The Cure for Cancer

When I was a young boy, my father took me into the bank to meet his bank manager. We shook hands after he had introduced me and then we sat down. After my father was finished with his business, he turned to me and asked me, "Well, Chuckie, how much should we give to Terry today?" Of course, we were talking about Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope to find a cure for cancer.
"Well, Terry wanted every Canadian to donate a dollar and that would raise 26 million dollars for cancer research. So I guess we should give 2 dollars" I said.

My dad turned to me and said, "Well, we'll give him 10 dollars to make up for some people that can’t afford to give some"

I didn't really understand why my dad did this. But, as a young man, my father lost his mother to cancer and he saw how it decimated not only her body, but worse, her spirit. We watched this another 3 times through the course of my life as each one of my grandparents lost their respective battles with this terrible disease. Cancer seems to run in my family genes, and to watch a loved one succumb to it is something I truly wouldn't wish on anyone.

Well Terry Fox, the brave young man that he was, lost his battle with cancer almost 30 years ago. And every year, there is the annual Terry Fox run to help find the cure for cancer. To date, they say that Terry Fox's name has raised more than 500 Million dollars for cancer research. That's a half BILLION Dollars!! And that's just from Terry Fox. That's not including Breast Cancer or the other many types of cancer out there and certainly not including the government grants and other monies raised.

So that raises an issue to contend with. With all of this money raised, you can't tell me that we are nowhere nearer a cure to Cancer than when Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope run almost 30 years ago.

Now, I'm quite sure that there are many difficulties in finding this cure, but I can tell you something that doesn't sit well with me. We can put a man on the moon several times and bring him back safely but we can't cure a disease like cancer.

Now, to put a man on the moon required inventing countless products that previously didn't exist. It was "the" triumph achievement of what the Human Spirit could accomplish when he put his mind to it. So why can't we do the same with Cancer, Aids, or any other horrible disease?

I'll tell you why.

Because there's no money in finding a cure for Cancer. -Only in TREATING cancer.

They are no closer to finding a cure for Cancer, because they aren't trying to cure it!!

They are simply trying to treat it because it is a TRILLION Dollar worldwide business. So why would you try to cure something that carries that kind of weight in money? Sure, you can find better ways to diagnose it, and get it earlier in the process, and hopefully that will save you time where previous generations lost that battle early on. But no cure.

Sorry.

Does this surprise you? It shouldn't...You've grown up knowing at least one person be killed off by cancer. Doesn't it alarm you that other areas in our lifestyles have gotten so much easier and better, and yet the world of Cancer hasn't? Sure, it LOOKS better from what it did 30 years ago, but then again, what doesn't? They have to make it look like they are carrying on the good fight.

But what if the public demanded to know where all of this research money was being allocated and what they were doing to fight and cure cancer? My guess is, you wouldn't get very far.

But what if we took it one more step and called for answers and nobody would raise more money for cancer research unless we got it? Well then, now you've got something!! Take away the fund raising until there are suitable answers and accountability is forthcoming.

But this will never happen.

The world of money rules ever more, and cancer is BIG business. And it's always pretty funny how big business seems to overcome all the odds to STAY in business.

I'm just glad that Terry Fox isn't alive right now to see that all of his hard work may have saved lives that previously would've been lost, but that the cure still isn't out there because they aren't looking for one.