What Is Normal?
Posted on September 1, 2008 6:54 PM
Wikipedia defines normal as "conforming to a standard."
We go about our lives trying to protect our sense of what's "normal" until we are forced to confront something. That something is usually quite drastic, even, God forbid, life threatening. Then our character is put to the test.
Why does it take a threat to our normalcy before we do anything proactively? When you are faced with life's challenges, do you concede or do you rise?
Does it have to take a threat to our own livelihood or that of a loved one to get us to shift our idea of normal, to get us to act now?
Allow the story of Ben's strength to be an example of the power that you too have within you, and RISE.
Ben is a 19-year-old freshman in college and an avid soccer player. Ben did not concede to what cancer was asking of him; he decided that in addition to doing his treatments, he would be an offensive player and challenge cancer head-on. Just as he did on the soccer field, Ben found the strength within himself to create a team of players to DOMINATE cancer. By doing his treatments and building a community with his doctors, family and friends, Ben created the Cuck Fancer Team and saw that strength in teamwork can prevail.
Ben created a bracelet that tells the world "cuck fancer." He wanted to sell the bracelet and raise money for the Lymphoma Society. His intention was to raise $1200; he and his friends were superstars and raised $6100. Ben has also created a website with the help of his aunt. The link is cuck-fancer.com. You can purchase these bracelets through him for$2 and the proceeds will continue to go to cancer research.
Ben has also created video logs. He courageously and generously shared the experience of going through his treatments, as well as any doubts or questions that were being raised for him during this time. Through recounting his experiences and using the Internet, he has reached out and touched others in a true time of need. Whether you have cancer or know someone or are just interested in learning and connecting. Ben's site is definitely worth the visit.
Let Ben's example of reaching out and helping others motivate each one of us. Look within and activate your power and rise to meet your life. Set a new bar for normal in your world -- which touches us all.
You can catch all of Ben's vlogs on his web site, http://www.cuck-fancer.com/, and there you can become a part of his team.
Together, through sharing our stories, we have the power to heal.
--Yael Canavan, proud SU2C web team member
So the question has been: What do you stand for?
Posted on September 4, 2008 9:58 PM
Well, for me, there is an easy answer. I stand up to cancer for not only myself as a young metastatic cancer survivor, but for my peers who are also in the battle of their life, and especially for those who did not survive.
I have been blessed. After being given one year to live, I have passed my "expiration date" and am now heading towards my three year marker of kicking the shit out of cancer so it doesn't have a voice in my body. I have been lucky. Some of my friends have not.
During the past two years, I have unfortunately been a witness to several of my young girlfriends heartbreaking end. Some died slowly. Others... it happened so fast. First, there was Marcela. She died from breast cancer within 10 months after being diagnosed. She was only 31. Then, after a long two-year suffering battle (breast cancer again), Kim died. She was only 34. The most devastating loss for me personally, just because she was one of my best friends, was the loss of Michele. Michele had a nasty battle with leukemia. She fought so long and so hard to stay alive. I was always enamored by her strength (aka: FUCK CANCER attitude), her resilience to keep bouncing back after docs told her she would not, and her deep, unconditional love she expressed for her family and friends. She embodied grace and gratitude. Right up until the very end. She was only 34.
I could go on and on about all the young survivors who lost their precious lives to a cancer diagnosis. It is a shame there are so many to remember. But, I feel it is our job to remember them, all of them, young and old, and honor the lives they once lived by sharing their stories. Hopefully, the more we talk about it, the more lives that can be saved. Word of mouth is very powerful. It is one of the most effective marketing tools. Everyone has a story to tell. It is how we learn. By sharing. So at the end of the day, that person goes home to tell their partner, their spouse, their family and/or friends what they learned as probably the most educational lessons of the day.
Like I said before, I stand up to cancer for myself, for Marcela, Kim and Michele, and for all others who have had to endure the ugliness of this devastating disease. I for one am tired of seeing my friends suffer and die miserable deaths, basically having little quality of life. Examples of low quality of life for us younger patients/survivors are infertility, early menopause, side effects from menopause, scarring from surgeries, being single, no insurance, more aggressive cancers, lower chance of surviving, and, if we do we have many more years, enduring reoccurrences, treatments and side effects. Oops! Did I forget anything?? Where is the quality of life in all that? Well, it is what we make of it. It is our choice to wake up every day after being dealt a "dirty hand" believing that we can prevail and move forward in the most positive light possible. Even though it's normal and oayk to have your moments of "pissed off-ness," sadness, etc., the important thing is to feel it, express it and not deny it and then... GET OVER IT! Hopefully, by taking your mind back to a positive place and living in that every day (GRATITUDE) you will have survived a longer, more rewarding life that others will have been honored to be a part of. This is my wish. For all of us.
