Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth.

A

 * Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.
 * Edward Abbey, The Journey Home: Some Words in Defense of the American West. Plume: New York. 1991. Pg 183.


 * We "need" cancer because, by the very fact of its incurability, it makes all other diseases, however virulent, not cancer.
 * Gilbert Adair, journalist and film critic, "Under the Sign of Cancer," Myths and Memories, 1986.
 * The fact that the general incidence of leukemia has doubled in the last two decades may be due, partly, to the increasing use of x-rays for numerous purposes. The incidence of leukemia in doctors, who are likely to be so exposed, is twice that of the general public. In radiologists … the incidence is ten times greater.
 * Isaac Asimov (1965) as quoted in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988), 233.


 * Writer Perry Brass was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2016. Three months later he had a radical prostatectomy, removing his entire prostate. Brass, then 68, was lucky: He lives in New York City, home to top-notch doctors and a medical community more informed about LGBTQ health. “I’ve been a gay activist — and been out — so long that I took it for granted I could talk openly to my doctors,” he told NBC News. But even he was unprepared for the side effects. "Your sex drive can take a nosedive," Brass said, adding that prostate cancer can also lead to erectile dysfunction. "You’re experiencing ED, but that doesn’t mean you’re not experiencing sexual attraction," he said. About 20 percent of patients treated with radiation experience irradiated bowels, which can make receptive anal sex painful or even impossible. Treatment can also affect penis size, ability to ejaculate, experience of orgasm and urinary continence during sex. Brass’ said his sexual function was relatively good, but instead he struggled with incontinence for weeks — using as many as nine “pads” a day and staying within yards of a bathroom at all times.
 * Dan Avery, “When it comes to prostate cancer, 'gay men are erased,' patients say“, NBC News, (Nov. 1, 2018).


 * A professor at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Rosser has received a $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to put together the first comprehensive rehabilitation program specifically for gay and bisexual men with prostate cancer. But he’s not just a researcher — he’s a survivor himself, diagnosed last year at age 59. And he’s keenly aware of how little information is available for men like him. “When my husband was diagnosed and had a radical prostatectomy, we reached out for help," Rosser said. "We were amazed to see how little was out there. I realized there were no studies, no research. It was a neglected area.” But it wasn’t institutionalized homophobia, Rosser stressed. “Our efforts were focused on battling HIV, keeping young men alive. Frankly the older guys were secondary.” When it comes to cancer, urologists and oncologists — even wives — are laser-focused on survival, according to Rosser. But he said when it comes to male patients, "studies show again and again that quality of life is equally important." And, he added, "a big part of quality of life is urinary continence and sexual function.”
 * Dan Avery, “When it comes to prostate cancer, 'gay men are erased,' patients say“, NBC News, (Nov. 1, 2018).

B

 * In the United States, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non–skin cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death. The American Cancer Society estimates that 241 740 American men will be diagnosed with the disease and 28 170 men will die of it in 2012. Prostate cancer demographics have changed dramatically over the past 30 years.
 * Otis W. Brawley, “Trends in Prostate Cancer in the United States”, J Natl Cancer Inst Monogr. 2012 Sep; 2012(45): 152–156.

C

 * Campbell White, of New York, was the first person to employ refrigerants for medical use. He reported his success in 1899, advocating liquid air for the treatment of a large range of conditions including lupus erythematosus, herpes zoster, chancroid, naevi, warts, varicose leg ulcers, carbuncles and epitheliomas He recognized the efficiency of liquid air in the treatment of carcinoma' and enthusiastically stated `I can truly say today that I believe that epithelioma, treated early in its existence by liquid air, will always be cured'. Whitehouse reviewed the effects of liquid air on normal skin, finding it to be especially useful for epitheliomata, lupus erythematosus and vascular naevi. He stated that liquid air `outranks some of the remedies on which we have placed great reliance'. He treated recurrences of epitheliomata after radiotherapy and found liquid air to be more successful than repeat radiotherapy.
 * S M Cooper, and R P R Dawber, “The history of cryosurgery”, J R Soc Med, 2001 Apr; 94(4): 196–201.


