Vítor Veloso, the president of the League, noted that cancer has increasingly become a chronic illness rather than an acute one.
“Despite the incidence [of new cases] increasing, the number of those who are cured or survive with great quality of life are increasingly evident”, said Veloso at the closing session of the 75th anniversary of the LPCC.
Despite this, Veloso said, the number of cases and new patients will continue to rise over the next few years.
The Portuguese Assistant Secretary of State for Health, Fernando Araújo, noted that new cases in Portugal have increased at a rate of 3 percent per year, and warned that smoking is the biggest risk factor for the main causes of death in the country: brain and cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
Araújo mentioned some of the measures by the Ministry of Health related to cancer, for example extending colo-rectal cancer screening in the North of the country and in the Algarve.
Meanwhile, the LPCC has urged people to take part in the upcoming annual Terry Fox Run, which is one of the organisation’s biggest fund-raisers.
The 22nd edition of the run, which has a 5km and 10km route, takes place on 22 April in Lisbon. It is an annual non-competitive charity event held in numerous regions around the world in commemoration of Canadian cancer activist Terry Fox, and his Marathon of Hope, and to raise money for cancer research.
At the age of 18 Terry Fox was diagnosed with cancer in the bones of his right leg, which was eventually amputated.
During his time in hospital, Terry was moved by the suffering of other young cancer patients and decided to cross Canada, on foot, to raise funds for cancer research.
Between April and September, 1980, Terry walked more than five thousand kilometres in 143 days and raised some 24 million Canadian dollars. He was eventually forced to stop his marathon trek after the cancer spread to his lungs.
Terry died in June 1981, aged 22. That same year the first ‘Terry Fox Race’ was organised to pay homage to the brave young man, and a foundation was created in his name.
The first race in Portugal took place in 1994.
For more details see: http://www.terryfox.org, or www.ligacontracancro.pt.