Thank you to all of the courageous warriors who have fought this disease and to the co-survivors who have had to put up with us because that, my friends, is one the most challenging jobs/roles.
I would love to know more of your stories if you feel inclined to share and welcome your comments.
Thank you for your valued time reading my blog. It is deeply appreciated.
Stefanie LaRue - www.myspace.com/cancerwarrior
Weekly Links - 9/4/08
Posted on September 4, 2008 8:54 PM
The countdown is on - just 24 hours to go until the big show! And this week's spate of cancer news is proof positive that now is the time to pull together for a cure. Of course, it ain't news to anyone that health in America is inextricably linked to race and class. But I was still surprised to read the results of a study showing that African American women are less likely to get follow-up treatments for breast cancer than their white peers. We've got even further to go than most people think.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0332690620080903?feedType=RSS&feedName=healthNews
On the plus side, have you heard about this new molecular imaging for breast cancer? It works better than mammography on dense breast tissue, and it's cheaper than an MRI. The technique still has years of validation ahead of it, but it's yet another step toward more accurate - and more comfortable - breast cancer screening.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26529277/
Yet another compelling reason to quit smoking - the CDC just announced that the tally of cancer cases caused by tobacco in the five years between 1999 and 2004 tops two million. Most surprising to me is the fact that only half those cancers were lung/bronchial. Other biggies include mouth, throat and bladder cancer. If ever you needed evidence that smoking takes a toll on your whole body, now you have it.
www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080904/tobacco-tied-cancer-cases-top-2-million
SU2C is founded on the principle that we live in a time of earth-shattering discoveries in cancer research, so it's fitting that one such discovery would be announced the day before our show. Some docs at a little college called Yale have observed a molecular process normally restricted to cancer cells - in normal cells. "It seems that rather than scrambling chromosomes to invent new genes, cancers mimic normal cellular processes, but in an exaggerated and unregulated fashion. You might say that cancers are clever but not very original," said the study's lead author.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080904145200.htm
Today's Time has a great rundown of some of the hurdles the cancer-fighting establishment currently faces. And guess who gets a shout-out on the first page? "A new and more radical approach is being taken by groups like the newly formed Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), which plans to finance research designed to deliver big leaps and home runs rather than the incremental improvements that are more typical of mainstream science." Damn right!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1838776,00.html
Okay, homework's over. You know what that means - now you can watch TV! Tune in tomorrow at 8/7 central. Time to stand up!
--Cat
Time Magazine Gives Context to SU2C and Cancer Research
Posted on September 11, 2008 1:33 PM
In the run-up to the big show last week and in its aftermath, lots of news outlets stepped up to give the issues surrounding cancer proper context and attention. Below are several highlight passages from a piece in the latest edition of Time magazine by Bill Saporito, a cancer survivor himself. To read the entire article, pick up the September 15th issue of Time this week or click here.
"For an increasing number of cancer activists, researchers and patients, there is too much death and too much waiting for new drugs and therapies. They want a greater sense of urgency, a new approach that emphasizes translational research over basic research--turning knowledge into therapies and getting them to patients pronto. The problem is, that's not the way our sclerotic research paradigm--principally administered by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute (NIH/NCI)--is set up. "The fact that we jump up and down when cancer deaths go from 562,000 to 561,000, that's ridiculous. That's not enough," says Lance Armstrong, 36, the cyclist and cancer survivor turned activist through his Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF).
"A new and more radical approach is being taken by groups like the newly formed Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), which plans to finance research designed to deliver big leaps and home runs rather than the incremental improvements that are more typical of mainstream science. The new focus for funding grants, said Dr. Eric Winer, chief scientific adviser to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, in a conference address, is results: "What we want to see is research that is going to change the number of women that are diagnosed with, or more importantly, die of, breast cancer within the foreseeable future." Others, like the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), are trying a no-nonsense business model to speed drug development.
"Doctors and scientists understand the frustration and the fear, and they don't necessarily mind the nudge. "We do need to change. Something needs to be done differently," says Tyler Jacks, director of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT. "We have a lot of new insight, and we need to have a whole new collection of drugs, a new armamentarium."
