Everyone goes to a doctor of some sort every so often for an overall check up. The worst thing you could hear are the words, “You have cancer.” These words petrify thousands of people each year; these words sound worse than a death sentence. Oftentimes they are, learning you have cancer tears your world apart, and as you’re being given the options often all you can think about is that this might be the end. This often leads to months or even years of treatment, which is often very taxing. As time has passed millions of people have died from cancer, along with this the field of medicine has also improved. What once was a death sentence has become more like a bump in the road.
Through the year, research has been conducted to find ways to cure or at very least lower its effect on the patient. Over the years, surgery has been attempted as a method to cure cancer, but if not done completely the cancer will return. In the early 1900’s radiation was discovered to have an ability to kill cancer, along with causing cancer if not careful. In the mid 1900’s chemotherapy was discovered to have an ability to help eliminate remaining cancer cells after surgery.
With there being thousands of different types of cancer, there is no way to make one universal cure. This has led researchers to look into making cures specifically designed for each cancer. This is leading to a grand shift in cancer treatment, which is specialized for each patient. Now, instead of a universal treatment plan, they will be customized based on the patient’s condition. Plans to develop usage of other drugs to deal with the tumor, even plans to find a way to harness the power of the human immune system to fight off the cancer. While treatment options have advanced, access to cancer treatment is still a problem. Even if we have better ways to combat cancer, it won’t do any good if we can’t make it possible for people who need it to access it. Every step forward needs a second to keep it balanced, we have the ability to help, now, we need a greater ability to spread that help to the people who need it.
