A Worthwhile Read

In July,at my support group meeting I mentioned that I had just finished reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and had written about it on this blog. Another survivor asked me if I had read The Emperor of All Maladies - A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee. She told me that it should be the very next book I read.

I put my name on the reserve list for the book at my local library and I waited. But early last month I decided to not wait any longer and I purchased my own copy. I am so glad that I did.

Don't let its large size, 470 pages, stop you. The Emperor of All Maladies is a brilliantly written history of cancer. From the first description of cancer in Egypt in 2500BC to describing the discovery of the drug Gleevec and the Human Genome project, Mukherjee kept me engaged. The glimpse we had at the care he provided his patients was wonderfully linked to the history. Mukherjee presents complex microbiological and genetic processes in a way that is easy to grasp. As I read about the ras pathway I found myself wishing I had read the book prior to going to the ASCO conference in June.

I finished the book feeling that each research development described, some with more positive results than others, has given us a better understanding of cancer that ultimately will lead to - dare I day it - a cure.

I highly recommend this book.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

Live,Laugh, Learn at CINJ's Survivors Day Celebration

Yesterday I attended the Cancer Institute of New Jersey's (CINJ) Survivor Day celebration called Live,Laugh, Learn. I did Learn at the sessions on Vitamins, Minerals &Herbs and Relax to the Max. And I did Laugh as Bruce Feiler, cancer survivor and author of The Council of Dads told his story at lunch . Live, well I would change that word to Hope. Let me explain.

One of the sessions I signed up for was called "Under the Hood". It was a laboratory tour and presentation by two researchers at CINJ.

One lab we toured was that of Kathleen Scotto, PhD. Her research focuses on agents that target the genes on the surface of tumor cells that cause drug resistance. She is working with cell lines from Henrietta Lacks ( The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,) known as HeLa cells. HeLa cells have a unique trait that allows them to be grown in the lab. And that is just what has been taking place since the mid-1950's. HeLa cells were used by Jonas Salk to develop the polio vaccine. I was thrilled that Dr Scott allowed us use a microscope in her lab to see these cells.

The other lab we toured was that of Hatem Sabaawy, MD,PhD. He is using Zebrafish to study the genes mutations that develop in blood cancers and prostate cancer. Zebrafish grow in a matter of days so results are quicker than studies done using mice. He also is raising "Casper" zebrafish that stay transparent to better see tumor growth when it occurs. There are about a dozen or so Zebrafish labs in the entire country completing these types of studies. And here is one at CINJ.

So I think this session was a session of Hope - hope for the future-right here in my backyard.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!

Today was All About Cancer Research in NJ

Today was the 2011 Annual Cancer Retreat on Cancer Research in New Jersey. It took place at the UMDNJ- Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway. The professional sessions were on Cell death and Survival Signaling , Genomic Instability and Tumor Progression,Cancer Pharmacology and Preclinical Therapeutics and Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention, Clinical Investigation , Cancer Prevention and Control , Cancer Biology, and Translation Sciences . All the research discussed was performed by NJ researchers. It made me proud to look through the program and see so many researchers in NJ investigating so many different aspects of cancer.

I attended the public forum Opportunities and Challenges :Advancing Cancer Survivorship in NJ and looked at a number of posters. The forum began with a talk by Generosa Grana, MD about the need for survivor care plans and how to coordinate the generation of those plans in various health care settings. Then Tayla Salz, PhD discussed the state of survivor care plans in place at NCI centers for breast and colorectal patients. Shawna Hudson, Phd discussed a study of patient experiences and perspectives of Follow-up care plans. While Ellen Levine spoke about community programs such as Cancer Transitions, and Jennifer Sullivan spoke about public policy advocacy in NJ.

One of the highlights of the day was finding that results of research that I took part in was on display at the poster session and one of the researchers Urmila Chandran was available for questions. So after lunch I found poster # 26 Healthy Eating Index and Ovarian Cancer Risk.For the study I was interviewed and asked to answer questions regarding my eating habits prior to being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The study investigated the association between the Healthy Eating Index ( adherence to the USDA guidelines) and ovarian cancer risk in a population-based case-control study in NJ. The study concluded that "there was limited evidence for a statistically significant association between any of the 12 individual food components and ovarian cancer risk. Based on the results neither individual food groups nor dietary quality showed potential for preventing ovarian cancer".

As a survivor I often wondered what may have caused my cancer or raised my risk for developing the disease. Back in 2005 I could have said no to answering all those questions but I didn't. Now six years later I can state that my diet did not raise my risk for this disease. Special thanks to the researchers at CINJ, UMDNJ Medical School, the NJ Dept of Health and Senior Services and Memorial Sloan Kettering for finding out the answer to one small piece of the puzzle.

Dee

Every Day is a Blessing!