How likely is anyone to get cancer

[kungfullama]

Have now had to bury 4 relatives of cancer. All were fairly sudden and quick from the time of diagnosis to death. Two on my side, elderly. Two on ds side, one quite young.

It terrifies me that illness and death can creep up on you so quickly. I don't lead the healthiest life. I drink too much, don't exercise other than general running around doing life chores and I have a fairly shit diet. Saying that two of our relatives were teetotal and still got it.

I know the odds are 1 in 2 which is scarily common. I dunno, I guess it's just on my mind lately.

1 in 2 is lifetime odds though. In many cases they will ge diagnosed so late in life that there is no point treating. In others, nowadays the treatment is so straightforward that other people don't need to ve told about it so you'll never even know they were diagnosed.

For what it's worth, I have cancer. At the moment the treatment is more dangerous than doing nothing, so I will have to live with this for a while yet. You can adapt. It's not necessary to be gloomy all the time.

Certain cancers can run in families, but it can also be more random. My OH is one of seven siblings. He lost an elder brother to bowel cancer, his older sister had ovarian cancer (now perfectly healthy) My OH had bowel cancer, now sorted, but still dealing with seeds on his liver. He is superfit, non smoker, drinks very little, veggie. Four other siblings have had no signs, two older, two younger. All the family are/were fit, healthy eaters. 🤷‍♀️

1 in 2 is scary odds, but that is over a lifetime.
Cancer is just as likely to happen randomly as it is to be hereditary.
I had a cancer diagnosis 6 years ago, completely out of the blue, with no family history....surgery, chemo, rads...but treatments have come on so much in the past two decades or so.
it often isn't the death sentence it was in the past as it is being diagnosed earlier, when it is more easily treated.

I is more easily diagnosed now and people are living longer so elderly cancers are more common. Right now I’m dealing with 3 loved ones in various cancer stages.