Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
More than 60% of adults with cancer can expect to live five years or more, according to an article in the European Journal of Cancer.Yet they are left “in limbo” to deal with ongoing symptoms from their disease or harsh cancer treatments.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
In case anyone lives in a cave, the major networks have teamed up in an “historic collaboration” to unite for a TV special this September to raise funds for cancer research. (whatever the hell *that* means)
Yay! It’s the new LIVESTRONG! Or is it? I don’t think so. Why?
Well for starters (and let the negative spin ensue), check out the original article on CBS.com and see for yourself.
They’ve launched this hypercluttered and obsequious national campaign called Stand Up To Cancer which whores out all of the usual celebrity suspects to pit culture against disease. Morgan Freeman, Toby McGuire, Christina Ricci, even Lance himself are all re-posterchildizing themselves to rally the nation around “the end of cancer begins now” like some magic fairy dust disney character will wave a wand and *poof* it will be all gone.
Nom nom nom nom nom.
The best part?
There is not a single pediatric, adolescent or young adult organization listed amongst their partners, resources or beneficiaries!NOT ONE!
Not one.
WTF, man?
How much longer will we be ignored by the establishment?
This all changes now.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
After a traumatic young-adult period, she becomes a high school teacher intent on helping doctors understand the effects of pediatric cancer survival.
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WHEN Patti Waggoner saw a baby-size tuxedo displayed in a department store, she didn’t think “wedding” or “baptism” or any sort of celebration. “My first thought was, ‘Oh, a little casket suit,’ ” she says.
There’s a bleak side to this 36-year-old survivor of Hodgkin’s lymphoma from Valley Village. Her skin is pale, her nails painted black. Tattoos circle her ankles and run down her back and upper arms: of pirates, bats and the seven deadly sins.
Death brushed by her early, when she was 17, and she’s thought about it a lot since then. “I was on a ward with 13 kids, and eight of them died,” she says. “There was all this young suffering and death around. . . . I just remember that I would have given anything to be a normal teenager. The pain was so bad: the bone ache, everything from your gums hurting to rashes to puking bile from your lower intestines.”
The tattoos, she says, are a way of doing with her body what she chooses, not what berserk cancer cells dictate.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
FOR ROBERTO MARTINEZ, 21, cancer has been a test of faith, an opportunity to change direction based on a profound understanding of what’s truly important.
He was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 17 and has just passed the five-year mark, which theoretically puts him safely in the “cure” zone.Not that it was easy, hearing he had cancer. “I was shocked,” he says. “Cancer so young. Why me? Why did I get cancer?”
As he tried to figure out that mystery, he started to see life in a new way. He had been a good student at L.A.’s Cathedral High School. His plan was to become a lawyer because lawyers make a lot of money. “I wanted a cool car,” he says. “I wanted to buy things. But in the hospital, I thought that even if I had a lot of money, I wouldn’t be able to buy my health, my life.”
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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog
“Senator Kennedy, you have a malignant brain tumor called glioblastoma, which set off the seizures you had the other day. Although we can see a tumor on the MRI, there is more there than we can see. Along with the mass in the front of your brain, we know from years of experience in dealing with these that there are little fingers of cancer extending from this tumor into the rest of your brain.
“How does this affect your treatment? Surgery cannot remove the cancer entirely. Although we can remove most of your tumor with surgery, we can’t cure you. Sometimes the surgery can help prevent some symptoms like headaches. But, with surgery, you may lose some normal functions, like speech and perhaps even understanding. And, although the seizures can be troublesome, they can be controlled with medication.
“Many patients in your situation will undergo radiation therapy along with a drug called temozolomide. Studies have shown that this will extend your life by a few months. But, you should know that most people with your condition, especially at your age, survive less than a year even with the most aggressive treatment.
“And you should also know that even if you survive a year, it won’t all be good time. Eventually, perhaps even in a few months, your mental function will begin to deteriorate. You will begin to lose your memory and have trouble with even the simplest of thoughts. And, it isn’t clear that any treatment will delay this. Perhaps treatment may not be your best choice. That is something you have to decide for yourself.
