The Continuing Cycle of Cancer Research- Will There Ever Be a Cure?

In society, we are hit with by an influx of awareness for cancer research. Flyers are fixated to bulletin boards to attend a fundraiser. Walks are worked on to ring in more money toward research efforts. For decades, individuals have been dedicatedly donating to diminish the potential of what potentially can be a deadly devastation.

Are all of our efforts being utilized in the most efficient way?  How much farther down the research line will we go in finding a cure?

In the United States alone, there is an estimate 1,688,780 new cancer cases. In 2017, 600,920 cancer-related deaths were reported.

There is no doubt that scientists and researchers are spewing out all sorts of experiments, but the question boils down to if their tests will eventually lead to a global cure of all cancer-related illnesses.

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, a cancer physician, researcher, and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, and author of The New York Times Bestseller, The Emperor of All Maladies- A Biography of Cancer, offered that there is a pinpointed reason to the constant (not so) merry-go-round of research that has prevailed for the past several decades.

“A major hindrance to cancer effort has been a chronic, severe shortage of funds," Mukherjee states. “It is also necessary to explain how additional funds would be used, what projects they would pay for, why such projects deserve support, and where the skilled scientists and technicians to do the work would come from."

According to the Northern Ireland Cancer Network, a yearn for a cure is mostly linked on an individual basis, where preexisting health conditions and lifestyle decisions are determinants of an end to these fatal conditions. That is, your age and state of health are prominent factors in recognizing if one’s medical state is at risk regarding surgeries and treatment options.

Americans donate billions of dollars each year to over 250 nonprofit organizations. Progress may be sluggish, yet researchers are knowledgeable concerning the cause, growth, and spread of cancer.

The major issue is laboratory improvements and medical complexities. With the diversity of cancer cells, each cell’s heterogeneity for a particular cancer-related illness is simply not feasible to acquire such an extreme breakthrough in cancer research.

However, are individuals the catalysts for creating own cancer-related illnesses? Studies have proven- especially lung cancer research- that people are well aware of the risks before the life-shattering tragedy occurs. People know that smoking, along with secondhand smoke, are ingredients in the awful mix of concocting lung cancer. People know that they should be in tune with good health practices and go to the doctor for a yearly mammogram checkup- a crucial component in maintaining a breast-cancer-free lifestyle.

The carcinogens are posted on numerous government health organization websites, such as the National Health Institute and the American Cancer Society.

We have the facts, we know the repercussions, and that is about all we can achieve in this present time. The progression of cancer research is widely-debated and heavily unknown. Eventually, research will progress and more improvements and creative solutions will be implemented and hopefully on a global scale.