Note: The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or substitute for professional care. For medical emergencies, dial 911!
Employing modern day pathological and tumor-staging methods, University of Texas Southwestern researchers have concluded that French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte died from advanced gastric cancer resulting from a chronic bacteria infection, H. pylori bacteria.
While Napoleon's personal physician Francesco Antommarchi stated at the time of Napoleon's death that the ruler of France had died from stomach cancer, an alternative and popular theory that has persisted down through the centuries after his death suggested Napoleon was killed by prolonged arsenic poisoning. Apparently, not so.
By studying historical accounts, the researchers determined that the advancement of gastric cancer was such that even modern day treatments would not have prolonged Napoleon's life. Professor of pathology and internal medicine Dr. Robert Genta stated, "Even if treated today, he'd have been dead within a year."
Napoleon's father died from stomach cancer, but the researchers dismiss that heredity played a role in the development of Napoleon's gastric cancer. Dr. Genta explains, "The ulcerated lesion on the emperor's stomach suggests a history of chronic H. pylori gastritis, which might have increased his risk of gastric cancer. The risk might have been further increased by his diet full of salt-preserved foods but sparse in fruits and vegetables – common fare for long military campaigns."
To learn details of the study into Napoleon's death from gastric cancer, and the methods used by the researchers, read University of Texas Southwestern's Napoleon's mysterious death unmasked.
The future cost of producing cancer drugs may have dropped in price with the laying of eggs from genetically-modified chickens.
Roslin Institute scientists have announced the successful creation of five generations of chickens that can lay eggs containing a specific protein needed to manufacture drugs used in the treatment of cancer. The Roslin Institute is the same research facility that cloned the Finn Dorset lamb named Dolly.
According to the BBC News report that states, "the work at Roslin shows it is now possible to use chickens as biofactories," more than one genetically-modified animal is being used as just such a factory for complex proteins needed to produce drugs.
It will be five-to-ten years before the drugs made from the protein of eggs from these genetically-modified chickens can be safely used, if clinical trials show favorable outcomes.
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." -- John Wesley
In November, millionaire businessman Larry Stewart revealed he was the Secret Santa who had gone out each December and gave away money anonymously to strangers whom he felt looked in need. After 26 years of keeping his secret, he felt compelled to speak up because time had become measured by a cancer diagnosis, and before he left this world, he wanted to speak publicly about the act of giving, hoping to inspire others to give.
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." -- Dalai Lama
When finally revealing the mysterious identity of the Secret Santa many in Missouri and elsewhere had wondered about for 26 years, Stewart explained how it all began. He did not start out rich, and his kind generosity came at a time when he could afford it least. We share his story in Secret Santa who gave away millions finally reveals identity, about a cold winter night, an unemployed salesman and a drive-in restaurant car hop without a coat.
"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." -- Aesop
While Stewart told his story, he shared that he began giving simple gifts of money to strangers each year during the month most attributed to miracles "because it was something people did not have to beg for, get in line for, or apply for."
With deep sadness for a true loss to this world, it has been reported that Stewart lost his battle with esophageal cancer on Friday.
"The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth." -- Albert Einstein.
In his humble kind acts of giving, Larry Stewart was, and will remain forever, the embodiment of kindness, and the beauty and truth of the potential best in each of us. Stewart was 58.
It is a they said, she said lawsuit of family against family as the children of Darrell Wayne Perry, a Nashville songwriter with credits that include Tim McGraw's Not a Moment Too Soon; Lorrie Morgan's What Part of No; Toby Keith's A Woman's Touch, I Only Miss You, and Every Promise I Ever Made; accuse their evangelical preaching aunt Darlene Bishop, and sister to the deceased, of causing the death of Perry by promising to cure him with prayer after his throat cancer diagnosis in 2003.
