Sherri Byrand column: Early cancer-screening can be a lifesaver

A friend just lost his father to esophageal cancer. For those who loved him, it's an extraordinarily tragic loss, and not just because his dad was a devoted family man who still had much to give the world as a theology professor. But as far as our overall society goes, death to cancer is not an exceptional event: obituary after obituary lists those whose cancers destroyed their bright future. The recent headline "cancer deaths drop" belies a complicated truth. More than 550,000 Americans die from cancer every year; the decrease involved just some 3,014. That's a blessing for those 3,014 families, but we must look further. While the incidence of cancer has been declining for the likes of lung cancer, thanks to decreases in smoking, some cancers have been on the increase. A National Institute of Health report looking across 10 years found that American women are seeing higher rates of melanoma and cancers of the breast, thyroid, bladder and kidney, while men are seeing higher rates of melanoma and cancers of the prostate, kidney and esophagus.

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