How can we make curing cancer a global priority?

When I was ten years old, my younger brother Jeff died of leukemia.





Cancer kills 7 million people worldwide each year. Yet it is a treatable disease that—in time—is beatable. However, in today’s troubled global environment, valuable resources that would otherwise go to cancer research are frequently re-directed by the crisis du jour.





What can we, as individuals and as a global community, do to focus %26amp; mobilize our governments to find the cures that will make cancer a fear of the past?





Click here to watch a video of Cindy explaining more you can do to help:


http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=43484/*http:/...





Connect with others on this issue on Yahoo! Groups: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/can...





Yahoo! Answers Staff note: This is the real Cindy Crawford! http://blog.360.yahoo.com/y_answrs_team?...

How can we make curing cancer a global priority?
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.





I think the answer resides in the people. The more people to champion the cause, the more likely movement will be made towards a cure. THere is a role for everyone.





1. Invest in the future.


The children of today are the hope for tomorrow.





2. Advocate for change.


The Leukemia %26amp; Lymphoma Society and other cancer organization make it easy for you to email letters to your elected officials. If a lot of emails arrive on a cancer issue, you bet they will look at it.





Asking questions like this, while general in nature, help people start thinking about what they can do.





3. Participate in a fundraising event hosted by a cancer organization.


Many of them have benefits to the participant as well as the patients.





4. Donate to a cancer organization.


I know there are a lot of worthy causes competing with what little funds we have (for some us), but moeny, time %26amp; resources are all commodities for non-profits.





5. Evangelize.


Tell the people around you to get involved as well. They can support your efforts, join you in your fight or just spread the word. No ask, no get.





If more people took on one role above, if more celebs helped heighten the awareness %26amp; specifically called people to action, if one politician took a stand, i think we would be surprized at what we could accomplish.





"Complacency yields failure, so do something! Because the scary thing about cancer is that it could be you or someone you love." JNRism
Reply:Hey Cindy, you chose a pretty canned response there. Were those things anything you didn't already know? Preaching to the converted doesn't do much to change things in the world. I'd have chosen an answer the suggested something a little more radical. Report Abuse

Reply:I think that it's a good answer. Perhaps we are on the right track after all as leukemia used to be a virtual death sentence for children, but now it's quite treatable. It's helpful to be reminded of this at times. Report Abuse

Reply:Also, thanks to the question, I'll be participating in a Light the Night walk next week. Thanks to Ms. Crawford for bringing this organisation to my awareness. Report Abuse

Reply:Message to the Y!A Team:





DISCONTINUE THE "CELEBRITY QUESTION" FORUM





Most have been nothing but sophomoric tripe, and this latest one is no exception... Report Abuse

Reply:I really hope it was Ms. Crawford choosing,of it was cool thanks for taking the time, sorry for negative feed back. I hate cancer ot takes loved ones. Report Abuse

Reply:blush....sorry about typo I mean't 'it' not 'ot', darn keyboard! Report Abuse

Reply:And the purpose of all this was for what??? Report Abuse

Reply:The purpose of this was, as was the rest of the celebrity questions, to promote some has beens career or some book. Report Abuse

Reply:Great answer!! Report Abuse

Reply:As Cindy was greatly affected by the death of her brother-will any of the proceeds from her come back career go the American Cancer Society? Report Abuse

Reply:Hey Cindy, are you trying to become hero of the world now??????? MMMMm you look delicious! Report Abuse

Reply:Thanks to all of you who voted for me by the way...I guess you're right..people ask questions to hear the answers they want, and not the views of the majority and those who actually know what they are talking about and who spend years advocating.





Hope it helps your career darling. Report Abuse

Reply:Oh and Jenner it was nice of you to succinctly summarize all my points. That "canned" version surely converted the ignorant. Report Abuse

Reply:Who cares what Cindy's motives are or the "correct" answer is? Let's just concentrate on helping out. Report Abuse

Reply:Who cares about motive?-How much of aid for Katrina victims actually went to the victims? One needs to asks-who really benefits from increased traffic on a website? Report Abuse

Reply:Stop hatining on the celebrities. What are you, jealous or something? Report Abuse

Reply:Interesting. "Jenner" has 5 TOTAL answers, 2 "best" answers, and is otherwise inactive here.





http://answers.yahoo.com/my/pr... Report Abuse

Reply:Hum a lot of bitter pills here. If you got votes, then judge your answer on that of it helps. It sure is fun ragging out a "star" anonymously! Now I know why I stay away it rubs off! Report Abuse

