A cancer story on the news always makes me stop and listen. I think it's because I'm hoping for that cure-all breakthrough. The one thing that will stop all cancers in their tracks. I know that's highly unlikely but that's the nature of the disease. And the cancer charities know it.
In truth, heart disease kills more people than all the cancers together. And it's not always treatable either and it can kill faster than cancer, too. The British Heart Foundation does fantastic work promoting healthy lifestyles and funding research, but it's clear that the media find that cancer survivor stories sell newspapers.
I'm torn here, as my recent research career has been in cardiovascular disease and I'm married to a cardiologist. But, my Mother died of small cell lung cancer, an aggressive disease, the treatment of which has not changed in twenty years. The prognosis for this type of cancer is six to eight months, Mom died after nine months.
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| Well-being is ... watching waves wash up the beach, Ka'anapali, Lesley Beeton |
So, in answer to my question, I think cancer makes headlines because we fear it. We fear the treatment, the long journey back to well-ness. We fear losing our hair, being ill, not knowing who we are any more.
And strangely, heart disease is less feared. Treatments and interventions have come on in leaps and bounds. Doctors seems to perform miracles with diseased heart muscle. And when medicine cannot help after a heart attack, we can say 'At least our loved one went quickly and didn't suffer'.
There are two other points to make before I end. First, many cancer patients also have complicated heart and/or other medical conditions which must be managed throughout the treatment for cancer. Secondly, cancer treatments can cause heart disease, although many are temporary and reversible.
Remember your heart health, live a balanced healthy lifestyle, understand how your family history of heart disease can affect you (I have blogged here on this too). Because heart disease is not just an old man's disease.