Post by pieter on Jun 29, 2023 5:03:52 GMT -7
Folks,
Vandals have destroyed dozens of glass panels bearing the names of cancer victims in a memorial woodland, Dutch police said. A forest ranger found the shattered remains of the panels in the Wilheminaforest in Dronten, in the Dutch Province of Flevoland, a few dozens of miles East of Amsterdam, on Monday. Police described the attack as “wanton vandalism”. The woodland was donated to the cancer research and support charity KWF (the Queen Wilhelmina Fund for Dutch Cancer Control) in 1999 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The 67 upright panels stood in a clearing among the 25,000 trees planted in memory of people who have died from cancer. I don't know if the perpetrators were Native Dutch or immigrants. That doesn't matter. Because victims of Cancer are both Native Dutch and migrants. So this barbaric act hit both the relatives of people who died of cancer and those whom work professionally with people of Cancer hard. Many people die in the Netherlands from brain tumors, lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, acute leukemia, lymph node cancer, asbestos cancer (people who used to work with or came into contact with asbestos. Asbestos cancer is one of the cruelest and nastiest types of cancer, but any cancer that is deadly is obviously and naturally to), Pancreatic Cancer, Cervical Cancer, Uterine Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Testicular Cancer (Testicular Cancer), Bladder Cancer, Bowel Cancer (Colon Cancer), Kidney Cancer, Thyroid Cancer, Esophageal Cancer and other Cancers.
Back to the subject. So, there are some sick, retarded, brainless, vulgar and inhuman people without any empathy in this world. Few of them are the guys who destroyed the Monument for Deceased Cancer Patients in Dronten, in the center of the Netherlands, in the Province of Flevoland, near Amsterdam, in the East of Amsterdam. About 43.48 miles (69,6 kilometers) in the East of Amsterdam. This brutal and senseless vandalism of was and is a shock to the The Dutch Cancer Society (KWF Kankerbestrijding) and many Dutch families whom lost loved ones to Cancer and for whom that monument was a place to go to, remember, commemorate, pray and read the names and data of their loved one which was on one of these glass commemorative plaques. That Monument so incredibly important to so many families of Cancer victims. You can't imagine how painful and hurtful and insulting that vandalism and destruction was and is to the children, partners, families, colleagues and friends of these Cancer Victim's which were and are commemorated in that forest and with these Plagues.
Some families picked pieces of broken glass with names and info of their loved ones from the field with broken glass.
Grieving little crying girl next to one of the destroyed glass plaques, where the name of her mother was ingraved, to remenber her. Her dad stands next to her to comfort her.
Cancer according to Encyclopedia Britannica
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops in the cells (melanocytes) that produce pigment in the skin. It is a more aggressive form of skin cancer and can spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body if not detected and treated early.
Cancer, group of more than 100 distinct diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body.
Though cancer has been known since antiquity, some of the most significant advances in scientists’ understanding of it have been made since the middle of the 20th century. Those advances led to major improvements in cancer treatment, mainly through the development of methods for timely and accurate diagnosis, selective surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapeutic drugs, and targeted therapies (agents designed against specific molecules involved in cancer).
Advances in treatment have succeeded in bringing about a decrease in cancer deaths, though mainly in developed countries. Indeed, cancer remains a major cause of sickness and death throughout the world. By 2018 the number of new cases diagnosed annually had risen to more than 18 million, more than half of them in less-developed countries, and the number of deaths from cancer in 2018 was 9.6 million worldwide. About 70 percent of cancer deaths were in low- and middle-income countries.
Cancer rates and trends
Statistical records
Traveling through the bloodstream, metastatic cancer cells invade new tissues.
The risk that an individual faces of developing and dying from cancer is expressed by incidence and mortality rates. (Incidence is the rate of occurrence per year of new cases, and the mortality rate is the number of deaths that occur per year in a particular population divided by the size of the population at that time.) Those figures are compiled by tumour registries in many different parts of the world.
One of the most authoritative sources of information on cancer incidence, survival, and mortality is the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, sponsored by the U.S. National Cancer Institute. SEER was established in 1973 in order to facilitate the collection and publication of data from population-based cancer registries in the United States. The figures are updated every year and are made available to researchers, public health planners, and legislatures. The data generated by programs such as SEER are used to identify geographic and population differences in cancer patterns that point to possible links between cancer incidence and occupation, environment, and lifestyle. For example, throughout the world, cigarette smoking is implicated as a cause of cancer of the lung, the mouth, the larynx, the esophagus, the pancreas, and the urinary bladder; alcohol is associated with the genesis of cancer of the larynx, the pharynx, and the esophagus; and obese persons are known to suffer a higher mortality rate from cancer than persons within normal weight limits.
Preventable cancers
Programs such as SEER provide vital insight into factors that play a major role in contributing to cancer. Indeed, although hereditary factors cause many types of cancer, they are implicated in only about 5 to 10 percent of cases. That means that the majority of cancers are due to environmental and lifestyle factors and therefore are largely preventable. Cancers linked to poor diet, lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking, and obesity are examples of preventable cancers that are of significant concern, particularly because of their impact on not only health but also workforce productivity and hence the national and global economy.
