World Cancer Day 2020

Today we celebrate World Cancer Day a memorable day born on February 4th, 2000 at the World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium in Paris. World Cancer Day is an international day marked to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. This event takes place every year ever since, and the world officially unites under a single initiative to fight against this global epidemic.

The idea behind this date is to help save millions by promoting awareness, early detection, and precise treatment. Common efforts to achieve these goals are specific targeted activities such as “Run for the Cure, Pharma Precision Testings, Action Tool Kits (posters, videos, fact-sheets) Governments, and Cities participation, Social Media Advocacy, Students, Schools, and Libraries toolkits, Business and Workplace toolkits, and the list goes on. Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide behind cardiovascular disease. According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2015 Study, which was conducted as part of a comprehensive regional and global research program assessing the mortality and disability caused by major diseases, injuries, and risk factors and involving over 500 researchers representing over 300 institutions and 50 countries, cancer mortality decreased between 2005 and 2015 despite the global incidence rates of cancer increasing during this period. However, improvements in cancer survival rates due to the use of precision medicine or immunotherapy have mainly occurred in high-income countries, whereas in low-income countries cancer prevention, education, and access to cancer screening tests as well as cancer treatment are inadequate. This last part is very accurate as I have personally witnessed it myself in my most recent visit to Peru.

According to the CDC, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) between 2010 and 2020, we expect the number of new cancer cases in the United States to go up about 24% in men to more than 1 million cases per year, and by about 21% in women to more than 900,000 cases per year. Also, the number of cancer survivors is expected to go up from about 11.7 million in 2007 to 18 million by 2020. While the world unites and joins forces to prevent and treat cancer, the facts based on research above indicate that cancer mortality may have diminished however cancer incidents have been on the rise. Why? I wonder. Do you?

If you are reading this blog post, chances are that you or someone you know has been touched by this repelling disease. It’s likely that just like me, you are probably looking to find answers that will empower you to make educated choices to help you or a loved one heal. Keeping in my mind that “World Cancer Day” targets to focus on prevention and effective treatment, I wonder how come these organizations don’t talk about lifestyle as prevention vs screening. How come we don’t include nutrition, physical activity, emotional and spiritual healing as additional healing protocols? Why is it I wonder these organizations highly supportive by big pharma only focus on screenings and conventional protocols to deal with cancer vs finding the root cause when clearly research shows cancer is on the rise and it is a very concerning epidemic worldwide?

Before I was diagnosed, I just knew cancer was a disease you don’t want to catch because it killed many people. I associated cancer with much pain, destruction and death. I really had no knowledge as to what really cancer was and how people caught it. Now, six years forward, I can tell you that cancer is a chronic illness, and as such patients must learn how to manage and live with it. Much of the conventional approach is to kill and get rid of cancer which in turn can cause devastating side effects from conventional treatments like chemotherapy and radiation. If you have done these treatments please don’t be discouraged, as there are many preventive tips you can integrate into your daily lifestyle to keep you healthy. Our Heavenly Father, the creator of the universe has created our bodies with the capacity to heal itself and bounce back strong when supported with the elements it needs.

In my healing journey, I have found that the implementation of a holistic – functional approach can only benefit a cancer patient even while undergoing conventional treatments. Cancer is multifactorial illnesses, therefore, removing the cancer is just the beginning. In my opinion, focusing on correcting the root cause of the illness is where true prevention is really found. How do we do that? I personally believe, by considering all the elements surrounding the patient. One of my favorite doctors, Dr. Cesar Nunez, always says that cancer management is about balance. If we help patients figure out what changes they need to make in order for them to find balance in their journey of healing that’s where our focus, energy, and efforts should go.

My experience with cancer has given me the opportunity to grow and improve my life and a very positive way. I choose today to share my journey and encourage others in their own healing path. I’ve been blessed to meet so many wonderful people from doctors to patients and walk alongside them through it all. We all have an expiration date, what matters is what we do and how we choose to live in between.

I hope you found this blog post helpful and informative. I believe it is my little contribution in honor of “World Cancer Day’ to promote awareness, prevention, and treatment for cancer. As usual, I welcome your thoughts and I appreciate you sharing your experiences with me. Happy World Cancer Day!