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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1980-03-27, Page 28page. ASi ociety volunteers not experts but can help If you- choose to work for the Canadian Cancer Society in their fight against cancer, your friends and acquain- tances are sure to. look upon you as an expert'on the subject, They will ply you with questions and it is important that you should be in a position to. ;reply sensibly. - You must not -make up answers, borrowing• medical terms without medical knowledge. What you must de is to speak the simple truth in a matter of fact way with sincerity and un- derstanding. Be serious because cancer is a very serious sU.bject, but da not be mournful. Cancer is not a sentence of death, It is one group of diseases among many. And it is only ignorance and fear which makes men speak of it in a special voice as if It were specially to be feared. You must learn to speak_ of cancer in ,the same tone of voice in which you would speak of any other seriousdisease, truthfully and without fear,, And you must behave -like this not only because it is truthful but because it is also helpful. Many more "people die of cancer which could have been cured, than of cancer for which a cure As members of the education committee" for the Goderich Branch of the Canadian Cancer Society, Joan Hibbert and _LoisMcG�ll_uld ltke.ao- __ rem n everyone of the- seven stepsto health: have a medical and dental check-up; watch for any change in your normal 'state of health; find out about any lump or sore that does not heal; protect yourself against too much sunlight; do not smoke; have a pap test; and do a monthly breast, self- examination. (Photo by Joanne Buchanan) Skin cancer twice as common here now "Melanoma, a rare and serious type of skin cancer, is twice as common in Canada as it was 15 years ago," says Dr. J. M. Elwood, of Vancouver. To find out ' why this is Office location The office of the Huron Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society is located at 7 Albert Street in Clinton (next to Clinton town hall), +++ The newly formed Clinton branch of the Huron Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society will hold a raffle -on a rug hooked by Marg Reynolds as their first fund raising project. so, the four western provinces are co- operating in a study of the disease, thought to be the first of its kind. It is directed by Dr. Elwood, head of the Department of Epidemiology for the Cancer Control Agency of B.C. and is funded by the National Cancer Institute of Canada, through public donations to the Canadian Cancer Society. "We plan to obtain information on the causative factors of melanoma primarily through interviews," says Dr. Elwood. "We want to identify the in- dividual factors which might explain why some people get melanoma and some people don't." Home interviews will be conducted with 750 people who develop melanorina within the has yet to be found. They die because they delay going to see their doctor. They leave it too late. Some delay because they fail to realize that anything serious is -the matter with thein. But ..many more .delay precisely because they fear they have cancer and they promptly abandon all hope. Tragically and mistakenly they hold to the terrifying belief that cancer is usually, or even inevitably, fatal. And it is not. Many cancers are cured. Many more --cancers -ean-be--eured--if- next two years and will range over a variety of questions such as place of birth, occupation, history of illness, diet and use of medical drugs and hormones. Exposure to sunlight will also be studied. A control group of a similar number of people of the same age and sex, representing the general population, alsd-will be. interviewed. The study will require the assistance of the cancer registries in the four western provinces and the date will be analyzed in Vancouver. The study will include a pathology review of all tumors aswell as, sur- vival 'and prognosis records. This part of the investigation is expected to produce information on long term outlook for patients. they are detected and treated in the early stages. Those who delay, therefore, need knowledge and - reassurance. They need to be told, perhaps by you, that there is nothing to be lost and everything to be gained by seeing a doctor at once. If their illness is not even serious then their minds will be put at rest. If it is, then early diagnosis and treatment is their best hope. To state a truth like that, however is not always to convince. You will need to be armed with a basic knowledge of the subject, with facts to support your advice. ....... 'And first,_.yaua.must:he.