Sunday's New York Times had a pretty compelling profile on M.D. Anderson, its patients, and its staff (who can also become the hospital's patients). Gina Kolata really captured how the path to remission is filled with dead-ends, experimentations, frustration--as well as hope.
I am always sort of amazed when people say we have to "cure cancer." It just seems a bit reductive to me. Cancer is so elusive--it is not one disease, and each type of cancer does not behave the same way in each patient. This complexity requires us to fight the war on many fronts. Some cancers can be prevented, some can be managed, and some go into remission. Innovation requires investment, and any type of progress is going to take the collaborative efforts of private enterprise, academia, and the government.
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