When you look at the figures for terminal cancer survival rate, or even hear general stories about surviving cancer, it is very easy to get disheartened. The stories you’ll hear and the survival percentages quoted to you are abstract from your situation. The patients in these cases may have had a different type of cancer, different complicating factors, different accompanying diseases.
It is up to you whether you want your doctor to quote statistics to you. You may be happy or disheartened from hearing about a 67% survival rate for X cancer, 40% for Y.
Cancer survival rates tell us how many people have survived a specific kind of cancer over a time-frame, typically five years. For example, with a diagnosis of early-stage lung cancer there is an average of 49% survival rate. This means that 49 out of every 100 patients survive to the at least the five-year mark after diagnosis. However, if the lung cancer has spread to other parts of the body, the cancer survival rate is three percent. For prostate cancer, the survival rate is 98%. Already we see a spread of 3 – 98% survival rate, illustrating the wide range of different survival rates.
The rates of cancer survival have improved over time. The below changes illustrate the difference between average five-year survival rates from 1962 to the present:
* Wilms Tumor – kidney cancer; 50% survival in 1962, 90% survival in the present
* Osteosarcoma – bone cancer; 20% in 1962, 65% at present
* Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – cancer of the blood; 4% in 1962, 94% at present.
The above are a few of the available statistics, the survival rates have improved significantly. The reliability of these and all survival rates depend on your individual case, spread of the cancer and many other factors. Statistics show an average, so while you may be confident it can apply, there are always outliers and its for this reason that you should talk carefully to your doctor.
I have a cancer survival story of a friend of mine, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer after going through all of the stages. I can’t mention his name, but he was in his late 50s, healthy and yet contracted nose and throat cancer that required extensive radiation and surgery. Still, after all this, the cancer was pronounced terminal.
My friend was distraught, as is natural, when given a prognosis of dying. But after ten days, he undertook a psychological shift that was amazing to see. He actively refused to give in. His diet changed, his fitness changed. Always healthy inside, he now had cancer inside but looked amazingly fit after the scars on his throat healed. He survived for ten years, and I always believed it was psychological rather than medical.
It is up to you whether you take survival rates to heart or look deep at the numbers. One of the hardest things to see is a terminal cancer survival rate, but perhaps it will provide the impetus to reach a decision about your cancer.