Cancer Survival Rates- What do we believe?

You have just been diagnosed with cancer. At some point, your are given some number indicating your “survival rate”. These numbers are scary, even for cancers that have a high success rate for survival. We don’t want to think that there’s a chance that we might die. And cancer in particular is a disease that baffles the professionals… if they are confused, what are we, as the patient, supposed to think?

Our doctors may use these numbers to consider treatment options, but as cancer patients, we can use the numbers differently. If you look closely, you will see that EVERY cancer has some percentage (even if it’s small) of patients that survive. Everyone is strong enough to survive cancer.

If a doctor tells you that the survival rate for stage and type of cancer is 45%, that DOESN’T mean that you have a 45% chance of surviving. It means, that for your stage and type of cancer, 45 out of 100 patients survive. What is the difference?

Survival rates are calculated from a database from doctors willing to collect data. The rates are usually based on type and stage of cancer, and age/general health of the patient.

But there are many other factors that indicate survival that aren’t tracked. Some patients are not in the system because they chose an alternative treatment which is not being tracked by the conventional doctors. Our body is unique, and there are variations in how it responds to treatment and other factors. There may be factors (such as radon in the home) that are addressed and mitigated. And most importantly, we may make changes in diet or lifestyle to improve our overall health.

So, even if the prognosis for your cancer isn’t good, we don’t have to take that as really bad news for you. A 85% mortality rate can be scary, but it can also be hopeful. When you look carefully, it means that 15% of patients respond to treatment, survive cancer, and go on to live healthy lives.

You can be a part of that 15%. Make yourself the exception.

It is the survivors who actively fight cancer, not just blindly following the advice from their doctors, but by educating themselves, changing their lifestyle, getting the right nutrition, eating foods that fight cancer, by keeping their body strong, and breathing clean air that survive.

People who have smoked their entire lives, double their chance of survival if they quit smoking. DOUBLE. That’s a significant improvement.

The survival rate increases 20-50% for Breast Cancer survivors who walk 1 to 3 hours per week.

Unfortunately, as you make improvements to your health, your survival rate can’t be recalculated. The tracking systems are just not that sophisticated.

But that’s not important. What you need to do is try not to lock yourself into a cancer rate statistic. Think of it as a starting point, that you continually move in your favor. You may not know the exact number, but every day you are alive means you are more likely on the surviving side of that statistic.

Change your diet, eat more green leafy vegetables, improve your survival. Start doing yoga a few days a week, make your body feel healthy and strong, improve your survival. Quit smoking, and take walks, breathing deeply that fresh clean air, improve your survival…. you get the idea. Your survival rate improves when you actively participate in your health. Unfortunately, these types of changes are impossible to track and quantify at the moment.

But remember, your survival rate is just a number, a starting point. You don’t need to know what that number is. If you have a 70% chance of survival, or a 5% chance of survival – even if you’ve been given a few months to live – live your life fully – enjoy every moment – and you may find you are no longer a number, no longer a statistic – you are a survivor.