 * Allington is generally thought to have been first to use liquid nitrogen, in 195017. He recognized that the properties of liquid nitrogen were very similar to those of liquid air and oxygen. After the Second World War, liquid nitrogen became freely available and was preferable to liquid oxygen with its explosive potential. He used a cotton swab for treating various benign lesions but poor heat transfer between swab and skin meant this method was insufficient for tumour treatment. The contribution of Dr Irving S Cooper to cryosurgery was immense. An American neurosurgeon based in New York, in 1913 he designed a liquid nitrogen probe that was capable of achieving temperatures of -196°C. With it he treated Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders by freezing the thalamus, in addition to previously inoperable brain tumours.
 * S M Cooper, and R P R Dawber, “The history of cryosurgery”, J R Soc Med, 2001 Apr; 94(4): 196–201.

H

 * The rate of people dying from cancer in the United States seems to have dropped steadily for 25 years, a new study says, but disparities remain between the rich and the poor. The overall nationwide cancer death rate fell continuously from 1991 to 2016 by a total of 27%, according to a study by the American Cancer Society, published Tuesday in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. That translates to about 2.6 million fewer cancer deaths total than would have been expected if death rates stayed at their peak, which was seen in 1991, according to the study. "The continued decline in the cancer death rate over the past 25 years is really good news and was a little bit of a surprise, only because the other leading causes of death in the US are starting to flatten. So we've been wondering if that's going to happen for cancer as well, but so far it hasn't," said Rebecca Siegel, first author of the study and strategic director of surveillance information at the American Cancer Society.
 * Jacqueline Howard, “US cancer death rate hits 25 years of decline, study says”, CNN, updated (January 8, 2019).


 * "The racial gap in cancer mortality is continuing to narrow -- so it was that the cancer death rate in blacks was 33% higher than in whites in the mid-1990s, and the current data now indicate it's 14% higher -- so it's still higher, but the gap is narrowing, which is really good news," Siegel said. However, the data also revealed a potentially troubling trend: a growing gap in death rates based on wealth. "It was surprising to see that the disparities by socioeconomic status are actually widening," Siegel said. "Wealth causes differences in exposure to risk factors and also access to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection and treatment." For instance, between 2012 and 2016, the overall cancer death rate was about 20% higher among people living in the poorest counties in the United States compared with those in the most affluent counties -- and socioeconomic inequalities in cancer mortality widened over the past three decades overall, according to the study.
 * Jacqueline Howard, “US cancer death rate hits 25 years of decline, study says”, CNN, updated (January 8, 2019).

K

 * The air we breathe is laced with cancer-causing substances and is being officially classified as carcinogenic to humans, the World Health Organization's cancer agency said on Thursday. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) cited data indicating that in 2010, 223,000 deaths from lung cancer worldwide resulted from air pollution, and said there was also convincing evidence it increases the risk of bladder cancer. Depending on the level of exposure in different parts of the world, the risk was found to be similar to that of breathing in second-hand tobacco smoke, Kurt Straif, head of the agency's section that ranks carcinogens, told reporters in Geneva.
 * Kate Kelland and Stephanie Nebehay, “Air Pollution Is a Leading Cause of Cancer”, Scientific American, October 17, 2013


 * Thirty years ago, cancer research was about doing more, not less. In one sobering example, women with advanced breast cancer were pushed to the brink of death with massive doses of chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants. The approach didn’t work any better than chemotherapy and patients suffered. Now, in a quest to optimize cancer care, researchers are asking: “Do we need all that treatment that we have used in the past?” It’s a question, “that should be asked over and over again,” said Dr. Tatjana Kolevska, medical director for the Kaiser Permanente National Cancer Excellence Program, who was not involved in the new research.
 * Tatjana Kolevska as quoted by the Associated Press “Cancer patients often do better with less intensive treatment, research shows”, NBC News, (June 3, 2024)

