But even with cancers still considered incurable, proper therapy often yields tremendous benefits. Treatment can add months or years to a reasonably normal life. It can also greatly improve the quality of your life by relieving pain or ensuring the relatively normal functioning of your body processes. Many people live a normal life span with chronic cancer before succumbing to some other disease.
Unfortunately, far too many people still think a cancer diagnosis is a death sentence. Far too many take the attitude that if it can't be cured there's no point in undergoing treatment. What is even more unfortunate is that this attitude is found not only among people with cancer and the lay public but within the medical community.
In many cases, cancer truly is an incurable disease. But it's not the only one. Diabetes and heart disease can't be cured, but they can be treated on an ongoing basis. They're treated all the time. Few people take the "why bother?" attitude with either of them. Why? Because they know both can be managed day by day and that people with either disease can lead long, active and productive lives. The same can be true for cancer patients.
The key to getting the chance for cure or successful management is getting the best treatment as soon as possible after your diagnosis. What that treatment is, you will have to help decide. Yes, you should rely on experts with training and experience in fighting cancer. But it's your life on the line, and ultimately, the decisions must be yours. And you will have to base those decisions on a detailed analysis of your disease and the recommendations of your primary physician or cancer specialist.
