As mentioned in an earlier article, I was diagnosed with leukemia last month. Not any ordinary leukemia, but a very rare one — hairy cell leukemia (HCL).

Today was appointment day with my hematologist. Not just any hematologist — one of a handful of HCL experts in the world that I’m lucky enough to have living in my city.

Cancer

While chatting in our 30 minutes together, we discussed the mystery of cancer. How do some people get it and others not? What factors contribute to an increased probability of contacting the disease?

He had some interesting comments.

Most adults in North America walk around with cancer cells in their bodies. Most don’t have cancer because their immune systems keep the cells in check. But we still don’t know exactly what triggers these cancer cells to manifest into a malignant condition.

Diet is important. So is stress management. But he feels that exercise, regular cardiovascular and strength training, is the single biggest prevention against cancer.

He recounted that twenty years ago, studies were done to determine if personality type affect disease. The findings: type A personalities prove most susceptible to heart disease; the givers of the world, the ones who are spread thin by giving too much of themselves, are more likely to develop cancer. As a leading expert on HCL, he and some of his fellow experts are about to embark on a study of the relationship between personality, career choice, and the development of HCL.

In his specialisation in the treatment of HCL, he is most excited about the BRAF gene. A team of Italian scientists used massively parallel sequencing to pinpoint mutation V600E as a likely driver mutation in 100% of cases of HCL. He is working with counterparts around the world to learn more about the relationship between BRAF and HCL. Research of this kind — the impact of genetic mutation on the development of cancer — is going on for most types of cancers. There is an exciting future for cancer researchers in understanding how the disease manifests at the sub-cellular level.

On my drive home, all this got me thinking about my wife’s grandmother. She had eighteen kids and two weeks ago turned 101. According to my wife, she hasn’t exercised a day in her life. Imagine how much longer she could live if she’d only start working out!