WHEELING — Food, prizes and a collective feeling of victory and hope were celebrated by cancer survivors in Wheeling on Sunday afternoon.

WVU Medicine Wheeling and Reynolds Memorial hospitals hosted a Cancer Survivors Day Picnic at the Sonneborn Shelter at Wheeling Park, with attendees partaking in dinner, cake, camaraderie and bingo play.

As many as 68 responded they would be attending the event, according to organizers.

“There’s a lot of milestones in the journey of a cancer patient – from the time they are diagnosed to the time they start their chemotherapy to the time they finish their chemotherapy,” explained Dr. Tina Bhatnagar, director of hematology and medical oncology at WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. “This is really the high point of everything they’ve gone through. Now you’re celebrating something good. You’re celebrating the cancer being gone, and that they came through it successfully.

“I think recognizing that and doing events centered around something that’s really happy is uplifting. It is important to other people who are going through a cancer diagnosis to see they can come through on the other side.”

She noted cancer rates locally and across the ration growing — especially among young people.

“Which has been very alarming from a population standpoint,” she continued. “We are seeing a lot of cancers in individuals who are relatively young — in their 30s and 40s.

“We’re seeing a lot of colon cancers and breast cancers … it’s not 100% clear why they are happening at younger ages, although there are a lot of intelligent people studying that. The leading thought is that there is some kind of environmental exposure that may be contributing to this.”

The rise in reported cancers may actually be the result of “a good thing,” Bhatnagar continued. More people are being screened for cancer, leading to their earlier treatment.

“There are more people being screened for the more common cancers – cervical cancer, for instance,” she explained. “When you have more people being screened, the chances are you are going to find more people who have early stages of cancer, as well.

“So that raises the question of whether certain types of cancers are increasing in frequency, or whether they are being diagnosed more frequently as result of increase and uptake in screening?”

Locally, there is a higher than average number of lung cancer cancers with the rate being among the highest in the country, according to Bhatnagar.

“A lot of that is related to the high number of people who smoke, and their environmental exposures to such things as asbestos, coal mine dust and other things we may not be aware of,” she said. “But our lung cancer rates are far above the national average.”

WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital offers a lung cancer screening program “that has been very successful,” she said.

“We’ve had a lot of people diagnosed with early-stage lung cancers. They are basically offered a low-dose CAT scan to search for early lung nodules,” Bhatnagar continued.

“We believe we are able to find cancer at earlier stages, which allows a higher chance for a potential cure.”

Bhatnagar believes lifestyle modifications for many are going to be necessary if cancer numbers are to decrease, as is more research into what environmental factors may be causing cancers.

She suggests all people keep regular doctor’s appointments, and undergo age-appropriate screenings as established by American Cancer Society guidelines.

Bhatnagar believes those survivors attending Sunday’s cancer survivor’s picnic will come away with more than just dinner and bingo prizes.

“I hope that they have learned that they are stronger than they think, and that there is hope,” she said. “At the end of the day, even under the darkest of circumstances, there is always the hope that you can come out of a cancer diagnosis stronger than when you went into it.

“Sometimes – when you are diagnosed with cancer and you see all these people here who have done well and are surviving – it gives people that much needed dose of hope,” Bhatnagar added.