It’s all about the numbers—or is it?

12 million individual Americans have cancer. That’s a lot. Of course not all cancers are equal. Some grow very slowly, others very quickly. Some are nearly always fatal, some are sometimes fatal, and some are almost never fatal.

There are always new drugs in the clinical trials chain that have the promise of cure (not often enough), prolonging life, or improving quality of life. There are also ongoing controversies about the high costs of trials and drugs, and whether or not regular testing should actually occur (remember the recent discussions about breast cancer and prostate cancer testing). There are published statistics about survival advantage, incontinence, harm vs. benefit, waiting vs. not waiting, and on and on. It never ends--which is probably a good thing in the long run.

But for anyone with incurable cancer it’s a very, very individual thing. For example, I know a lot of guys with long term prostate cancer and no two of us are getting exactly the same treatment (unless we’re in a trial). Individual cancer treatment depends on factors such as age, overall physical condition, speed of cancer growth, resistance to certain drugs, allergies, tolerance of side effects, health insurance coverage, and some other things most of us have probably never heard of.

Regardless of national or international statistics about cancer and cancer treatments, your best interests lie in focusing on your needs, talking and listening to your medical team, and looking for the things that might help you. Whatever the ‘statistics’ and ‘experts’ say, you are not just a number—OK, you’re actually number ONE (remember that)!

Any given drug or treatment will either help (100% effective) or not help (0% effective) you. All those statistics might or might not have anything to do with what’s best for you!

To put a smile on your face see Larry's latest cartoon.

To learn more about clinical trials, take a look at our book.
(c) 2012 Tom Beer and Larry Axmaker

What do Clinical Trial Participants Really Want?

As you probably know by now there are many reasons for conducting clinical trials—trying out new drugs, exploring new drug combinations, testing drug safety, testing drug effectiveness, identifying and managing side effects, and many more.

But for most participants in clinical trials the main reason for volunteering is much simpler—the hope of longer and better survival. Cures are rare, but if a particular new drug or treatment makes you feel better and possibly live longer (and the ever-present side effects are tolerable) none of the overall statistics, percentages, comparisons, or dosage debates matter very much. Different treatments have different effects on different people. So what works for you may not work as well for me. Having more available treatments allows for individual differences.

Just having cancer already makes you a survivor. Surviving better and longer is the personal gold standard—however that happens for you. With the help of your medical team, support group, a good computer, and your own personal motivation, look for trials that you strongly believe may provide a particular benefit to you. The final decisions are always up to you.

The majority of trial participants report that they would volunteer for another trial if it was relevant to their needs.

To put a smile on your face see Larry's latest cartoon


(c) 2012 Tom Beer and Larry Axmaker