***********************
"The New Paradigm
"These are precisely the kinds of challenges that gave rise to Stand Up to Cancer, the advocacy group organized by CBS newscaster Katie Couric and eight other women, all of them connected to Hollywood, including Spider-Man producer Laura Ziskin, who has breast cancer. Says Couric, who lost her husband and sister to cancer: "It was clear to me and other people that this borders on the ridiculous. You ask yourself: What can be done?" SU2C has a scheduled Sept. 5 launch with an unprecedented three-network simulcast, hosted by Couric, Brian Williams and Charles Gibson. It features a roster of stars, including a performance by cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge and a film by Errol Morris (who produced Standard Operating Procedure, an acclaimed documentary about Abu Ghraib abuses). "I will make you laugh," says Ziskin, who produced the show. "I will definitely make you cry." But so, too, would any name-your-disease telethon.
"It's what happens next that is different. SU2C will not distribute funds to research institutions. Instead, it will assemble dream teams of scientists across disciplines and institutions, and they will work collaboratively on projects designed to deliver a product of sorts--as opposed to an academic paper--within a defined time period. Says Ziskin: "They can only get funded if they can produce a treatment."
"To vet and choose the projects, SU2C has recruited a high-powered scientific advisory committee chaired by Phillip Sharp, a Nobel Prize--winning cancer researcher at MIT. The selected projects will then be monitored by the American Association for Cancer Research. "What I hope to do is identify areas where we could accelerate progress, particularly in areas where there's need--ovarian, pancreatic, glioblastoma," says Sharp.
"Additionally, 20% of the funds raised will go to higher-risk projects with potentially greater paybacks. It's a science version of throwing it long. "If you run the same play every time, you're not going to win the game," says Armstrong. One of SU2C's advisers was the late Judah Folkman, a famed cancer scientist whose pathbreaking theory that tumors grow via angiogenesis (creating their own blood supply) was resisted for decades. "There may be other Judah Folkmans out there," says Ziskin. "We don't want them wandering around for 40 years."
"SU2C is not the only independent group shaking things up. The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation used a pay-for-results funding model that has more to do with Silicon Valley than Big Pharma to support research that in four years got four new treatments to patients--Thalomid, Velcade, Revlimid and Doxil. That's about six years faster than the decade it usually takes for such drug development and rollout. Multiple myeloma is a rare cancer of the bone marrow that sickens about 20,000 Americans each year--precisely the uncommon form of the disease that often falls into the research cracks. The MMRF benefited from the aggressive work of founder Kathy Giusti, a multiple-myeloma survivor and former pharmaceutical executive. When she and her group first raised enough money to start funding research, she faced a feeding frenzy of research applicants. "They will do what they have to do to get grant money. They're desperate," she says.
"The MMRF made sure it got the most from its grant dollars by adopting an enforced-collaboration model in 2004, linking work at four cancer centers into a consortium managed by PricewaterhouseCoopers and providing them all with patients, tissue samples and a set of targets and goals. "The odds of a cure coming from one center are nil," Giusti says. "You need a mutual fund to fight cancer." From not having a single drug in the pipeline, the MMRF now has 30, half of them in clinical trials. The average lifespan of a multiple-myeloma patient has been extended by three years, to seven.
"If the MMRF model works for a single, specialized cancer, it's not clear that a group like Stand Up to Cancer--which is casting a far wider research net--will show the same results. But clinicians say it's worth trying. "There needs to be a mechanism whereby we can bring groups of people together from different institutions in one group," says DuBois, who is part of SU2C's scientific panel. At the same time, there is hope that the 20% of grants SU2C is setting aside for outside-the-box research will yield something semimiraculous."
To read this article in it's entirety, go to:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1838776,00.html
Weekly Links - 9/18/08
Posted on September 18, 2008 5:06 PM
We're baaaack! The big show may be over, but Stand Up To Cancer lives on here at su2c.org. Did you hear that, thanks to your contributions, we've raised over $100 million for translational cancer research? Pretty incredible.
