Herman Cain's "Stage four" colon cancer should disqualify him

[mainer]

Five-year survival rate: 8 %.

http://www.webmd.com/colorectal-cancer/guide/treatment-stage?page=2

Is it true that he was diagnosed Stage IV? Have his medical records made public?

I'm reminded of the Paul Tsongas fiasco, in which a candidate denied his own mortality and put his country at risk by running while suffering from a fatal illness.

[TwilightGardener]

1. Is he considered cured? If so, then I would think it would be understandable--McCrazy had

had melanoma. But if not, then he should not run. Wayyy too stressful even for 100% fit and healthy Presidents.

[TheWraith]

4. Cancer isn't exactly "cured" even when it's gone. It's sort of like alcoholism that way.

You're never "cured," you're always "recovering." Someone who has had cancer once is much more likely to have a reoccurrence than someone who's never had it.

[REP]

6. I'm 18 years cancer-free ... I think I get to call it 'cured' now

I went from testing every 3 months to every 6 months to every year ... Now every three years. My doctor thinks I'm cured (though ever-cheerful, she warned me recently I'm at very high risk for cancer elsewhere due to being a nullapara and a few other things in my history).

Herman Cain, though, I'd make an exception for :hi:

[mainer]

17. were you "stage IV?"

Many people beat cancer. But not many beat stage IV colon cancer.

[Brother Buzz]

2. Five-year survival rate: 8 %. stat is so, like, a decade ago

I'm Stage IV colon, stomach, and liver cancer survivor nearing five years. I'm doing so well, my oncologist sent me away for a whole year before my next appointment.

On edit: However, surviving the cancer involves ass-kicking Chemo treatment the totally fucks up the brain ten ways to Tuesday, and THAT should totally disqualify Cain. No ifs, ands, or buts.

[whistler162]

9. My grandmother survived 30+ years after the diagnosis and

treatment of colon cancer, Not sure they even had stages back in the early 60's.

One year at a time, keep it up.

Should that or chemo disqualify a candidate. No.

[Historic NY]

3. If caught in time the survival rate is way up now....

I have had several friends with it.

[mainer]

18. "if caught in time."

Of course. If caught in time, most cancers are survivable.

[GreenStormCloud]

5. Disqualify? No. Medical records be made public? Yes.

There is no requirement in the Constitution for a candidate he have any particular level of personal health. Therefore he is legally qualified. However, the public should know and let the public decide if it is a signifigant issue. FDR was critically ill during his 1944 campaign and died a few months into his fourth term.

[Raine]

7. My cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and she was gone in less

than a year. Cain is lucky either that or he was able to afford better treatment.

[JI7]

8. no, it shouldn't disqualify anyone, though it does hurt the candidate's chances

not that Cain has any chance.

[RB TexLa]

10. Country at risk? If either Tsongas or whoever Herman Cain is were to be president, there would

be a vice president.

What risk are you talking about?

[FSogol]

11. Unrec-ed for bashing the late Paul Tsongas.

Put the country at risk? Why do you thing we have VPs?

[mainer]

19. I felt Paul Tsongas was a good man -- but in denial

and every single doctor I know felt so too. Including all the Democrats.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. Teddy Kennedy put the country in more danger by clinging to his senator seat after a GBM diagnosis

than Tsongas did by running for president while in remission for a non-Hodgkins lymphoma. For one thing, anyone voting for him should have know that there was a risk because of his medical history. To me that's no different than taking a chance on an old geezer like Reagan.

eta: as I recall, Tsongas had long been in remission when he ran for president and did not go through his final bout until long after that.

[ChandlerJr]

12. You know that here in Arizona we have a congresswoman who's medical fitness

for office is being questioned.

Careful what you ask for.

[customerserviceguy]

13. Kind of a surprise

Whenever I think of Herman Cain, the first words that pop into my head are "perfect asshole".

[Yo_Mama]

14. Well, he's made it five years disease-free, or so he says.

If he hasn't had a recurrence, he's doing very well and it is a different matter that it would seem on first hearing.

