Services

Cancer Free Awareness, LLC (CFA) provides the missing link of cancer risk evaluation in the care of cancer free people who would like to reduce their risk of getting cancer and cancer patients working to become cancer free. CFA has developed the Cancer Risk Questionnaire, a thorough carcinogen and cancer risk history questionnaire to identify possible workplace, environmental, and behavioral/life style carcinogens or cancer risk factors. The Cancer Risk Questionnaire can be filled out by you with the assistance of the CFA staff. To help evaluate your information, CFA has built a data base through which the known cancer risk factors for specific cancers can be identified, the Known Associations – Cancer Risk Database.

If you are cancer free, CFA will determine if you have had or currently have any cancer risks factors in your life. If you are currently diagnosed with cancer and a cancer risk factor is found, the specific cancer risk factor can be evaluated through the CFA’s Database to determine if your specific cancer type is known to be associated with the cancer risk factor to which you were exposed.

The CFA staff will discuss fully with you the findings of the evaluation, the cancer risks identified, and the ways you may manage that risk to reduce the impact of cancer on your life. CFA will also note any family cancer pattern; however, it does not evaluate genetic cancer risks. Any person identified with a possible genetic cancer risk factor will be referred to a clinic that specializes in genetic testing and counseling.

Currently Cancer-free

Even if you have not been diagnosed with cancer, a Cancer Risk Evaluation can be very useful in helping you stay healthy and cancer free. By having your occupational, environmental, and behavioral cancer risks identified, you can be informed about cancer risk exposures you have had in the past or are currently experiencing. By identifying your cancer risks, you can know which cancer, if any, you are at a higher risk of developing. CFA can then discuss with you which actions you can take to manage that risk and lower the possibility of getting cancer, including which type of screening, if any, would be helpful. With this knowledge you can make your own choices of what you want to do to reduce your risk of cancer. CFA can also advise you regarding organizations which can help you take the actions you decide to take to manage your cancer risk.

Currently Diagnosed with Cancer

After being diagnosed with cancer, treatment is paramount. However, identifying the risk factors associated with your cancer, if possible, and any risk factors you may currently be experiencing, is also very important and often overlooked.

There are several convincing reasons why you should ask the questions, “What cancer risk factors are associated with my cancer and which, if any, cancer risks do I currently have?

First, you may still be exposed unnecessarily to the cancer-causing substance or risk factor associated with your cancer, which may increase your probability of continued disease in the presence of treatment. This exposure must stop. This cannot be done unless the cancer-causing exposure or risk factor is identified. A thorough Cancer Risk Evaluation should be done to identify whether a cancer-causing exposure or risk factor is related to your cancer. If a cancer risk factor associated with your type of cancer is found, CFA will let you know the substance or risk factor involved and where and when you were or are exposed. If the exposure is still taking place, you will be told what measures you can take to manage that risk and reduce or eliminate that exposure. If other risk factors are identified that are not currently associated with your type of cancer, CFA will inform you of that finding, as well, and advise you as to how you can manage that risk. CFA will also tell you about appropriate available screening. This can all increase the likelihood that your treatment will be successful and decrease the likelihood that the cancer will progress. CFA can also advise you about available support services that can help you be successful in taking the actions you choose to manage and address your cancer risk.

Second, family and friends may also have exposure to the same cancer-causing substance or risk factor. If so, this exposure will continue, and identical cancers may occur in those individuals, unless you have a thorough occupational, environmental, and behavioral/life style factor history taken through the CFA Cancer Risk Evaluation and identify any carcinogen or risk factor exposure which contributed to your cancer. If a cancer-causing substance or cancer risk factor associated with your type of cancer is found, this knowledge can lead to steps being taken to reduce or eliminate the harmful exposure to others.

Cancer Risk Evaluation – No Fee
There is no fee for the CFA Cancer Risk Evaluation. This service is provided free of charge. The first appointment via zoom or online platform is spent filling out the Cancer Risk Questionnaire with you, then the CFA staff will evaluate that information. During the online second appointment the CFA staff will discuss the findings with you and the steps you can take to manage any identified cancer risks.
If you prefer to do your own cancer risk evaluation, use the information on this website under the heading Basic CFA Database Information. By checking your workplaces, environments, and behaviors you will be able to identify carcinogenic exposures associated with those situations and the cancer types you may be at an increased risk of developing related to those exposures.

Cancer Risk Prevention

The National Institutes of Health estimated that over 1.7 million people were going to be diagnosed with cancer in the US in 2018, and approximately 38.4% of men and women (1 in 3 Americans) would be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes. Considering these sobering statistics, it is imperative that efforts toward cancer prevention be increased. Basic public health principles state that in order to prevent a disease you must first identify its risk factors, those conditions which increase the likelihood that you will get the disease, and then reduce your exposure to those risk factors. These principles can easily be applied to cancer prevention.