L

 * There is no devil mocking you. God didn’t give you cancer to punish you. Colon cancer has come to you through a combination of losing the genetic lottery, cosmic rays, and perhaps too much bacon in your younger days.
 * Jay Lake, The Cancer Catechism (2011), reprinted in Last Plane to Heaven, ISBN 978-0-7653-7798-2, p. 315

M

 * American military veterans of the “war on terror” are nearly 100 times more likely to develop some form of cancer than they are to be killed in action. Whereas the war on terror claimed over 7,000 lives of U.S. military personnel, more than 500,000 active-duty soldiers have been diagnosed with cancer over the past two decades. Due to exposure to toxic chemicals found in ordnance, burn pits, combat operations in countries and regions with lax environmental restrictions, or some combination of all three, cancer or chronic illness stemming from deployments is endemic to veterans returning home over the past two decades.
 * Michael Venutolo-Mantovani, “The War on Terror Created a Cancer Crisis. These Vets Are Trying to Fight Back.”, The New Republic, (March 21, 2023)


 * Motivated by the near-complete lack of information on post-9/11 veterans, HunterSeven set out to uncover and make known as much data as possible, hoping to draw links between service and illness. Almost immediately, the foundation was flooded by veterans reaching out with their own stories of illness and the walls they had to breach in an effort to find care. Comprised of a small group of volunteers, all of whom work in the medical field, HunterSeven has undertaken extensive clinical research, using data to continue to draw lines between post-9/11 deployments and incidences of cancer and other deadly illnesses, as those connections are essential to ensure the government provides post-service care. One of the organization’s biggest research discoveries has highlighted the discrepancies in cancer rates between branches. Air Force veterans who served on active duty are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer when compared not only to their age-adjusted civilian population but also to every other branch of service. Meanwhile, Marines, despite having the highest exposures to combat, had the lowest risk ratio for cancer diagnosis. Simoni said that as much as this data likely has something to do with exposure to work on flight lines, with jet fuels and the like, it is more likely a corollary to the average career span of an Air Force member being 12 to 16 years longer than that of a Marine. The more time in the service, the more years spent exposed to potentially toxic materials.
 * Michael Venutolo-Mantovani, “The War on Terror Created a Cancer Crisis. These Vets Are Trying to Fight Back.”, The New Republic, (March 21, 2023)


 * Even though IR is a well-known genotoxic agent and human carcinogen, it is also widely used to effectively diagnose and treat cancer (Little, 1999, 2000; Pollack et al., 2000; Roof et al., 2003; De Potter et al., 2006; Erven and Van Limbergen, 2007). Since 1902 when the first radiation-induced cancer was reported (Little, 2000, 2003), and almost 100 years after radiation was used for the first time to treat tumors (Gramegna, 1909), it still remains the number one diagnostic and treatment tool for the majority of cancers (Pollack et al., 2000; Roof et al., 2003; De Potter et al., 2006; Erven and Van Limbergen, 2007). While modern cancer radiation therapy has led to increased patient survival rates, the risk of treatment-related deleterious effects, including secondary cancers, is becoming a growing clinical problem (Leone et al., 1999). Relatively recent findings suggest that even fairly low doses of IR, such as those used in diagnostic procedures (e.g., X-ray or computer tomography), can lead to the development of radiation-induced cancers (Preston-Martin et al., 1989; Doody et al., 2000; Liu et al., 2002; Brenner and Hall, 2004). This risk of developing secondary treatment-related cancers is even more pronounced in children and young adults who received either diagnostic or therapeutic exposure to IR (Hildreth et al., 1989; Infante-Rivard et al., 2000; Hall, 2002; Shu et al., 2002; Kleinerman, 2006).
 * Matt Merrifield and Olga Kovalchuk, “Epigenetics in radiation biology: a new research frontier”, Front. Genet., (04 April 2013).

N

 * Green Arrow: That's right, Lantern... apologize. Grovel in front of that walking mummy. You call yourself a hero! Chum, you don't even qualify as a man. You're no more than a puppet... and the Guardians pull your strings. Listen... forget about chasing around the galaxy! And remember America. It's a good country... beautiful... fertile... and terribly sick! There are children dying, honest people cowering in fear, disillusioned kids ripping up campuses. On the streets of Memphis a good black man died... and in Los Angeles, a good white man fell. Something is wrong. Something is killing us all! Some hideous moral cancer is rotting our very souls.
 * Dennis O'Neil, "No Evil Shall Escape My Sight", Green Lantern Vol 2 #76, (April, 1970).


