Yesterday I snowshoed with my oldest friend - He asked me to drop his ashes where we were walking. Lung and brain. Last night I heard my cousin has cancer - breast, along with another friend who has just undergone radiation - breast. Two musician friends, one dead - brain, the other hanging in there, leukemia. Next door neighbor and friend, lung and brain. Producer and close musical friend Monday informed of stage 4 throat. Partners father - lung and brain bout a year ago, passed. away.

I'm sure many of you have similar stories. This past week has been horrendous having lost another long-time friend to mental illness.

Some folk roll their shoulders and say we are getting old, and this what we can expect. I guess.

All this suffering close by has left me drained, sad, and wondering. One in two of us now - 50% will get cancer.

There's lots to worry about. War. Climate change. Economy. And cancer....

Trying to remain positive, but I can see from my posts that I'm not being 100% successful.

Sorry.

That's pretty tough, to have so many people ill or worse at the same time. I can only sympathise and hope things work out for the best. I found out a few days ago that someone I know has just been diagnosed with cancer. In fact a friend who also knows them just came round with a card to send to them a couple of days ago. It's not much, but what more can you do if it's now in the hands of the medics.

I guess there is an element of us all getting older in this but that's out of our hands as well.

Not a good time at all. We've all been so focussed in on Covid that you forget everything else is still going on the background.

I'm sorry to hear that. It's such a horrible disease. And painful for everyone involved. I have been close to it myself recently. Losing my own mother and now my cousin is going through chemo at the moment. It's a subject close to me and it also makes me BLOODY ANGRY.

Pandemic ? Maybe. But perhaps not of the effect but more of the cause.

Many of us fear cancer. And for some it is truly is unavoidable. Fate, genetics etc.

But how many of us invite it. Or do very little to lower the chances.

Smoking , drinking, eating processed food, too much sugar, lack of vegetables, not exercising enough etc.

I've lost over ten friends to cancer. As well as my mother. And as far as I remember, they were mostly smokers, obese or heavy drinkers. Or lived on cheap processed meat.


But of course. You may live the life of a saint and still be afflicted.

A quick Google predicts that 30-50% of cancers are preventable.

I believe that number is MUCH higher. Because no Government will never admit that their policies on environment, pesticides, food and water quality are killing the population.

Cancer is tragic. And my heart goes out to anyone who goes through it.

But it is also OUR OWN responsibility to do our best to prevent it. And if we all took this more seriously, then the strain on the health service maybe 50% less than it is. And everyone can get the treatment they need. Much faster and more efficiently.

So if you're reading this whilst eating a cheap chemically processed bacon sandwich, on bleached white bread, with sugared processed instant coffee, with a cigarette smouldering in your ashtray, before getting back onto the couch... Then think about how many bullets you're loading into the chamber before playing Russian roulette with Cancer.

Because it is ALWAYS hardest on those who are left behind with a possibly preventable death.

I'm sorry if this post seems insensitive or patronising. But it is a subject that stirs emotion in me.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

The older we get, the more people we know pass away, until our owm time has come.
Of course you are sad when a loved one gets ill or passes away, that´s normal.
It is also normal that one has difficult to see possitive things when living in a dark period of live.
Of course you are mourning, of course you feel sad and of course you worry, but your first responsibility is your own live. You have a choice. You can sit down, feel sorry for yourself, maybe grab some bottles of whiskey and destroy your live (you wouldn´t be the first one).
Or you can learn from this.......live is too short. When your health and finances permit, do the things which make you happy, do the things you want to do before it´s too late.

As I said, it is difficult to be possitive when one has a bad time and it is normal to worry. And I am aware of it is easy talking for me, not being in your situation, but I can not agree with those worries your wrote down.
How terrible for those people living in a warzone, it is not your war, it is not your problem and it won´t affect your life, except for everything to get more expensive.
Climate change is a natural thing, has happend many times in earths history and nothing we can do about. For some millions of years ago sealevel was 50 feet higher then now, iceages has come and gone. We are now living at the end of a iceage so the earth is getting warmer and sealevel rises again. Quite normal for the planet but not what humans are used to because we humans only excist for such a short time.
Economy yes, we have to try to live a good life with the amount of money we have.

Wishing you all the strenght to make the right choice, I think it´s best to stop following the (western) news and go out on a ride, a walk in nature or do whatever interests you may have, preferably outside the house.

I reckon everyone who reaches adulthood will have known at least one person taken by cancer. For me it was my mother. At last count I'd also lost two good friends, one is currently fighting a losing battle and two more are fighting and hopefully winning. Apart from mum, who was a regular smoker (like most of her generation), none of the others have had notably unhealthy lifestyles. It's shit, it really is, but I'm not about comparing tough luck stories because sooner or later something is going to get all of us, no matter how healthily we try to live.

Just live your best life, and if you're worried about dying early stay off motorcycles

Firstly, there is no need to apologise. Secondly, yes, there are lots of things you can worry about - but I try not to worry about the things that I can’t effect. Thirdly, as Ted has pointed out, in many cases we can have an effect on the chances of getting certain cancers by our behaviours - smoking, drinking, eating, sun bathing etc - again don’t worry, but make those changes that you are comfortable with. Fourthly, as the population ages the chances of each individual getting a cancer increases - it is the side effect of longevity.

At the end of the day we will all die. It is inevitable. As time passes I go to more funerals and I prefer to celebrate the lives of those that have died - I acknowledge that I miss them now and that I will continue to miss them but I prefer to remember them in their best light.

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You will have to do without pocket handkerchiefs, and a great many other things, before we reach our journey's end, Bilbo Baggins. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you. The world is ahead.

On the flip side, Sue having cancer (5yrs free of disease tomorrow!) was the impetus for us to start our motorbike touring. 4mths in 2019 and planning for the next one June 2023

The one thing we know is that life is always too short, even if we live to 110. It does not help us to worry about whatabouts, couldabes, shouldhavebeens. I will be 76 tomorrow, I am 7th out of 8, one passed away 30 years ago, the rest are going about their days. I have had cousins who lived to 91 and 93. I have also had 3 children who died early-- 3 months, 4, 19. I took a bike ride to Tierro del Fugo, ran out of cash, lived in Lima for a year. If I had spent all my time worrying about what could happen, what the next thing life would dump on me, I would have stayed in my home town like many of my school friends did rather than gone on a whaler. I have at least 4 conditions that will kill me someday. Live for today, try not to let what is going to happen stop you from living now.

Well said

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Average life span for men and women in the USA in 1922 was 58 and 61.
Now in 2022 the average life span is 77 and 81.

Folks are living a lot longer and not dying young from non-cancer, so it shouldn't be surprising that today a larger percentage of folks are dying from cancer.

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250