Filed under: Prevention , All Cancers Recently, International Agency for Research on Cancer researchers concluded a study which stated that 3.6 percent of all cancer cases worldwide are related to alcohol drinking. Today, the Centre of Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University published a report that alcoholism and binge drinking in the northern Britain cities of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Liverpool and Durham will shorten the lives of men and women who live there and create years of health-related illnesses. The blame for the drinking problems focuses on the government's allowance of 24-hour drinking, inexpensive booze, a night-time economy of bars and clubs and a failure to educate the public on the dangers of excessive drinking, binge drinking and alcoholism. This report, along with political conservatives, are making a public statement against what they call irresponsible actions on the part of the British government that would create an environment that promotes excess drinking, binge drinking and alcoholism. The report indicated almost three in ten people admit binge drinking. According to director of the Centre for Public Health Professor Mark Bellis, "We hope that making these statistics widely available will highlight that we are no longer a nation enjoying a harmless tipple but increasingly one developing a dangerous alcohol addiction." Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Brain Cancer , Breast Cancer , Chemotherapy , Melanoma , All Cancers , Cancer Caregivers , Cancer Survivors

Filed under: Politics , Opinion , Daily news , Cancer Caregivers , Cancer Survivors Roy Thayers has experienced death up close, as he was caregiver for his first wife as she battled cancer -- he knows what it is like to watch someone fight for their life -- and he was there when she lost her life to cancer. Thayers, who at the age of 77 lives alone, was recently told by his doctors that he was at risk for a fatal heart attack and might lose his life if he didn't undergo heart surgery to unblock the heart valves immediately. The problem of avoiding death and living longer became a matter of time and money. When the NHS put Thayers on a nine-month waiting list for heart surgery, he worried he might not have that long to wait -- considering the urgency with which the doctors had impressed upon him concerning the imminent threat of a fatal heart attack without surgery. He was told he could have the surgery immediately if he paid for it himself. So Thayers told the hospital to schedule the surgery and he wrote them a £6,500 check. A check he knew would bounce -- but he reasoned by the time the bank returned the check to the hospital for non-sufficient funds, his surgery would be done. According to Thayers, "I love my budgies, I love my dogs, I love my fishing and I'm not going to die for money. I've worked all my life and put my money into the system, why should I die for the sake of money? Life is a great thing and when you've got it you fight for it." Now he is dealing with the stress of bill collectors but his heart is healthy. In that moment, he fought for his life in the only way he could think to do. In the US, our health insurance is privatized. We do not face long waiting lists, but over 45 million working Americans go without health insurance, and in many cases this means a delay in treatment. In other countries, like the one Thayer's lives in, health insurance is provided in a government-funded program. But the waiting list stories are nightmarish for those who need care and cannot receive it in a timely and sometimes life-saving manner. As the politicians get prepared for another presidential election, you can see the posturing and promises of a solution to the health coverage problems many Americans face. In the months ahead of us, there will be discussions and debates about what is the best health care system. Personally, I don't think either systems, the private or public, work for all people all the time -- and I spend time wondering what the best system would be that provides high-quality care in a timely fashion. Which system do you think is the best system in providing health care for all people? Or do you have a better idea? Let's talk about it. via AdamsBriscoe at Netscape Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prevention , Cancer events , Fundraisers , Politics , Celebrity news As John Kerry prepares to ride in the upcoming Pan-Massachusetts Challenge to raise money for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and cancer research, Bella English of the Boston Globe got a chance to have a chat with him about being a prostate cancer survivor. Kerry was diagnosed with prostate cancer during his presidential primary campaign in 2002. "It doesn't scare me as much as cancer just pisses me off," said Kerry. "Too many incredible people weren't as lucky as I was, some because they had a cancer we can't yet cure, and others because they didn't get screening or care in time or couldn't afford great health care. Every American should have the same health care that senators and congressmen get." Cancer has touched Kerry and members of his family, and the issues of cancer have been a priority of his for some time. In addition to his prostate cancer diagnosis, his grandfather died of colon cancer, his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in 2000, and his ex-wife was diagnosed with transitional-cell carcinoma and died earlier this year. So instead of letting cancer scare him, he has chosen to be pissed off about it and to do what he can both politically and personally to support cancer research towards a cancer cure, to help people diagnosed with cancer and in addressing the healthcare problem in this country. To read the Kerry interview in its entirety, read John Kerry takes fight against cancer personally . Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Brain Cancer , Celebrity fundraisers , Celebrity spokesperson , Services The Head to Hollywood charity, founded by US Weekly magazine editor Ken Baker, a pituitary brain tumor survivor, and actress/model Carmen Electra, whose mother died of a malignant brain tumor, provides brain tumor patients with opportunities to spend a day being pampered as a star and experiencing life as a celebrity. This might include attendance at Hollywood events and parties, VIP access to television and movie sets, personal meetings with stars, as well as celebrity spa and beauty treatments. Recently, Ritz Camera Centers announced they have chosen Carmen Electra as spokesperson for several new products they will be introducing, and as part of the new promotion, the company is launching a fundraising campaign for Head to Hollywood. In the next few weeks, Ritz Camera Centers will be offering a limited edition poster for the Head to Hollywood charity and posting photos taken by Carmen Electra, who is reported to be a photographer in her own right, at their website . Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , Research , Daily news "The normal response of prostate cells when male hormones are blocked is cell death," said George Kulik, assistant professor of cancer biology and senior researcher at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "The cancer cells find a way to resist the treatment and we wanted to discover the mechanism." Researchers have discovered the canny and shrewd way prostate cancer cells manage to defy death and become resistant to hormone treatment. The prostate cancer cells are using three separate pathways to send signals to cancer cells by inactivating a protein, BAD, meant to cause cell death. If animal and human studies further prove what the researchers have discovered, new drug therapies could be developed to keep BAD active and doing its job in helping to destroy prostate cancer cells. Read     Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Pancreatic Cancer , Celebrity cancer diagnosis , Celebrity spokesperson , All Cancers , Events Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered a commencement speech at Stanford University on June 12, 2005. It was about following curiosity and intuition, about looking back and connecting the dots in life, about beginnings and endings, about death. Jobs, a survivor of pancreatic cancer, knows a thing or two about facing death. And the words he chose to relate his life-threatening experience to a crowd full of hopeful graduates are powerful and inspiring. I could paraphrase his message -- but surely something would be lost in my translation. So here is a bit of what he said -- word for word. When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now. This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Enough said. Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Blogs , RetroReview Welcome back from the weekend! Here is a review of what we were talking about during the second week in July in our other health blogs. From The Cardio Blog :

