4 October
WORLD ONCOLOGY DAY
„Save the date” is a series of articles that have been written to celebrate various unusual holidays. The authors of the presented materials are students, doctoral students and employees of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Silesia.
4 October is celebrated as World Oncology Day.
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ANNA MROZEK-WILCZKIEWICZ, PhD, DSc, Associate Professor
Institute of Physics of the University of Silesia
On 4 October we celebrate World Oncology Day. On this occasion, I was asked to write a popular science post that would introduce this subject. Why? I’m not sure whether I’m the right person, despite the fact that I’ve been trying to “find a cure for cancer” for 13 years. Why did I use quotation marks? Because the matter isn’t simple, and the life of a scientist exploring this topic is not “a bed of roses”. From a scientific point of view, cancer cells are one of the most fascinating research objects. The reason is the multitude of “black holes”, “white spots” or “Gordian knots” standing in the way of a full understanding of this disease (which is, by the way, the second most common disease in the world). Almost every day I am amazed how unique the world of cancer is. I become doubtful and discouraged when I think about how far I am from the solution, namely “cure for cancer”. How to reconcile a romantic, naive desire to save humanity with a pragmatic, down-to-earth approach lined with the reality of Polish science? I’ve been asked many times about a recipe for victory over this insidious disease. I’ve received many letters from patients who waited for my response in the hope that I’ll give them access to the wonderful cure. At this point, I’m far from giving ready-made truths, prescriptions and advice on how to overcome cancer. But there is one thing I know for sure – we should never give up. Neither in a scientific search, nor in a personal struggle with this cruel disease. We shouldn’t doubt the billions of dollars spent on research, the thousands of failed experiments, the validity of in vivo studies (but that’s a topic for another occasion), the Covid vaccine (this, probably as well), and we shouldn’t doubt science. Thanks to science, we are where we are in the 21st century. We have the ability to easily communicate with people all over the globe, we have access to knowledge, medicines and technological innovations that improve our lives. I could go on and on for a long time, but my goal is to spread one message – don’t lose faith! Today the cure isn’t yet available for every type of cancer and every case, but we are getting closer to it every day. A day will come to drop the quotation marks and just write FIND A CURE FOR CANCER.
Ph.D. Anna Mrozek-Wilczkiewicz is the co-author of the patent for new methods of fighting cancer: https://us.edu.pl/nowe-sposoby-walki-z-nowotworami-patent-dla-us/