Perry's children say Bishop claimed she was cured of cancer through prayer and promised to cure her brother in the same way. According to news reporting, in her book Your Life Follows Your Words, Bishop wrote that faith and prayer cured her of her cancer and her brother Perry of his cancer. In a deposition, she is said to have admitted she was never diagnosed with cancer by a physician, even though she believed she had the disease.
After Perry's death from cancer, Bishop became the executor to his estate. According to the children, Bishop has not given them any of their inheritance, estimated at $750,000 dollars. The children are suing their aunt for wrongful death, clergy malpractice and fraud. Bishop denies all allegations.
The level of grief and the depth of sadness felt when losing a family member to cancer is without measure. You would think that nothing worse could possibly happen. This turn of events following the cancer diagnosis and death of Perry, however it turns out, and wherever the truth is to be found, has reached a new depth in an abyss of empty darkness.
With the intention of inspiring and offering hope to those facing the physical and spiritual challenges of surviving illness, The Healing Project is a collection of books featuring the stories of cancer survivors and survivors of other life-changing illnesses.
Founded by breast cancer survivor, publisher and successful businesswoman Debra LaChance, The Healing Project began from a place of personal cancer survivorship.
When LaChance was diagnosed with breast cancer, she said, "I would forever be tagged as someone who had cancer. It is a strange feeling and at first blush, a really lonely place to be. I knew my friends and family would care, but would anyone else? It would not take long to find that answer - and in learning of the infinite capacity of others to give of themselves."
The first volumes, Voices of Lung Cancer and Voices of Alzheimer's, are set to be released this coming May. Project editor Richard Day Gore, who is a thyroid cancer survivor sensitive to the issues of cancer survivorship, is putting out a call for breast cancer survivor stories.
"We are hoping to publish a breast cancer volume in the Fall. We have received many wonderful submissions of great depth and emotional impact, but we need more to fill out the volume and, hopefully, to fill additional volumes in the future." If you are a breast cancer survivor who would like to share your personal story as part of The Healing Project anthologies, visit The Healing Project website for details.
To the consternation of small business and medical insurers alike, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced sweeping reform in health care coverage with a proposal of universal health care for all Californians. Currently, 6.5 million residents who live in the state are without the security and safety of medical health care coverage.
Schwarzenegger, who is now being accused of sounding more Democrat than Republican, suggests his new $12 billion dollar health care plan be paid with fees levied on businesses, insurers, doctors and hospitals, and that 85 percent of every insurance premium dollar be spent on the insured in patient care. Insurers would be required to make all-things-equal in offering health insurance based on a community-rating model, as opposed to charging higher premiums for those who fall into a high-risk category. In addition, insurance companies would not be able to deny coverage. All persons who apply for health insurance would be guaranteed coverage.
Employers would be required to provide health insurance to all workers or pay 4 percent of their payrolls to the state; doctors would pay a new tax of 2 percent; and hospitals would pay a new tax of 4 percent.
The number of medically-uninsured in this country is growing yearly, and it is an issue that cannot be ignored. Those without medical insurance postpone seeing a physician, and when we are talking about cancer, delayed diagnosis and treatment can often mean the difference between life and death.
Recent surveys have indicated that even the insured are beginning to wonder if they will be able to afford quality health care in the future, as the cost of care continues to rise. It is not lost on politicians that health care is an important issue with the voters of this country, and those who wish to garner more votes will tackle these concerns.
In fairness, I am not suggesting politicians are solely motivated to act based on popular vote, but elections do have a way of clarifying the issues that are important to the citizens of this country and the resulting changes that can occur as a result of defined focus.
Schwarzenegger is not alone in his efforts to affect change. In December, Oregon Senator Ron Wyden introduced a new proposal to provide affordable, high quality, private health coverage for everyone regardless of where they work or live with the Healthy Americans Act.