“As a U.S. Senator, you need to decide how effective you can be. In a short time, you will need to step down. You may not even know when this begins to happen and might even need someone to tell you – if they have the nerve to do so.
“Dying with a glioblastoma is not painful. What happens is the brain just begins to shut down and you lose contact with the outside world. Eventually, the shut-down becomes complete and bodily functions stop. It isn’t a bad way to die, because you really won’t be aware. But it isn’t what anyone wants for themselves and you will need constant help and support.
“If anyone you designate, in addition to your family wants to talk to me, please have them call me. And of course, feel free to call anytime.”
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
IN JUNE 2005, Yosef Eliezrie was 19, a rabbinical student in New Jersey. He had just arrived in Vilna, Lithuania, on a student outreach program in which one of his responsibilities was to be supervising a kosher kitchen. Cancer was the last thing on his mind. He was going to finish school and follow in his father’s footsteps as a rabbi. Down the road, he was going to fall in love, marry and have a great big family.
“At 19, you think you own the world,” he says. “You think you have the whole thing planned.” But a nagging cough worsened on his arrival in Eastern Europe. He was too weak to get out of bed, and couldn’t keep food down. A flurry of medical tests revealed he had acute myelogenous leukemia, a fast-growing blood and bone marrow cancer. Within a week, he was in a hospital at UC Irvine Medical Center, near his parents’ Yorba Linda home, drugged unaware. “I don’t remember it,” he says.
He knows there were rounds of chemotherapy, 13 days in the intensive care unit including nine days on life support, the gathering of his family in prayer at his bedside. Then there was gradual improvement, peppered with setbacks. “It’s a real quick aging process,” he says. “I learned how fragile life was.”
In April 2006, he was in remission but barely had time to reevaluate his future when cancer came roaring back. He had found an online community of young adult cancer patients and survivors, and logged onto grouploop.org, typing, “HELP. I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.” “They gave me strength,” he says of his online friends. That summer, he had a transplant with bone marrow from a young Israeli man, also a rabbinical student. “He is some sort of angel,” Eliezrie says of this man.
So now, life goes on again. Only it’s vastly different. “You’re forced to go home and be taken care of by your parents, but you want your independence. It’s a very difficult struggle,” he says. Until he was 21, he qualified for the California children’s health insurance program. He aged out of that plan, but qualified for MediCal. He dreams of continuing school in the New York area but doesn’t know if he would continue to qualify for health insurance. “Right now, I’m not free to go where I want to go.”
Nor does he know how a woman he might love will react to his history. “It’s not an easy question,” he says. “According to Orthodox tradition, you go out with someone to get married. I think I will talk about it after I know she’s serious, when I know it’s somebody I can trust and I would maybe want to spend my life with. After a few dates, maybe I would start talking.”
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
IT AIN’T OVER WHEN IT’S OVER
About two-thirds of pediatric cancer survivors experience at least one late health effect of treatment, and for more than one-quarter of survivors it is severe or life-threatening.AS YOUNG survivors of the modern era of cancer treatment enter the third and fourth decades of their lives, they find themselves poster children for the hope of medical progress — and also for the toll taken by cancer’s toxic treatments.The cure rate for childhood cancer is one of 20th century medicine’s greatest success stories. Before 1970, few children with cancer made it. Today, nearly 80% of children who have cancer are cured, according to the American Cancer Society’s 2008 statistics. Of the 11 million American cancer survivors, 270,000 have survived childhood cancer.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
i[2]y Regional Chair for Upstate New York, Leah Shearer was recently featured in Coping Magazine via compelling article she wrote for the publication that was printed in the May/June 2007 issue (with Sharon Osbourne on the cover).
Read the article (PDF) here – [permalink]
Rock on!
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
One minute, Dr. Bernadine Healy was a perfectly healthy woman, in bed with her husband watching the Oscar De La Hoya fight on HBO. A few hours later, she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog.
