Cancer Control Month

Eighty-five years ago, president Franklin D. Roosevelt observed that cancer was claiming more lives in America than the wars on the European mainland.  In response to this knowledge, he delegated April as Cancer Control Month.  According to the Southeastern Medical Oncology Center,

For many years, the death tolls from cancer have steadily declined, due in part to better education and heightened awareness about how to prevent certain types of cancer, recognize the signs and symptoms of cancer, and how to seek proper treatment.

These statistics are, indeed, a thing to be celebrated.  Additionally, more cancer screenings are covered by health insurance, and insurance companies are lowering the age threshold for imaging such as colonoscopies and mammograms.

Unfortunately, cancer cases have been rising in adolescents and young adults, the latter being more likely lack insurance while they build a foundation for their adulthood. I recall being a young adult with only catastrophic insurance while I experienced a miscarriage.  The state of Washington gave me a voucher to pay for the treatment.  A mere three years later, I lived in Tennessee and was receiving treatment in the form of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.  By that point, I had health insurance through work.  What would I have done if I had been diagnosed three years earlier?  I would have carried a huge financial burden in order to live. In my own town, I have met woman whose medical bills for breast cancer treatment were so high, she had to drop out of college and get a job.  It took years to pay back the five-figure bill.

Enormous difficulties accompany medical miracles, high-tech healthcare, and prescription medications.  And, as with all big problems, there is not one big answer, only multiple smaller ones working together.