NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Cancer is making headlines around the world with the revelation that King Charles has cancer and then the death of country music star Toby Keith.
Tributes are pouring in for country music icon who, over the years, performed for more than 250,000 troops around the world.
Many in Hampton Roads may remember when he flew onto the USS Enterprise for a 2011 concert in Norfolk.
The 62-year-old died Monday at his home in Oklahoma after a battle with stomach cancer.
On the same day, across the pond, the world found out 75 year old King Charles has cancer.
Buckingham Palace did not specify what form of cancer, or at what stage it was found.
While science is saving more lives than ever from cancer, the incidence of many common cancers is on the rise. The American Cancer Society expects two million new cases of cancer will be diagnosed this year in the U.S.
Dr. Bruce Waldholtz with the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network told WAVY we need to do better about screenings.
“The peek at the future is a blood test that would look at circulating markers, and it’s called MCED, multi-cancer early detection test,” he said.
MCED is a liquid biopsy that can detect early stage cancer cells long before symptoms appear. It could revolutionize cancer detection.
While MCED is being developed and tested, there are five screenings available now for colon, lung, prostate, breast, and cervical, cancers.
Women should start cervical cancer screenings at age 21. Mammograms and colonoscopies should begin at age 45, prostate screenings and lung screenings for current and former smokers start at age 50. If you have a family history or other risk factors, you may need these screenings sooner.
“With most, if not all cancers, if caught earlier, you’ll have a better prognosis,” Waldholtz said.
Treatments today are different than a decade ago.
“Cervical cancer in particular is almost totally preventable, if not totally preventable with HPV vaccination,” Waldholtz said.
Prevention is also in your hands when it comes to kicking the smoking habit and maintaining a healthy weight. Both can lower the risk of more than a dozen types of cancer.
