Relay for Life, American Cancer Society Support!

It is Relay for Life time, Get your teams together and get signed up. This annual event to benefit the American Cancer Society is coming up the first of May and now is the time to start collecting sign ups and contributions.

There will be events from the 24 hour walk/run to Survivor walks.

This is one of the biggest Cancer events of the years and it supports ACS research for a cure for breast cancer as well as other cancers.

I will be walking for myself as a Survivor of breast cancer and for my best friend that past away 6 months ago from breast cancer. My sister will be walking (if she is well enough) as a survivor of bladder cancer.

If you do not have a team of your own contact your local hospital or doctors office and find one you can join.

WE can stop cancer through research. Join in now!

get more information here: www.relayforlife.org/

To your health!

Leigh

Bladder Cancer, What Now!

My sister just had her bladder removed last week due to bladder cancer. For 10 years she has had a cystoscopy starting at every 6 months to in the end having them every three months. She has gone through 2 sets of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatments which did not make much difference. Luckily the cancer stayed a stage 1 for most of that time and only in the past year has become aggressive in its growth. It has gone from what the doctor described as broccoli to looking like a full forest.

I will be covering some of the information I have found out about this cancer from different web sites and also some of the trials and triumphs that have occurred.

This is the basic definition of BLADDER CANCER as defined by the MayoClinic.com site.

Bladder cancer is a type of cancer that begins in your bladder — a balloon-shaped organ in your pelvic area that stores urine. Bladder cancer begins most often in the cells that line the inside of the bladder. Bladder cancer typically affects older adults, though it can occur at any age.
The great majority of bladder cancers are diagnosed at an early stage — when bladder cancer is highly treatable. However, even early-stage bladder cancer is likely to recur. For this reason, bladder cancer survivors often undergo follow-up tests to look for bladder cancer recurrence for years after treatment.

If you have been diagnosed with bladder cancer please ask your doctor questions. He or she should be your first line of action. But never be afraid to look to others for more information. The internet has a wealth of information and support groups across the country can help answer questions also.

Good Health to us all!
Leigh


This information in not medical advise and is information only. Please discuss any questions with your doctor.

Women, Coffee and Stroke Risk!

According to an article published online Thursday in the American Heart Association Journal Stroke, women who enjoy a daily dose of coffee may be lowering their risk of stroke.

Women in a Swedish study who drank at least a cup of coffee everyday had a 22-25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all.

"Coffee drinkers should rejoice. Coffee is often made out to be potentially bad for your heart. There really hasn't been any study that convincingly said coffee is bad", said Dr Sharonne N Hayes, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "If you are drinking coffee now, you may be doing some good and you are likely not doing harm," she added.

The study shouldn't send non-coffee drinkers running to their local coffee shop. The study doesn't prove that coffee lowers stroke risk, only that coffee drinkers tend to have a lower stroke risk.

Well, I am headed to Starbucks for my daily cup of coffe, have a good one.

Good health and wealth to all,

Leigh

Breast Cancer and Tobacco, the Link!

The list of cancers associated with smoking is a long one: Lung, esophagus, throat and larynx, as well as kidney, bladder, pancreas and stomach. Now add Breast Cancer to the toll.

Until now, studies had not been able to definitively link smoking to breast cancer because of tobacco's double-edged effect. While its carcinogens can trigger tumors to grow in breast tissue, its ability to block estrogen, a hormone that promotes breast cancer, may actually work to suppress malignancies. The latest research clarifies the risk, finding that per menopausal women who smoke had a higher risk of breast cancer than women who did not, but after menopause, women who puffed cigarettes were slightly less likely to develop the disease than nonsmokers. The theory is that postmenopausal women have low levels of circulating estrogen and may benefit further from tobacco's antiestrogenic effects.

Overall, the added Breast Cancer risk from regular smoking at any age was 6%, but that figure shot up for heavy smokers. Women who lit up before age 18 and smoke for three decades or longer had a 25% greater chance of the disease than nonsmokers.

Given the small window of time during which smoking may protect against cancer in the breast, it is a good idea to kick the habit now.