Meanwhile, of course, the news marches on. This week, a New England Journal of Medicine study confirms what many in the medical field already believed - that virtual colonoscopy, a non-invasive, much more comfortable version of the colorectal cancer check we all know and love, is just as accurate as the original.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20080918-9999-1n18colon.html
And in other research news, a new synthetic protein called CXCL12 could halt the spread of cancer. But no one would have realized its cancer-fighting potential if it weren't for - you guessed it - interdisciplinary collaboration. "Collaborations promote the exchange of ideas between scientists from different backgrounds and often lead in completely unanticipated directions," said one of the researchers. Amen!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080915174605.htm
From time to time, of course, research can also bring bad news. This week, scientists discovered that an enzyme previously thought to protect against cancer actually fuels a deadly form of leukemia.
http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXGBy9nnmNs61RCRWHVfC80dKbbg
And Humira, a drug that literally changes the lives of people with rheumatoid arthritis, may cause certain kinds of cancer. As if having RA wasn't tough enough.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/98959/rheumatoid_arthritis_drug_humira_linked_to_psoriasis,_herpes,_possibly_cancer/
Meanwhile, at a conference in Australia, a scientist draws a link between the declining rates of breast cancer in the US and Australia and the declining use of hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/18/2368523.htm
So how about some good news? There are loads of new options for post-breast-cancer breast reconstruction, and according to this CBS News article, clinicians just wish their patients knew what their choices are.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/18/health/webmd/main4457035.shtml
And a new drug shows promise for significantly extending the lives of those with pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal forms of the disease.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080916101032.htm
That's all for this week, but never fear - we'll be back again next Thursday with more news you can use!
--Cat
Being There
Posted on September 19, 2008 11:40 AM
Show night. We've been waiting nearly a year for this. Preparing, helping in any way we could. Sure, Stand Up To Cancer is where the end of cancer begins, and in a way the show was the start. But it was also the end of the beginning, if that makes any sense. And we were freaking out. We had helped conceive of, helped build a website, been a part of making the show a reality, and now we couldn't of course head into the truck where Director Louis J. Horvitz and producer Laura Ziskin and an amazing tech crew were about to work their magic. Like passengers on a commuter flight, we had to let the pilots take control. Now, on the precipice, we had to resign ourselves to simply going along for the ride. So we snuck into the house at the Kodak and snagged a few seats. And then we looked at each other and smiled. You could feel the electricity in the building, the lump in your throat rising, the work and ideation and sometimes frustration maybe we hoped we hoped we hoped becoming reality and success. Louis got on the loudspeaker to thank the crowd, to thank the networks, and to let us know we were 1 minute from an hour of live tv. We locked eyes again, remembering that getting a show of this magnitude in under an hour wasn't going to be a cakewalk, even for people as world-class qualified as Louis and Laura. The house lights came down, and the Manifesto began to play. Did we mention the Sidney Portier is a Godhead? Ridiculous. As the hour wore on, with Patrick Swayze's appearance propelling a theater and hopefully millions of viewers to rise up out of their chairs, Jamest Taylor and Sheryl Crow delivering a heartbreaking rendition of "Fire and Rain," Errol Morris's film package on survivors, the Simpsons, the Divas, Brad Garret, Dana Delaney. Don't mean to just list every star but we're still awed that this happened (under an hour!) We began to forget the anxiety we felt everytime the crowd applauded and the seconds grew longer, everytime a line was delivered with an extra word, a song sung with an extra chord, and just sank into the show. We couldn't help it. No matter how many times you see Errol's film and we've seen it a lot), you can't help but tear up. Specific to cancer but universal it's about family and community and sadness and finaly empowerment and in a way embodies the whole show, the entire message: this sucks. It's sad. It's terrifying. And we have to do something about it. And it was funny and Jack Black hit the nail on the head and relieved the sometimes tension of rich people asking for your money just by shining a light on it in his Jack Blackian way. Meryl Streep reminded everyone that we (the pubic) have gotten together to beat seemingly unbeatable odds with terrible disease(Polio) before, anf through a confluence of celebrity pleas and public donations, no less. The musical performances were mindnumbing. When Melissa Etheridge delivered her Stand For Life (a special for SU2C version of I Run For Life), we snuck up on stage at the end, along with a few others from the crowd. Everyone was smiling. Everyone was remarking that they'd never been quite so proud to be part of a benefit like this (believe us, this was one of many benefits that these stars get invited to). For many, this was too special, too impactful, and possibly too influential and revolutionary to be anything but exceptional, even in the exceptional world of charity work.