• Bucindolol: experimental heart failure drug.
• Mammograms can find heart health problems.
• Eggs: bad or not bad for heart health -- which is it?
• The clock of life and time of day determines heart health.
• Extreme obesity raises mortality rate in women.
• Austrailian stem cell research innovates new heart treatment.
• Public physical activity program helps weight loss, lower blood pressure.
• Tuna imported from Latin America has highest mercury level.
• Eating less helps slow aging process.
• Teens helped to learn healthy diet habits with household food rules.
• Volunteer work helps seniors stay active and healthy.
• Working overtime worse for womens health.
• Aging and single living combined linked to higher heart disease risk.
• Tubby kids motivated to exercise by reward of TV time.
• Humidity and high temps linked to rise in summer heart attacks.
• Comedian Red Button dies of vascular disease.
• Migraine aura linked to increased heart attack stroke risk.

From The Diabetes Blog :

• Martial arts black belt uses youth group to fight diabetes.
• FDA approves GlaxoSmithKline diabetes drug.
• Pink Floyd Syd Barrett dies from diabetes complications.
• Update on fatal NC car crash involving diabetic driver.
• Major study links Type 2 diabetes and glaucoma risk.
• Life insurance industry plays catch-up.
• A1c Champions program trains diabetes mentors.
• Danish study confirms suspected diabetes, multiple sclerosis link.
• Debate continues on virtues, shortcomings of inhalable insulin, Exubera.
• Blogger's advice to T2 diabetics: follow in footsteps of movie producer Weinstein.
• Diabetes, obesity blamed for sky-high US kidney failure rates.
• Canadians await approval of inhalable insulin.
• Lifestyle ed could greatly reduce diabetes onset in older Americans, say researchers .

To your good health! To a great week! Permalink     Email this     Linking Blogs     Comments

Filed under: Chemotherapy , All Cancers , Books , Radiation , Tongue Cancer John Diamond was a British journalist who died from tongue cancer in 2001. He wrote a book called Because Cowards Get Cancer Too: A Hypochondriac Confronts his Nemesis.

Filed under: Prostate Cancer , All Cancers , Television , Daily news , Celebrity news Regaining focus after losing a loved one to cancer is a tough thing for anyone. Last month Professional golfer Tiger Woods missed his first ever cut in a major championship at the US Open following the loss of his father Earl Woods to prostate cancer on May 3. Tiger regained his focus one month later to win the British Open today.