More People Living Longer After Cancer Diagnosis

Advances in prevention, detection and treatment offer encouragement for people with cancer; Allsup honors cancer survivors by celebrating Cancer Awareness Month in November

Belleville, Ill. (PRWEB) November 7, 2008 -- Advances in treatment and prevention of cancer offer significant encouragement for people with cancer and their families, according to Allsup (http://www.allsupcares.com/?=PC3), a national Social Security Disability Insurance representation company, that is helping raise awareness by observing Cancer Awareness Month in November.

Cancer affects a wide range of the human body's systems and structures (http://www.allsupcares.com/Medical-Listings.aspx?=PC3), and the treatment costs continue to rise, according to the National Cancer Institute, which issues a Cancer Trends Progress Report (http://progressreport.cancer.gov/) every two years. Cancer treatment costs reached $72 billion in 2004, making up about 4.7 percent of total personal healthcare costs in the United States.

But the rate of cancer incidence has declined since the early 1990s, the NCI said. Though the incidence rates of specific types of cancer--liver, pancreas, kidney, esophagus and thyroid--are rising, according to the most recent report published last December.

In addition, cancer survival rates are improving. More people are living five years or longer after diagnosis. In 2004, nearly 10.8 million Americans were alive who had been diagnosed with cancer, the NCI reported. Of those, about 6 percent were longer-term survivors who had been diagnosed at least 29 years earlier. The Healthy People 2010 project, a national consortium, aims to increase the proportion of cancer survivors who are living five years or longer after diagnosis to 70 percent. NCI data shows (http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/all.html) that the five-year survival rate for all types of cancer was 65.3 percent for the time period 1996-2004. In comparison, the five-year survival rate was 59 percent for the time period 1989-95, according to Healthy People 2010.

Working people who are diagnosed with cancer face difficult decisions on a variety of issues, including their treatment choices; how to tell their families, friends and employers; and whether to continue working. Allsup salutes the efforts of those who provide education and information on prevention, early detection and treatment to millions of people. Organizations work at all levels nationwide to educate and inform people with the information they need to make key decisions for the good of their personal health and future.

Help observe Cancer Awareness Month and provide tribute to the thousands of cancer survivors by contacting Allsup for free posters. Healthcare facilities, clinics, medical professionals and other community groups are welcome to call Karen Hercules-Doerr at (800) 854-1418, ext. 5770.

Free posters:    

Allsup    

Karen Hercules-Doerr    

(800) 854-1418, ext. 5770        

k.hercules-doerr@allsupinc.com

www.allsupcares.com

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