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Each year, some form of cancer is diagnosed in about 1.5 million people in the United States. But cures remain elusive, despite advances in technology and medicine.

If America can put men on the moon, why can't it cure cancer, asks filmmaker Linda Garmon in the opening to her thoughtful documentary The Truth About Cancer, set to air tonight on PBS. Garmon grew up, she says, "with unquestioning faith in America's ability to solve problems with science and technology. So nothing, nothing at all, prepared me for [my husband's 2001 death from] cancer" — in his case, mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung and chest cavity.

Six years later, Garmon returned to the Boston hospitals that had treated her husband to explore researchers' progress in combating the disease. Her documentary tells the stories of several patients struggling to treat their illnesses.

One is Jamie Klayman, 38. When her pancreatic cancer does not respond to chemotherapy, she decides to participate in an experimental drug study — only to learn that it will not help her either.

"It's very American to think that you can control your destiny," says Klayman's oncologist, David Ryan. "But when it comes to having metastatic lung cancer or pancreatic cancer, it's all biology."

Not everyone can be Lance Armstrong, who Ryan said hit the biological lottery when his testicular cancer turned out to be one of the most treatable kinds. Many people will not survive their cancers, but medical technology can add months and sometimes years to their lives.

Jennifer Riley, 37, also featured in the film, received a diagnosis of breast cancer eight years ago. But she says she has been able to add years to her life by continually trying new drugs. Though each one usually stays effective only for months, she says she is grateful for every additional moment medicine can give her with her family.

And that seems to be the answer Garmon discovers: There may be no overall cure, but there are small, incremental victories.

"Many of us grew up in the era of the 'war on cancer,' " says George Demetri, director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. "And when there's a war, maybe one day you'll wake up and there's a peace treaty. But that's not the right expectation here. What's more likely to happen ... is that we will see the war won one battle at a time."