Breast Cancer: A life accident

There are many kinds of accidents in life: traffic accidents, dramatic events that can happen to your children, losing parents, loved ones… Cancer is one of these accidents, and yet life goes on. I would even dare to say that it is “normal” to have cancer. Today, one man in nine gets prostate cancer, one woman in nine gets breast cancer, one person in three will develop cancer in his lifetime. I am not saying that this is good, and the day I get cancer, I will find it terrible too. But the fact remains that cancer is one of life’s accidents. That doesn’t mean that knowing that will make you better off. However, if you tell yourself that it is a possible life accident, you will be screened more often.

On a side note, I would like to say a few words about this controversial issue. Screening is an enormous, undeniable advance. I am terrified of women who don’t get screened, just as I am terrified of people who don’t wear seatbelts. Screening lowers breast cancer mortality. It also allows tumors to be found at an earlier stage, resulting in much less extensive treatment, both surgical and medical. So anything that detects cancer early is a very important step.

Breast cancer screening to be more serene

Screening remains the best way to avoid dying from cancer. Better detection allows for better treatment (with less suffering, less deprivation, less mutilation, less hair loss…) and better cure. In short, if you tell yourself that breast cancer is a life accident, screening will appear to you as a very useful preventive measure. On the other hand, if you tell yourself that it is a divine punishment, you will do nothing. Cancer is even more of a life accident when you consider that thousands of cancers are cured every day.

Each individual is made up of nearly 50,000 billion cells, organized into tissues that form the different organs. Every day, cells are renewed – thousands of cells multiply and others die. This process is essential to life. During this cell multiplication, under the effect of different factors, small abnormalities can occur. The cell can then continue to multiply and become uncontrollable, leading to the formation of a tumor.

The fact that we have become evolved organisms, with a certain lifespan, in which cell multiplication is numerous, increases the risk of these mutations,” analyzed Professor Tursz. Fortunately, it doesn’t take a single mutation, but between five and ten mutations in the same cell for it to become cancerous.”

Moreover, breast cancer covers very different entities, from small breast cancers that are 95% cured to serious cancers with a 50% mortality risk. But these cancers with a very poor prognosis are exceptional. Despite this, when they are told they have cancer, the vast majority of women immediately think of cancer with a 50% mortality rate. They never think of the small cancer, the one that, if treated early, is cured in more than 90% of cases. Only older women, perhaps thanks to the maturity they have acquired, can put things into perspective and take a step back.

I’m not a guru, but today I tell all my patients – at least those whose cancer will be cured with a probability of more than 80% – that, yes, they’re going to take a big slide or a leap of faith, but that, after this setback, maybe they’ll get something out of it.