Reply:If only 20 - 25% of the personnel of most sensible countries involved or earning their livelihood from cancer related medical organizations are kept under check regarding their concern for the cause with prize money offers. Report Abuse

Reply:Hi Cindy, thanks for bringing that up, in my country Papua New Guinea we don't have a cancer machine and a lot of women are dying of cancer. Many of the candidates in this country promise to buy a cancer machine when they get elected but nothing has ever happened. Report Abuse

Reply:I once ate a chip monk


but never tried to eat any larger mammals so i cat really comment Report Abuse

Reply:I really appriciate all this efforts in support of this cancer and my best wishes to all involved in it.


I personally feel that there is a natural medicine which can control


the growth of cancer cell and stop the condition of the affected in a stable level so that he lives a normal age period.


The coat of the medicine will be just $50 which will be sufficent for one month course and the patient has to continue it throughout his life.


But if it is the begining then it cures the person itself.
Reply:First we'd have to learn to stop blowing each other up. Then maybe there's be a possibility of learning to help one another.
Reply:Most people who are responding to this have no understanding of the pharmaceutical industry. Give the big pharma a better incentive for curing disease (such as patent protection globally) and they will invest the millions of dollars necessary to find a cure. As it stands now, the financial incentive and risk/reward ratio is just not sufficient. The government should either subsidize or have better benefits arranged for companies taking huge financial risks to cure diseases. Otherwise, venture capital money will continue to go to things like new software developments which has a higher rate of return. Biotech is extrodinarily risky as an investment due to long FDA approval times and clinical trials. As usual, our governments regulations and rules are stifling the biotech's industry's need for growth...as a result many diseases continue to go untreated. Too few people in this country have an understanding of this to change politics.





Sadly most people responding in this thread have the views of the general population of america...which is blaming the pharma companies for not finding a cure. It is the government which is restricting the growth of the biotech industry by doing things like banning stem cell research that will limit the cures for diseases.





Believe it or not, insurance companies are also limiting your chance for finding a cure. They don't want to pay the $$$ it takes to treat people with new medications, they want to use the oldest cheapest things around. So, even if there was a new cancer treatment, good luck getting your HMO to actually pay for it.
Reply:As bad as i hate to say it. It will never be a global priority to cure cancer. I'm not saying this to be mean and i'll explain why i say this. With Dr's and pharmacutical companies so money hungry it will never happen, because there just isn't any money in it. If there was a cure for cancer they would get that one time fee for curing someone who got cancer. Now with just having treatments that help sustain the person's life a little longer it makes them more money. The person has to come back to the Dr. multiple times a week sometimes for treatments. Some of the medication that's just for the pain and side effects of the cancer treatments can be as much as $600 for a ONE month supply. That's not including the Dr's visit's or chemotherapy or any other test's or therapys they get while at the doctors. This is also the reason their won't be a cure for aids. Now if we can get the government and Dr's to not be so money hungry MAYBE we could make finding a cure for cancer a global priority. Until then All we can do is hope for a miracle, and pray that our loved ones don't suffer more than they need to.
Reply:Curing cancer can be made a global priority by practising methods of " Each One Teach One ". People die of cancer due to lack of knowledge. By initiating each one teach one concept in schools, villages, seminars etc. we can at the most inititate in people, a habit of getting routine check-ups. Also, the way seminars are conducted to spread AIDS awareness, cancer also calls for one. I sincerely feel that if each aware person teaches an unaare person it will make a difference.
Reply:Have your rich arrogant Hollywood Friends spend some money on it.
Reply:Cancer research is definitely important, but our incidences of cancer would decrease if our society was healthier in their diet, exercise, emotional health, and stress levels. All of these have been linked w/ cancer. Granted, genetics plays a role also, so cancer research is valid, but so is preventing cancer in the first place through a healthy life. This goal should be a global goal, to promote health in all countries, not just industrialized. Global health where everyone has access to healthy food, decreased stress levels, and an emotionally and spiritually rich life will decrease the level of many of our chronic diseases including cancer.
Reply:we need to get to the root of the problem, in most cases it's our thoughts that create dis-ease, some cases are karmic and challenges we choose, but all in all, our thoughts are the culprits, the negativity, worry, stress, all can do this to us, so i think we need to get to the root of the cancers and get attention on prevention and cures , which are changing our thoughts, though the media.


