When she was 7 my wife helped her folks clear the lot upon which their house was built in Silver Spring, Maryland. She got a BAD case of poison ivy, so much so that she couldn't even wear shoes. Her uncle, a doctor, got her into Georgetown University Medical Center in DC. She was given several doses of whole-body x-rays and the rash cleared up nicely. (X-rays were used to treat many things, including common acne.)

Fast forward 10 years and she's all set to go off to college (in Philadelphia, of course). She has a physical and ends up again in Georgetown Med Center with thyroid cancer. She is quite annoyed that her college education was delayed six weeks. Of course, she had a total thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy with 72 lymph nodes removed and was (and is) scarred all over her throat and shoulders.

Fast forward to today. FIVE different cancers (not just locations, but types).

Don't fool with any radiation.