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Comment by citricsquid | Hacker News Reader

He described her as a "previously healthy 50 year-old daughter" and then she went from feeling weird to death in a month? I had no idea cancer could be so aggressive, is it 1 in a million that it can be this aggressive (from showing symptoms to death) or is this something common? This would explain why early diagnosis is so emphasised, I still didn't understand how much it could matter.

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Cancer can absolutely be that aggressive, and many of your internal organs don't have the sorts of pain and proprioception sensors we think of from our experience interacting with the world through our skin.

It's possible to have twenty small tumors throughout your body, causing no real issue, and then shortly thereafter they continue growing enough to impinge nerves, blood vessels, airways... And you're suddenly diagnosed with stage IV cancer.

> He described her as a "previously healthy 50 year-old daughter" and then she went from feeling weird to death in a month? I had no idea cancer could be so aggressive, is it 1 in a million that it can be this aggressive (from showing symptoms to death) or is this something common?

Up til just a decade ago, certain kinds of pancreatic cancer could kill you in as little as 2 weeks after diagnosis. I wouldn't be surprised if this was still the case. Also, my understanding is that sudden early death from cancer is fairly rare, but yes, it can happen.

I lost a friend (55) to a brain tumour. From initial diagnosis to funeral: 17 days. His last words to me were 'I'm going to fight this thing'. He never stood a chance.

This really can happen. A friend from work went from a small cough that wouldn't go away (treating it with antibiotics) to dead in about two months. Throat cancer, spread everywhere. He was in his mid 40s, vegetarian for years, major math nerd. Just unlucky.

A coworkers 50 year old brother (whose wife is a nurse) went the ER on Friday and was dead by Sunday night of cancer.

Looking back there were a few symptoms (like weight loss), but nothing major.

PS Please leave a list of your passwords. They never did get into his computer.

It's also possible she experienced minor symptoms earlier but ignored them, associating them with aging or random stuff humans endure.

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