The annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975–2009, shows that overall cancer death rates continued to decline in the United States among both men and women and among all major racial and ethnic groups.
The state's five-year plan for fighting cancer targets smoking, poor nutrition and obesity to limit the disease that is now diagnosed in more than 100,000 New Yorkers annually while killing about 35,000.
Noting the nearly 1 million cancer survivors among the state's 19 million people, the plan also calls for tracking their quality-of-life outcomes and ensuring appropriate follow-up care, including
David Kerr, from Milford, New York, is 26 years old and a former Marine, who after coming back from Afghanistan last year, found out that he had a whole new fight ahead him.