Mary
Reply:I wish I had the answer to that question. My dad died just this past may with brain cancer. His name is Reginald C Moran, he was just 49 years old. I can't help but think that the doctors gave up on him. He will be forever missed. Thank you in your efforts to help with this tragic disease. God bless you.
Reply:so what if people are aware of cancer? there is nothing you can do abt it unless there is a cure. without the cure, anything that you do is not going to help to reduce the number of deaths. the government has to keep spending a lot of money to find the cure for it...plain and simple!
Reply:Well, considering that volume 284, July 26, 2000 of the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) List the three top causes of death as Heart Disease, Cancer and prescribed pharmaceuticals, treatments and surgeries, I would say that we have a real tough issue on our hands. 1971, cancer was the number 8 killer, now its number 2. Methods of treatment haven't changed since then, either. Surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. How many died from the treatment before they would have died from the condition? So, it's time for academia to get out of its box and find out why we're having all of these conditions when they didn't exist, to this extent, 50 years ago.
Reply:Make the insurance companies liable for not allowing the doctors to give the diagnosis of cancer to patients in time for their lives to be saved. My Mother died in March 2006 we know she had cancer but the insurance company told the doctor to call it copd and let her die. We never received help from the insurance company the doctors or the hospitals. People are not expendable at age 60 or any age for that matter, just because the insurance companies do not want to pay.
Reply:The answer is quite simple really. I worked at Cedars-Sinai for 10 years (research programmer) and had the opportunity to view the strengths and weaknesses of such human institutions. You find the most brilliant iconoclastic minds with feverish imaginations, you separate them from political pressures, the need to publish papers and let them play. Most importantly, you separate them from the constraints of governmental and bureaucratic rule (like a deserted island?) so that when they stumble across a fertile avenue, you can pump the necessary millions or billions of dollars to build what they envision. Such isolated think tanks have a historical precedent for success (IBM had a rather famous one (Shannon, Information Theory) as did Los Alamos (Feigenbaum, chaos theory)). The solution is not to change the views of the world, but to find those who share your views and focus money where it counts.
Reply:I had thyroid cancer at age 30... Doctors do not check for lumps on the neck too often, I happened to go into urgent care for a bad cold one day and the Dr said I had a lump on my neck. Sure enough it was thyroid cancer. I think it should be doctors priority to check everything looking for signs of cancer.
Reply:Vote for elected officials that are not opposed to using stem cell research and not opposed to ending the costly war in Iraq and other crusades over seas. Vote for elected officials that will redirect those funds toward cancer and other disease cures research.





Vote for bringing P.E. back into the public schools and nutrition education to get people off junk food and cigarettes. Help people to get healthy again and live a healthy lifestyle.





With as much money as this country spends on wars and the war machine and involving this country in every other country's affairs while paying no attention to our own affairs we could probably cure even death itself.





But that's just one girl's opion. What's yours?





I'll be back after the break. Be here or be no where!
Reply:Unfortunately, the only treatments we have that kill tumor cells, also kill our good cells. The thing that people don't understand is that no cancer is the same. Every tumor that has ever existed and ever will exist has a different genetic code. The error lies in the cell replication cycle. As we get older, its just a matter of time before our DNA replication enzymes make too many mistakes, causing cancer. Things like carcinogens just speed up the whole process. I think more research should be focussed on cancer prevention as opposed to treatment. Perhaps vaccines that will improve the DNA replication process encouraging better cell replication.
Reply:Cindy, we can't even mobilize our governments around the world to feed hungry people, to stop the blatant mistreatment of women, and to simply take the money motivation out of everything we do in life. The crisis du jour has nothing to do with this.


Your brother and many other dead victims from cancer, are a result of there simply being no profit motive for pharmaceutical companies to develop such treatments. These companies make far more money from treating cancer than they would by curing cancer.
Reply:The first thing that needs to happen is to take the monopoly away from the people who have a vested interest in cancer never being cured. IE. The AMA and other support groups who make money off of people having the disease and treating their symptoms.





I have found a doctor that has cured cancer many times but he cannot promote it. He has found that the disease grows in a body that is in an acidic state AND it will not grow in a body that is in an alkaline state. Of course I am over simplifying it here. I can't explain as he would be able to.





