It was 1969 and
President Nixon declared a War on Cancer.
Despite being in the midst of a recession caused by the Vietnam War,
billions of dollars were poured into cancer research and a new era in cancer’s
history started. Cancer was once a
disease scientists knew little about, a disease no one wanted to discuss became
a national priority.
This change
didn’t come about suddenly. As a field
of science it has span time in memoriam, from early Egyptian papyrus that
documented some of the earliest cases of breast cancer, to the invention of
early treatments such as the radical mastectomy and radiation therapy of the
1890s, to the diverse chemotherapies, hormone therapy and immune therapy of
today. This success story has multiple
heroes. First there were the dedicated
scientists with an insatiable appetite for discovery, conviction to eliminate
human suffering, and defiance against the status quo. Next on the scene were the entrepreneurs and
visionaries that spearheaded private and public funding efforts, followed by
American citizens who both suffered from the disease and watched their friends
and family members die of the disease until a boiling point was reached and
they said ‘We’re not going to take it anymore.”
This post is
one of a five part series on lessons learned from The Cancer Experience:
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