In sadder news, Satoshi Kon, director of Perfect Blue and Millenium Actress passed away recently. Reading this short obituary, the phrase ‘died suddenly of cancer’ popped out; how the hell do you die suddenly of cancer?
The truth turned out to be far sadder, with the director knowing he had terminal pancreatic cancer but choosing to keep it quiet, as he wasn’t going to undergo treatment and didn’t want to worry everyone. Still, there are cases of ‘sudden’ cancerous deaths with a cancer, usually malignant melanoma, spreading and metastasizing in a short amount of time. Usually the suddenness comes from a diagnosis made after several months of the cancer growing unchecked.
It should be clarified that ‘super cancers’, cancers that supposedly metastasize and kill in under a day/week, do not really exist except in one or two very rare medical instances where other factors figured in.
Just in case you’re a healthy young person with an unremarkable family medical history who exercises regularly and suchforth, there’s always pulmonary embolisms to worry about.
