For all the innovation and ingenuity in the medical field, this country performs miserably with disease prevention and early detection. For many reasons, this makes no sense.
In the case of autism, the economic argument for early diagnosis and treatment was clear: Early intervention makes a lifetime of difference, with reduced burden on the school system and the Medicaid program. It also leads to better outcomes for individuals. Of course, this is true of many conditions.
Years after the Wrights made that argument for autism support, Suzanne Wright was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It was shocking to learn there is no reliable detection test and there are no curative treatments for the disease!
Mammograms, PSA tests, and colonoscopies have saved millions of lives, but there is nothing for pancreatic cancer. It has been nearly fifty years since Nixon declared War on Cancer. Shockingly, pancreatic cancer has the same 91% mortality rate it had in 1971. This is the highest mortality rate of all cancers.
45,000 people die every year, like clockwork, and there is no urgency at the federal research level to address this. Nobody is held accountable for this lack of progress. Bob Wright soon learned why. There is no army to demand a new approach. #RoadToHARPA