If I were to put all my feelings, my secrets, into one sentence, it would be: cancer is actually not scary. It is this philosophy that has given me extraordinary confidence and courage. Of course, this philosophy and this open-mindedness are mainly due to my exploration and understanding of the disease and the nature of cancer over the years. This is exactly what I want to share with you. Cancer is a common disease: The first reaction of most people when they are first diagnosed with lung cancer is: Why am I so unfortunate? Why did cancer find me? In fact, there are thousands of people in the world who suffer from cancer. In the United States alone, at least 250,000 patients are found to have lung cancer each year. So, we are just a different group of people. We are not alone in a world where everyone has their own troubles. In more common terms, having lung cancer is not the end of life, so what is there to be afraid of? As we all know, “cancer” is a malignant tumor. Depending on the origin of the cells, pathology is divided into cancer and sarcoma, but it is still customarily referred to as “cancer”. In essence, they are just a mass of cells in the human body that do not keep their proper place, so they are often called “Neoplasm” in the medical field. Under certain conditions, cancer cells grow excessively and not only affect and destroy the structure and function of the primary organs, but also spread to other parts of the body through various channels, resulting in a series of clinical symptoms, constituting a special type of chronic disease and even life-threatening, which is cancer. Although there are a lot of reports and rumors about cancer in today’s society, and it has reached the point of talking about cancer, the harm of cancer to human beings is still limited after all. In other words, the chance of the human body developing cancer is actually far less than the chance of cancer cells being produced in the body. It is estimated that there are about 75 trillion cells in an adult body. In such a large cell population, hundreds of millions of cells die naturally every moment; at the same time, there are a large number of “preparatory cells” dividing and proliferating to produce new cells, which follow different biological laws to compensate for these losses and maintain the overall life of the human body. Any error in any step of this division and proliferation process may produce abnormal cells. Most of the abnormal cells are difficult to survive in the body and will die soon; only a very few abnormal cells are likely to survive and keep proliferating to form cancerous clusters (tumors). These cell clusters, which come from the human body but are harmful to the human body, are simply the “traitors” in the body. Even a cancer mass made up of millions of cancer cells is only half the size of a sesame seed. As you can imagine, these early clusters of cancer cells not only have no effect on the overall health of the body, but are also difficult to detect with the most sophisticated instruments. Most tumors live peacefully with the human body for a considerable period of time or have only mild effects on the body. Only some of these tumor cells proliferate unrestrainedly, grow rapidly, and keep spreading to other parts of the body, eventually posing a threat to health and life. Therefore, cancer is nothing but a relatively stubborn and chronic disease. Since it is chronic, we not only have a long time, but also have various medical means to stop it, control it and eliminate it. In other words, cancer is not worthy of excessive fear, but should be dealt with calmly and treated actively. Cancer and cancer are not the same thing: as mentioned earlier, cancer cells are a mass of unruly cells, traitors in the body. Cancer is a series of clinical syndromes caused by the proliferation and development of cancer cells to a certain extent. The two are related to each other, but their respective outcomes are different. Further, even if a person is unfortunate enough to have cancer, the overall outcome of this patient and the outcome of the cancer in him or her will each have their own destinations. For example, the relationship between cancer and the human body is like the relationship between a peach tree and a peach. A peach can go through the process of blossoming, fruiting, ripening, shedding and decaying year after year, while the peach tree itself does not necessarily die every year. As long as it is properly maintained and managed, a peach tree can survive for decades, flourishing with leaves and fruits every year. Similarly, a person may suffer from various diseases during his life, some are appendicitis, some are cholecystitis, some are tuberculosis, some are cirrhosis of the liver, and some are cancer. Each disease, no matter how different the clinical manifestations are, will go through different stages such as incubation period, early stage, middle stage (full bloom), late stage, and healing stage, which is called the disease process. Some diseases come and go quickly and do not even leave traces after they are cured, which is called “acute disease”. Some diseases simply pass by in a hurry, not waiting for medical treatment, it has already disappeared, completely self-healing. It is undeniable that many diseases do remain untreated for years and years, which is troublesome and even life-threatening. However, this does not mean that patients must go through the process of dying and living every time they get sick. Cancer is a chronic disease, and it also goes through the process of latent, early, intermediate, late, and final stages. What I am referring to here is the “course of cancer”, which is a different concept from the “overall life” of the patient. There are many clinical examples of cancer “recovering without treatment” or “surviving with the disease and dying”. This proves repeatedly that the human body has a certain degree of natural resistance to cancer cells and even cancer. In other words, the human body and all kinds of organisms have a considerable ability to heal themselves. Under normal circumstances, even if cancer cells are produced in the body, or even cancer is formed, the body’s defense system can control and destroy them at different stages. As a result, the cancer cells and cancer perish, while the body’s “defense system” wins and the “overall life” of the body is preserved. Only under certain conditions, the body’s defense system is severely inhibited, and its ability to monitor and kill cancer cells is greatly reduced. Cancer cells will take advantage of the situation and seize the nutrients in the body and proliferate rapidly, not only causing damage to the primary site, but also spreading to distant areas through local invasion or blood circulation or lymphatic system, forming new metastatic cancer nests and leading to a series of complex clinical symptoms. If detected (diagnosed) in time, cancer at this stage can still be effectively controlled by a variety of means. In the scope of Western medicine alone, there are also effective measures such as surgical treatment, radiation therapy, drug therapy, immunotherapy, etc. to control different types and stages of cancer. In traditional Chinese medicine, there is also a whole range of treatment strategies available for cancer. Many far-sighted doctors have been trying to combine Chinese and Western medicine to complement each other’s strengths, and have obtained promising results. In this way, there is nothing to be afraid of when you have cancer. Of course, when we talk about cancer, the topic of “death” is always inevitable. However, from the biological point of view, natural death is not terrible. Many people imagine cancer to be more frightening because they say “cancer is a terminal disease” and “it is life-threatening”. Of course, everyone cherishes life, so it is natural to have such thoughts. However, if we think about it calmly, it is not necessary to be overly afraid of death. Who in the world can avoid death? Every day, hundreds of millions of cells in our bodies die, but we do not feel it. There is always an end to life as a whole, and physical death is the inevitable end of life. It is as natural and easy as the fallen leaves in autumn, with a breeze, they will float down and return to the soil. It is often said that people are confused and confused in their lives, which is quite true. Who can remember how they felt when they first came into the world for a few minutes, hours or days? Some people also describe the life and death of a person as “just a breath away”. As you can imagine, natural aging and death are almost like sleep and are not worthy of fear. As for whether there is an afterlife after death, this is not a topic I should discuss. I just want to tell you my opinion about death from a medical point of view and from the mind of a medical professional who has cancer. If people really have a soul, I think death is a kind of liberation. The soul can then be free from bondage and leave the chaotic and crowded world to others, while it wanders around with its friends and family, as it pleases, in a state of bliss, free from suffering and worry.