Afraid

It may seem like all you ever hear about these days is another loved one, relative, friend or colleague getting diagnosed with cancer.  It's a terrible thing - but statistically it's not the MOST terrible thing.  That dubious claim goes to heart disease.  According to the CDC, in 2021, the five leading causes of loss of life in the US were:

• Heart disease: 695,547

• Cancer: 605,213

• COVID-19: 416,893

• Accidents (unintentional injuries): 224,935

• Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 162,890

I'm not sure what your anecdotal evidence will tell you, but in my circles, I don't often hear people talking about their fear of being taken by heart disease.  By contrast, though admittedly I haven't charted the results, most folks would not want to hear a diagnosis that they have any form of cancer.

Within reason, a person could proactively protect their cardiac health through choices such as adopting a life of moderation surrounding diet and "partying," engaging in regular/reasonable exercise, and eliminating known medically troublesome habits like smoking - and be fairly certain that they are doing a lot toward avoiding life-threatening heart health.  However, when it comes to many forms of cancer, there is often little to nothing that you can do to avoid the disease (present company included).  That may support the theory that cancer is the one to be more afraid of, because you can't know where or when it may strike.  Yet, heart disease is not only the more prevalent scourge, but compared to cancer, it's the one that we have more control over minimizing.

According to the Oxford dictionary, risk is a situation involving exposure to danger. Therefore, to me at least, knowing what can contribute to our heart disease (mortality), but still exposing oneself to that danger, is the real risk. Though it's too late for me to think about my "risk" of getting cancer, I would be less afraid of that - seeing as how it's often random and theoretically could never happen, versus the fear of contracting heart disease when I am living the life of danger through my own choices (with their known potential negative results). I never claimed that these schpeels make sense, but they do to me - sorry.