I’d stay away from Google. It’s got a lot of information for sure, but most of that probably does not apply to you. It will only mess with your emotional state. It would be impossible for a lay person to sift out what is relevant and not, more it’s full of data that has been superseded by newer information. Last, much of even science data has bias in it, which there are many types of, and that makes the information tainted. Knowing how to recognize bias in research articles comes from many years of reading them.

Prognosis information is the worst. Remember that we are each unique biological entities, similar but not the same. Descended from and containing a unique genetic make up that we inherited, and which is not universal. Who gets cancer, who survives it, may have some commonalities drawn from big defining categories, our gender, our race, ethnicity and other broad brush strokes. But we are much more individuals and unique than those definers that much of statistics has to be limited to. Even using those has flaws. Black men get oral cancers more often than white. Is it something biologically different about them? No. It’s because as a group they engage in more risk factors, primarily smoking. If you are a black man that doesn’t smoke, none of the oral cancer numbers in many studies apply to you. These are the flaws in statistics that when applying them to any one person make them useless. Your future, the remainder of your life, is going to be determined by much more than this. Don’t dwell on this. Tomorrow is promised to no one. Live each day fully present in it, how many more any of us have cannot be predicted.


Brian, stage 4 oral cancer survivor. OCF Founder and Director. The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant.