How Two Billionaires are Making the Difference in the Cancer Community

Source: http://assets.labroots.com/

Once again, some rich people have donated to a cancer organization. According to a  CNN article (written by journalist David Goldman), Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, two respected billionaires, have donated $100 million to a program called Grail, a company that is in the process of developing a new type of blood test that can sense many different kinds of cancer much quicker and more easily than doctors can today. I believe that these two men donating to this company shows that they want further advancements in cancer treatment, Bill Gates does believe that the number of people dying from cancer will dramatically go down in the next few years.

The Grail foundation is working on “liquid biopsy” which scans a patient's blood and can detect strands of cancer DNA, which tells us that a tumor is forming on this patient. Using liquid biopsy is more efficient than getting a CT scan, which often doesn’t detect the first signs of a tumor. Often, by the time the tumor has progressed the patient has to undergo chemotherapy to eradicate the tumor. Grail claims that “The tests will cost $1,000 or less and be available by 2019”. Liquid biopsy will make it much easier to detect cancer early on and will make the process of removal much quicker and less stressful.

We don’t know whether Gates and Bezos have donated so much money because it will increase their status as good people, or if they truly are good people and donated out of love and hoping that we can find an end to cancer. We can all hope that they gave this generous amount of money out of the goodness of their hearts, but whether they did or not, the Grail program will eventually help many people in beating their cancer much faster.
Future research question: How an ad-campaign can have the cure to YOUR cancer