• Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Shop
  • Nav Social Icons

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social
  • Mobile Menu Widgets

    Connect

    Search

Dr. Michael Hunter's Wellness

What You Need to Know to Optimize Your Health

  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social
You are here: Home / Wellness / Cancer Isn’t Random

Cancer Isn’t Random

May 1, 2025 · In: breast cancer, cancer, medicine, Wellness

Cancer Isn’t Random: What 42% of Diagnoses Have in Common — and How You Can Lower Your Risk.

A cancer doctor explains why nearly half of diagnoses aren’t random — and how the smallest habits can shape your health destiny.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves…”
 — William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar.

That quote haunted me for years, long before I ever held a linear accelerator’s joystick or delivered radiation to a tumor curled around someone’s spine. 

Back then, I didn’t fully grasp its relevance to my work. 

Now, after decades in oncology, I see it with stark clarity.

Because here’s the truth:

Up to 42% of cancers are preventable — not through miracle drugs or genetic luck, but through modifiable, everyday choices.

This observation isn’t about blame. 

It’s about power. 

And it’s time we stopped whispering about it.

Even through the fog of risk, we can walk toward healing. 42% of cancers are preventable, and every step counts.

A solitary figure walks through a pale fog labeled “inflammation,” heading toward a warm light marked “healing.” Above them, soft lettering reads: “42% of cancers are preventable.” The mood is contemplative but hopeful.
Even through the fog of risk, we can walk toward healing. 42% of cancers are preventable, and every step counts.

🔁 Why Cancer Isn’t Just Bad Luck: The Myth of Randomness

When patients hear “cancer,” the next question is often whispered:

Did I cause this?

It’s a painful, complicated moment. 

I always remind them: no one deserves this, and no one gets cancer from one bad meal or missed screening. 

But I also tell them we know that cancer is not a lightning strike.

Yes, some cancers come from sheer genetic chaos.

But others arise from a slow, silent drift, shaped by inflammation, environment, and habit.

🔁 Inflammation and Obesity: The Hidden Cancer Risks

You don’t see inflammation in the mirror. But it shapes your fate.

Low-grade, chronic inflammation — often fueled by excess fat, poor diet, poor sleep, and stress — is a known contributor to several cancers, including colorectal, breast, and liver.

Chronic inflammation in the etiology of disease across the life span – Nature Medicine
www.nature.com

We once thought of obesity as a cosmetic issue. Now we understand it as a biological amplifier of cancer risk:

  • Fat cells release cytokines and estrogen-like compounds
  • These can trigger DNA damage and tumor-promoting environments

I’m not judging anyone’s weight. I’m inviting a deeper understanding of how the body works — and how we can gently steer it.

Diseases desperate grown,
 By desperate appliance are relieved,
 Or not at all.”

 — Shakespeare, Hamlet.

Sometimes, small daily shifts are our most potent medicine.

A single figure walks through dense fog labeled “inflammation,” heading toward sunlight breaking through a glowing arch labeled “healing.”
We often fear what we can’t see — but the fog of inflammation lifts with every step toward healing.

🔁 How Alcohol, Smoking & Diet Tip the Scales

If you asked me what four lifestyle changes would make the biggest impact on global cancer rates, I’d say this:

  1. Stop smoking
  2. Drink less alcohol
  3. Eat more plants and fewer processed foods
  4. Move

🥃 Alcohol

Alcohol is a group 1 carcinogen, the same class as tobacco and asbestos.³ 

It increases the risk for at least seven cancers, including breast and colorectal. 

And even “moderate” drinking has risks, especially for those with other risk factors.

No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. 
www.who.int
. int.

🍽️ Diet

Ultra-processed foods cause inflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and now, higher cancer risk. 

A 2023 study in The Lancet tied them to a 29% increased risk of colorectal cancer.⁴

It’s not about moral purity. It’s about stacking the odds in your favor.

Prevention Isn’t Perfection. It’s Daily Poetry.

When I talk to patients, I don’t hand them guilt. I hand them a possibility.

  • A walk after dinner to quiet insulin spikes
  • A decision to swap soda for tea
  • A full night of sleep instead of doomscrolling

These things may seem small, but they are acts of devotion, not just to the body, but to the life it still wants.

Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.”
 — Hamlet.

Health is not about perfection. It’s about rhythm. 

About small, quiet methods repeated until they shape destiny.

A cozy room with a wall calendar glowing in warm light. The days are marked with glowing checkmarks labeled “walk,” “greens,” “sleep,” and “stillness.” A mug steams on the desk below.
Prevention isn’t a grand gesture — it’s small acts repeated with care, devotion, and consistency.

The Truth I Wish More People Knew – Cancer Isn’t Random

When people find out I’m a cancer doctor, they usually ask about treatments.

But the conversation I wish we had more often is this:

What can I do now, before the diagnosis, to change the story?

The answer isn’t sexy. It’s not a pill or a breakthrough headline. 

It’s this:

Cancer isn’t always random. And your choices — however small — are not meaningless.

You deserve to know that.

A Gentle Invitation – Cancer Isn’t Random

I don’t write this to scare you.

I write it because knowledge is power, and silence is not protection.

Here’s the truth:

  • Cancer is common.
  • Up to 42% is preventable.
  • That prevention is made of ordinary acts repeated with quiet courage.

What’s one habit you’ve changed for your long-term health? I’d love to hear.

If this resonated with you, hit 💚 and follow me for more evidence-backed essays on health, longevity, and what we can do — even when the stars seem stacked against us. I’m Dr. Michael Hunter — radiation oncologist, writer, and believer in quiet prevention.

By: Dr. Michael Hunter · In: breast cancer, cancer, medicine, Wellness · Tagged: cancer, diet, exercise, exercise and health, fitness, fitness and health, health, lifestyle, wellness

you’ll also love

Illustration showing areas of joint inflammation in the human body, with highlighted pain points on the spine, shoulder, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle.The Gut Poison Hiding in Your Childhood
Illustration of a tired woman working late at her desk, surrounded by paperwork, under the glow of a desk lamp, with a night sky visible through the window.Overwork Is Rewiring Your Brain
Biden’s Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Join the List

Stay up to date & receive the latest posts in your inbox.

Next Post >

I Thought I Was Training for Abs. I Was Training for Life

Primary Sidebar

Meet Dr. Hunter

Meet Dr. Hunter

Your go-to source for all things wellness. I am Michael Hunter. I practice radiation oncology in the Seattle area and have a particular interest in health. I am delighted that you have joined me here. Thank you.

Read More

Connect

join the list

Featured Posts

photo of bacon

Do You Eat Ultra-Processed Foods?

3 Ways to Drop Cancer Risk

close up photo of cute sleeping cat

REM Sleep Mysteries

Categories

  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social

Search

Archives

Follow Along

@michaelhuntermd

thebreastcancerdoctor

#Stanford2021 #tyhunter #Stanford2021 #tyhunter
#stanforduniversity #graduation #tyhunter #stanforduniversity #graduation #tyhunter
Hope you too are having a joy-filled weekend! Hope you too are having a joy-filled weekend!
Seattle almost-summer day #hiking #rattlesnakeledg Seattle almost-summer day #hiking #rattlesnakeledge #seattle
I hope you have a joy-filled 2021! I hope you have a joy-filled 2021!
Breathing out of 2020 and into 2021. #hawaii #hiki Breathing out of 2020 and into 2021. #hawaii #hiking #awe #mindfulness
Instagram post 18137289235185551 Instagram post 18137289235185551
Instagram post 17851535831416158 Instagram post 17851535831416158
Instagram post 17889383257655934 Instagram post 17889383257655934
Ah... Ah...
Instagram post 17850799412251973 Instagram post 17850799412251973
www.newcancerinfo.com www.newcancerinfo.com
Exciting new research results... Exciting new research results...
#moma #manhattan #travelphotography #museumofmoder #moma #manhattan #travelphotography #museumofmodernart #cancerdoctor #barnard #newyork #newyorkcity #photography #leicaphotography #blackandwhitephotography #photographylovers #photooftheday
3 ways to lower your colon cancer risk #cancer#col 3 ways to lower your colon cancer risk #cancer#coloncancer#dietandcancer#rectalcancer#wellness#lifestyle
Love the early morning Pike Place Market. Peaceful Love the early morning Pike Place Market. Peaceful, as it opens.
#seattle#spaceneedle#pikeplacemarket#pacificnorthw #seattle#spaceneedle#pikeplacemarket#pacificnorthwest#travelphotography#leicaphotography
#finnriver #finnrivercider #finnriverfarm #PortTow #finnriver #finnrivercider #finnriverfarm #PortTownsend  #olympicpeninsula #BainbridgeIsland #seattlephotographer #travelphotography #cider  #appleciderfestival
#finnriver#olympicpeninsula #porttownsend #seattle #finnriver#olympicpeninsula #porttownsend #seattle #seattlelife #thingstodoinseattle #ciderfestival #ciderhouse #bainbridgeisland
#prostatecancer #cancer#prostate#cancer #wellness #prostatecancer #cancer#prostate#cancer #wellness #prostatecancerawareness #prostateexam #prostatecancerawarenessmonth #menshealth
Follow on Instagram

Footer

On the Blog

  • Body
  • Mind
  • Social

Info

  • About
  • Shop
  • Contact

stay in the know

Copyright © 2025 · Theme by 17th Avenue