“When you have feelings like sadness or anger about your cancer or your plight, to mask them is to lead an artificial life” (Steve Jobs).
Steve Jobs was a victim of pancreatic cancer and died at age 56. Pancreatic cancer is a type of cancer that is difficult to spot, and when spotted, if spotted, leads to a very aggressive and quick death. Even though this cancer is about 3% of all cancers, it equates to being the 4th most lethal cancer. “1/3 of pancreatic cancer cases occur among smokers”(“Pancreatic Cancer,” Health). This cancer has an average of a one year life span and highly hereditary. It can be avoided by not smoking, but is unavoidable when it comes to genetics and family history.
Pancreatic cancer is a cancer that starts off with a tumor in the head of the pancreas. There are two types of pancreatic cancer, endocrine and exocrine. Endocrine starts off in the tissues in the hormones of the pancreas, while exocrine starts off in the tissues of the digestive parts of the pancreas. (“Pancreatic Cancer,” Health). Exocrine is 95% of all cases, while endocrine is only 5%. The most common type of Exocrine cancer is adenocarcinoma. Some ways to recognize that you are developing pancreatic cancer are loss of appetite, sudden weight loss, stomach problems, and jaundice (yellowing of the skin and eyes). Developing those symptoms could mean that you have it, but are not definite. If you are developing them, however, the way to realize that you do have it is through physical examinations. The earlier that you search and identify that pancreatic cancer is in the body, the greater the survival rate of the cancer will be. Once identified that the cancer is in the body, stage 0 begins where the tumor is at the top of the pancreas. IA means that the tumor is approximately 2 cm in length, while IB means that it is larger than 2 cm and hasn’t spread from the pancreas yet. IIA means that the tumor has not spread to the lymph nodes yet. IIB is when it reaches the lymph nodes, but not the surrounding blood vessels (“Pancreatic Cancer Stages”). III means that the cancerous tumor is outside the pancreas and at the vessels, and stage IV “The cancer has spread to distant sites” (“Pancreatic Cancer Stages”). If the cancer does reach stage four, it becomes almost impossible to fight it off because detection was late, and when the cancer isn’t spotted, it is aggressive and relentless on the body. When it is not detected, it will destroy the healthy cells very frequently, because cancerous cells do not divide quicker, just more often than the healthy cells.
Like all cancers, smoking is a life threatening carcinogen. Any type of tobacco product is a very dangerous carcinogen when it comes to risk factors of pancreatic cancer. For lung cancer smoking tobacco is worse than chewing it, whereas for pancreatic cancer they are both equally as harmful to the lower abdomen and pancreas area. Diabetes also increase the risk of pancreatic cancer (“Pancreatic Cancer Risk Factors”) The reason for this is that the pancreas produces insulin, and for diabetes they cannot produce that insulin, which cause high levels in blood sugar. If the pancreas isn’t functioning correctly for diabetes, it will also shut down and become cancerous with pancreatic cancer. Family history involving pancreatic cancer will drastically increase the risk for pancreatic cancer. If the cancer is in the family, frequent physical examination are suggested. When it comes to genetics, the BRCA1 and BRCA2 are both linked to ovarian and breast cancer (“Pancreatic Cancer Risk Factors”) Those two genes are mutated that can lead to both types of cancers solely for just women, while pancreatic cancer is more common in men. The reason for this is because more men smoke. Exposure to pesticides while farming also leads to an increase in the cancer (“Pancreatic Cancer,” Science). To prevent the disease, quit smoking and have a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. As long as food is being processed well though the body, and the body isn’t overweight, and eating bad food, the cancer can be prevented easily. It isn’t a very common type of cancer either. Treatment includes surgery (if the cancer is caught early, and isn’t spread in distant places). A whipple procedure is where the head of the pancreas is removed, and it takes away the tumor before it starts to spread. Pancreatectomy is where the pancreas and organs around the pancreas are removed if they’re infected. If the cancer spreads, then surgery is useless as an option for treatment. Chemotherapy is an option, but can also kill a number of healthy cells around the body. Radiation is an efficient way of killing the cancer because it can shrink the tumor before surgery, but there are multiple side affects (“Pancreatic Cancer,” Health). If the cancer is survived, there is a lot of therapy and physicals after treatment. The chances of getting it again are very slim, if someone is conscious and aware of the risk factors.
Pancreatic cancer can occur more often than not if it is somewhere in the family history and can be traced back a few generations. Even though it is not a common disease, it has a very high death toll compared to other cancers. In the US, 54,070 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Of those 53,070, 41,780 deaths will be accumulated. More men will die, because of the risk factors are geared more towards them. As for the survival rate, it is a one year average with a 7% 5 year survival. If the cancer is detected early, the 5 year survival could increase to 27%(“Pancreatic Cancer Statistics”). All of the statistics combined easily show why the cancer is the 4th most lethal out of all other cancers.
Even though the cancer is scarce among the population of the earth, it is still dangerous and lethal. It’s very unknown with its causes except for smoking and other activities involving harmful chemicals, but people need to be aware of both of these two factors because of how they influence the diagnosis of the disease. The cancer has always been unknown and aggressive, and because of its aggressiveness, it kills very quick. Scientists and medical professionals are unable to get a complete and reliable resume of the cancer. They have discovered risk factors, but no causes. If the cancer is in the family history, or an addiction to tobacco products becomes a normal thing for a person, then the chance of acquiring the disease becomes greater. Diabetes can be a risk factor that can increase the likelihood of contracting the cancer (“Pancreatic Cancer Risk Factors”) Maybe more people in society need this cancer to get more attention drawn to it. Since it is not popular compared to a cancer like lung or leukemia, it won’t get a cause for it, let alone a cure. It is aggressive, and unless someone is able to invest hours to find a cause, then leading to a cure, the answer won’t be found because it’s a cancer that will leave a lot of people saying, “it’s too late”.