(Editor: Featuring i[2]y’er Matthew Lowney) It is this more personal feat that turned out to be the most impressive in the opinion of another fan named Matthew Lowney. Lowney, a 28-year-old living in Portland, Ore., stumbled upon the news of Lester’s incredible no-hitter game Tuesday morning on ESPN.com. He was so taken by the news that he e-mailed the story to his former doctor. Lowney was diagnosed in December 2004 with the same form of lymphoma that Lester had. Much like Lester, Lowney underwent aggressive chemotherapy and radiation treatment for his lymphoma at the young age of 24.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
Rochester’s first “Stupid Cancer Happy Hour,” sponsored by i[2]y Rochester, was held recently at the Otter Lodge on Monroe Avenue. The Stupid Cancer Happy Hour also has been held successfully in Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles and Denver. Proceeds benefit the “I’m Too Young For This Cancer Foundation,” supporting programs for young adults affected by cancer. A portion will be marked for events in Rochester. (Editor: Special Thanks to rock star Leah Shearer, i[2]y Regional Chair, Upstate New York)
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
Boston’s Jon Lester is more than the winning pitcher in a World Series clincher, a role model for cancer survivors and a popular teammate in the Red Sox’s clubhouse. In a baseball season that was long on the improbable and inspirational, he is the last feel-good story standing.(Editor: Now if only someone can get me in touch with his agent so we can have ourselves a spokesperson…. Hello!)
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
They should be thinking of graduations, first jobs and new babies, not chemotherapy or their own mortality.Cancer was diagnosed in about 68,000 U.S. residents aged 15 to 39 in 2002, according to the most recent data available from the National Cancer Institute.But little is known about what makes some young people vulnerable to cancer, what happens to them once it is diagnosed and how it affects their quality of life in the long term.A new effort to create a national bank of tissue samples from their tumors aims to open the door to better research and, ultimately, better treatment and prevention.Letters were sent last week to cancer centers throughout the nation, requesting grant applications to participate in a national network of tissue samples for cancer research.
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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog
It’s time to follow the get-better guidelines. The American Cancer Society recommends that all cancer survivors take better care of themselves. This means eat well, exercise and stop smoking. Specifically they want survivors to eat at least five servings of fruits or vegetables each day, exercise moderately strenuously two and one-half hours a week or vigorously one hour a week. And, of course, stop smoking.
You would think that cancer survivors would follow this simple prescription. After all, not following this simple recipe may be what got them into trouble in the first place. So many studies have shown that a healthy life-style is associated with a lower cancer risk that no one bothers to do these studies anymore. And, as I have pointed out so many times, few of our modern treatments other than surgery are curative. There is no substitute for prevention.
So when the ACS surveyed over 9000 cancer survivors, what did they find? Fewer than 5% were meeting all their recommendations. The good news is that most, nearly 90%, weren’t smoking. But over 80% weren’t eating their 5 a day and somewhere around 50-70% weren’t getting off the couch.
So what’s the down side for these Macburger eating couch potatoes? It turns out the more you stray from the recommendations, the worse you feel. The researchers measured the quality of life of these people. QOL is a measure of how you feel. It includes your energy level, contentment, getting along with others, feeling of wellbeing – you get the picture. When people ate well, exercised and of course stopped smoking, they felt better - more energy, less pain and depression, and perhaps got along better with others.
The survey didn’t look at cancer recurrence, but we know that all three of the bad habits are associated with cancer. Fewer veggies and fruits, less exercise and smoking are all linked to cancer. So if you had cancer and don’t want another, it makes sense to do the most you can to stay cancer-free.
