" Got Cancer ? "

In the winter of 1953 , My brother Tommy was not back from the Korean war yet.I was not yet 12 years old, but close to it.Anyway Tommy being away and all, gave me the opportunity to listen to an old radio he had in his room.
One evening , during a " Gang Busters " program that highlighted my sister Marie's husband's father's exploits ( he was the famous Philadelphia ,Detective Ryan ) , I heard a commercial plea for donations to " The Damon Runnion Fund" for Cancer research...
Even at this young age , my mother had retold to me the legend of my brother Paul, so many times I was sure I knew it by heart... My Sainted brother Paul, and he was a true Saint according to the many times recounted tale , died a tragic death from a cancer called Sarcoma.
Amputation of his leg, after he grew the fifty pound tumor in it was just part of the sad story. Yes, he got the big " C " by falling on his knee while rollerskating... Almost five years later, when all of the Doctors were talking about" He may be a cure for Journal",it came back in his arm. He begged my mother not to let them take his arm off too ! But that was back in '37......
Right now ( October, 2007) I am told my sister Marie who I love dearly,is near death with Breast Cancer...
In the past fifty years and more , I wonder how many Billions of dollars have been collected to fight cancer( search for a cure) , the monster with myriad guises and shades. Research has produced some effective ways of stopping cancer , other than just amputation...And I understand there now is a sort of vaccination that prevents a certain virus from taking hold in women, that would eventually bring about cervical cancer. Also , not using Tobacco products, not drinking too much alcohol, good dietary habits, et cetera, can lessen your chances of catching the big"C".
Over the last five years or so, the number of all sorts of Cancer Research fund pleas on my favorite form of entertainment " Television " , have increased exponentially each year. I find it very intrusive...I want to forget all about cancer, until I have to decide on which caliber to end mine with! But no! Each day I have to be reminded about the Bogey Man , that's going to get me sooner or later! Well my wife tells me I shouldn't be " so cynical " , and I suppose she is right again...
But lately I have been terrorized by the Medical Insurance Companies commercials. No that's wrong . They don't scare me so much as make me somewhat disgusted with the people who run the world of medicine in my beloved country...
These commercials talk about poor souls who can't afford the treatment's for cancer, that charities have collected Billions of dollars over more than fifty years to develop the treatments for !!! Does that mean when the race for the cure is done, some people will still have to beg for the money to pay for it ?!! The time for me to have the answer to this question is now! How about you ?!!
Cancer , to my way of thinking is a natural disaster. It's like Katrina, or an earth quake... Treatment for it should be a Right, not something that should cause your family to be bankrupted. What about all that money that has been donated for the last half century, and the last five years?
In the nineteen fifties cancer was a disease, now it seems to be big business, that's the view of this cynic.....