According to the American Cancer Society statistics cancer is 23.1% of deaths in the U.S. It is the second leading death behind heart disease. This includes all types of cancer, male and female. 23.1%. I haven’t made up my mind if I feel like this is a lot or not. I mean when you think of all the ways to die, cancer taking up 23.1% is pretty up there, but I guess I expected it to be higher.
In 2007 289,550 men died of cancer and 270,100 women. Lung cancer is, by far, the most common fatal cancer in men (31%), followed by prostate (9%), and colon & rectum (9%). In women, lung (26%), breast (15%), and colon & rectum (10%) are the leading sites of cancer death. In a line graph it showed a crazy linear line increasing steadily from 1930 to 2000 in deaths by cancer only to slowly start decreasing by 2003. My dad died in 2002.
Its funny how it can all be put into numbers like that. 15% of cancer deaths are women with breast cancer–moms and daughters, sisters, aunts and grandmas. I guess it wouldn’t be very scientific to label them as actual people. Looking at the information I began to forget all together that I was talking about deaths as I applied my mathematical skills to evaluate the charts. It would be so bizarre to be the person who has to collect that data. I wonder if they know anybody who has died from cancer, I’m willing to bet probably.
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