We cried during the show and we cried afterward because it had happened. Because it was an unqualified success. Because now things really begin. We hugged and laughed when we saw Laura. The entire thing was surreal, and after so much planning and work, lighting fast. But it was also unendingly rewarding. We believe this will make a difference. It will because of those of you who watched and donated and continue to build these moments of triumph into a movement and force that doesn't stop until we win, until the need for a show like this and an organization like Stand Up To Cancer no longer exists.
We had so many favorite moments in the show (all of them, really, though finding out we hadn't gotten in on time and not gotten cut off at the hour mark was a pretty startling and gratifying moment in itself), but the fact that the show started, that it happened, that things have really begun, the moment the lights went down and we found out it was really and truly happening, that was our highlight. You?
Julia & Eli
Weekly Links - 9/25/08
Posted on September 25, 2008 11:42 AM
SU2C continues to raise big dollars for translational cancer research. It's too early to see the results, but leaps and bounds are still being made every day as we stand on the brink of a new era in cancer detection and treatment. This week, new research shows that young women with ductal carcinoma in situ are no more likely to experience recurrence than older women. Phew!
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080924151005.htm
Unfortunately, the occurrence of breast cancer is still on the rise in China, where researchers say the adoption of a Western lifestyle is the key factor contributing to the disease's ever-growing foothold. (What does that say about us?)
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE48O2A420080925
Can cookies fight cancer? Tragically, no - or at least, not directly. But walnuts can. So the next time you're baking up a batch of oatmeal-raisin goodness, throw a handful of walnuts in the batter. Their combination of omega-3s and antioxidants make them an anti-cancer heavyweight. (Other delicious omega-3-rich foods include almonds, avocados and fish.)
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/eating-walnuts-slows-cancer-growth/story.aspx?guid={7AE1F510-6549-4DA7-885E-5429908AACAA}&dist=hppr
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most devastating forms of the disease. With a five-year survival rate of less than 5%, it's as lethal as lung cancer and much harder to prevent. But new research shows that the drug erlotinib (more commonly known as Tarceva) can inhibit the growth of pancreatic cancer cells. Coincidentally, Tarceva is also used in lung cancer treatment. Maybe soon we'll see a day when two of the most dangerous cancers become two of the easiest to fight.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925094715.htm
The medical community is somewhat divided when it comes to recommendations for colorectal cancer screening. When should it start? How often should we be screened, and starting at what age? And who's at the highest risk for developing the disease? New research may have an answer to the last question. Scientists have found evidence that "one hit" - slang for failure to inherit a cancer-inhibiting gene from just one parent - is enough to put one at risk.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/09/25/Theory_of_colorectal_cancer_risk_revised/UPI-97151222361552/
Over at the Huffington Post, Janet Janjigian has a few words to say about SU2C -- and about her mom's struggle with stage four lung cancer.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/janet-janjigian/courage-to-standup2cancer_b_123585.html
Finally, we've been covering the debate over whether cell phones cause cancer all summer long. This week, the National Cancer Institute has come forward to say that it sees no cause for concern.
http://www.twice.com/index.asp?layout=talkbackCommentsFull&talk_back_header_id=6557842&articleid=CA6599440
And, irony of ironies, new research has shown that holding a cell phone in your pants pocket in "talk" mode can lower your sperm count. Guys, don't start using a headset religiously just yet!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/09/18/cellphone.sperm/index.html
That's it for this week, but stay tuned for more cancer news you can use next Thursday!
--Cat
Project Brain Child
Posted on September 28, 2008 8:11 PM
Vote Now for Project Brain Child at American Express Members Project - 1 day left to move them into the Top 5!
www.membersproject.com/project/view/NN934A
Brain cancer is the #1 cause of solid tumor cancer deaths in CHILDREN. There are over 120 different types of pediatric brain tumors, making effective treatment virtually impossible. Project Brain Child proposes to conduct a feasibility study to create a National Pediatric Genomic Brain Tumor Registry. The information collected in this registry would allow scientific researchers and medical experts to target specific genetic abnormalities with existing drugs most effectively.
A Standing Ovation for Patty Franchi Flaherty
Posted on September 29, 2008 1:55 PM
Patty Franchi Flaherty, a lifetime Massachusetts resident and community pillar of Natick, lost her courageous 9-year battle with ovarian cancer and died peacefully at home on August 18, 2008, surrounded by family and friends.