The current system is simply not working for nearly 46.6 million people who are without health insurance coverage, according to statistics provided by U.S. Census Bureau's Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division. The solution will not be an easy one, but a solution is needed. Schwarzenegger has made a bold move, but one that will be made by other political leaders in this country as we lead up to the 2008 presidential elections. For the every day citizen, the time is overdue for the realignment of a health care system that is teetering out-of-balance and in a seriously off-kilter orbit.
Breast, lung and colorectal cancer diagnosed and treated early can be surgically removed with success, but if the cancerous cells have already entered the bloodstream at the time the tumor is surgically removed, the danger of a secondary tumor elsewhere in the body is a serious cause for worry.
But not all roaming cancer cells become a secondary tumor, which leaves the question as to what is happening to encourage or suppress additional cancer. According to University of Liverpool researchers, the answer is found in a large protein called MUC1.
MUC1 acts as a protective shield, thereby allowing our immune system a chance to destroy the rogue cancer cells. When the protein shield fails, cancerous cells can begin to develop into a new tumor.
University's School of Clinical Sciences Dr Lu-Gang Yu explains, "MUC1 on the cell surface prevents the cancer cells from attaching to the blood vessel wall which causes secondary tumors. We have discovered that a small protein called galectin-3, attacks MUC1 and breaks up its protective shield, forcing large areas of the cancer cell to become exposed. The exposed areas of the cell allow the cancer to attach to the blood vessel wall. The cancer cells then eventually penetrate the blood wall to form tumors at secondary sites."
As more scientific discoveries into the mechanisms and spread of cancer are revealed, the less mysterious it will be in determining ahead of time who is at most risk of cancer recurrence. More importantly, new treatments might be developed that stop the process in those most at risk for a secondary cancer.
However unintentional she says it has all been when it comes to the sultry and seductive persona that oozes sexuality through the television screen during her cooking shows, How to be a Domestic Goddess author Nigella Lawson has made a career out of making food sexy and the act of food consumption sensual. It is part of her not-always-so-subtle coy kitchen charm.
But if we believe her life to be as silky smooth and decadent as warm cream flowing over a morning bowl of juicy plump strawberries, and equally as charmed as she is charming, we would be mistaken. Yes, she is remarried to multi-millionaire, ad man and art dealer Charles Saatchi, but she is also the widow of journalist and writer John Diamond, who died of tongue cancer five years ago, leaving her suddenly mother and father to their two children, Cosima and Bruno.
A decade earlier, Lawson's mother had died of liver cancer. Her sister Thomasina died in her 30s of breast cancer. Cancer changes people. It is unavoidable, and the change can take many forms. For Nigella, who in the public eye has taken criticism for her ample figure and lack of concern for the fat content of food, has an almost unreasonable fear about thinness. After watching three family members waste away and die from cancer, she sees thin as a sign of illness.
"So even though I mind it when I put on weight I have a visual memory of seeing those people become skin and bone, and that gives me a slight reality check," explains Lawson. In watching her cooking show Nigella Bites, she came through as warm, down-to-earth, without a care for pretentious protocol or rules for the sake of rules. It is the way she cooks, and I get the feeling it is the way she lives. Cancer changes every person it touches and shapes perspectives about what is truly important in life. Being comfortable and enjoying yourself, including the food you eat, is a good recipe for life. A recipe Nigella seems to dish up with ease.
Nigella Lawson is Food Network's newest host in Nigella Feasts. On January 7, the theme of the show will be Feel Good Food featuring Smoked Salmon, Avocado and Pumpkin Seed Salad, a Vietnamese Prawn and Glass Noodle Salad, a colorful Antioxidant Fruit Salad, and a Syllabubbed Yogurt. Yum.
Jack Osbourne, son of rock legend Ozzy and colon cancer survivor Sharon Osbourne, recently stated that he blames his alcohol and drug addiction on his father. During his mother Sharon's diagnosis and treatment for colon cancer, the young Jack used alcohol and the powerfully addictive prescription painkiller OxyContin as a way to cope.
