Often I am compelled to debunk yet another media news flash that touts the advances being made in the cancer war. I yearn for good news from the various headquarters of the campaign against the worst disease of this generation. Any headline or statement that proclaims progress in the anti-cancer effort grabs my attention. Sadly, almost every press release bearing seemingly good news turns out, in further analysis, to be false hope.

Usually, these announcements originate from newly completed statistical analyses that show some improvement in the cancer numbers. Periodically, the government, through the National Cancer Institute, distributes new statistics with the best spin possible to encourage everyone, particularly those who donate to cancer research. I have become rather cynical in regard to these numbers and usually find them to be “voodoo” statistics. In the 1980 Republican presidential primary, George H. W. Bush dubbed the Ronald Reagan supply-side economic recovery plan “voodoo economics.” The implication was that Reagan’s numbers were being twisted to justify his theories. Likewise I find many of the generalized news released by the government’s cancer agencies to be somewhat misleading. The cancer survivor report just released is a case in point.

I didn’t like Statistics in college because I didn’t really care what the odds were of getting seven heads when I flipped a coin ten times. But, now I have become very interested in statistics as they relate to cancer. They really put the problem into perspective. Do you have any idea of how many people in your community will be diagnosed with cancer this year? Or, how many of those will die from it? I just figured something out. Here’s what you can do. Find the population of your city, county, state, or whatever population group you want to measure. Multiply that number by .0047, and it will give you the statistical number of people in your population group that will be diagnosed with cancer in 2011. If you are like me, you will prefer to use a calculator, since multiplying a number four places to the right of a decimal point messes with my mind. Furthermore, multiply that group population by .0018, and that is the number of those diagnosed who will die from the disease. It will be about 38% of the diagnosed number. Why would you want to take time for such a morbid exercise? Well, we all just need to be reminded of what this formidable enemy is doing to us. But there is an up side.