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Mens Health Looks at Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma

Steve Bourke received some of the worst news anyone can receive during their lifetime: he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma, an insidious form of cancer, on his forty-third birthday. When looking at mens health, Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma comes up often ? it is the sixth most common cancer in men. The American Cancer Society estimated that when the numbers are finally in for 2006, 30,680 men will have been diagnosed with the cancer, and that 10,000 will have died of the disease. This is not a good ongoing quandary for men?s health.

?In the United States, the rates have been going up about 3 to 4 percent annually over the past 30 years. The United States, Europe, and Australia have the highest rates in the world,? said Christine Skibola, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at the University of California at the Berkeley school of public health. When it comes to mens health, many people, especially men, do not think of this type of cancer as a genuine problem or a possible disease they might develop. When talking about men?s health, cancer rarely comes up as a central subject of discussion.

Like many men around his age, Bourke has to face dealing with a serious illness and fight the fight of his life. So what could be causing this alarming upsurge that, prompted the National Cancer Institute to call Non-Hodgkin?s Lymphoma an ?emerging epidemic?? Theories range from hair dyes to pesticides, AIDS to the Epstein-Barr virus, but none has been found to be the primary agent. Something has changed in the world, and in mens health, to lead to this enormous increase in lymphoma in the general population. In order to be on the lookout for this cancer, and to be aware of the consequences of not having routine physicals and check-ups, men?s health will have to give more of a focus on this deadly disease for men everywhere.