__ able to answer the simple question; What is can- cer?. You must explain that cancer is not one disease but many. But what is common to all cancers is the uncontrolled behaviour of cells of the body. Normally the cells of the body, divide for a purpose - to promote growth, to repair • damaged parts, to replace worn out cells. Bilt sometimes the' control of this process breaks down. The cells multiply needlessly. They invade adjacent tissues. They emigrate around the body. They multiply in distant organs. And this abnormal'behaviour is cancer. Some canters can be prevented. Some can be cured. Many can be controlled. It is therefore quite wrong to believe that cancer is inevitably fatal. it is not. And if it can be detected and treated before it travels round the body, then there is a greater chance of cure. That is why it is so important to see a doctor at once. Delay can mean needless death. To speak the truth about cancer, therefore, is to contribute not only to knowledge but to life, In QM nous. us e sen - taking part in the Cancer sible.R I,et the .content Of Society's program, that is your message b e its own the measure of the messenger, responsibility which you Once you have recited have accepted. the Seven Steps to Health "' And ifou succeed in. and repeated the advice - getting the the when in doubt see across-- the sooner the doctor you can turn to treatment for cancer.. :But better -- "then you are is medical territory bound to be asked: How_ , do people know if they 1 1 d 't ' f 1 have a cancer? Will it, for instance, hurt? The answer here is that pain comes late in most. forms of cancer. You have to look for other. symptoms and there is no such thing as a specific exc usive y an o ly to.venture too far into it. Instead, content yourself with explaining • that there- are essentially three methods of treating cancer - surgery, radiotherapy and drugs. The first two seek to -; cure. Sur-g,er�,remoyes,, •.•-.syr�rpten�-whie�r-•-&1•�a3�-s ,-.�-----�-. a. means cancer. The warning signs of cancer can also be those of trivial complaints. And that is your dilemma, THE SEVEN STEPS TO HEALTH Volunteer workers in cancer used to be taught to emphasize that any persistent departure from normal. health should be examined by a doctor And that is ex- cellent advice. Then to recite a list of seven warning signs, explaining that the seven are most likely not to, signify cancer but that they do call for immediate medical advice. abnormal cells; radiotherapy (X-rays, Cobalt, Radium, Linear Accelerator, , Betatron, Cesium, etc.) destroys. them. Both methods work. Some cases should be treated only with surgery; some only by radiotherapy; some by both. Between them the - surgeon and the ,radiotherapist cure people of cancer every The seven signs listed Drugs are used more to hoarseness, bleeding, lumps and a persistent cough. But the recital of them to unprefiared listeners contributed to -their fear and' en- couraged delay rather than prompting action. So instead -volunteer workers were taught a seven safeguards ex- plaining what preventive measures healthy people could take to reduce the probability of cancer. But this recitatkon too often fell on deaf ears, a victim -of-the indifference of the healthy. Somehow a bridge had to be built between the hope of early diagnosis and treatment and the even greater hope of prevention. And between them _doctors and volunfe'er workers have produced such a bridge which they have called the Seven Steys to Health. In them you will detect some mention both of the symptoms of cancer and the means of prevention. The recital of this list is the trickiest part of your exercise. You have moved from the scientific to the clinical, from cells to people. It is therefore -essential to be neither flippant nor lengtlenlife than to cure. They relieve the *symp- toms. There is' no one wonder 'drug effective against all cancer, no cancer is not one disease but many. But there are many drugs' which ease the patient and arrest the cancer. And every day physicians report in- creasing success in this chemotherapy (drugs) to. cancer. The future may indeed belong to it and to Immunotherapy (im- munizing against cancer) in which the results so far are wholly encouraging. It will not belong to the cranks and the quacks. Cancer has its charlatans like every other field of medicine. They claim high rates of cure without offering sufficient evidence to corroborate those claims. Be cautious in discussing them. Advise those who seek your advice' to see a doctor of prOven professional ability. You can exercise your freedom of mind in exorcising myths. In response to the ragbag of' folklore, you can point out that cancer is not in - This informative publication'is brought to you with the kind co-operation of the following LAKEPORT STEEL INDUSTRIES LTD. GODERICH HANOVER STEEL & PIPE SUPPLY RR 3 HANOVER -189 South St., GODERICH ELECTRIC Goderich 524-9512 RIECK PHARMACY 14 THE SQUARE GODERICH