My blog yesterday about the miracles of survivorship focused on the happier news about the impact of cancer treatment. The passing of Patrick Swayze reminds us all that the stories too frequently don’t have the ending we would like.
Even acknowledging that grim reminder, there is still much to be celebrated about what this man meant to so many not only as an actor, but as a cancer survivor as well.
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A recent dust-up over an ad that tries to make a simple statement out of complex statistics shows how difficult it is to have meaningful discussion and understanding in a sound-bite world when it comes to health care reform.
The ad, launched by the Independent Women’s Forum on August 18th, comes to the conclusion that because the five year survival from breast cancer in the United States is 83.9%, and the five year survival in the United Kingdom is 69.8%, 350,000 women in the United States “may not have survived if the US survival rate were that of Britain.” The implication is clearly stated: “(T)hat should give American women serious pause before reflexively touting the glories of a government-run health plan.”
If only the numbers truly represented what we know.
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A couple of conversations and a news story over the past week have led me back to an appreciation of the miracles and the problems of cancer survivorship.
The messages are mixed: we have accomplished truly remarkable advances in cancer treatment, but those advances come with unanticipated and very real side effects.
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