But the main problem is that our government makes it illegal for you to promote that you can cure cancer with non-traditional treatments -- even if you can! These restrictions need to end before we as a group will be able to get anywhere.
Reply:Dear Cindy,





First you would have to rid the country of pharmaceutical companies. Next create an affordable health care plan for all economic levels to access. Then allow the doctors to treat patients without the influence of the insurance companies. Also you would need to allow natural cures to be considered in treatment for cancer and all other illnesses, in order to do this you would have to limit the financial influence from pharmaceutical companies to the FDA.
Reply:Yes, but cancer is far easier to prevent than to cure. Simply watching your diet every month could decide whether you will get cancer. Cut down on alcoholic beverages and limit the artificial preservatives in processed foods. However some people just get the ill luck of the draw to be born with cancer or develop it at a young age. A cure for cancer in younger people would be a goal to set and attainable. The rest would fall into place.
Reply:search natural cures
Reply:I would like to think that "Preventing" cancer be of more importance, then there wouldn't be any need for a cure.
Reply:Opera to buy all the cancer. Seal it in a huge concrete slab and have it sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Reply:To achieve a cure for any disease, we need to take the responsibility for finding the cure out of the hands of the pharmaceutical companies. What does it profit them to find a cure for a disease? If a person is cured, then that person will pay for the cure once and never return for future business. But if a person needs “treatments,” if a person “manages” their disease, then the pharmaceutical company makes a reciprocal income off of that patient. Multiply that by the number of people that have cancer in all of its forms, MS, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, muscular dystrophy, etc…then you have a multi-billion dollar a year industry.





The money that we raise year after year by the Relay for Life, walk-a-thons, Jerry’s Kids, and other various worthwhile organizations must be earmarked for finding the causes and the cures for these diseases…and not merely providing a lifetime of treatment. We must hold the researchers accountable. We must take the responsibility ourselves to find the cures to what ails us.
Reply:Shouldn't we be focusing more of our energy on ending the AIDs pandemic in Africa instead of cancer research?
Reply:I believe that there are already cures to cancer, but the government makes too much money off of the treatments to spill the beans on them...There are other countries that offer treatments, but unfortunately if you use these options in the USA, your insurance will NEVER cover any problems you may have in the future...I also believe that a lot of our problems are caused by technology today, and the *gasp* sins of our fore-fathers...yes, I said it...God forbid...I know I will never be picked as best answer, because all of these things seem to be rigged. If you don't believe this than just look at all the other "famous" people that have asked questions...The best answers always have a little "fishy" smell to them...That is my little opinion in a big world...And as always God bless!
Reply:Telling individual stories is one way to share information about the issue. Providing numbers is another. Having family affected also creates an impact. Another method, as we live in a digital age: let people know via the various media outlets - prevention, risk reduction, what cancer can do to people. Celebrities talk about it in the media, in movies, on the news. Celebrities show their vulnerable sides - like how Magic Johnson did with AIDS. Or Michael J Fox with Parkinson. Or Christopher Reeve with spinal cord injuries...or even rock for cancer benefit.. etc..
Reply:Cindy...unfortunately, it's the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies that keep us from a real cure for cancer. Think about it...why would a company that manufactures the drugs and implements that are needed for cancer patients even try to create something that would END the monumental income.





I do agree with you on the crisis Du jour...last year it was Hurricane Katrina. that all is because people are just plain stupid...and at the end of the day, they want the rest of us to pay for their stupidity.





If you live in a region that is known to be frequented by hurricanes (and in New Orleans they named a drink after them) then maybe if you've been watching one on TV approaching your home for a week and then were told to evacuate because a hurricane was coming and they are destructive...maybe, just maybe one would think about leaving...but not last year. Now we all were left to pick up the pieces. Sad, but it is all true.
Reply:Two cures for cancer:


1) Holy Spirit filled minister who has one of the gifts of supernatural healing can heal you through the power of the holy spirit...I have this gift and a ministry of healing.


2) Ms. Pratnicka has a book called "Exorcisms in the 21st Century " where she has healed 1000s of cancer who have contacted her at www.theexorcisms.com...she has an anointing meaning a power of God to deliver people from diseases. She details in her latest book that there are many family members who have died of cancer and return to other family members stealing their energy and their health. She is very very effective in the area of healing and deliverance. This woman is worth getting in contact with I have had great success with her deliverance of my daughter who was wild and out of control headed for destruction. I highly recommend this woman you will not be disappointed she is fulfilling the Call of God upon her life and it is quite powerful....indeed.





Cheryl Daniels
Reply:You can cure your cancer by onkar chating dealy