Athens — Ignoring the symptoms won’t help you beat cancer, Todd Sigmon, vice president of the ETMC Cancer Institute, told the Athens Noon Kiwanis, Tuesday. Check-ups and early detection will give a better chance of surviving most forms, and can turn a potential death sentence into a manageable, chronic disease. “Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells, and if you don’t treat them they’ll go crazy,” Sigmon said. Cancer is actually an umbrella term that covers many different diseases. “Breast cancer is not the same thing as lung cancer,” Sigmon said. “I don’t really mean just the organ it originates in, but there are actually cells that are different.” if someone gets breast cancer and it spreads to the bones, it does not become bone cancer. “That’s important because different cancers respond to different treatments,” Sigmon said. there are multiple factors that can lead to a person being stricken with cancer, Sigmon said. there are genetic causes. Lifestyle choices, like smoking can increase its likelihood. Infections can play a role, as can environmental conditions. Men and women are affected by cancers at different rates, Sigmon said. Common among men is prostate cancer, which accounts for 28 percent of the cases. Lung cancer is the second most common among male cases with 15 percent. Twenty-eight percent of the malignancies among women are breast cancer cases. Lung cancer is also the second most likely to affect women, accounting for 14 percent of the cancer diagnoses. “many cancers are curable now, especially with early detection,” Sigmon said. Breast cancer and colon cancer are among those where early detection is critical. they are easily treatable in their early stages, but potentially fatal, if allowed to grow and metastasize. Prostate cancer and skin cancer patients also fare well if treatment is started early, Sigmon said. There’s nothing sadder for a doctor than to look into the eyes of someone who has terminal cancer, knowing they could have been treated with a simple surgery, had they had it examined earlier. Fighting cancer is a team effort. some team members you see, but many you don’t. besides the doctor and oncologist, there are pathologists, radiologists and maybe 20 others who could be involved in your case, Sigmon said. “I would want to know that there’s more than one person who’s going to decide what is best for me,” Sigmon said. there are multiple treatments for cancer. Surgery gives the patient the best chance of living cancer free. “It’s typically the most curative,” Sigmon said. “it allows the surgeon the opportunity to remove as much of the tumor as is necessary, and even a little sliver of healthy tissues to make sure the cancer hasn’t invaded anything around it. Surgery ceases to be an option when the cancer has spread to other locations in the body. Chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation may be used in those locations. “The technology you’d get if you get it in Athens is the same as in Tyler or Dallas,” Sigmon said. “The chemo they use, and the radiation is the same.” The ETMC Cancer Center at their location is at 2000 S. Palestine St. across from ETMC Athens.