Aging and Cancer
The Unwelcome Passenger
by John F. Lauerman
Sixty-eight, retired, but still looking for things to do, Joe Alessi of Dedham has a couple of jobs. In the morning, this white-haired man solicits quiet conversation while navigating the streets as the chauffeur of a van that shuttles people from a local car dealership to their homes or work. Afternoons, he drives cars between dealerships, mostly in the Boston metro area. He's in the right line because he likes to drive. But he can't enjoy it today.
"I received bad news, my friend," Alessi (not his real name) says in an accent that recalls his birthplace in Naples. "I went to the doctor the other day, and they did a scan. They found a few spots, a few things in my colon that shouldn't be there. So I'll have to start three weeks of chemotherapy, four times a week."
As you turn 60, just when you would like to start taking life easy and spend a little more time with your children and grandchildren, just when you need a break, that's when cancer may jump into your passenger seat. Although there are numerous well-substantiated theories, no one knows precisely what causes cancer. One of the clearest trends is that the disease becomes considerably more common as people age. Because of research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and laboratories across the nation, scientists are finally beginning to understand why this occurs, and what we can do about it.
In April of this year, the American Cancer Society released statistics showing that over the past few years, for the first time in decades, cancer rates have begun to fall, probably due to increased health consciousness and smoking avoidance at all ages. But older people don't share equally in the good news.