Cancer is Hundreds of Diseases, I Disagree!

I read an article in the Windsor Star newspaper. The article stated that cancer rates are rising. That a cure for cancer is elusive and cancer is not one disease but hundreds of different diseases.

Read the original article here.

Here is a clip from the article;
“Though the public has heard about cancer breakthroughs for decades, cancer rates are still inching upward. A cure remains elusive.
“The challenge is that cancer isn’t one disease,” said Sullivan. “It’s hundreds of diseases. It’s hundreds of very specific processes that don’t respond to one silver bullet.””

I disagree with the statement that cancer is hundreds of different diseases.

From what I understand, cancer is a problem in the DNA of a cell. I don’t think it matters of which organ the cell is part. The DNA becomes damaged in some way. Cells with damaged DNA are supposed to die or be destroyed by a natural process in the body.

Yes we name the cancer by the part of the body in which the cancer starts. The cells that are damaged are local to that organ. When the cancer metastasizes, travels to a different part of the body, we know that the cancer cells are actually cells from the organ where the first DNA damage occurred.

Our cells all have a built in mechanism of replication. This is how our bodies are maintained. The cells in our bodies are continually being replaced. Cancer occurs when the DNA becomes damaged and that damaged cell replicates using the damaged DNA as a “blueprint” for replication. The result is an abnormal cell but that abnormal cell usually dies.

Sometimes the abnormal cells don’t die. Sometimes these abnormal cells start to replicate and the result is a tumor.

My simplistic description is pretty much the same for all cancer types. The key to solving the cancer issue is in the cells. In the DNA and proteins that cause cells with damaged DNA to replicate and then in the process that should discriminate against cells with damaged DNA. The process all takes place in the cell. The process is the same for each cell and is the same for each type of cancer. When the process is figured out the remedy will solve the problem for all the types of cancer.