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CANCER: The Cause. The cost. The cure.

Progress slow in War on Cancer

Fatality rates from cancer - 2009 estimates

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Information about the various costs associated with the treatment of cancer

Study sees minorities, seniors most affected

By Tiffany Y. Latta, Staff Writer Updated 3:32 PM Sunday, October 18, 2009

Editor’s note: This is part of a monthlong series on the battle against cancer.

Erma Fee’s small frame fits easily into the beige recliner in the cancer care unit at Mercy Hospital Farfield.

She’s comfortable, chatting with a man seated next to her about the chocolate cake his wife brought in and the recipe.

Fee, 64, would rather be elsewhere, but she’s among seven others seated in the cancer unit with chemotherapy coursing through her veins to fight advanced colon cancer.

“I had so many warning signs,” said Fee of Mason, who was at stage IV when she was diagnosed. “It was so foolish of me to not have it taken care of, but I had talked myself into thinking that it wasn’t (cancer).”

Fee is among the 1.5 million Americans who will be diagnosed with cancer this year.

Fueled by an aging, more diverse population, the number of new cancer cases in the United States will increase by 45 percent over the next 20 years, according to recent studies.

A University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center study projects 2.3 million cases in 2030, up from 1.6 million in 2010. The number of cases among minorities will double and among seniors will increase 67 percent.

Those are sobering numbers for Butler County, which already has the state’s 36th highest rate of cancer (out of 88 counties). There were 233 cancer deaths reported by the Butler County Health Department in 2008 up from 171 in 2000.

Cancer deaths in Middletown reached their highest level since 2002 with 131, and Hamilton saw a decrease in the number of cancer deaths at 110.

Fee, who has had a her colon removed and now has a colostomy bag, kicks herself for not being proactive.

She has a family history of cancer: Her mother had lung cancer, her sister had breast cancer, her grandfather had colon cancer and an uncle had prostate cancer. All of them died of the disease.

“When they (say) it’s cancer … you feel so afraid,” Fee said. “You don’t sleep a wink that night.

“I feel like anybody can have cancer,” she said. “The thing is, you have to figure out how to live with it."

Cure eludes researchers, but therapies, medicines have improved

Michael Wethington lay on the table with his eyes wide open.

The 61-year-old Middletown man in the dimly lit room was dwarfed by the hulking machine aimed at three circled targets on his bare torso.

The targets were where medical staff at Mercy Hospital Fairfield blasted Wethington daily for weeks with radiation in hopes of shrinking advanced inoperable lung cancer discovered in April.

“At first, I have to admit that it put me down. But after that I thought, ‘I got it and there’s nothing I can do about it so I’m just going to do what they say I need to do,’ ” said Wethington.

The married father of three and grandfather of five urged his family to adopt the same mindset.

“I told them if I live a year, if I don’t live a year, that’s what it’s gonna be,’’ Wethington said. “I’m here today. I may be gone tomorrow.’’

He is one of the estimated 1.5 million Americans to be diagnosed with cancer this year.

Despite President Richard Nixon declaring War on Cancer in 1971, the number of new cancer cases in the United States is expected to increase by 45 percent over the next 20 years. The impact on cancer mortality rates has been minimal.

From 1975-2006, cancer death rates dropped just 9 percent nationwide; 1.1 percent in Ohio; and 2.1 percent in Butler County, according to the National Cancer Institute.

There were 233 cancer deaths reported by the Butler County Health Department in 2008 up from 171 in 2000.

Cancer deaths in Middletown reached their highest level since 2002 with 131, and Hamilton saw a decrease in the number of cancer deaths at 110.

“When you look at the numbers at the global or national level they aren’t very impressive,’’ said Dr. George Atweh, director of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at University Hospital.

But Atweh is quick to point out that since cancer deaths peaked in the early 1990s, mortality rates have dropped 1 percent to nearly 2 percent annually.

While “a 1 percent decline (in mortality rates) per year seems small, it adds up, especially if you’re one of the (650,000 people) whose life was saved.’’

Still, the numbers don’t tell the full story, area doctors said.

In the last 20 years, significant progress and even “cures’’ have been seen in rare cancers that impact a few such as some cases of leukemia, including chronic myelogenous leukemia, a disease in which the bone marrow makes too many white blood cells, Atweh said.

However, these small gains get overshadowed, he said, because scientists haven’t hit a “home run” in common cancers such as lung cancer.

“Every now and then you can get a home run like in the situation of chronic myelogenous leukemia. That can be classified as a home run and overnight you can make such an impact on a disease where as it used to be fatal in 80 percent of cases, now just 8 percent of cases.’’

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Cancer Facts

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells.

Q: Are all growths or tumors cancerous?

A: No. A tumor can be either benign (noncancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumors do not metastasize (spread) to other parts of the body and, with very rare exceptions, are not life-threatening.

Q: Who is at risk of developing cancer?

A: Everyone. Anyone can develop cancer, but risk increases with age. About 77 percent of all cancers are diagnosed at age 55 and older.

Q: What percentage of people survive cancer?

A: The five-year survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 1996 and 2004 is 66 percent, up from 50 percent in 1975-77.

Q: Can cancers be found early?

A: Yes. Regular screenings can help detect cancers of the breast; colon; rectum; cervix; prostate; testis; oral cavity and pharynx; and skin at early stages, when treatment is more likely to be successful.

Q: How is cancer treated?

A: There are four main ways:

Chemotherapy: Anticancer drugs injected into a vein or taken by mouth.
Immunotherapy: Also known as biologic therapy, stimulates the cancer patient’s immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells.
Radiation: High energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells or slow their rate of growth.
Surgery: Removes the cancerous tumor by cutting it out.

— Source: American Cancer Society

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