• Question: my Grandad has recently bewen told he has cancer, will it ever be cured?

    Asked by hannahplik to Ed, Katie, Sam, Steve, Vera on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ed Morrison

      Ed Morrison answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I’m very sorry to hear that. Cancer affects many people, and lots of them do get better. Scientists are working very hard to come up with cures for cancer. Treatment has improved a lot over the past few decades, so hopefully in the future we can cure it once and for all.

    • Photo: Steven Daly

      Steven Daly answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      That is horrible news for anyone to have to hear. I think it will be cured eventually, but it is a comples disease that can have many different causes. The problem is that because it is your own cells that cause it, it is hard to find something that kills only cancer cells.

    • Photo: Vera Weisbecker

      Vera Weisbecker answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Like the others say, it is a horrible disease and it affects many people (1 in 4 of us will get it, in some form, at some point in our life!): There are many types of cancer, some of which have very good chances of curing and some none at all – there are also some that with the right treatment you can live with for a long time, particularly when you are older and your cells don’t divide so quickly..

Comments

  • Photo: Katie

    Katie commented on :

    I’m sorry to hear this too.

    Cancer is a name given to lots of different diseases. Although they are all difficult to treat, some are easier than other depending on what type of treatment you use. As Steve says it is difficult to kill just the cancer cells. This is one area of science that is really weel funded with lots of scientists working on finding new treatments and hopefully one day a cure.

  • Photo: chelss

    chelss commented on :

    i think i heard something on the news about this, saying that they are going to test it in about 3years time apparently, but who knows, theres alot of clever people out there and im sure they will find a way soon, hopefullly because 1 in 4 people is very high 🙁

    • Photo: Vera

      Vera commented on :

      That sounds good, I really hope that test will come out soon too! In the meanwhile there is also a lot we can do to avoid some kinds of cancer – the biggest causes are smoking and alcohol, but to lower your risk you can do things like exercise, keep a normal weight, and eat food that hasn’t got a zillion artificial additives in it. And once you get older, go to regular check-ups.