Cure? what Cure?

I don’t believe in a Cure.

Until I developed Hodgkin’s Lymphoma we didn’t know I even had Kidney cancer. Strangely enough if not for one cancer we might never have found the other until it was too late. You could say Hodgkin’s Lymphoma saved my life.

The one symptom I did have (blood in my urine) was undetectable to me. My doctors believe the tumor on my Kidney was possibly 3-5 years old, which means I had cancer at 32 (not just at 37 when officially diagnosed).

Had I known the Kidney cancer existed I would have acted as fast as I did when I spotted the lump on my neck, which turned out to be Lymphoma.

The lump showed up one quiet Saturday night in November 2006. Within a week I had an ultrasound, which lead to the CT scan that discovered the 7.5 cm tumor on my kidney. My doctors were surprised. They lined me up for several biopsies to either find the tumor was lymphoma or that it was renal cell that metastasized-which was worse.

Either cancer would kill me but kidney cancer was an immediate concern. On December 19, 2006 I was told they didn’t match and I indeed had two different cancers at the same time.

Surgery to remove the kidney and surrounding lymph nodes proved it was self contained and had not metastasized. Six months of chemotherapy followed to kill the Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I have been in remission since May 18, 2007.

In the time since I was diagnosed and now in remission I have noticed all the stories of people with various cancers and the frequency of the incidence of cancer in general, maybe it’s heightened awareness having been there. But it’s everywhere…I do not believe a cure exists.

I believe cancer is a direct result of our environment and hereditary factors. It’s where we live, it’s what we eat, and it’s what we are exposed to. Nothing is natural anymore, chemicals are everywhere.

We have a sick planet therefore we have sick people. Immune systems are not where they should be and as a result our bodies can’t fight disease when it springs up and we need stronger chemicals to kill these diseases. I believe disease should not have a chance to just spring up. I’m certain my immune system failed me and the cells that didn’t respond to the natural order of things continued to divide and become cancer.

I don’t know what other “Environmental Carcinogens” I was exposed to that flipped the switch that lead to cancer. That term Environmental Carcinogens covers a list too numerous to break down and if you see the list you’ll find most of the carcinogens are chemicals. Anything artificial is exactly that.

Nature didn’t make Chloramphenicol, Ethylene dibromide, Procarbazine hydrochloride or Dinitropyrene…for example. What’s worse having cancer means chemotherapy had to be used to kill the cancer. These “Chemotherapy Chemicals” have their own risks, which lead to other cancers. It’s a never-ending cycle.

I don’t believe there is a magic cure for cancer period. Even if I suspend disbelief long enough to accept a possible cure I don’t see how it would be a perfect fit for everyone. We all have different hereditary factors and unknown susceptibility to environmental carcinogens that may or may not lead to cancer. How do you design a cure to fit every single possible cancer for every single person?

The problem is being able to pin point what an environmental carcinogen is and what level of exposure will alter our DNA enough or damage our immune system enough and lead to cancer.

Science will continue to find ways to prolong our lives and survival rates for cancer will continue to improve but that only means to me that cancer will continue to be a moving target and finding a cure means finding the original source of the disease…which is impossible.

Disease management is what it is coming down to. Environmental Carcinogens are not going away and that means cancer is not going away.

Bottom line for me…I lived with an active smoker for 26 years. Second hand smoke could have contributed to both of my cancers. I had a few jobs that involved cleaning solvents and other chemicals. I worked in printing and in maintenance for a couple of different companies and was exposed to God knows what. Was this the combination my body needed? Was my intake of sugar (or high fructose corn syrup) a contributor? My weight? Was working third shift, which screwed up my circadian rhythm a factor? Certainly all of these when added up had something to do with it.

I don’t know of course what actually tipped the scales. If I knew that I wouldn’t have gotten cancer. If we could tell that in anyone’s case we would have a cure.

But we can’t and we don’t.