is breast cancer usually fatal?
115673
no..my mom was diagnosed 2.5 years ago..and she is all cured. treatment is getting much better..the survival rate is much higher then in the years past. My great grandma has had it too, and she is still living 5+ years since being diagnosed
664402
It can kill you.\nIt can bring cancer to your body and there are some really nasty cancers about.\nThroat Cancer which can mean having to speak with a box as your vocal cords can be damaged.\nLung Cancer effects your lungs makes breathing hard and in some cases you will need to have an oxygen tank to help breathing.\n\nThe thing about Cancer is spreads like the arms of a tree and there is no guarantee that you will be able to stop it remission does happen but it can come back. \n\nRadiotherapy and Chemotherapy are no walk in the park hair-loss being sick pain and other side effects.
605476
Pancreatic cancer is fatal.  It is unknown the length of time one person has to live.  It depends on how fast it spreads and if it mets to any other part of the body.
202932
People can live for a long time with lymphoma, depending how aggressive their disease is.  It's not really "curable", I don't think, but think of it more like a chronic disease.  However, if it's extremely aggressive and resistent to treatment, it can be fatal quickly.\n\nTreatment is chemotherapy, usually once every three weeks for 6 cycles, then sometimes maintenance therapy.\n\nGood luck to your friend.
719369
I dont want to alarm you.  But my mother had breast cancer and it spread into her bones after being told 4 years earlier that she was cancer free.  After her dignosis in May of 2003, sadly it took intill Dec of 2004 to kill her.  She was only 49.  They tried everything from chemo to radiation.  They even had her on a hormone pill but the cancer had just spread so much.  I am really sorry about your friend my heart goes out to her.  I would find out what stage she is in.  My mother was in stage four so there was really not much they could do.  Through the treatments they provided it did prolong her life for a year and half after given a timeline of 6 months.  And again I am truly sorry about your friend.
835552
Anyone can get breast cancer, including men...\nBackground and importance of the study: Most people tend to think of breast cancer as a woman's disease. But men get breast cancer too. According to the American Cancer Society, about 1200 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in American men each year (compared to about 200,000 cases of breast cancer in U.S. women).\n\nWe need to learn much more about breast cancer in men, and how it responds to various treatments, in order to improve the diagnosis and therapy for men who have this disease.\n\nThis study tried to shed some light on male breast cancer by examining what happened to 93 men with the disease.\n\nStudy designs: Portuguese researchers looked over the medical records of 93 men who developed breast cancer between 1974 and 2002. From this information, they determined:\n\n    * the most common kinds of breast cancers the men developed,\n    * the average time between first symptom and diagnosis,\n    * the most common treatments,\n    * how long the men lived after treatment, and\n    * what factors influenced their survival.\nBreast cancer in men is a rare disease. Less than 1% of all breast cancers occur in men. In 2005, when 211,400 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, 1,690 men were diagnosed with the disease.\n\nYou may be thinking: Men don't have breasts, so how can they get breast cancer? The truth is that boys and girls, men and women all have breast tissue. The various hormones in girls and women's bodies stimulate the breast tissue to grow into full breasts. Boys' and men's bodies normally don't make much of the breast-stimulating hormones. As a result, their breast tissue usually stays flat and small. Still, you may have seen boys and men with medium-sized or big breasts. Usually these breasts are just mounds of fat. But sometimes men can develop real breast gland tissue because they take certain medicines or have abnormal hormone levels.\n\nBecause breast cancer in men is rare, few cases are available to study. Most studies of men with breast cancer are very small. But when a number of these small studies are grouped together, we can learn more from them.
2039
Lung cancer can probably spread almost everywhere, but it tends to have a preference for spread to the liver and bone.  Cancer tends to spread through the blood and lymphatic system, so if the lung cancer does spread to the breast, it is likely to have spread to other places as well.\n\nWhat makes breast cancer a serious problem is not so much its effect on the breast but the fact that it can spread to other important organs and interfere with them (like the lungs, liver, or pancreas).
291243
discovered?  has been described for centuries, women have died from this for most of history.\n\nDon't think there is a satisfactory answer for that.\n\nhow?  it was growing through her chest some time in 500BC, something like that.\n\nbest history of breast cancer can be found reading about Halsted, the father of modern surgery, and first man to improve survival in breast cancer patients.\n\nA great man, sorta, gotta read on this man to know anything about breast cancer.
1055564
Looking at the current statistics, 1 out of 2,212 by age 30 have breast cancer.  Each woman's breast cancer risk may be higher or lower, depending upon a several factors, including family history, genetics, age of menstruation, and other factors that have not yet been identified. While breast cancer is less common at a young age (i.e., in their thirties), younger women tend to have more aggressive breast cancers than older women, which may explain why survival rates are lower among younger women. By age 40, 1 out of 235 will develop breast cancer.  \nBy age 50 1 out of 54  Your lumps could be hormonal related, which is something you need to see a doctor about to get tested.
1075253
I work in cancer research, so I know a bit about the statistics.\n\nIt will depend on the stage at diagnosis.  If it's stage I or II, it's possible.  Stage III is unlikely, and stage IV has a very poor prognosis - usually those who are diagnosed at stage IV only have a few months to live.\n\nI hope that this person has had an early diagnosis - cancer is a horrible thing - I wish your friend the best.
1173651
Usually death is caused by the body organs failing or shutting down.   This is caused by increased growth of the cancer cells that spread to other organs other than where the cancer is and and cause them not to function properly.  Sometimes this growing or spreading of cancer cells and be slowed down or stopped with medication called CHEMO or by radiation.  Other times CHEMO and radiation are not sucessful  and the disease gets worse and leads to death.
887673
My mum has been diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year and had a mastectomy.  I needed to know a lot of information in order to be able to help her.  I found these websites very useful:\n\nwww.breastcancer.org\nwww.getbcfacts.com\n\nThese sites are very  informative and they will give you the information you need.\n\nThank God, now days treatment of BC has advanced beyond imagination.
809155
Cancer in all forms.  It claims so many lives everyday.  I am currently watching my Papaw die from this horrible disease.  His has metastasized to his entire body, and watching him waste away and lose weight, have so much pain, and suffer absolutely kills me too.  I have also had many other friends and family members suffer with cancer, including my mother who had breast cancer.  I pray every day that a cure will be found for it.
437869
Absolutely. Women have more fatty tissues and the breast has dense tissue so it can be a common place for cancer to develop.  Smoking causes cancer, heart and respiratory disease and early death in all smokers.  It will also exacerbate all other weaknesses in a smoker's body. Smoking and pregnancy is particularly dangerous for mothers and babies. There is lots of information on all these aspects at http://www.quitguide.com  Have a read on the page called Smoking and Pregnancy for a start.
119579
It would depend on the stage of cancer/if it has spread and to where.  Also complications can arise.  Depends on patient's response to treatment also.  There are many things to consider and sometimes even the doctors don't even know for sure.
479695
Terminal means that death is unavoidable. So the cancer is deadly. sorry
462590
i'm really sorry to tell you but malignant means that it is cancer.  if she has a lumpectomy (removal of the cancerous lump) or a mastectomy (removal of the whole breast) the cancer will be gone, unless the doctors determine that it has spread or not.  don't worry, my mom had breast cancer about 5 years ago & she had it removed, did chemotheraphy (which is probably what your step-mom will do), & even radiation for extra measures.  she is fine today & even considered a survivor!  but i know how you feel.. always have hope & be strong!  :)  and remember: they're coming out w/new cures & treatments everyday!