• Question: Do you think we will ever beat all forms of cancer?

    Asked by to Amy, Anita, Daryl on 23 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Amy Monaghan

      Amy Monaghan answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      Hi Edwardrose

      This is a very tricky question which is why it’s taken me a while to answer it.

      I think one day yes we will beat all forms of cancer. At the moment most cancers can be cured if they are detected early enough by removing the solid tumour. Improving our ways of detecting cancer early increases our chances of beating it completely.

      One of the reasons cancer is becoming more common is because we are getting older and living longer and longer. Cancer occurs because as we get older we develop more and more mutations in our DNA, and some of these mutations can cause our cells to lose control. If scientists can find a way to reverse these mutations, then we will have a good chance of beating cancer.

      Amy

    • Photo: Daryl Jones

      Daryl Jones answered on 27 Jun 2014:

      Eventually, yes! I think it will be about 150 years from now!

Comments

  • Photo: Anita

    Anita commented on :

    the trouble is (I’m such a pessimist), the older we get (as a society) the more vulnerable our genetic components are, and the higher the likelyhood that we’ll develop new and different cancers. Hopefully they can be cured using our new treatments, though!