco. It wasn’t until the mid-1900s that the tie was solidified, though, leading to the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning that smoking leads to cancer in the 1964 report “Smoking and Health.”
Researchers and treatment efforts are well-funded.
Efforts like StandUp2Cancer continue to pour money into finding a cure for the many forms of cancer. The biannual telethon, which funds its own research teams, has raised more than $100 million each broadcast since its first airing in 2008. The National Cancer Institute, meanwhile, has been funded by nearly $5 billion in federal funds each year for the past two decades. The American Cancer Society also raises about $950 million each year, with $160 million earmarked for research. The funds also provide for around $300 million each year for patient support and $100 million for cancer detection and treatment.
We’re winning.
Just 40 years ago, if you were diagnosed with cancer, you had a 50-50 chance of surviving more than five years. Today, in part because of treatments and also prevention efforts, more than two out of every three cancer patients survive that long. There are now more than 14 million cancer survivors in the U.S. alone.