In the case of cancer, the scientific community has identified many specific risk factors and the specific cancers to which they are related. Using, this information, you have more control than you may have thought over the likelihood that you will remain or be cancer free. A large portion of cancer cases can be prevented. Mary Beckerle, Ph.D., a member of the Cancer Moonshot Blue Ribbon Panel organized in 2016 by the then Vice-President, Joe Biden, stated publicly that we know that about half of all cancers could be prevented. Doll & Peto in 1981 estimated an even higher percentage and stated that 75 – 80 % of cancer cases diagnosed in the US might have been prevented by lifestyle changes. Supporting this idea, the American Cancer Society has reported that familial and genetic factors only account for 5 – 10% of diagnosed cancers. Cancer prevention is possible by using a basic tool of prevention - identify your cancer risks and reduce them. The knowledge is available, it just needs to be accessible so that you can take the actions needed to reduce your risk to known or highly suspected causes of cancer. Cancer Free Awareness, LLC (CFA) can help you do just that!

If you are currently cancer free, identifying your past and/or current exposures to carcinogens is the first step to staying cancer free. Once CFA has identified any cancer risk factor through your Cancer Risk Evaluation, you will receive information on how to reduce or eliminate your current risks. CFA will also advise you on which type of screening would be appropriate, if any, considering both past and present exposures, to ensure that, if a related cancer were to occur, it would be found early when it is easily treated.

If you have been diagnosed with cancer, through having a Cancer Risk Evaluation you will receive information regarding the cancer-causing exposures you have experienced, both in the past and the present, and this can be very helpful in increasing your odds of being cancer free in the future. If you are currently being exposed to a substance or agent related to your cancer, it is recommended that you reduce or eliminate that exposure because exposure to a carcinogen associated with your type of cancer while you are receiving cancer treatment can in some cases decrease the effectiveness of that treatment and increase your odds of cancer progression. If a current or past cancer risk is identified which is not known to be related to your cancer type, reducing or eliminating that risk and doing appropriate screening for the related cancer can reduce the likelihood that you will get that type of cancer or, if it does develop, you will find it very early while it is treatable. All these measures could help you be cancer free.

Cancer prevention is possible, if you apply the knowledge that is currently available. Through working with CFA, you will be able to gain the information you need to reduce your risk of cancer.

NIH, National Cancer Institute – Cancer Statistics. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics

Doll R, Peto R.J. The causes of cancer: quantitative estimates of avoidable risks of cancer in the United States today. Natl Cancer Inst. 1981 Jun;66(6):1191-308.

American Cancer Society – Family Cancer Syndromes. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/genetics/family-cancer-syndromes.html

Cancer Free Awareness Advocacy

Increasing awareness of cancer risks in the workplace, the environment, and in certain behaviors, and advocating for the reduction or elimination of those harmful exposures is an important part of the mission of Cancer Free Awareness, LLC (CFA). Identifying cancer risks experienced by a cancer-free person and cancer risk factors associated with the specific cancer of a diagnosed individual is the first step in fulfilling this goal. To simplify this work, CFA has developed the Cancer Risk Questionnaire which documents a person’s cancer risk factor history to help complete Cancer Risk Evaluations. In addition, CFA’s innovative development of the Known Associations - Cancer Risk Database which compiles information on known carcinogens and cancer risks, associated specific cancer types and related workplaces, environments, and behaviors is a very useful tool to help identify cancer risk factors for individuals.

The National Occupational Mortality Surveillance System of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is a database of death certificate information with coded occupation and industry information. It can be used to survey associations of cancer mortality among persons from different occupations. The occupation or industry noted, however, is often the one identified at the time of death or perhaps the longest held occupation. If the cancer was related to a specific carcinogenic exposure, it may have been an exposure related to an occupation which was not held for most of the person’s life or for the longest period, and, therefore, it would not have been noted on the death certificate. CFA is not aware of any cancer registry in the US that specifically collects data on a person’s entire history of occupational, environmental, and behavioral risk factors in order to identify specific factors associated with specific cancers.

One of the goals of CFA is to fill that void. People have a right to know what, if anything, may contribute to developing cancer in the future or may have contributed to the development of their cancer. Through the completion of CFAs Cancer Risk Questionnaire and Cancer Risk Evaluation, and use of the Known Associations- Cancer Risk Database, CFA can identify whether you have had any exposures, now or in the past, that place you at a higher probability of developing cancer, if you are currently cancer free, or if you have been diagnosed, exposures that are associated with your type of cancer. If a specific carcinogen exposure is found, that knowledge can be beneficial for you, your family, and your community in several ways. CFA can make you aware of specific ways to manage, reduce or eliminate that exposure for you and for others and appropriate screening also can be discussed.

CFA is also increasing cancer risk awareness through its communication with the medical community and other relevant groups, such as cancer support groups. In addition, CFA is working to increase the use of cancer risk questionnaires and patient education regarding cancer risks.

All these activities will increase awareness of cancer risk factors and increase the likelihood that these harmful exposures and activities will be reduced, and lives will be saved. You can be a part of this advocacy by having a Cancer Risk Evaluation done with CFA. To get started just fill out the form available on the Contact page.