I've lost two grandmothers to cancer, so it's in my family, and I'd like to find out all I could about it. For generations, cancer has menaced Appalachia.
Cancer can strike young and old, rich and poor, city dweller and rural resident.
But the incidence and mortality rates for some cancers are disproportionately high among low-income, rural Appalachians. Dr. Gilbert H. Friedell, director for cancer control at the University of Kentucky's Markey Cancer Center in Lexington, notes that the Appalachian program is the third in a series created by the National Cancer Institute in response to studies showing that some groups of Americans have higher rates of, and greater risk of developing, cancer than others. First came a program for African-Americans, then one for Hispanics. After that, some of us in Appalachia began pointing out that much the same problem seemed to be the case in our geographic region. Each of the four has a steering committee, a principal investigator, and a program manager, but no two are organized or operated exactly alike.