Stand Up To Cancer

Big news this week as the President's Cancer Panel - including SU2C friend Lance Armstrong - releases a report stating that the US has become complacent in its war on cancer. The report calls for a three-pronged approach that includes "comprehensive health care reform." And yes, both Senator Obama and Senator McCain got a copy.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102301209.html

This article from US News & World Report envisions a very different future when it comes to cancer diagnosis and therapy, a world where cancers are treated with a simple, noninvasive outpatient procedure and destroyed at the first hint of recurrence. "Sound like pure fantasy?" the author asks. "It isn't."
health.usnews.com/articles/health/cancer/2008/10/23/breaking-cancers-gene-code.html

Meanwhile, a column in the LA Times looks at just how little we still understand about the disease by telling the incredible story of a patient who survived after undergoing alternative treatment. "Just when I think I can predict a disease's deadly outcome, along comes someone to remind me how little we truly know about cancer," writes Dr. Marc Siegel. "Sometimes, a patient survives against all probability, and I am left not knowing why."
www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-practice20-2008oct20,0,7897777.column

This first-person account of one patient's Relay For Life experience and the lesson he learned as a result is a hilarious and beautiful read. "My father is a southern gentleman of the old school," writes Steve Tuttle. "He is a man of few words, and if he had his druthers, one of those words would not be 'testicular.'"
www.newsweek.com/id/164630

In 1980, black women and white women in Chicago were equally likely to die of breast cancer. In the intervening 28 years, however, the mortality gap grew and grew. Now research shows that twice as many black women in the city are dying of breast cancer. If there were ever a convincing argument for the importance of health care reform, I'd say this is it.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-breast-cancer-mainoct22,0,3616297.story

Finally, this week brought yet another update on Gardasil, the sometimes-controversial cervical cancer vaccine - and this time the news is good. After an extensive evaluation, the CDC has concluded that Gardasil is perfectly safe, and that the few deaths previously associated with the vaccination were actually unrelated. With over 4,000 US women dying annually of cervical cancer, that's definitely something to be excited about.
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203058.html

Well, that's all for this week, but check in next Thursday for more up-to-the-minute cancer news!

--Cat