Why We Don’t Have the Answers to Cure Breast Cancer

I purposely titled this as a statement rather than a question because most often the question is what we hear without any answers. I have been spending lots of time and effort in trying to find some of those answers and I think that I am finally beginning to have an understanding of this matter and believe me, there are no simple answers.

I know that I have heard people say over and over that scientists probably have the answers but they don’t want to share them because then they would be out of a job. If the solutions are found, then all of the huge amounts that are currently being raised will go away and all of those who run the big organizations won’t have the big bucks that they are currently using to line their pockets. After all, if you look at the whole picture that money isn’t being raised just during Breast Cancer Awareness Month but throughout the whole year so you would think that with so many brilliant minds doing all of this research, there certainly must be an answer by now. Well, nothing could be further from the truth but let me explain.

The biggest thing that I learned is that every single cancer has its own DNA. Even tumors from the same person, as I discovered in my own case, from two separate cancers had to be tested separately to determine their individual makeup. So, starting with this premise, how could a “one size fits all” answer cover all of the variations? In two simple words, it can’t. Then there is the fact that there are so many different types of breast cancer. That fact only increases the number of solutions needed in order to treat each different type of cancer that has its individual DNA in its individual tumors. Needless to say, it soon becomes very obvious that an immense number of treatments are needed to treat any combination of these factors in order to prolong the life of a breast cancer patient.

There are so many drugs and treatments on the market currently that are used alone or in combinations.  The challenge is to find the right combination for treatment of each person. What appears to be the perfect solution for one person may be of no benefit to another that appears to have the same type of cancer. Then there are those cases where a particular combination that has been working for a patient for months and maybe even years stops working. That is what happens to a person whose cancer has been in remission and now has returned. In such cases, new combinations of chemo drugs are tried and perhaps nothing seems to work or only works for a couple of months or the side effects are so bad that a person can’t continue on a certain regimen.

These examples only begin to scratch the surface of what goes on in the breast cancer world. Based upon what I have learned, I believe that everyone who is working to raise money for breast cancer research either as an individual or major corporation or who has studied to become a researcher was driven to their work because of an intimate association with someone who dealt with this disease. I can’t begin to imagine anyone holding out on a cure or a solution after these people have seen the havoc that has been wreaked upon those around them and on others throughout the world. I don’t believe that there is anyone who doesn’t want to find the answers so that their family members and those of the generations to come will never have to know what breast cancer can do. After all, if someone does find the answer to a cure for breast cancer, there are plenty of other cancers out there for which they can work to find a cure.

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