Jack is quoted as saying, "My problems peaked when mom was sick and dad was dealing with his problems the same way as I was, by drinking, so I had no one to turn to. I was just hanging out with my crowd drinking and doing drugs." Jack ended up in an addiction rehab clinic to get clean and sober.
This is no way excuses the badly-decided choices that Jack made when he turned to alcohol and drugs as a way to cope with his feelings, but there is a sharp focus and more than a bit of snarkiness to the news reports concerning Jack's blaming comment that misses a great opportunity in regard to discussing the impact a parent's cancer diagnosis has on children.
As the American Cancer Society (ACS) states, "Families face many complex issues when one of their members has cancer. There will probably be a time during a family's experience with cancer when psychosocial support services will be helpful in meeting the emotional needs of the family. There are teams of experts, each with a different focus, who offer support and are trained in how cancer affects a family." ACS offers a terrific resource for the family with the online publication of Helping Children When A Family Member Has Cancer.
The Family Doctor states, "Every person has a different way of handling news that a loved one has cancer. Many people react with shock, disbelief and even anger when they're first given the news." The Family Doctor's Cancer: Helping Your Family Help You offers advice on different questions a parent might have, such as:
How will my family react to the news that I have cancer?
Should I tell my children that I have cancer?
How do I tell my children that I have cancer?
How can I help my children cope with their feelings?
In 2002, when I drove home after being told I had cancer, I wondered and worried about how I was going to tell my children, how I could avoid the unavoidable shattering of innocence in their world, how to protect them from their own fear and pain? I sat outside in the car, trying to stare through the walls of our home, knowing that in the next five minutes I would be changing our lives forever with the news of my cancer diagnosis. I wanted to freeze time, to save the innocence, to keep the awful news from being true.
In the ACS online resource for families, it states, "Parents can have a powerful effect on how their children react to a crisis in the family. In the beginning this responsibility can feel like a huge weight, but it is possible for family members to learn how to deal with and even grow through the experience of having cancer in the family."
Support services can include individual counseling, family counseling, and support groups. If you do not know where to start, ask your physician or call the local hospital or local ACS office. Someone will be able to help you help your children, and all family members, navigate through the crisis of cancer, so that everyone becomes a survivor of cancer in the best way possible.
It has been a busy year online when it comes to cancer-related news and issues.
According to the Year-End Google Zeitgeist top ten lists for general and news searches on the internet in 2006, cancer was third in the top ten Google news searches, following Paris Hilton and Orlando Bloom.
Wonder what the readers of The Cancer Blog were reading the most during the last year? With one look back, here are the top ten most-read posts and categories:
Partnership for Prevention released a report, Priorities for America's Health, that ranked the top 25 preventive health services that are most effective. Of the top 25, ten were related to cancer. We featured a list of the top ten ways to practice cancer prevention. [read more here]
Researchers developed, and patented, a specially-designed chewing gum that works to eliminate the cause of mouth and upper digestive tract cancers. [read more here]
State University of New York at Buffalo researchers are building a chemical sensor that will test a person's breath to detect diseases because, based on previous studies, human breath from the body changes when disease is present. [read more here]
How do 50 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer develop breast cancer, if they had none of the known lifestyle risk factors or family history for the disease? According to State of the Evidence 2006: What Is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer?, a report released by Breast Cancer Action, there is compelling scientific evidence pointing to some of the 100,000 synthetic chemicals in use today as contributing to the development of breast cancer, either by altering hormone function or gene expression. We provided a link to the pdf document of the report. [read more here]
The main ingredient in henna is hydroxynaphthaquinone which is obtained from leaves of the Lawsonia tree. Hydroxynaphthaquinone alone is not carcinogenic, but when combined with para-phenylenediamine (PPD) the mixture has been documented as causing problems. [read more here]
Doctor of molecular biology Joseph Harris, 26, was convicted and jailed under the Serious and Organized Crime Act for causing damage to the premises of three companies connected to animal testing, and painting ALF (Animal Liberation Front) on walls, windows and vans belonging to the companies. [read more here]
The three most read categories within The Cancer Blog were breast cancer, ovarian cancer and lung cancer. There you have it. What were your favorite posts this past year?
