how important is it to ‘catch’ the cancer in the early stages???

Question: how important is it to 'catch' the cancer in the early stages???
- Keywords:
  cancer,
  catch,
  early,
  stage
Asked by logic to Sarah on 15 Jun 2011.
- Sarah Thomas answered on 15 Jun 2011:
  
  It’s really important because cancer survival rates are much higher the earlier it is detected.
  
  The problem is that as cancer gets into the really advanced stages, it spreads into other parts of the perons body making it more and more difficult to target. Also it starts to take over their body and the patient gets weaker and weaker, which makes it harder for them to fight the cancer and get through all the intensive treatments like chemotherapy which can be extremely draining.
  
  The cancer feeds off the body’s natural resources and as it becomes more advanced it starts to starve the healthy tissue. This can get so bad that the patient starts to lose weight no matter how much they eat and they become malnourished as the cancer takes the vitamins and nutrients they need.
  
  🙁 🙁 🙁

Question: how important is it to 'catch' the cancer in the early stages???