Did you know?

According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly 12 million Americans with a history of cancer were alive in January 2008. That includes people who were cancer free as well as those who still had traces of cancer and those receiving treatment. Those statistics reflect a rising survival rate for people diagnosed with cancer. The American Cancer Society notes that the five-year survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 2001 and 2007 is 67 percent, a marked improvement from the mid 1970s, when the five-year survival rate was just 49 percent. Though anyone can develop cancer, a person's risk of developing this potentially deadly disease increases with age. According to the ACS, the majority of cancer cases occur in adults who are middle aged or older, and roughly 77 percent of cancers are diagnosed in persons 55 years of age and older. Men have a higher risk of developing or dying from cancer than women, though roughly 5 percent of all cancers are strongly hereditary, something that can put men and women at equal risk.