So why don’t these people wake up and live right. Probably it is because that is the way they were before they got their cancer. Old habits are hard to break.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
Getting cancer is awful at any age, but it has to be especially difficult for young adults. They’re too old for the nurturing and specialized pediatric oncology programs, and too young to fit in with the rest of us with cancer who are middle-aged and older.AdvertisementCayuga Medical Center at IthacaDo you remember when you were beginning to establish yourself in your career and in your adult relationships? It’s a time of transition in which you leave the protective bubble of your parents and begin to forge your own identify. For many of us, this is a time of fun and excitement, but it’s also a time in which we don’t feel especially grounded. Now imagine throwing cancer into the mix.There are practical worries like finances. You don’t have savings and you’re likely paying off student loans. You know that the first job or two establishes the foundation for your career path, but you’re off sick for several weeks and you’re struggling just to stay employed. In a tight economy, you worry that you might be the first to be laid off, and you know that getting a new job will be difficult and complicated. Most 25-year-olds don’t need to read the fine print of a company’s health insurance policy or worry about what, if anything, they should say about their medical history.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
(Note: i[2]y Chairman Dr. Leonard Sender featured in this piece)
Amid Shortage of Volunteers, Some Programs Aim to Boost Education and Recruitment
With growing concern about a shortfall of patients to participate in clinical trials — especially adult cancer patients, minorities and adolescents — a number of new programs are stepping up efforts to match patients to trials and educate patients and their physicians about the benefits of medical research. Large medical centers are developing their own Web sites to help inform and recruit trial patients locally. And nonprofit health organizations are reaching out to community groups to educate residents about clinical trials and help them navigate issues such as getting insurance companies to pay the costs of participation.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
According to the results of a new national survey, “Delayed Cancer Diagnosis: Why?” over half of respondents waited two months to five years to see a doctor for a diagnosis in spite of having symptoms of the disease. In addition, nearly 4/5 respondents were diagnosed with having a form of cancer within one week to two months of seeing a doctor.
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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog
Judah Folkman died suddenly early this year. He was a super creative cancer researcher. His work promised a revolution in cancer treatment but it never happened.
I first encountered him when I was training in Hematology at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. He presented his work at one of our research seminars. He had found that he could grow cancer cells within the eyes of rabbits. But they had to be planted on the iris. That allowed blood vessels to begin growing into the tiny tumors and once that happened the tumors took off. If the cancer cells were placed in the middle of the eye chamber without attachment to any eye tissue, blood vessels didn’t develop and the cancer didn’t grow.
His theory was that the cancer needed blood vessels to supply it with nutrients and oxygen. A reasonable theory. This allowed the cancer to grow. He also reasoned that the cancer had the special ability to cause these blood vessels to develop. The corollary to this was that if you could block the blood vessel growth, you would prevent the cancer from growing.
Next, he and many others looked for the substance that caused the blood vessel growth. When they found it, they named it vascular endothelial (blood vessel lining) growth factor or VEGF. The next step was to develop a drug that would block VEGF. This would stop blood vessel growth and starve it.
Several drugs were developed. These drugs were labeled anti-angiogenesis agents, drugs that blocked blood vessel growth. This was a hot idea in the 90’s. Scientists touted these as the new wonder drugs, drugs that cancers couldn’t resist. The drugs were terrific in treating implanted cancers in mice. Unfortunately they were much less effective in humans with cancer. When used alone, they rarely shrank tumors or slowed their growth.
Finally, in 2004, one drug seemed effective. This first successful drug, called Avastin, was shown to help patients with advanced colorectal cancer and was blessed by the FDA. But no home run. The drug only worked when given with heavy-duty chemotherapy and prolonged patients’ lives by an average of 4-5 months. And of course there were side effects.
Avastin, although not a blockbuster cancer treatment, has proven very useful in medicine, by saving the vision of thousands of people. It turns out it can block the progression of macular degeneration, a cause of blindness in the elderly caused by leaky blood vessels. A small amount injected directly into the eye seems to do the trick. Go figure.
Other blood vessel blocking drugs have made it into practice, but none have had more than a small benefit. What happened? Well, although Dr. Folkman was disappointed with the lack of blockbuster effect, he pointed out, cancers are complex and had to admit that there won’t be a simple answer to treating them.
There aren’t any miracles in the wings. So take care of yourself, get screened, eat right, exercise, and try to avoid cancer in the first place.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
Just an FYI to everyone –
There’s an email circulating around called “Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins” which makes false claims about how cancer spreads and recommends methods for treating the disease.