In a discovery that opens up the possibility of stopping the spread of cancer before it has a chance to take hold elsewhere in the body, researchers have developed a means of tracking cancer cells as they spread past the original tumor.
Robarts Research Centre in London, Ontario researchers have announced a new technology that allowed them, for the first time, to follow single breast cancer cells as they migrated from the body to the brain. According to statistics, 22 to 30 per cent of women with breast cancer will suffer from cancer that spreads to the brain.
Interestingly, the new technology also allows them to watch which cancer cells that have spread into the brain develop into a tumor, and which ones remain dormant, or die off. Not all cancer cells become a cancerous tumor.
Of the new technology, Dr. Paula Foster says, "It will give us the ability to test what genes are important, what drugs actually work, how the drugs work. Then you can take that information to patients and hopefully treat this disease a little better."
This is the biggest fear of cancer survivors -- that the cancer will come back, that it will have spread.
Beginning January 1st, an additional $1 dollar cigarette tax will be added to each pack of cigarettes purchased in Texas. CBS 11 News is reporting that this will raise the price of a pack of cigarettes to $4 dollars, or ten more dollars a carton, and smokers are stocking up on cartons of cigarettes before the tax hike goes into effect.
In the past, states that have increased taxing of cigarettes have seen a positive effect on the number of people who quit smoking, for no other reason than purchasing cigarettes becomes too cost prohibitive. The American Cancer Society (ACS) is looking forward to this happening, as they predict it will keep 300,000 people from starting up and cause 100,000 current smokers in Texas to quit.
Smoking has indeed become an expensive habit since the days when the government gave away cartons of cigarettes to World War II soldiers in the belief it calmed their nerves.
Meanwhile, back in Texas, CBS 11 News quoted Discount Cigarettes manager Patrick Ingram as saying, "Every state has their own tax, so you're not supposed to take large quantities across the border. So, people will go buy truck loads and bring across the border, or just steal."
That's probably true, to a lesser extent, but the ACS is right, the increased overall price for a pack of cigarettes when the new tax is implemented will prompt more people to quit smoking and deter even more from starting a habit that is not only increasingly expensive but just plain bad for your health.
1600 years ago, about 400AD, an inherited form of melanoma began from a genetic mutation that occurred in a single ancestor, according to Glasgow University researchers who traced the genetic mutation back 88 generations. Upon further investigation, a number of Scottish families, presently living in Scotland, as well as Australia, Canada and America, were found to carry the specific genetic mutation that puts them at an increased risk for a certain type of melanoma.
According to the researchers, one in ten patients diagnosed with melanoma have a strong family history of the disease and between 20 to 40 percent of those patients carry a high-risk faulty gene known as CDKN2A. The Scottish mutation in this gene is known as M53I. With these genetic discoveries, there is hope that gene therapy can be developed to repair damaged genes in cancer cells.
Three days ago, author and New Yorker staff writer Calvin Trillin's new book About Alice was released. He gives the reader a portrait of his life with his wife Alice in what is called, "a straightforward honest portrait of their marriage and family life in this slim volume, opening with the suggestion that he had previously mischaracterized Alice when he wrote her into stories that were essentially sitcoms."
Alice, a non-smoker who was diagnosed with lung cancer in the 1970s, passed away the day after 9/11 on September 12, 2001 of heart failure that resulted from complications of radiation cancer treatment. During her life, her creativity, intelligence, talent and non-conformity led to her becoming an accomplished writer, editor and educator. As a cancer survivor, Alice wrote the article Of Dragons and Garden Peas: A Cancer Patient Talks to Doctors about her experience as a cancer patient in the Land of the Sick.
