Cancer Research UK main site
  • Replies 12 replies
  • Views 1828 views
  • Users 0 members are here

i never thought i would ever come on this forum

losingmyhero
Offline

Hi There ,

 

My name is Rob, and yesterday our family had the biggest shock come to us, My Dad has been told he has lung cancer which has spread to his spine, even though it was caught fairly early they are doing a CT scan next week on his lower body to see if its gone anywhere else, the Dr said yesterday its not curable, he goes on holiday in a few weeks, and the Drs are saying go enjoy yourself and have treatment when you get back.

They have told him they will be giving him radio therpy . my questions are, is there a rough figure as to how long he will live? and the other bomb shell for my Mum is her brother has been diagnosed with brain cancer which has spread though his whole body, he has been given weeks to live. Any ideas how to comfort my mum, learning alll this in the space of a week has hit her hard..

Parents
  • Offline

    Hi Rob,

    Really sorry to hear about this I know what it's like to have close succession hits like this - my wife and her brother died of cancer within 6 weeks of each other.

    Its very difficult to know how long someone with cancer like this will live for. There are statistics for it but you have to understand that there is a considerable range.

    For example the "average" of 99,100 and 101 is 100 the "average" of 0, 100 and 200 is also 100

    So they tend not to talk of average survival but rather what percentage survive 1, 5 and 10 years

    It also depends a bit on what type of lung cancer he has it tends to get split into small cell or non-small cell but in any case the key data is here:

    www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../lung-cancer-survival-statistics

    You can see that less than a third make a year and this is across all "stages"  but then most people like your father are diagnosed at a late stage only 14% of those make a year

    So in all probability you are talking about months and quite likely not that many of them. However there are people that survive 3 or 5 years - there are not many of them but they do exist.

     

    I know that all may be somewhat confusing but I hope it helps a bit

     

     

     

     

Reply
  • Offline

    Hi Rob,

    Really sorry to hear about this I know what it's like to have close succession hits like this - my wife and her brother died of cancer within 6 weeks of each other.

    Its very difficult to know how long someone with cancer like this will live for. There are statistics for it but you have to understand that there is a considerable range.

    For example the "average" of 99,100 and 101 is 100 the "average" of 0, 100 and 200 is also 100

    So they tend not to talk of average survival but rather what percentage survive 1, 5 and 10 years

    It also depends a bit on what type of lung cancer he has it tends to get split into small cell or non-small cell but in any case the key data is here:

    www.cancerresearchuk.org/.../lung-cancer-survival-statistics

    You can see that less than a third make a year and this is across all "stages"  but then most people like your father are diagnosed at a late stage only 14% of those make a year

    So in all probability you are talking about months and quite likely not that many of them. However there are people that survive 3 or 5 years - there are not many of them but they do exist.

     

    I know that all may be somewhat confusing but I hope it helps a bit

     

     

     

     

Children
No Data

Speak to a nurse

Quick links

Follow us

Registered with Fundraising Regulator (logo)
Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.