Worldwide in the early 21st century, preventable cancers linked to lifestyle factors were responsible for several million new cancer cases annually. Such cancers are especially common in developed countries. For example, in the United States some 25 to 30 percent of major cancers, such as colorectal cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, and esophageal cancer, have been linked to obesity and physical inactivity. In fact, in 2012 in that country, researchers estimated that about 3.5 percent of newly diagnosed cancer cases in men and 9.5 percent in women were associated with overweight or obesity. The impact of obesity on cancer risk varies widely by cancer type. Likewise, about one-third of cancers commonly diagnosed in the United Kingdom are considered preventable through improvements in diet, physical activity, and weight control.
Less-developed countries, however, are not immune to rising rates of preventable cancers. Less-active lifestyles and increased availability of processed foods have placed many people in developing countries at increased risk of cancer as well as conditions such as diabetes mellitus and heart disease. Less-developed countries are often home to high rates of disease caused by infectious agents, including human papillomavirus (HPV), which can give rise to cervical cancer, and hepatitis B and C viruses, which can cause liver cancer. Vaccines that have been developed against papillomaviruses and hepatitis B virus are helping to control the rates of associated cancers in heavily affected countries. However, lack of health care infrastructure in some of those countries means that many persons affected by cancer may receive late diagnosis or inadequate care and that the general public may remain unaware of the risk factors for preventable cancers because information may not be disseminated effectively.
Cancer and age
Cancer is to a great degree a disease of the elderly, and age is thus a very important factor in cancer development. However, individuals of any age, including very young children, can be stricken with the disease. In many developed countries cancer deaths in children are second only to accidental deaths.
In the United States the most-striking increase in cancer mortality is seen in persons between the ages of 55 and 75. A decline in cancer mortality in persons older than 75 simply reflects the lower number of persons in that population.
Death rates
Age-adjusted death rates (deaths per 100,000 population) for specific types of tumours have changed significantly over the years. In 1996, for the first time since data began being compiled, cancer deaths in the United States decreased (almost 3 percent), and the declines continued through the first decade of the 21st century. Worldwide, however, death rates from cancer were on the rise. The World Health Organization (WHO) projected that 13.1 million people globally would die from cancer in 2030.
In the United States and certain other developed countries, decreases in death rates from cancer can be attributed to successes of therapy or prevention. For example, a reduction in the number of deaths due to lung cancer has been attributed to warnings that have altered cigarette-smoking habits. Therapy has greatly lessened mortality from Hodgkin disease and testicular cancer, and it also has improved the chances of surviving breast cancer. Preventive measures have played a major role in the decrease of cancer mortality as well. For example, colonoscopy, which is used to detect early asymptomatic cancers or premalignant growths (polyps) in the colon, has contributed to declines in death rates from colon cancer. Routine Pap smear, an examination used to screen for carcinoma of the uterine cervix, has resulted in a downward trend in mortality observed for that disease. The identification of certain types of HPV as the causal agents of cervical cancer has improved cervical-cancer-screening programs by enabling samples obtained from asymptomatic women to be tested for the presence of harmful viral types that could later give rise to cancer. The effectiveness of preventative measures for cervical cancer is thought to have been greatly increased by the availability of HPV vaccines such as Gardasil, which was approved for the immunization of young girls and boys prior to their becoming sexually active.
Variation with region and culture
Striking differences in incidence and age-adjusted death rates of specific forms of cancer are seen in various parts of the world. For example, deaths caused by malignant melanoma, a cancer of the pigmented cells in the skin, are six times more frequent in New Zealand than in Iceland, a variation attributed to differences in sun exposure.
Most observed geographic differences probably result from environmental or cultural influences rather than from differences in the genetic makeup of separate populations. That view is illustrated by examining the differing incidences of stomach cancer that occur in Japanese immigrants to the United States, in Japanese-Americans born to immigrant parents, and in long-term resident populations of both countries. Gastric cancer mortality rates are much higher in Japan than they are in California probably because of dietary and lifestyle differences. Rates for first-generation Japanese immigrants, on the other hand, are intermediate between those of native Japanese and native Californians, and mortality rates among descendants of Japanese immigrants approach those of the general Californian population with each passing generation. Such observable trends clearly suggest that environmental and cultural factors play an important role in the causation of cancer.
Exposure to carcinogens and disease
Carcinogens in the Workplace: Considerations for EHS
Exposure to high levels of carcinogens (substances or forms of energy that are known to cause cancer—for instance, asbestos or ionizing radiation) can occur in the workplace. Occupational exposure can result in small epidemics of unusual cancers, such as an increase in angiosarcoma of the liver documented in 1974 among American workers who cleaned vinyl chloride polymerization vessels. Likewise, dramatic increases of certain types of cancer, such as leukemia and thyroid cancer, have been detected in populations exposed to high doses of radiation associated with the malfunction of nuclear reactors.
