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/Home/Brain Tumors: Survivorship
Surviving cancer can be defined in different ways:
Having no disease after diagnosis or the completion of treatment
The process of living with, through, and beyond cancer. By this definition, cancer survivorship begins at diagnosis.
A cancer diagnosis may lead to a change in a person's priorities regarding relationships, career, or lifestyle. Some survivors talk about appreciating life more and gaining a greater acceptance of self, and some survivors become anxious about their health and uncertain of how to cope with life after treatment. Survivorship is a unique journey for each person.
Survival statistics
The number of people living with cancer in the United States has increased dramatically, from 3 million in 1971 to 10.5 million in 2003 (source: National Cancer Institute). About 66% of people diagnosed with cancer today are expected to live at least five years beyond their diagnosis. Most cancer survivors today are age 65 or older.
The most common cancer diagnoses in survivors are:
Breast cancer (23%)
Prostate cancer (19%)
Colorectal cancer (10%)
Gynecologic (uterine, ovarian, and cervical) cancers (10%)
Approximately 14 % of all cancer survivors were diagnosed more than 20 years ago.
This increase in survival rates is largely attributed to the following four developments:
Improved screening and early detection, such as mammography for breast cancer, the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test for prostate cancer, the Pap test for cervical cancer, and colonoscopy for colorectal cancer
Improvements in treatment
More effective treatment of side effects, making it possible to give patients higher, more effective doses of cancer drugs
The development of targeted therapies, which are more specific and less toxic than standard chemotherapy
Stem Cells Library , Cancer Library
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Martha's Helping Angels projec
