A question about cancer

[hedgehog]

I'm curious as to what people here think.

[uppityperson]

1. How about genetic influence?

I'll check back in a bit since that is where my family is.

[Richard D]

2. Genetic influence is an interesting theory.

Does it go back 3-4 generations? Sometimes there are external factors that are not apparent. Food choices, neighborhood pollution or contamination, sick building syndrome, etc.

[uppityperson]

6. Yes, it does go back generations.

As other health issues there can be a genetic component as well as environmental. Sometimes choices can influence cancer, and other diseases including other auto-immune things. Sometimes genetics can play a big part also.

[Richard D]

9. No doubt.

I've just often seen people with environmental issues think it was genetic. I think it's a good idea to examine this as possibility, which you already have done. I hope I didn't offend with my question.

[FirstLight]

3. OUr family has no cancer history, but we have auto-immune issues!

Both my sister and I ended up with the worst of it...

[Cabcere]

4. Mixed bag here

My mother had thyroid cancer last year (cause unknown), but luckily the surgery went well and radioactive iodine therapy worked, and she is doing fine now. :) Her uncle, however, died several years ago from multiple cancers brought on by a lifetime of extremely heavy drinking. (My grandmother went through treatment for uterine cancer last year, but since she is actually my step-grandmother and we're not genetically related I don't know if that counts. :shrug: At any rate, that was another "unknown cause," and she is also doing well now.)

[Heddi]

5. female cancers in my family

My grandmother's grandmother had breast cancer (before 1940)
My grandmother's sister had ovarian cancer (2004)

Unfortunately, i don't know anything about my grandfather's side of the family because my biological grandfather is no part of my family

I also don't know anything about my father's side of the family for the same reason.

[undeterred]

7. I can't answer this because it oversimplifies cancer.

I have an uncle who was a heavy drinker and smoker and died of throat cancer at age 60. Did he bring it on himself? Yes.

I have another uncle (brother of the first uncle) who lived with prostate cancer for 20 years and died of kidney failure at 85. I don't think he caused his own cancer. I don't know why he got cancer.

My father's sister got breast cancer in her 70's. She used hormone replacement therapy in her 50's. My mother, who did not use hormone replacement therapy, and did not get breast cancer, says that's why my aunt got cancer. :shrug:

My dog got cancer at age 7. I took him to the vet school where they used an experimental biological cure (IL-2) which was injected into the tumor, and it worked. My dog is now 15 and a half and healthy. Interestingly, there were purebred dogs in the study with cancer- their breeding was known going back 5-6 generations and there was no cancer history. My dog was from the pound, parents unknown. The increasing incidence of cancer in domestic animals in the last 15-20 years suggests that there are environmental causes.

[yardwork]

11. Nobody can pinpoint exactly what causes an individual's cancer.

Your father did things that put him at risk for throat cancer, but lots of other people drink and smoke and don't develop throat cancer. Why was your father unlucky? Maybe he was exposed to environmental toxins. Maybe he was genetically more predisposed to cancer than others. Maybe.... The fact is that we don't know.

[undeterred]

12. No, my uncle.

My father was diabetic.

But interestingly, when you go back a generation or so, people look for other reasons. My father was a juvenile diabetic and an atheist. I think he was angry at God for giving him the disease. People needed to blame something or someone for the illness, whereas now we have scientific explanations. I've had migraines for most of my life- to which my mother always says- you didn't get that from us- i.e., we gave you perfect healthy genes! And people who pass on genetic illnesses (especially mental illness or something really debilitating)to their children have a considerable amount of guilt.

My mother blamed me for giving my dog cancer, though, which was really nice of her.

I'm not sure asking why is always such a good idea. :banghead:

[yardwork]

17. I apologize. My father died from liver cancer related to his heavy drinking.

I was thinking about my dad while responding to your post, and wrote "your father" instead of "your uncle."

I agree with you. It's not necessarily helpful to assign blame for a person's illness. On the one hand, I think that my father's early death was a wake-up call to others around him who were drinking heavily. I know that it encouraged at least two other people to stop drinking. On the other hand, very few heavy drinkers develop liver cancer, so my father probably was exposed to something else that helped trigger the illness, very possibly a pesticide that he used that is now banned because of its implication in liver cancer.

One of the cruelest examples of "assigning blame" I've heard is when a coworker's younger brother developed bone cancer as a teenager. Friends of the family said that it was the parents' fault for having too many cookouts!

[Broadslidin]

8. BBC News: 67 studies involving 233,000 people, Vitamins & Premature Death....

Could it be,
The vitamin supplement biz is simply a slick con game?
A rather deadly con game?

A cautious report from the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/7349980.stm

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. My dad had skin cancer

Since he chose to get a sunburn as a child and that led to his cancer, is that considered a choice? :shrug:

[hedgehog]

13. I guess that would have to fit in with life style choices. No one chooses to get cancer.

I'm curious because I think breast cancers and early onset prostate cancers are tied to the background chemical stew we're all exposed to these days. On the other hand, how many breast cancers are tied to HRT?

[magellan]

14. My grandmother had breast cancer back in the 1920s

She had a mastectomy. She also had skin cancer around the same time and chose not to treat. She outlived both doctors who told her she was going to die and lived to 93.

[hermetic]

15. I was the first in my family to get it.

25 years ago. Cured, evidently. Then my mom got it, at 75. Her treatment sent her into Alzheimer's, from which she still suffers. My husband died a few years ago from massive cancer, first one in his family to go that way.

From what I've seen, I'd rather die from cancer than Alzheimer's. And hell, we're all gonna die from something anyway.

[skorpo]

16. Agent Orange

Vietnam

[yardwork]

18. I'm so sorry. Thank you for your service to our country.

[limit18]

19. Lost my father to cancer at 44yrs of age

Lost a sister to cancer at 30 yrs of age
Mother was operated on for cancer,later died of diabetes
Older sister operated on for cancer,now doing fine.
I was operated on for prostate cancer,now doing fine.

[NashVegas]

20. January Article: "Colon Cancer In America Traced To English Couple Arriving In 1630"

http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/colon_cancer_in_america_traced_to_english_couple_arriving_in_1630

A married couple who sailed from England to America around 1630 may be the ancestors of hundreds of people alive today who are at risk for a hereditary form of colon cancer.

Researchers from Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at The University of Utah have discovered a founder mutation—a mutation that has been traced from many individuals in the present-day population back to a common ancestor—which may contribute to a significant percentage of colon cancer cases in the United States.

An article reporting the finding was published today in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

The researchers studied two large families, one in Utah and one in New York, that both carry a specific genetic mutation responsible for increased risk of colorectal cancer. They discovered that the two families share common ancestors—a couple who came to America from England in the 1630s, about the time of the Pilgrims.

[slackmaster]

21. Other - People in my family have gotten cancer due to genetic predisposition

Colorectal cancer runs in my mother's side. I am 50 and have already had two colonoscopies. I'm due for one now.

[El Pinko]

22. I clicked "due to personal choices"

But "have/have had" would have been better than just "have".

My FIL had throat cancer due to heavy smoking.

My dad had several carcinoma removed from his forehead - they were caused by his carelessness about sun exposure.

My grandpa had bone cancer - it killed him at 72 - he was the only close family with serious cancer.

[gollygee]

23. My dad has skin cancer but it's the less serious kind of skin cancer

otherwise no one in my family has had cancer.

But I know a lot of people who are fighting cancer right now.