World Cancer Day is observed globally and helps raise awareness about preventing, detecting and treating the disease.
Especially on this day, everyone involved in fighting cancer and the associated pain, resolve to make this world a better place.
We express our solidarity with patients of this “life limiting illness.” On this day the world becomes one and launches a united and concerted attack against a disease that is taking on the form of a global epidemic.
World Cancer Day 2012 is particularly important as it falls about six months after the first UN high level meeting on Non - Communicable Diseases, and the signing of the political declaration supporting prevention and control of these devastating conditions, including cancer.
This year’s world cancer day has been themed “Together it is possible.” Only by the collective efforts of every person, hospital, organisation, governments, and civil society that the world would be able to reduce premature cancer and other NCD deaths by 25 per cent by 2025.
Cancer is the uncontrolled division of cells in the body. Any part of the body and any organ for that matter is vulnerable. Normally, the division of every cell is regulated for proper development and functioning. When cells loose this control, repeated division leads to a mass of abnormal cells called a “tumour” in layman’s terms.
A tumour does not perform any function in the body, instead as it grows it obstructs passages and pushes tissues and organs around it drawing their nutrients and obstructing their vital function causing symptoms such as pain.
Unless its growth is arrested early enough, it has the potential to wreak havoc locally or in distant organs. The process is called a “metastasis” or a “secondary” as distinct from a “primary” which is the site of origin.
The rule of thirds says that we can prevent a third of all cancers, cure a third and unfortunately, in a third, we are constrained to focus on quality of life as we may fail to improve on the quantity.
Dr Cherian Koshy is the Additional Professor and Head of the Division of Palliative Medicine, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum; cherianrcc@gmail.com.
