It’s the rare person who hasn’t been touched by cancer.
Many of our readers themselves have been diagnosed with cancer, while many others have close family members or friends with the disease.
Cancer comes in many variations to people of all shapes, sizes and races. News that one has it often comes as a shock that settles into a fierce determination to beat it.
Some of the toughest people we know are those with firsthand knowledge of this devastating illness. They have fought through fatigue and nausea that come with chemotherapy and radiation treatments. They have lost their hair and watched it grow back, only to lose it again in the next round of treatments.
Some have won the battle and remain in remission.
Others are still fighting. Yet others have passed on.
An estimated 1.6 million people are expected to be diagnosed with cancer this year in the United States, 171,000 of them Californians, according to American Cancer Society statistics.
The Cancer Society cites statistics that show a “substantial portion of cancers” can be prevented, most notably those caused by alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking.
Quoting the Cancer Society, “The World Cancer Research Fund estimates that about one-quarter to one-third of the new cancer cases expected to occur in the U.S. in 2013 will be related to overweight or obesity, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition, and thus could also be prevented.”
“Cancer never sleeps,” Calexico Relay for Life event chairwoman Sylvia Bernal said. “Cancer is here 24 hours, seven days a week, and this is a reminder.”
Because of that thousands of people around Imperial County are preparing for the slate of Relay for Life events in March and April in Brawley, Calexico and El Centro.
The relays, and similar events organized by the Cancer Society or the Cancer Resource Center of the Desert, which are not related, are intended to raise funds to help find cures to the myriad cancer types. They also raise awareness of the varying factors that can lead to cancer, and of services offered locally to patients and their families.
As fundraising and promotion of these activities continue, we urge you to support them, to help find ways to eradicate this ugly disease in its many forms.
THE ISSUE:
Events bring attention to cancer.
WE SAY:
We urge your support.
WHAT DO YOU SAY?
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