People do all sorts of things to "be healthy". That's great, if they are doing it to have a better life. But I get the impression some are doing it in an attempt to overcome death.
I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
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Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#32I recall a study that estimated ~2/3rds of all cancers are due to uncontrollable factors outside of lifestyle choices - genetics, random mutations, etc.
That's me and my experience with testicular cancer. No known causes, no family history, no risk factors other than being a white male. I was even outside the typical age range.
Sometimes life just kicks you in the nuts. Literally in my case :-)
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#33Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…
Maybe too specific, but a better ventilation while soldering and 3D printing is also a good idea.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#34There is some research that links flight attendants to higher rates of cancer, especially breast cancer and skin cancer:
https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-examines-cancer-rat...
It seems that the title claims this person was healthy, but apparently also in a higher-risk occupation. Cannot say how much the occupation influence things, looking at the article probably very little, but I think it's relevant to mention it.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#35I recall a study that estimated ~2/3rds of all cancers are due to uncontrollable factors outside of lifestyle choices - genetics, random mutations, etc.
Being in control of the other third is fairly significant... Seems almost too significant?
We're on HN, so I hope to pull on technicality and not get _completely_ bashed ;-)
OP mentioned (and I didn't check) that 2/3 of incidents are non-controllable, and not that we can't control 2/3 of causes, that's completely different. I'm going to naïvely assume that it's much harder to have a clean slate (no meat, no pollution etc., healthy lifestyle etc.) than to live in carcinogenic to some degree environment.
As a thought exercise I'm assuming (completely sucked out of the finger) numbers in which 95% of population lives in carcinogenic environment and 5% has a clean slate. 2/3 cases being uncontrolled in such heavily swayed population would pretty much make any control pointless. If I remember correctly there's a method for calculating this, but I long forgot it. For comparison regarding chance perception "casino always wins" relates to a 1-5% house edge on games, and here we're talking about potential 33.3%.
Current knowledge is that human body consist of dozens trillions of cells which regenerate on variable rate (some couple days, some couple years). There's quite a lot of times where chance can go sideways and spawn something you don't want.
Those numbers are completely offtopic and without any base whatsoever (and once again, I didn't verify OPs claims). Spiraled on numbers :)
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#36I recall a study that estimated ~2/3rds of all cancers are due to uncontrollable factors outside of lifestyle choices - genetics, random mutations, etc.
Being in control of the other third is fairly significant... Seems almost too significant?
That includes things like smoking and lung cancer.
So yes, if you stop smoking you can have a significant impact on your chances of getting cancer.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#37I remember reading once that if humans didn’t die of old age, on average something like 99% of all people would get cancer by the time they were ~2,000 years old.
That's a very promising statistic! I'd have also believed it if the 99% mark was pinned around ~200 years old instead of ~2000. As a sort of hard cap on longevity, 2000 is quite a decent lifespan :-)
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#38Does anyone here looked into what checkups need to do yearly? I looked around, and each doctor seems to give different advice
It’s a good question. It would be nice to see a list kind of like a vehicle maintenance schedule.
I know it depends on age, gender, other risk factors, and how much money you have to pay for “optional” testing.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#39Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…
My sincere admiration for the author's strength in the face of this terrible hardship.
A person can also avoid cancer by choosing a career that is not cancer-inducing. Given the author's cabin crew history:
3.4% of female flight attendants reported having had breast cancer compared with 2.3% of women in the general population group
2.2% of female flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared with 0.98% of women in the general population group
1.2% of male flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared with 0.69% of men in the general population group
7.4% of female flight attendants reported having had non-melanoma skin cancer compared with 1.8% of women in the general population group
3.2% of male flight attendants reported having had non-melanoma skin cancer compared with 2.9% of men in the general population group
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#40> As cliché as it may sound, health really is wealth. All the money in the world can’t buy you perfect health
Sometimes I feel mortality and health issues are a good reality check for the super rich who think their money can buy everything in the capitalist world.
Cancer is often random, just like how it was random that she married a guy who went on to become a billionaire. You can't have everything in life.