How Many People You've Known who have Died from Cancer

[Mike 03]

Poll question: How Many People You've Known who have Died from Cancer

Also, just to state in advance, my heart goes out to you, no matter what your situation is. And you may know individuals who currently have--but have not perished from--cancer. And I am always optimistic about future developments that can prevent such deaths.

I had wanted to figure out some way to work the age of the respondent into the poll, but could not figure out a way to implement that.

Thank you for participating.

[snappyturtle]

1. I voted 'Six' but I'm 61 years old so it stands to reason that I would

know of more deaths.

[quiller4]

47. You have 3 years on me but I voted six as well. n/t

[Critters2]

2. Because of my vocation, I've known many, but the two most difficult

were in my family: my mother, who died of a brain tumor 4 years ago; and my cousin/friend, who died of testicular cancer when we were both 30.

[stillcool]

3. gosh..I don't know..

My mom died when I was a year old, and it just kept going from there. In that family alone there must be at least 6. Irish Catholics with huge families. You add on friends and acquaintances..it gets up there.

[LWolf]

4. 3.

My first husband; an inoperable brain tumor. He was 46.
A colleage, breast cancer, 38.
A beloved aunt, in her 50s. Ovarian cancer.

[SidDithers]

5. My wife and one of our closest friends...

are both cancer survivors, and are just 40 years old.

I much prefer the happy endings :)

Sid

[uppityperson]

6. 6, but am mid 50's and worked yrs nursing. Personally though, know 8

Personally, not from work, 8. At work? Many.

[Solly Mack]

7. I'm on the 50 side of 40...6 or more (many more)

[Odin2005]

8. Both of my grandfathers, both lung cancer. I have a cousin who survived breast cancer.

[H2O Man]

9. Way more than 6.

Way, way more.

[dustbunnie]

10. If you count all the people you get to know while a friend/family member is dying -

many.

If this is about your dad, let him go. Why do you want to know this... just curious?

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. Six

Best friend's father - Lung cancer

Great Aunt - Breast cancer

Aunt - Bone cancer

Friend's sister - Brain cancer

Two former classmates (from different schools) - Leukemia


With the exception of my great aunt, all of these folks were relatively young adults (aged 20 to 45).

[BlooInBloo]

12. Damn near all of my dead family was the cancer.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

13. On the day I was brought home from the hospital,

a newborn, my thirteen-year-old uncle, on his birthday, an osteosarcoma patient who had had a leg amputated, waited to see the new baby. He said, in Italian, how pretty she was.

And he died later that day.

One of the boys I grew up with was diagnosed with the same disease when he was a senior in high school. Died a year later.

My best friend's husband, a wonderful guy, was feeling punk, went to the doctor, was dead a week later - acute leukemia.

I've known people who have died from every damn form of that fucking disease. I've watched patients - my friend's elderly aunt - who was suffering from Alzheimer's, in a facility, was diagnosed with breast cancer, and they went ahead and did a mastectomy. I couldn't believe that. I still don't. She died not long after that, in pain that hadn't been there before.

Since I have little regard for the medical establishment in this country - they're not that nuts about me, either, being an attorney - I would probably opt out of treatment if I found out I had cancer of a kind that didn't have a very good cure rate. I have no desire to be anyone's guinea pig, not at the cost of my final days.

Give me painkillers, and I'll take care of the rest...................

[dgibby]

32. I'm with you on that.

[Maru Kitteh]

14. Only one, and he worked very hard at it. Earned it with 3+ packs a day.

[blaze]

15. Three that I was very close with

Grade school gal pal, ovarian cancer at 32
Grade school gal pal, breast cancer 40
Love of my life, esophageal cancer 63

Many others not so close

[JohnnyLib2]

16. In my 60s, answered over 6. BUT,

we know many survivors, including my wife (24 years).

[maddezmom]

17. over 6 and I'm 44

soon to be 45, and none in my immediate family.

[Richard D]

18. Over 6

including my mother and several good friends. Oddly enough I never knew anyone who had died from it till I was an adult, like in my 30's.

[tularetom]

19. My mom who smoked 2 packs a day for 50 years is the only one in my family

but I'm in my late 60's so I probably know 50 people who have died from cancer.

[Buck Laser]

20. I've lost track.

But I'm nearly 74. What I am happy about is that I'm a two-time cancer survivor. I had colon cancer when I was 40, and leukemia when I was 69. More than four years in remission with no sign of relapse. I am a very good bullet dodger, having survived heart attacks, diabetes, several minor skin cancers, and kidney failure. Some people just seem to have all the luck.

[TheCowsCameHome]

21. Way more than 6.

[w8liftinglady]

22. I'm 49-more than 6

I just lost my dad before Christmas to Pancreatic cancer.It was fast,and he had excellent hospice care.I've lost 2 friends to colon cancer,2 friends to breast cancer,and one friend with a brain tumor.I had 2 friends who lost children to leukemia.
As a nurse,I live in an area with a higher than normal rate of cancer.

[armyowalgreens]

23. I only know like 1 or 2 but I'm also only 19.

[Riley18]

24. My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer and died the same month. My

grandmother died of breast cancer and she died within the year. The other person was an aunt who was being treated for indigestion and it was really cancer. She died within the year of correct diagnosis.

[mucifer]

25. Lots, but I'm a hospice nurse. I see mostly pediatric patients.

[Beaverhausen]

43. You are an angel. I don't know how you can do that work

Just had experience with hospice care last week with my fiance's uncle- only had hospice for a day and a half before he passed away, but they were wonderful.

