Richard Dreyfuss

The Great White Shark vs. Lung Cancer

I was doing one of my favorite things the other day, watching the Discovery channel. My two favorite channels on television are The History channel and the Discovery channel. With the exception of the pay by the hour porn channels which I have only heard about but personally know nothing about, everything that you need to know can be found on these two channels.

When I sat down with my cup of coffee and flipped on the tube I found myself in the middle of some type of shark marathon. I’m not sure if it is shark week, shark week seems to last longer then the NBA season. Anyway the first show was about Great white sharks and the next was something called I survived or how to survive a shark attack one of the two. In my mind I have kinda merged the two programs to produce one coherent thought.

The people who were attacked by sharks told their stories about how they were in the water surfing or wading in the water fishing and how they were savagely and unexpectedly attacked by some unforeseen force of nature. There was the story of the young man fishing with his brother in murky water when he felt a bump on his leg next to where he had the bait fish tied to himself and then a few seconds later something grabbed his leg and pulled him underwater. After a life and death struggle his brother and others were able to pull him away from the shark but he did lose his leg. It was decided that the shark was feeding on the same fish that the boys were fishing for and that the attack was more of a “wrong place at the wrong time” incident.

There are many people who feel that most shark attacks happen in that fashion. “ Your in the water, cage is in the water, Sharks in the water, “farewell and ado to you fair Spanish Ladies”, isn’t that the line Robert Shaw says to Richard Dreyfuss in 1975 as they are contemplating the use of the famous shark cage in Jaws?

Same thing with the surfer, the swimmer, the wader etc. Random attacks. All these people have the same thing in common, they were all doing things they had done many times before when they were attacked by a predator.

According to an article published by Science Daily on February 20th of 2009, shark attacks declined from71 worldwide in 2007 to 59 in 2008 with 4 reported fatalities in 2008 as opposed to 1 in 2007. My earlier reference to Jaws and the constant playing of shark week serve to remind us that if we dare step into the water something very, very bad might happen to us.

The shark , the Great white shark in particular has been called the perfect predator. It’s sole purpose is to feed and survive. I don’t think the Great White swims home at the end of the day and scratches little swimmer figures onto the side of a sunken ship to mark humans he ate that day like a World War two ace marking his plane after a day of combat but that seems to be the uninformed Hollywood based opinion we hold onto. He simply swims and eats and if it’s a fish or a seal or your uncle Bob, the shark really doesn’t care. A shark does not discriminate. He is not concerned with your religious beliefs, the color of your skin, how much money you make or owe. Your there, He’s there, end of relationship, he either bites you or swims past you without you ever knowing he was there.

Perfect Predator.

Unless you start comparing it to lung cancer.

If cancer were sharks, then lung cancer would be the Great White Shark of the cancer world, due to it’s potential to hit you and kill you quickly. Most of the time with lung cancer by the time you realized you have a problem, it’s already too late. Which is why the mortality rate is so high.

As I watched and listened to a young lady relive her attack and escape story, she said something that really hit home for me in the simplicity of it’s profoundness. She said, “ I knew that if I was going to act like prey, I was going to be prey.” She then went on and told us how she grabbed hold of this two thousand pound great white shark and started beating the hell out of it until it finally swam away.

You must have that same strategy with cancer, all cancer. The first step to survival is to make the decision that your going to live, that your life is worth fighting for. This young lady really nailed one of the fundamental facts of life, Act like Prey, become Prey. After you decide to fight for your life you then must do it regardless of how the odds are stacked. Fight with everything you’ve got and with every weapon doctors and scientists can offer you. Look at every treatment available, Never settle for the final diagnosis.

I listened to a story where a lady was being held under by this shark, she was punching and wrestling with this thing that was trying to end her life. Almost out of air and losing consciousness from blood lose, she felt her life slipping away, when suddenly the shark simply let go and left. Sometimes that’s the way it happens, you fight hard, you win.

Cancer , Like the shark, does not care about you personally. It has no interest in the effect that it is going to have on you or your family, it doesn’t care what you believe in or who you are. Cancer lives to do one thing, feed on your healthy cells and tissues until it does enough damage to kill you. Cancer never takes a coffee break, it is not easily distracted and is willing to go the full twelve rounds. Unlike a shark who is more of a hit and run kinda guy. You can’t make cancer go away by poking it in the eye or punching it in the gills which, by the way, I learned are the two places you want to aim for if your being attacked by a shark.

Here comes the reality in comparison of our two worst nightmares.

The Great White vs. Lung Cancer.

Great White kills to live

Lung Cancer Kills just because

Great White prefers seals and fish to humans

Lung Cancer prefers humans not real fond of fish(smells up the house)

Great White attack, five minutes and it’s over one way or the other

Lung Cancer knows no time boundaries, it prefers a quick fight but is willing to fight it out with you into the late rounds if needed.

Great White can only hurt you if your in the ocean

Lung cancer comes at anytime, anyplace and anywhere.

Great White has limited effect on life of average person.

Lung Cancer will effect one out of five people in one way or another during the course of their lifetime.

 

Great White Shark- Awesome musical score from John Williams that plays in the back of every humans mind when they enter the water since the summer of 1975.

Lung Cancer- music heard in waiting room of cancer clinic. (shark wins that round)

Great White Shark will be responsible more then likely for no deaths this year.

Lung cancer will kill an estimated 159,400 people this year according to the National Cancer Society.

I could go on , but the hands down winner is lung cancer as far as being the more lethal predator of the two.

Truth be told you stand more of a chance dying in a car accident on the way to the beach then you do by a shark attack. But should you happen to run into one or have one run into you. Try to stay calm, Don’t act like food and aim for the eyes and the gills, stay away from the mouth the teeth are like razor blades.

If you happen to run into lung cancer, try to stay calm, get the best advice on treatment you can find. Find doctors and a facility that you believe will assist you the best in your fight for life. Research and learn all you can about your disease and everything and anything that can be used as a weapon to fight it. Watch your health, share information with the people around you because they are your best allies in your war. Build your strength and commit yourself to the fight. Then fight every waking hour of every day because that’s what it will take to make this shark swim away.

If these things aren’t working for you, “your gonna need a bigger boat.” Go out and find one, but never give up.

In one of the shark shows, I heard about research being done on things that would deter a shark from attacking.

I have also heard of research being done to help deter lung cancer. Both would be great breakthroughs in their relative fields. If they could devise something that kept sharks away from you then that would help limit your one in 10 million odds of being attacked by a shark.

Develop something that allows you to take preventative measures prior to being diagnosed with lung cancer and you could perhaps save millions of lives.

I wonder which endeavor receives the most research funding?

Great White Shark vs. lung cancer, that answer might come as a surprise.

About the Author

As co-founder and President of the GFLCCO, Tim Giardina,a current lung cancer survivor offers a unique point of view of Lung cancer,lung cancer treatment and offers support to patients and their families.

Richard Dreyfuss winning Best Actor