Even colorectal cancers differ in virulence - some are a lot easier to knock out than others. Or maybe he's just tough like hell. (There is considerable evidence that exercise helps colon cancer patients.)

Stage four just says how far the cancer got - it doesn't say anything about how virulent the cancer itself was. For example, he says doctors told him he had a 30% chance of five year survival. That means he had very few liver metastases, so the prognosis was much better. His could be surgically treated, and most of these cases can't due to the number of metastases. So that alone puts it in a very different risk category.

After five years disease free, his chances have very little to do with the particular classification at diagnosis.

Yes, all candidates should release their medical records, but I don't think Americans are going to be unduly prejudiced about this. I've met a lot of very long term survivors of cancer. In any case, our current VP has had brain surgery, so people will assess any candidate based on how they seem in action, not on whether they have undergone a particular medical treatment.

I took the trouble to google and found the debate segment where he mentioned it, which is where I got the 30% and the disease-free stuff.

I would caution everyone against quoting information that isn't very precise about a particular disease. The odds are that someone on DU either has it, or has a dear one who has, and incorrect information is unnecessarily distressing.

These long term survivors of cancer do very well, and no one knows why, really. Some of the factors have been sorted out. They are complex.

[mainer]

16. Definition of Stage IV

"Stage IV colorectal cancers have spread outside the colon to other parts of the body, such as the liver or the lungs."

Although your word "virulence" isn't quite accurate, by definition, Stage IV means it IS metastatic and has spread.

My question is this: is Herman Cain telling the truth about having Stage IV? Or was he misdiagnosed?

If his cancer metastisized, is he "cured"?

Sorry, but I am in the medical field. And Stage IV, in almost every case I've seen, has been a death sentence within five years.

[Lisa0825]

21. I know 2 people (who were a married couple) who both survived stage 4 cancers.

The wife died 20 or so years later of an unrelated cause, and the husband is still kicking.

[Yo_Mama]

23. NCI has a five year survival rate on liver metastases of 20-40%

That's for those that qualify for surgery, which normally isn't the case. He was apparently one:
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/colon/HealthProfessional/page9

The diagnosis must have been correct, because he had surgery to remove a tumor from his liver. That's Stage IV any way you look at it.

[quaker bill]

15. No, but his ideas should

[mainer]

20. My guess: he's exaggerating for political reasons

Maybe he had a polyp in 2006. Or an earlier stage of colon cancer. And now, with the passage of years, it's grown in the storytelling to "stage IV."

Or ... the doctors were incorrect and he didn't have liver metastases, but something benign like an angioma.

Or ... we'll hear in a year or two that his cancer has recurred.

[Yo_Mama]

25. I don't think so

I think it was in 1999 that the study was published giving the 20-30% rate for surgical treatment on the liver. He seems to be quoting what his oncologist/surgeon told him.

Most people who have liver involvement can't be surgically treated due to extent/blood vessel involvement. However now some of the new chemotherapy works well enough to shrink tumors, so some people initially don't qualify and then do later.

There have been some real advances in cancer treatment and I just don't want innocent readers-by to get the impression that either they or their loved ones are necessarily doomed. They may not be, and it's worth seeking the full evaluation and going through initial treatment to see response.

Five years disease-free with that stage is good enough that his risk factors don't look anything like the projections on initial diagnosis.

I would like to leave this discussion with a reminder to everyone that colon cancer, although common, is one of the most easily-prevented cancers and, if caught in its early stage, treatment gives over a 90% 5 year survival rate.

[KharmaTrain]

24. He Has A Far Worse Disease...

He's a black rushpublican. Chances of him ever being nominated: .0000001%.

[mainer]

26. "Obamacare" would have detected it before it got to Stage IV

Medical experts recommend first colonoscopy screening at age 50.

Herman Cain was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2006, when he would have been about 61.

If he had such great medical care, why wasn't he screened at age 50?