This article was in the February 7, 2011 Time Magazine in the Lab Report section by Alice Park.

If you happen to be a smoker, I know it is hard to quit smoking but for your health please quit.

Talk with you doctor to find out what medications may be available to help you quit.

My father developed throat cancer and 3 years later died from lung cancer for smoking.

My sister has developed bladder cancer which may be related to her many years of smoking.

Breast cancer does not happen just to smokers but please do anything you can do to reduce your chances of getting it.

To your health

Leigh

Can an Aspirin a day help Prevent Cancer?

Could preventing cancer be as simple as popping an Aspirin a day?

According to an analysis of data on more than 25,000 volunteers who in trials took low-dose aspirin or a placebo in trials to lower their risk of heart disease, researchers found that the aspirin takers reduced their risk of dying from solid cancers by 21% vs. the placebo group during a five-year follow-up.

The results open the possibility that aspirin may become a powerful tool in the prevention of a variety of cancers.

This information is from the December 20, 2010 Time Magazine, Lab Report section.

Be sure to discuss with your doctor before taking any over the counter medications including Aspirin.



To your health
Leigh

Get Financial Help with Cancer Treatments!

Even as new cancer treatments offer hope for some, their cost is out of reach for many. Tens of thousands of people seek help from drug companies and charities that provide free medicines or cover copays for people who can't afford it.

Here is a list (from the Associated Press on 9-27-10) of places to seek help:

Genentech: http://www.genentechaccesssolutions.com/

Novartis: http://www.patientassistancenow.com/

Patient Advocate Foundation: 800-532-5274 http://www.patientadvocate.org/

CancerCare: 866-552-6729 http://www.cancercarecopay.org/

Chronic Disease Fund: 877-968-7233 http://www.cdfund.org/

Healthwell Foundation: 800-675-8416 http://www.healthwellfoundation.org/

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: 877-557-2672 www.LLS.org/copay

National Organization for Rare Disorders: 800-999-6673 http://www.rarediseases.org/

Patient Access Network Foundation: 866-316-7263 http://www.panfoundation.org/

Patient Advocate Foundation: 866-512-3861 http://www.copays.org/

Patient Services Inc.: 800-366-7741 http://www.patientservicesinc.org/

As more and more people lose their jobs and can not get insurance and as the price of cancer drugs skyrocket, these services will be more in demand. If you need help with the cost of your treatment contact the companies above and see if they can help you. Who knows how long these programs will be available?

Good Health in the New Year to us all.
Leigh

PS: be sure to check with your doctor about clinical trials and reduced drug cost for chemo drugs. I was able to get one of my medications replaced by the drug company to the hospital. If not it would have cost me about $50,000.00 ($5,000 per dose) at the hospital where I had my chemo treatments. If you need financial assistance be sure to talk to your local hospital Patient Assistance person also. They may know of some assistance that the doctor may not even know about. Never be afraid to ask.

Blood Test To Spot Cancer to be studied.

According to an article by the Associated Press writer Marilynn Marchione a BLOOD TEST so sensitive that can spot a single cancer cell lurking among a billion healthy ones is moving one step closer to being available at your doctor's office.

Boston scientists who invented the test and health care giant Johnson & Johnson announced that they are joining forces to bring it to market. Four big cancer centers also will start studies using the experimental test this year.

Stray cancer cells in the blood mean that a tumor has spread or is likely to, many doctors believe. A test that can capture such cells has the potential to transform care for many types of cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon and lung.

Initially, doctors want to use the test to try to predict what treatments would be best for each patient's tumor and find out quickly if they are working.

"This is like a liquid biopsy" that avoids painful tissue sampling and may give a better way to monitor patients than periodic imaging scans, said Dr Daniel Haber, chief of Massachusetts General Hospital's cancer center and one of the test's inventors.

Ultimately, the test may offer a way to screen for cancer besides the mammograms, colonoscopies, and other less-than-ideal methods used now.

"There's a lot of potential here, and that's why there's a lot of excitement," said Dr Mark Kris, lung cancer chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He had no role in developing the test, but Sloan-Kettering is one of the sites that will study it this year.