Vaxinia - Cancer Killing Virus!

[Johann]

If you get treatment, most cancers are treatable these days. Unfortunately, cancer treatment is a luxury that many can't afford.

That's unfortunately the truth in the US. I've had to pretty well give up commenting on that fact because many Americans tend to get belligerent and scream "socialism" at me (Canadian) when I talk about universal, single-payer health care - and that the US is the ONLY developed country in the world that lacks it.

I'm a Canadian who contracted cancer about 3 years ago. Operation, subsequent scans, tests etc. did not cost me a penny. Same with my heart operation about 7 years ago. This system works. I'll be 80 next birthday - I'm 100% mobile and can do anything I like - and I wouldn't have gotten NEARLY this far without our health system.

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Hmm, they came out with this recently...

"Each year in the U.S., more than 1.6 million people are diagnosed with cancer and nearly 600,000 die from it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Am I calculating that right? 3/8ths or 37.5% of people diagnosed perished? Wow, I always thought it was about a 10% or less from previous readings...

As I'm sure you know, Bryan, there are many, many  forms of cancer. Some are much more lethal - and less treatable - than others.
Stats vary by form of the disease -and treatment availability etc. unfortunately varies by where you live - and in some instances, as Rachel rightly pointed out, by how much money you have. 

I don't have a problem with that figure as an aggregate for all types - I'm not an expert though. I figure 10% might be a good goal to shoot for -- but it would be a while, because we can now beat quite a few of the "easy" ones - only the "hard ones" remain.