With Stephanie Spielman's recent passing I began to wonder and ponder this:

What happens to all the money raised for Cancer research? I mean, I have read that Lance Armstrong has raised over $18 million. Many individuals, groups, and corporate sponsors have donated to the cause to the tune of billions of dollars.

I'm just thinking that with all this money, certainly someone somewhere would begin to put a significant dent in this disease yet it seems more rampant than ever. Am I out of my mind for thinking these thoughts?

Sometimes when I'm in a cynical mood I think that they will never find a cure and lose all the research jobs (concerning cancer only) pharma money and lobbying money.

Reality is that I don't think there will ever be a cure simply because science cannot fix, or have an answer to, all things.

About 2 years ago, a student at Pitt developed a drug that was "killing" Cancer cells. There was huge news about this, then all the sudden it just vanished. I work in the medical field and I am a FIRM believer that if you have the money, the treatment is available. I know the Spielman's have money, but I also believe that once in a while and example is made of people that have a social status to keep others afraid. Cancer is a HUGE money maker to the U.S. and sometimes I think there will never be a "public" cure.

SoS,

I believe it takes around 10 years for a drug to hit the market.

Money is only part of the equation--a much greater obstacle is our lack of understanding. It's not like we know what the cure is and it just takes money to get there. A lot of money is spent on dead-ends, false starts, and making in-roads to what an eventual "cure" may be. All is valuable though.