New figures from the American Cancer Society show that 70 percent of people diagnosed with cancer are now living five years or longer after their diagnosis, according to News 12 New York. The numbers point to steady progress in survival across many forms of the disease.
The progress has been especially striking for lung cancer patients. In the mid-1990s, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer was just 15 percent. Today, according to the report, it has nearly doubled to 28 percent, a significant shift for what has long been one of the deadliest cancers.
The same study, however, paints a more complicated picture. Incidence rates for some of the most common cancers, including breast, endometrial, prostate, and pancreatic, are continuing to rise, even as survival rates for many patients improve.
For individual patients, the improvements can be life-changing. Jane Sloshman, who was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in March, said her treatment now consists of a single pill a day. Instead of counting the months she has left, she said, she is now counting the years.
Debbie Blick, a breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed in 1997, said she believes people are becoming more aware of the diagnostic tools available to them, from mammography and MRIs to CT scans and blood tests. She now volunteers to help others navigate life with cancer.
Blick said she is seeing more and more people beat the disease, far more than when she was first diagnosed nearly three decades ago. For many patients, the report's numbers now tell a story of progress and of hope, even as the fight against cancer continues.