[Buzz Clik]

26. I passed the highest level on your chart before I was 20.

The first cancer victim I knew well died when I was 5 years old. A friend died of cancer when I was 8. When you start piling in grandparents, my dad, and colleagues, then number is way off your chart.

[Laelth]

27. 5. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Arugula Latte]

28. It seems like almost everybody on the street I grew up on eventually developed cancer.

Okay, not everybody, but a significant portion. I always wonder if there was something in the environment there.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

29. 4 and I'm 43 and 3 are relatives

This is wierd, because I've never thought about it. My aunt died in her 50s, my pops in his 60s and his dad in his 80s. Then a friend died, she was 35.

[Skittles]

30. just one and I am 52

uncle died from prostate cancer

but I've helped many, many cancer patients via platelet donatations

[eilen]

31. Way more than 6

but I was an oncology/hematology nurse for 10 years. Add in family and living in an area that seems to have a higher than average rate... it adds up very quickly.

I know many survivors as well. My best friend is currently battling breast cancer-- her way.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[ellenfl]

34. i think you should have asked who died of something other than cancer.

i think we have so poisoned our environment that most of us will get cancer.

look at all the pancreatic cancer deaths lately. that used to be a rare cancer but we have eaten our way to an increase of it. imo, the pancreatic cancer increase is all about the crap food we eat . . . in addition to the toxins we ingest from the water and air. we can thank the de-regulators for that.

ellen fl

[Muttocracy]

35. cancer is bound to go up with increasing lifespans and environmental causes

Cancer correlates with age; DNA copying isn't perfect, and environmental onslaughts increase with individual age and society's creativity with chemicals.

Personally, 2 come to mind immediately; I'm pretty sure more with extended family but I've been quite lucky not to have many people close to me die.

[iris27]

36. I voted 2, but then just kept remembering people.

I am 27, and have known 5 people who died from cancer, assuming I don't remember more people.

My uncle - brain cancer, mid-40's.

My grandma - pancreatic cancer at 64...misdiagnosed as diabetes for years; she died within 6 months of the correct diagnosis.

Husband's grandfather - also pancreatic cancer, 74. Technically died from complications from his tumor-removal surgery - he threw a clot to his brain less than 12 hours after the surgery.

Great-aunt: bone cancer, 63.

Great-uncle: colon cancer, mid-70s.





But I also know just several survivors, and that gives me hope:

Another great-aunt, who lost both her ovaries to cancer when she was only 16, but is alive and well in her late 60s today.

My sister-in-law's dad (brother's wife's dad) had colon cancer when she was a little kid, but he has been cancer-free for over 15 years.

My former pastor and his oldest son also had and beat colon cancer...these three guys like to joke that they have one full, working colon between them.

[ShadowLiberal]

37. Only one, my grandfather

My older brother also once had cancer, but he's been cured of it successfully after 3 years of treatment.

My grandfaster's cancer was a rarer kind in America, I think it may have been cancer of the throat, or maybe lung cancer? Something like that. It was a really sad few months for my grandmother especially, because just 2 months before her husband died her son just dropped dead in bed one night, and we never learned why he died, the autopsy didn't really show anything useful.

Oh and since you want my age, I'm 23, and my grandfather died like 7 years ago on new years eve.

[csziggy]

38. I voted five but that is how many I can name right now

Three family members, two friends. There could easily be more - I know someone who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but I have not seen an obit for him so he's probably still around. He is a business acquaintance so I would not be notified if he wasn't.

Family: great aunt - stomach cancer; sister - brain cancer; brother-in-law - pancreatic cancer.
Friends - both leukemia.

[proteus_lives]

39. Two, my Mother's parents.

I was in the room when my Grandfather passed. It will always be one of the most powerful experiences of my life.

[DatManFromNawlins]

40. Er... voted 2, should be 3....

My grandfather died of spinal cancer because he kept going to the same country bumpkin doctor who kept telling him he had a strained neck until it was too late. He had cancer for almost a decade before it took him, and until his final 2 years (in his 80s) he took my grandmother out for a night of food and dancing every weekend.

My neighbor died of T-cell lymphoma, largely because she was taking another drug at the time that masked the obvious symptoms. That, and she refused to tell the doctor of her fatigue and just generally not feeling well until her husband did it for her, at which time they learned she was already in stage 4 and terminal.

And I had a college professor who I forgot about who was already on his last lung, but still smoked like a chimney, contracted cancer in his remaining lung, and passed away during a semester (he was literally teaching up until the last 48 hours of his life). I think, though, that more than anything he was simply tired and lonely and wanted more than anything to be with his wife who had already passed on.

[Hepburn]

41. Easily more than 6 people ~~ I am 60 years old. n/t

[Beaverhausen]

42. My fiance's uncle died last wednesday

He was diagnosed 3 1/2 years ago and told he had 3 years to live. He got chemo, fought hard and kept up an active life. Week before last found out the cancer had spread to his lungs.

I think he decided enough was enough, and he went pretty fast. He is no longer in pain. RIP Uncle Gene.

That makes more than 6 for me.

[mn9driver]

44. I estimate that my relatives and friends who have died

have died from some kind of cancer at a ratio of about 4 to 1 over other causes.

[Aristus]

45. More than six, including my father, who died of pancreatic cancer one week ago today.

Let's find a cure, people...

[PDJane]

46. seven in the past year,

and three young women from Costa Rica with the same kind and type of uterine cancer, who are living with the possibility of recurrence. They came here from the same area at the same time and lived together in the same place when they moved here. Seems a bit more than an accident or coincidence.

[Vinca]

48. More people than I can remember, starting with my mother when I was 8.