BANGOR – While cancer still affects many of our friends and loved ones, it appears some trends are heading in the right direction.
Survivor Dan Bahr said “It was me. Cancer is just like anything you can imagine.”
Cancer has no bias. It effects all types of people, no matter their background.
“Cancers unlike anything else. They look me in the eye and said its you, its now, its real.” Bahr added. Dan Bahr is just one of many who’ve come face to face with the disease, being diagnosed with throat cancer back in 2002. He stated “I knew it would sting, it would hurt. You lose weight and hope to get through it.”
He was told he wasn’t going to be able to speak ever again,or even survive through the year. Bahr said “This is the last Christmas I’m ever gonna see isn’t it?”
But Dan lived to see many more, in fact, he’s seen 14 Christmases since then, and hes now officially cancer free. “I’m just as happy as can be. I’m one of the lucky ones.” he said. But that doesn’t mean he’s not still affected by cancer every single day. He’s now spending his time helping others who have been diagnosed, through his work with the American Cancer Society, walking them through the very scary moment of being diagnosed.
Dan said 1 out of every 2 men will be effected by cancer, and 1 of every 3 women. But there’s hope, the numbers of those being diagnosed are decreasing. He stated “We are having 25% less people die from cancer percentage wise since 1991. It keeps getting better.”
With better technology and early detection, having cancer is no longer a death sentence and Dan is living proof. He stated “The machine can pin point the cancer.”
And he said we are on the brink of research that could be monumental. He concluded “By the nose on my face, were gonna cure cancer in your lifetime.”