This message is a HOAX. See link below.
http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cancerupdate.asp
Snopes has been the most reliable online resource for debunking email myths (Bill Gates giving away money, etc…)
If you receive such an email, please debunk it to the thread.
MZ
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Submitted by Dr.Kattlove’s Cancer Blog
Smoking! He gave it up over a year ago.
I hadn’t seen him for a couple of years. I noticed that he stayed in during the party. Usually, he would disappear for a smoke. Not this time. I asked him why and he told me he gave it up.
Jake has every reason not to smoke. He is happily married, retired with lots of money and a big house on the ocean, loves to play golf, and as far as I know and he looked, in good health. So I always puzzled about why he continued this health-robbing habit.
Actually I knew. He was addicted to nicotine. Cigarettes are drug delivery devices and the drug is nicotine. Nicotine is one of the most powerfully addicting substances we know.
When a smoker inhales, the nicotine in the cigarette reaches the brain in 10 seconds. There, it activates chemicals that produce pleasure. So a smoker feels rewarded whenever he or she inhales. This is the same reaction seen with other addicting drugs.
This feeling goes away in a few minutes, so a smoker needs to continue dosing. If not, after a while without cigarettes, the smoker gets irritable, has trouble sleeping and thinking, and dread of all dreads, especially for women, starts to eat too much.
So stopping isn’t easy and I’m sure it was particularly tough on Jake who has been smoking for a long time, probably since he was a teenager.
Why did Jake and most other smokers start so young? First, there is marketing. The cigarette companies use symbols that appeal to teenagers, like Joe Camel and the Marlboro Men (two of whom died of lung cancer, one at age 51). When I was in college the cigarette companies gave us free cigarettes. This helped put one of my good friends through college. You could also get them on airlines at that time – free packs of four.
And the young brain is a wondrous thing. Not only is it endlessly curious, it is also especially susceptible to the addicting effects of nicotine. Over 90% of smokers start before they are 18. Right now, around 20% of European teens and 15% of American teens smoke. European guy smokers lead the girls, but here, the girls have the edge.
It is hard to believe that we allow such a dangerous and addicting drug to be freely sold. Not only is nicotine unhealthy, it is packaged in a killer tube of tobacco. Kind of like selling brownies laced with arsenic. Just takes longer to kill. Think of all the diseases related to tobacco. There is heart disease, lung disease, stroke, many types of cancer – well over a dozens that most people don’t know about in addition to lung cancer – even osteoporosis.
But there it is. Any kid can get cigarettes. And, in our free enterprise system, it is unlikely they will go away. But, I’ve heard that preventing their use in public places does discourage young people from starting and getting them out of movies may also help.
Still, best that cigarettes go away, or at least, get taxed into oblivion.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
Health-care providers have sued California to block a 10% cutback in payments to them for treating the poor who are covered by Medi-Cal, a joint federal and state program
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
Courtesy of the Rochester Insider, here’s an awesome gallery of pictures taken at this past weekend’s Stupid Cancer Happy Hour, organized by Leah Shearer and the i[2]y Rochester Chapter.
PERMALINK
Stupid cancer. Survivors rule.
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Submitted by The Stupid Cancer Blog
UNRELATED NON-CANCER STORY…
So while I was up in Rochester, I was forced to go to a Friendly’s at 11:30pm because nothing else was open.
I was with 4 other people.
Turns out, this “high quality” food chain we’ve all come to know and love lives up to it’s reputation.
One bite into my chicken yielded a large semi-melted chunk of plastic baked into the mass.
Ew.
Called the waiter. New plate arrives. No plastic.
Then the bill comes and – lo and behold – to compensate me for PLASTIC IN MY FOOD, they take off $3.00!!!!!!!!!
Of course, I brought this to the manager and they didn’t charge me for my entire meal.
The hilarity ensues when you see the receipt.
(Matthew Zachary)
Matthew
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