EMILY HSUEH
Pontiac April 7, 2021
April brings warm weather and sunshine, but it also brings attention to a deadly disease that is all too familiar to many people; it’s cancer awareness month. According to the Canadian cancer Society, there were about . . .
225,800 new cancer cases in Canada in 2020, and it is the leading cause of death in the country.
Dr. Keith MacLellan, a Pontiac doctor for many years and chief of service of cancer treatment at the Pontiac Community Hospital, said that the three big cancers are breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. At the Pontiac Hospital — which is the only small hospital in the area that gives treatment for cancer — there are screening tests which can be done to detect cancers early. Since there are no definitive symptoms of cancer, family history of the disease is the best knowledge.
“Screening … these are people who are completely fine, don’t have symptoms at all, and we’re trying to screen them before they become symptomatic,” said Dr. MacLellan.
For breast cancer, MacLellan said that a mammogram should be performed every two years for women over the age of 50 without a family history of the disease. If there is a family history, he recommended a yearly mammogram. He also explained that there is a program in place in Quebec where women over 50 receive a letter from the government offering the screening, which can then be booked with one simple phone call.
Colon cancer screening is done via a colonoscopy, which is recommended to those with a family history every five years. However, this can be an invasive procedure, so if there is no history of it, a FIT test can be performed, where fecal matter is scanned for microscopic blood. If it’s positive, further testing can occur.
Screening for prostate cancer is more controversial, as the blood test that is used is not proven to save lives. Cancer screening in general can result in many false positives, MacLellan said, and can therefore cause anxiety. He emphasized that there is no surefire way to avoid cancer, but you do not have to live your life in fear of it.
“When people get cancer, they sometimes feel like it’s their own fault because they didn’t live right or they didn’t eat properly or they didn’t take care of themselves, but I think that’s wrong,” he said. “People who get cancer, it’s often not because they didn’t do the proper things to avoid it, it’s just because they got it anyway.
“You don’t have to become a born-again health food nut. You have to enjoy your life.