 * Often, doing less works because of improved drugs. “The good news is that cancer treatment is not only becoming more effective, it’s becoming easier to tolerate and associated with less short-term and long-term complications,” said Dr. William G. Nelson of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who was also not involved in the new research.
 * William G. Nelson as quoted by the Associated Press in “Cancer patients often do better with less intensive treatment, research shows”, NBC News, (June 3, 2024)

O

 * Last year, Vice President Biden said that with a new moonshot, America can cure cancer. Last month, he worked with this Congress to give scientists at the National Institutes of Health the strongest resources they’ve had in over a decade. Tonight, I’m announcing a new national effort to get it done. And because he’s gone to the mat for all of us, on so many issues over the past forty years, I’m putting Joe in charge of Mission Control.
 * Barack Obama State of the Union, (Jan 12th, 2016); as quoted in "8 Key Quotes Last Obama's State of the Union", USAToday, (1/12/2016)

R

 * The Porto Ricans (sic) are the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever to inhabit this sphere… I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off eight and transplanting cancer into several more… All physicians take delight in the abuse and torture of the unfortunate subjects.
 * Cornelius Rhoads as quoted by Truman R. Clark. 1975. Puerto Rico and the United States, 1917-1933, pp. 151-154


 * Physically, however, the body is quite able to completely regenerate itself as it approaches old age. Indeed, a quite legitimate second puberty is possible, in which the male’s seed is youthfully strong and vital, and the woman’s womb is pliable and able to bear . . . Now, to some extent there is a connection between this innate, rarely observed second puberty and the development of cancer, in which growth is specifically apparent in an exaggerated manner.
 * Jane Roberts, in The Nature of the Psyche: Its Human Expression, Session 770, p. 66

S

 * I was making 11 Turkish liras in a month, and this headmaster, God bless her, she said, ‘OK, Mutlay, we found a scholarship that will pay you the money you’re making in the factory, so your dad can continue treatment.’
 * Mutlay Sayan in "As a kid, his factory work paid for his dad’s cancer care. As an oncologist, his research offers more than survival" by Eric Boodman, Stat, (November 24, 2020)


 * Liver cancer causes a huge burden of disease globally each year. It is also largely preventable if control efforts are prioritised — major risk factors include hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, alcohol consumption, excess body weight, and metabolic conditions including type 2 diabetes.
 * Isabelle Soerjomataram, Liver Cancer Cases and Associated Mortality Expected to Increase by Over 55% by the Year 2040, Weather.com, (10/06/2022)

W

 * John Kramer: I don't intend to mock you, Officer, but I'm a cancer patient. How could you possibly put me in any more pain than I'm already in?
 * John Kramer/Jigsaw as interpreted by Tobin Bell in Saw II, (2005); written by Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman


 * Tape: What is the cure for cancer, Eric? The cure for death itself? The answer... is immortality. By creating a legacy, by living a life worth remembering, you become immortal.
 * John Kramer/Jigsaw as interpreted by Tobin Bell in Saw II, (2005); written by Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman

Dialogue

 * John Kramer I'm not fixable. I've got cancer.
 * Detective Eric Matthews: You're using cancer as an excuse for what you do?
 * John Kramer: No. The cancer isn't what started me in my work. It was the moment I decided to end my life... that started me in my work. I had literally driven myself to suicide, and I had failed. My body had not been strong enough to repel cancer cells, yet I had lived through a plunge off a cliff. But, to my amazement, I was alive. And I was determined to spend the rest of my days testing the fabric of human nature. Do you understand, Eric?
 * John Kramer/Jigsaw as interpreted by Tobin Bell and Detective Eric Matthew as interpreted by Donnie Wahlberg in Saw II, (2005); written by Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman