# What kind of cancer can kill you in two days? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 29, 2015, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625 "2015-12-29T05:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/41 "2016-01-01T05:37:47Z")
Some tumors cannot be removed because they’re wrapped around critical nerves or blood vessels, or they have no clear margin (not uncommon with brain tumors) or have infiltrated too much of an organ for it to be taken out without killing the patient, or seriously compromising their quality of life. Sometimes, tumors are debulked (i.e. part of it is removed) to make a patient more comfortable. This has to be decided on a case by case basis. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/42 "2016-01-01T06:12:01Z")
I just had a friend die on Sunday. His sister posted on his face book page that he had been diagnosed on Thursday with pancreatic cancer and died on Sunday. Very timely thread. He died on his birthday. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/43 "2016-01-01T06:20:01Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My BFF’s mother had signet-ring cell carcinoma, which accounts for less than 1% of colon cancers and usually has no symptoms until it’s too late to do anything. When she was evaluated for metastasis, they discovered that she also had a benign brain tumor, and died before everyone agreed on which was the higher priority. I have a friend who is currently dealing with that cancer. He was given three months, and has hung on for a year. He’s a sound engineer and the venue he worked at put on a huge concert to raise money for him to mark off a few “bucket list” items. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/44 "2016-01-01T08:03:44Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > Why is that the case? Is the surgery to hard on your body? They would have to really open you up if the tumor is that big or the tumor spread? When cancer spreads beyond that first site it spreads _everywhere_ - you wind up getting new tumors everywhere. It’s not just a matter of one or two or three discreet lumps to take out, you get new cancer growing all over. Unless you have something like leukemia, where you don’t have a solid tumor to remove. Nope, the cells in your blood go haywire. Notice how your blood kind of goes everywhere in the body? ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/45 "2016-01-01T08:15:57Z")
Pancreatic cancer has already been mentioned - and why it is the one that my (former) PCP, an oncologist, really feared - by the time it develops symptoms, it has spread too far. A few days is all that can be reasonably expected. There is much more to ‘cancer’ than ‘tumor’ - or even ‘tumors’. It is the body turning into something not encoded in the DNA. That is what makes it so scary - and difficult to even begin to treat. Go spend a day or two with google and then ask ‘how come?’. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/46 "2016-01-01T10:06:12Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > Pancreatic cancer has already been mentioned - and why it is the one that my (former) PCP, an oncologist, really feared - by the time it develops symptoms, it has spread too far. > A few days is all that can be reasonably expected. > > There is much more to ‘cancer’ than ‘tumor’ - or even ‘tumors’. It is the body turning into something not encoded in the DNA. That is what makes it so scary - and difficult to even begin to treat. > > Go spend a day or two with google and then ask ‘how come?’. What is this type of pancreatic cancer that is so fast at spreading that people die in less than one weak? Most pancreatic cancer people will live year or two before they die. What is this type of pancreatic cancer that so aggressive that people die in less than one weak after finding out from the doctor they have this? ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/47 "2016-01-01T10:08:00Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > When cancer spreads beyond that first site it spreads _everywhere_ - you wind up getting new tumors everywhere. It’s not just a matter of one or two or three discreet lumps to take out, you get new cancer growing all over. > > Unless you have something like leukemia, where you don’t have a solid tumor to remove. Nope, the cells in your blood go haywire. Notice how your blood kind of goes everywhere in the body? Yes in the case it spreads all over the place I can see no point in doing surgery. But in case the tumor is just big that what I don’t understand. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/48 "2016-01-01T10:52:58Z")
My dad died of a rare cancer called Gastro-Intestinal Stroma (GIST) six days after the diagnosis. We didn’t find out what kind of cancer it was until he was already in hospice, two days before he died. It’s hard to know exactly when the cancer formed, but it was certainly very quickly. He’d been feeling kind of poorly for a couple months, but it wasn’t until he was obviously really sick that he agreed to go to the doctor. He thought he was suffering from the side effects of his blood pressure medication and it wasn’t a big deal. If you google GIST, you’ll see that it’s commonly not caught early on because it presents as stomach distress, the sort of thing that can be caused by a lot of things. But although dad hadn’t been feeling well for awhile, he and I went grocery shopping less than two weeks before he died. Two days is surprising though. Even my dad was obviously about to die two days beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/49 "2016-01-01T19:17:00Z")
> [@sweat209](#): > > He should gone to a bigger hospital with top surgeons that could done surgery to remove the tumor. > > When you have big tumor you need to find top surgeons that have the training and experience removing large tumors. Nope, because his tumors fit this description: > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Some tumors cannot be removed because they’re wrapped around critical nerves or blood vessels, or they have no clear margin (not uncommon with brain tumors) or have infiltrated too much of an organ for it to be taken out without killing the patient, or seriously compromising their quality of life. > > Sometimes, tumors are debulked (i.e. part of it is removed) to make a patient more comfortable. This has to be decided on a case by case basis. So, if they kept cutting away at it, he’d have lacked some of his heart and the plumbing leading to/from it. Fact is, even if the tumor hadn’t torn, he probably wouldn’t have lived much longer. It was partially surrounding his heart, and had apparently been growing for quite some time. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625/50 "2016-01-04T23:20:50Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There are several rare types of leukemia that can kill a person that fast, from onset of symptoms to death. Yes; years ago, my childhood best friend noticed bruises on his arms and legs at a picnic on a Monday (Memorial Day) and died that Friday of “acute leukemia” (not sure of the exact kind). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-cancer-can-kill-you-in-two-days/741625.md?page=2)