Deadly cancers not spoken about
By comparison to the money that’s spent on the other diseases, it’s embarrassing
THEY are among the deadliest cancers, taking the lives of 9000 Australians every year – usually within six months of their diagnosis.
Yet most people have never heard of upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancers; the cancers get no funding, have no celebrity backing, no support nurses and virtually no research into their causes or cure.
“So often we hear patients say to us that they ‘feel like they’ve got the wrong cancer’,” Pancare chief executive Doug Hawkins said.
“Most people don’t even know what these organs are or anything about the cancer,” he said.
Upper GI cancers attack the pancreas, liver, stomach, bile ducts and oesophagus.
Across Australia, 14,000 people were diagnosed with them last year – four times more than the number getting higher-profile breast or prostate cancers annually.
Tragically, they are usually diagnosed too late, when the cancer has already spread, making them much harder to treat.
They have among the lowest survival rates of any cancer. Just 12 per cent of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will survive for five years. For oesophageal cancer, it’s 23 per cent and for liver cancer, it’s 22 per cent.
This compares with the five-year survival rates of 95 per cent of prostate cancer patients, 92 per cent of breast cancer patients and 75 per cent of those with bowel cancer.
“There’s been 40 years of zero federal government funding of any real significance into these cancers, they’ve been overshadowed by more popular, better marketed higher profile celebrity-backed corporate programs that have created a
massive gap,” Mr Hawkins said. “By comparison to the money that’s spent on the other diseases, it’s embarrassing … inequity, that’s probably the word.”
To end the neglect, charity Pancare is asking the federal government to provide $110m in this year’s May budget for research into causes and prevention of upper GI cancers.
It wants to discover if there are any genes involved, find biomarkers and familial links.
More funding is needed to improve outcomes for patients with upper GI cancers immediately, including increased
access to patient and nursing support services.
The symptoms of these cancers are so general that they’re difficult to detect and treatment options are currently very limited, if there are any at all.
Pain management is difficult and treatment is complex because the cancers have knock-on effects into other organs. This can make it difficult for patients to digest foods, which severely affects their health.
“They are so lethal and so aggressive, people with the cancers rarely live long enough to advocate for their cause,” Mr Hawkins said.