Trillin wrote of meeting his wife, "My first impression was that she looked more alive than anyone I'd ever seen. She seemed to glow." About Alice is a loving tribute of a fascinating woman.
As complied by Forbe's HealthDay, half of the top ten health news of 2006 feature issues of interest to cancer patients and the cancer community in regard to cancer research, treatment and prevention. The top health story involves the concern over cost of medical care among those with health insurance and the continually growing numbers of uninsured. A recent study shows that one in six, or 50 million people, are struggling to afford medical treatment as they now spend more than ten percent of their income on medical expenses.
After much controversy regarding ethics and morality, this year saw the approval of the first cervical cancer vaccine. The federal government recommends that girls as young as nine-years-old be given the vaccine. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) re-approved the use of silicone breast implants. Although banned in 1992 because of concerns that silicone leakage might be linked to cancer, silicone implants were still offered to women undergoing breast reconstruction after breast cancer surgery. Supposedly the implants are now safe for all women. Some consumer advocacy groups still strongly disapprove of the FDA decision.
Another controversial issue being debated based on ethics and morality is stem cell research. According to Forbes, the majority of Americans are in favor of stem cell research and the promise it holds in the cure of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and many other diseases.
Lastly, scandals swept throught the research community as fake research and researchers were exposed, as was conflict of interest over questionable financial ties in the research community.
Other health news stories that made Forbe's HealthDay top ten list included: Tainted-Food Scares Rattle Public; Drug-Eluting Stents May Stay; 'Morning-After' Pill Goes OTC; Antidepressants' Link to Suicide Debated; and More Progress Against Alzheimer's Disease. You can read the Forbe's top ten list in its entirety here.
Employing modern day pathological and tumor-staging methods, University of Texas Southwestern researchers have concluded that French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte died from advanced gastric cancer resulting from a chronic bacteria infection, H. pylori bacteria.
The future cost of producing cancer drugs may have dropped in price with the laying of eggs from genetically-modified chickens.
"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." -- John Wesley
It is a 
With the intention of inspiring and offering hope to those facing the physical and spiritual challenges of surviving illness, The Healing Project is a collection of books featuring the stories of cancer survivors and survivors of other life-changing illnesses. 
To the consternation of small business and medical insurers alike, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced sweeping reform in health care coverage with a proposal of universal health care for all Californians. Currently, 6.5 million residents who live in the state are without the security and safety of medical health care coverage. 
Breast, lung and colorectal cancer diagnosed and treated early can be surgically removed with success, but if the cancerous cells have already entered the bloodstream at the time the tumor is surgically removed, the danger of a secondary tumor elsewhere in the body is a serious cause for worry. 
However unintentional she says it has all been when it comes to the sultry and seductive persona that oozes sexuality through the television screen during her cooking shows, How to be a Domestic Goddess author Nigella Lawson has made a career out of making food sexy and the act of food consumption sensual. It is part of her not-always-so-subtle coy kitchen charm. 
Jack Osbourne, son of rock legend Ozzy and 
It has been a busy year online when it comes to cancer-related news and issues. 
In a discovery that opens up the possibility of stopping the spread of cancer before it has a chance to take hold elsewhere in the body, researchers have developed a means of tracking cancer cells as they spread past the original tumor. 
Beginning January 1st, an additional $1 dollar cigarette tax will be added to each pack of cigarettes purchased in Texas. 
1600 years ago, about 400AD, an inherited form of melanoma began from a genetic mutation that occurred in a 
Three days ago, author and New Yorker staff writer Calvin Trillin's new book 
As complied by Forbe's HealthDay, half of the top ten health news of 2006 feature issues of interest to cancer patients and the cancer community in regard to cancer research, treatment and prevention. The top health story involves the concern over cost of medical care among those with health insurance and the continually growing numbers of uninsured. A recent study shows that one in six, or 50 million people, are struggling to afford medical treatment as they now spend more than ten percent of their income on medical expenses.
