Cancer is a disease that is often reversible when it is caught during the early stages. Normal cells in the body often become unhealthy. When normal cells in the body become unhealthy they die and new cells are formed. However, when a person has cancer, abnormal cells do not die. Abnormal cells reproduce when a person has cancer.

There are many types of cancer. When a person develops cancer the disease spreads through the blood or lymph nodes to other areas of the body. The disease is often discovered before it moves to other areas of the body. Cancer that is discovered before it reaches the later stages is often treatable.

Cancer survival rates allow a person to know the percentage of individuals who have survived a certain kind of cancer for a certain amount of time. Cancer survival rates that are an overall rate include all races and ages. Overall rates also include individuals diagnosed during the early stages of cancer and the later stages of cancer. Most individuals who are diagnosed with the disease do not want to know overall cancer survival rates. Most individuals who are diagnosed with this disease want to know more specific survival rates.

Doctors and cancer organizations may be able to tell someone who is diagnosed with cancer the survival rates for the specific condition the person has.

Many discoveries have been found for treating cancer. Many years ago when a person was diagnosed with the disease the outcome looked grim; however, today many individuals will fight cancer and live to tell about it. Many doctors screen for the disease at regular examinations; therefore many individuals discover that they have cancer early on in the disease. Individuals who discover they have the disease early during the disease often will survive.