Reports of a mother refusing to send her child to chemo treatments headlined the news for a while. Now according to The Associated Press, she has brought Daniel home to the family farm in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. Going before a judge, on May 26, 2009 in New Ulm, Minnesota, Daniel's parents agreed to allow their son to take chemo treatments. They were setting aside their religious objections and because of that, the judge allowed them to keep Daniel Hauser at home.
Good News: Cancer Deaths Have Declined
In listening to all the bad news, there is, finally, some good news. Between the years 1990 and 2005, according to The American Cancer Society, cancer related deaths have dropped in number. For women it fell 11% and for men it was an even better 19%. The leading cancers in men to decline are lung, prostate and colorectal. These three cancers account for 80% of the decline. The cancers to decline in women are breast cancer and colorectal cancer, which accounted for 60% decline in women. They credit this decrease in the number of deaths to better prevention, improved cancer treatments and early detection. Although the figures of a 1 to 2% drop each year sounds small, it really isn't. Stop and think how many people’s lives will change and have another chance at life! When counted up, at least 650,000 lives will be saved from cancer over the span of 15 years. The American Cancer Society estimates that there will be 1,479,350 million new cancer cases and about 562,340 cancer deaths in 2009.
.Overall the odds of someone getting cancer are one of every two men and one in every three women. There is still a long way to go. Some cancers we hear about constantly like breast cancer and prostate. While some cancers get major attention, that means more funding spent toward finding a cure.
Funding Amounts Differ for Research
According to a CBS News analysis of data by the American Cancer Society, funding varies for each type of cancer. “For every cancer death, the most federal research dollars were spent on cancer of the cervix ($18,870) and breast ($14,095) and on Hodgkin's lymphoma ($12,791). The least funded were cancers of the stomach ($1,168), lung ($1,553), and esophagus ($1,542).”
Why is the amount of funding, so widely different? It’s because some advocacy groups, like those for breast cancer, are more adept at raising awareness. The more people made aware, the more cash that comes in. to help discover a cure, thus the well-known pink ribbons, and other fundraisers. Many times the others just don't get the exposure and because of this, they lack the necessary funding. One out of every 10 ideas receives federal funding.
Ribbons: One Way to Raise Awareness
So how do we raise awareness for these other cancers? One way to bring more awareness to a certain cancer is by wearing a certain color.
Cancer has a color attached to it and people usually wear a ribbon to signify support to that issue. “The Colors of Awareness” show support to a cause or issue that is important to that person. Almost everyone knows that the pink colored ribbons represent breast cancer, but few know there are other colors to represent other cancers. People are making jewelry with certain colors to represent some tragedies in life and show support to finding a cure. .The Chemo Angels, Support for People with Cancer shows various colors designated to different types of cancer.
Some Colors Representing Cancer Types
A person can show support against bone cancer with the colors of white with gold outline, and prostate cancer is light blue.
Stomach and esophagus cancers are a periwinkle color, while colon, colorectal, and rectal cancer is represented by blue or brown. Brain cancer and brain tumors are grey.
Green represents kidney cancer, while melanoma is orange and mesothelioma is pearl. Male breast cancer is represented with the colors of pink and blue. Pancreatic, testicular, and thyoid cancers are represented with purple. Teal represents ‘cancer types’ including Cervical, Ovarian, and Uterine. Bladder cancer is yellow. For embryonal rhabdomysarcoma and childhood cancer, the color is gold. In addition, support for childhood cancer is shown by the alternative colors of pink and light blue. Lymphoma is lime green.
To show general cancer awareness, light purple has been assigned.
It is nice to support a cause without actually having to say anything. The colors are as vast as the disease they represent. Many of these colors represent different causes. It is also refreshing to see scientists are getting closer to a cure, and that the cancer numbers have gone down. Unfortunately, they still have a long way to go before this devastating disease is destroyed.
