New York Times - About one in every 20 adults in the United States has survived cancer, including nearly one-fifth of all people over 65, according to new federal data. The numbers, released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute, indicated that the number of cancer survivors increased by about 20 percent in just six years, to 11.7 million in 2007, the latest year for which figures were analyzed, from 9.8 million in 2001. In 1971, the number of cancer survivors was three million.
"There's still a concept that cancer is a death sentence," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control. But, he said, "for many people with cancer there's a need for them and their families and caregivers to recognize that this is a stage. They can live a long and healthy life."
About 65 percent of cancer survivors have lived at least five years since receiving their diagnosis, 40 percent have lived 10 years or more, and nearly 10 percent have lived 25 years or longer.
The implications, Dr. Frieden said, are that many cancers are treatable and that it is just as important for people who have had cancer not to assume that they will necessarily die early.
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