Given the increasingly toxic environment, soaring health costs and diminishing insurance coverage, fears of catastrophic illnesses like cancer loom increasingly large in adult life.
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Cindy Dillon
Pine Creek
Finance project manager
If you could choose your mode of death, what would it be? In my sleep, so it would be painless, and I wouldn't even know. Would you rather know or not know the date you'll die? You have to live for the present, not in worry of an unknown future. It's better to focus on taking care of yourself now and not make poor health choices.
If testing showed you genetically at-risk for breast cancer, would you opt as some women do for pre- emptive mastectomy? Being higher risk doesn't guarantee I'd get it. I'd rather do frequent screenings and focus on living healthily.
How likely is a cancer cure in our lifetime, in your opinion? Pretty high. Leukemia deaths in kids were a lot more common when I was growing up.
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Sheila Shafer
Pueblo West
Homemaker/homeschooler
If it were your choice, how would you die? Peacefully, in my sleep, so I don't know what's coming. Would you want to know now the date of your death? I'd probably rather know so I could prepare my family and my finances.
Have any of your relatives had cancer? My grandma had colon cancer 20 years ago. They removed part of her colon, and she's been fine ever since.
Do you have cancer fears? I don't expect to get it, but I have a rheumatoid condition. The meds they prescribe for it put you at higher risk for lymphomas, so I don't take them.
Are you optimistic about a cancer cure? Current treatment methods aren't working. I think it's ultimately the Lord's will whether you die or not.
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Bob Branum
West Side
City street division
If it were up to you, what kind of death would you have? Euthanasia. Get a shot, lie down peacefully, like taking a nap, never wake up. Would you prefer knowing or not knowing your future date of death? If you knew when death was coming, you couldn't live in the moment andenjoy what you do.
Has any relative hadcancer? Not cancer, but both my folks died of diabetes last January.
How likely is a cancer cure in our lifetime? We're really close, but I think the pharmaceuticals are a little heavy on the pill end of things, and we'd make better progress if they weren't so bent on making mega- fortunes on medications.
Do you worry about cancer? No. If you get it, it's just one of those things about life.
Bob Campbell
