Cancer Screening

Last Saturday as I was having dinner, a good friend texted me to inform me that his mother had just passed away. He was on a holiday and once he was informed, he rushed back to attend to the funeral arrangements. His mother was still young, in her early 60s and had just recently been diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately it was detected late and it had spread all over.

In that state, the chemotherapy or radiation weakens the physical body and the immune system and any infection becomes life threatening. So I always found it strange when my oncologist friend says people don’t die from cancer but from infection. But didn’t the cancer result in the infection becoming the cause of death?

Earlier this year, my friend and former partner at the law firm died at the age of 61. He was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in December 2023. He initially responded to treatment but then the cancer spread and the infection killed him. Again he had never been for any medical tests. It was only when he started having back pain that he went to see a doctor. By which time it had started to spread.

Many years back, another good friend, also at the age of 60 died. He was at a dinner I was at, with his wife, and the oncologist at the table was talking about cancer and some of the symptoms of colon cancer. He quietly realized that he was experiencing similar symptoms. He went for a colonoscopy the next day and was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He died within the year.

I am told cancer will eventually affect one in three people. Currently I think it is one in 10. And most forms of cancer, if discovered early, are treatable and non life threatening. But many people don’t want to go for testing because either they don’t know such tests exist or think it’s a waste of money. Some don’t want to know or they think the tests are not accurate. But if it is a matter of cost, should the state subside the tests? Would it be a better long term investment to identify and treat cancer early? Should people be educated on the existence of such tests or educate them on symptoms to look out for?

Ultimately it will be up to each person to do what they think is best for them but the eventual consequences fall on the family members and caregivers when things go wrong. They end up worrying and bearing the physical and financial burden of looking after a patient when a cancer is diagnosed late.