Sean Holgate: Cancer is a national emergency, resources needed to address problem

To The Daily Sun,

So, my friend lost his wife to cancer the other day. She is 1 of 600,000 Americans who died of cancer this year. Divide that by 50 states and you get 12,000 people per state. They say heart disease is the No. 1 killer in America but I can think of one person I know who died of a heart attack. Everyone else I know who died, died from cancer. COVID killed 1.2 million people in America since it showed up four years ago. That's 300,000 a year and those numbers can't be trusted as many died of other things but were counted as COVID cases. There has to be a nationwide alert for cancer. It is mowing down people like the plague. My family alone is a perfect example. My dad, at 55, died of lung cancer. My older sister, at 44, died of three different kinds of cancer. My youngest brother, at 46, died of leg and lung cancer. My older brother, at 63, found out he had Stage 4 esophageal cancer and is fighting the good fight right now. Our mother had two bouts of cancer. One when she was in her 50s and the other that took her life at 79. I, myself, at 55, had to have my prostate removed due to cancer. If this isn't a national emergency, I don't know what is. We must find a way to stop it and we must push for immediate recognition that we have a problem. Let's stop wasting money on wars and use our resources to fix issues that are wiping out our love ones. I pray for my friend and his children. May God give them peace in this time of sorrow. #CANCERSUCKS

Sean Holgate

Gilmanton