Patty was a native of Weston who graduated from Bentley College in Waltham. Afterward, she joined Natick-based Franchi Management Company, Inc., where she worked for over 30 years overseeing all business operations alongside her brother Louis Franchi. She was also a long-standing trustee at Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in early 1999, Patty lived 9 years before succumbing to the same disease that took her mother Madeline's life 25 years earlier. After a promising remission, the cancer resurfaced in 2005 as a 6-centimeter tumor in Patty's pelvic area. Frustrated by how little ovarian cancer diagnosis and treatment had changed in a quarter-century, Patty was certain that she wasn't alone in her fight with ovarian cancer or in her frustration over medical insufficiencies. She was determined to help improve the odds for all ovarian cancer patients.
In early 2006, Patty co-hosted the Stuart Weitzman Fashion Show and Luncheon as a fundraiser. Proceeds from the show helped fund the Madeline Franchi Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Then, with the help and support of her dearest friends, Patty launched a non-profit organization called Ovations for the Cure to fuel other research initiatives around the country and actively change the face of ovarian cancer.
In the 9 years she lived with ovarian cancer, Patty Franchi Flaherty turned a very personal crusade into a meaningful legacy for all women facing the disease. Thanks to Patty, women can now share information the likes of which her mother never had, and have hope where before there had been none. In just over 3 years' time, Patty led Ovations' growth from a lingering idea to a thriving organization--with momentum that continues to build across North America.
In July of 2008, The Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts awarded Patty its highest community honor, the prestigious Brandeis Award, which Patty's husband Paul accepted on her behalf. The award pays homage to Justice Louis Brandeis and his defense of the rights of individuals, and was given to Patty in recognition of her innovation, bravery, and commitment to furthering the research and awareness of ovarian cancer.
Known for her unshakable determination, Patty turned her mission to beat ovarian cancer into a nationwide entity with palpable impact. In so doing, she created a living legacy of hope for everyone who faces the disease. Patty's personal contributions to the fight against ovarian cancer have earned her a champion's status in the hearts of those she has forever touched.
Creating a brighter future
Compared with other diseases making headlines today, ovarian cancer is far from attention-grabbing. Its foremost symptoms are so common and nonspecific that they are often mistaken for something else, if not ignored. Meanwhile, early detection methods are still in their infancy and late-stage diagnosis makes for only a limited number of successfully treated patients. Perhaps most surprisingly, ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate of all gynecologic cancers, and yet more tax dollars are spent fighting more prevalent diseases with significantly lesser mortality rates.
Contributing to the high mortality rates of ovarian cancer is the lack of accurate screening and clear symptoms. As a result, only 19 percent of cases are detected before the cancer has spread beyond the ovaries, when treatment options are limited.
"Ovarian cancer is often misunderstood, misinterpreted, and unfortunately misdiagnosed," said Dr. Ursula Matulonis, attending physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital and medical advisor to Ovations for the Cure.
"In an effort to overcome this silent killer, Ovations for the Cure is dedicated to supporting cancer research centers to find accurate and early detection screenings. If caught in the early stages of diagnosis, ovarian cancer patients have a 90 percent chance of survival beyond five years and increased odds of beating the disease," Matulonis added.
"Ovations for the Cure has helped change the dynamics of the medical profession by contributing valuable research funds for detection and treatment while educating women on its subtle symptoms."
Today, Ovations continues to help make miracles possible for all women with ovarian cancer by shedding light on a disease that is still full of darkness. They have launched an aggressive ovarian cancer educational program, distributing awareness brochures to more than 3,000 physicians' offices across the nation. Additionally, the development of their television and radio public service announcements outlining ovarian cancer symptoms has helped women identify the disease before it spreads to advanced stages. By spring of 2008, Ovations had already donated nearly one million dollars to ovarian cancer initiatives through Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, City of Hope Hospital in L.A., and the University of Pennsylvania.
From loss to legacy
"Patty started Ovations for the Cure with the idea of saving women from this horrible disease," said Debbie Soprano, one of Patty's closest friends and first Executive Director of Ovations for the Cure. "While she could not save herself, her everlasting optimism and spirit will forever lead the fight against ovarian cancer until we find a cure."
Patty Franchi Flaherty may have lost her own battle against ovarian cancer, yet through Ovations for the Cure, she'll continue to help thousands of women to win the war.
For more information about ovarian cancer visit www.ovationsforthecure.org.
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. To learn more, visit ovariancancer.org.
- Cat, SU2C.org
