• Question: if you had to have cancer what type would it be

    Asked by Ben.m to Kylie, Matt, Bex, RobB, Sam on 13 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Rebecca Thompson

      Rebecca Thompson answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      I would choose testicular cancer, since I’m a girl 😉

      The cancers with the highest survival rates are testicular cancer, breast cancer and skin cancer, so probably one of those…

    • Photo: Rob Brass

      Rob Brass answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      If I had to then probably a non-melanoma skin cancer – these are small, slow developing cancers on the skin that don’t often spread.

      We don’t get many testicular patients for radiotherapy because the easiest way to treat it is removal! So I wouldn’t choose testicular for this reason!

      In women breast cancer is probably the easiest to treat out of the more common cancers, a mastectomy would remove the problem straight away and has excellent control rates, while just removing the lump and giving radio- and chemotherapy also has very good outcomes. However in men (it happens!) it can be quite nasty!

      My least favourite would be a brain tumour – although they can be treated successfully you often get side effects which affect your quality of life. Followed closely by lung cancer – this can make you very poorly and is also notoriously hard to treat!

    • Photo: Matt Dunn

      Matt Dunn answered on 13 Jun 2016:

      Hi benm,

      Probably a form of skin cancer, since these are mostly confined to the skin and don’t spread to more vital functional organs like the liver, kidney and brain.

      To be honest every time I get sunburnt I’m already at risk of getting skin cancer!

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