Childhood cancer
Childhood cancer is cancer in a child. About 80% of childhood cancer cases can be successfully treated. thanks to the modern medical treatments and optimal patient care. However, only about 10% of children diagnosed with cancer reside in high-income countries where the necessary treatments and care is available. Childhood cancer represents only about 1% of all types of cancers diagnosed in children and adults.[citation needed] For this reason, childhood cancer is often ignored in control planning, contributing to the burden of missed opportunities for its diagnoses and management in countries that are low- and mid-income.
Young girl with cancer
In the United States, an arbitrarily adopted standard of the ages used are 0–14 years inclusive, that is, up to 14 years 11.9 months of age. However, the definition of childhood cancer sometimes includes adolescents between 15 and 19 years old. Pediatric oncology is the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in children.
Folks, I worked at the Communications & Public Relations department of the Facilities Department of the Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem from 2001 until 2006. Before that I had worked for a few years in a Nursing home. The Facility Services of the Arnhem Hospital also included Purchasing, Warehouse, Catering, the Internal Employment Agency, the transport service (Hospital transports), administration and other Facility services not directly related to healthcare. The Communications department also included the Patient Education sub-department and my own Desk Top Publishing sub-department. One of my tasks besides making forms, leaflets, flyers, posters, business cards and statuses was photographing anniversaries, official communication and hospital meetings, installing and preparing the laptop for Power Point presentations in the Atrium of the Hospital and also occasionally photographing seriously ill children with autoimmune diseases and small cancer patients. At times like that, as an adult I sometimes had to pull myself together, swallow hard, and control my nerves until I entered that children department with the knowledge that I would take images of dying kids with Clini Clowns, visiting professional soccer players or others. These photos had to be good, because they would be published in a Hospital newspaper, website, in a flyer or on a poster and ofren parents wanted to have these photos. These were moments which played with my emotions, perseverance and professionalism. Emotion may play a role, but not interfere with your work. It was rewarding work, in which I operated on the interface of life and death and had to deal with the 'living side'. I saw and felt an enormous strength, zest for life, wisdom and sometimes resignation in these children. Also because they were often very tired from chemotherapy and the fact that the cancer affected their small bodies. They were very strong kids who somehow knew their end was approaching and managed to deal with it.
Pieter
Destruction Wilhelminabos
On Monday, June 19, 2023, the forester found a havoc, 65 of the 67 commemorative plaques of The Monument for Deceased Cancer Patients in the Wilhelminaforest in Dronten, a town in the center of the country, in the province of Flevoland have been destroyed. These glass panels bear the names of loved ones who have died of cancer. We are very shocked by this. And we realize the impact this must have on the next of kin.
Construction of the forest
The construction of the Koningin Wilhelminabos started on December 9, 2000 with the first 'Trees for Life' day. The forest is located in the northern tip of the Roggebotzand near Dronten opposite Kampen. The National Tree Festival Foundation and Staatsbosbeheer offered the forest in 1999 to the then 50-year-old KWF. After 20 years the forest was full.
Memorial Site
"An honorary monument to people who have died of cancer." This is how a visitor described the Memorial Site in the Queen Wilhelmina Forest. This Memorial Place contains glass panels with the names of loved ones who have died of cancer. Names that keep the memory alive.
A forest of more than 25,000 Memorial trees now forms around the Memorial Site. That forest symbolizes life. It grows, offers shelter, dies and thus passes on life. The forest also offers peace and space for our memories, for joy, for sadness.
Small monument
The Koningin Wilhelminabos now houses the names of thousands of people. Each name on a glass panel at the Memorial Site is a small monument. A monument to someone who died of cancer. For someone who was so dear to others that they want to keep the memory of him or her alive in this way.
Design
The forest was laid out to a design by Carolien van de Bles and Linda Hollander. They made this design as a graduation assignment for their Forestry studies at the International Agricultural College Larenstein in Velp.
An avenue with trees on both sides leads to an open space full of light. This symbolizes the moment of seeing the light of day. A winding path symbolizes the path of life. This ends with a bridge, symbol of the bridge between life and death that everyone must cross at some point. After this one arrives at the Memorial Site. From the memorial site, a path leads to the plots where trees have been planted since 2000.
The Memorial Site
The memorial site is a design by Peter J. Derksen, director of the National Tree Festival Foundation and initiator of the forest.
Around the statue are twelve Millennium trees in a broken circle, one for each province. Twelve also refers to hours, months, time. The circle is interrupted because direct contact with the deceased loved ones has been broken.
On December 9, 2000, the Contact Group for the Relatives of Cancer Patients (CNK) planted a Pin oak on behalf of all the relatives in the circle. That too is symbolic: our lasting memories of the deceased close the circle again. Outside the tree circle are the glass panels with the names of those who are commemorated in this forest. Two empty panels refer to people who have died of cancer, but are not mentioned by name on the Memorial Site.
KWF Kankerbestrijding (The Dutch Cancer Society)
The Dutch Cancer Society (DCS; in Dutch: 'KWF Kankerbestrijding' ) is a Dutch Society committed to fight cancer by scientific research, education, patient support and fundraising in cooperation with volunteers, donors, patients, doctors and researchers. By this commitment, DCS targets less cancer, more cures and a higher quality of life for cancer patients. Its motto is, 'Everyone Deserves a Tomorrow'.
www.kwf.nl/en/english
