A CURE for CANCER?!!!!!

Oh my God. I just saw something that gave me chills down my spine and I went weak in the knees. I had tears of joy quietly squeezing out. This is the most promising thing I've ever seen!! I have a sense, this one just might work!!!! And go figure, the idea was sparked by a 16 year old!....

You can see the video here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/husband-searches-cancer-cure-wifes-death/story?id=9212102&page=1

or you can read the below from ABC:

Did a Devoted Husband Find a Cancer Breakthrough?
After His Wife Died From Breast Cancer, Husband Turned to Cancer Research
By CLAIRE SHIPMAN
Dec. 1, 2009
Throughout his years of groundbreaking research, endocrinologist Dr. David Vesely never gave curing cancer a lot of thought.
But then it became personal.

"We started to work on cancer when my wife died of breast cancer seven years ago," Vesely said.

His wife, Clo, died in 2002, leaving Vesely and their five children behind. Vesely said he directed his sorrow into his work at the James A. Haley Hospital in Tampa, Fla., and seven years later he may have a breakthrough.

An Idea From the Heart

Vesely said it was originally his son's idea to conduct research. Brian, who was 16 when his mother died, was looking for a way to channel his grief a month after his mother's death.
In the late 1980s, Vesely, focusing on heart disease, discovered three hormones made by the heart that prevented normal heart cells from getting bigger and multiplying. He wondered if they could also control cancer cell growth.

Vesely and Brian set up an experiment and left cancer cells and heart hormones alone in a Petri dish. The cancer cells were blown apart by the body's own hormones.

"Well, the cells blew apart. So we thought, 'maybe we did something wrong,'" Vesely said. "Because you never know ... but the second time, we knew it was real."

Vesely began studying the effect on mice that had been injected with human cancer cells, by pumping the hormones under their skin.

"Usually after a month, they eliminate up to 80 percent of human pancreatic cancers growing in the mice," Vesely said.

Since then Vesely said he has eliminated other deadly forms of human cancers in mice, including 67 percent of breast cancers and 86 percent of small cell lung cancers, all with almost no side effects.

Although Vesely, 66, said he wouldn't go as far as to call it a cure for cancer, he is hopeful.

"But if it does cure one cancer in human, it will cure almost all of them, or eliminate them," Vesely said.
Human Clinical Trials to Begin

Kalos Therapeutics is raising money for the first human clinical trials for Vesely's findings. But as Vesely waits, he said he is feeling the urgency from hundreds of e-mails from people dying of cancer asking when his treatment will be ready.

"It's mostly funding. They need money to move ahead," Vesely said.

"If we can make some dent in cancer ... it will be spectacular," Vesely added.
Vesely's Finding Met With Hope and Caution

Vesely published his work, and although the medical world is intrigued, it is also cautious.

"I think that there's potentially promise here, but I think the real question is whether these very potent hormones will be tolerable at the doses required," said Dr. Mark Ratain from the University of Chicago.

Vesely said he is also cautious about raising expectations "because you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself."

Our Daughter's & Son's...

Wouldn’t it be great if our daughters (and some sons too!) weren’t just sitting ducks?

There is a buzz about a breast cancer VACCINE…. Wouldn’t that be AMAZING? I heard it through the grape vine and am anxious to find more information. One important factor for this is research research research.

A very dear friend is taking a hike. In one short month, August, she is walking for 3 days to raise money for breast cancer with Susan G Koman For the Cure. Cure. What an awesome word that could be! Not only does she have women around her that have had or are currently suffering from this disease, her mother sadly had a reoccurrence 12 years out from the first diagnosis. Colleen would give the shirt off her back to help anyone, and is almost half way to her goal, I’d like to see if we can get her PAST her goal! There is so much more research needed to be done, especially in the area for those that are at a higher stage. The quiet ones that don’t want to express their fear to lower level stage women. They need hope too. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could give severe stage IV more then just a little more time? It brings tears of joy to my eyes to hear her say... "If you know or have someone who is diagnosed with Breast Cancer, (or any type of cancer) please give me their name so I can carry them with me through all 60 miles. " I know we are in very tough economic times, but if you can even just a little, please support Colleen in her crusade... click here to help Colleen help our future and our children's future! You can donate or even join her team!

THANKS EVERYBODY!!

Below is a note from Colleen:

Dear Family & Friends,

I have taken on an incredible challenge! On August 7th, 8th & 9th, I'll be walking 60 miles over the course of three days. Each day of the event, my teammates and thousands of others, will walk 20 miles and spend two nights camping under the stars with thousands of other women and men on this same journey.It's for an event called the Breast Cancer 3-Day, which benefits Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. Every advancement in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Komen for the Cure grant. They are working hard to build a future without breast cancer.I am required to raise a minimum of $2,300 to participate in the event. By the time that you finish reading this, two more women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and another one just died from it. In fact, while I am walking those 60 miles, 110 women will die from this horrible disease. 110 families will lose a mother, or a daughter, or a best friend.An amazing thing happened the other night! While attending a meeting I mentioned that I would be participating in the 3 day . . . And a woman, whom I did not know, walked up to me after the meeting and handed me a donation! We talked about when she had participated in the walk a few years ago, how difficult yet rewarding it was and she truly inspired and motivated me even more!So here is why I choose to walk:I walk because...Too many of my family and friends have been affected by breast cancer.I will walk knowing the money I raise will be helping so many.I will walk praying for a cure so our daughters and sons will only know breast cancer as a thing of the past.I will walk because I can!Times are hard, we all know. But every dollar counts, and brings us closer to a cure. Please look in your hearts and consider a donation. If you would like to donate you can donate online at http://www.the3day.org/. Just click on Donate Now and search for my personal fundraising page. You can also call 800.996.3DAY to donate over the phone.

If you know or have someone who is diagnosed with Breast Cancer, (or any type of cancer) please give me their name so I can carry them with me through all 60 miles.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter, and thank you for your support.

Colleen

If you are unable to donate online, please print out a donation form.
Click here to visit my personal page. If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/ChicagoEvent?px=3292672&pg=personal&fr_id=1293&et=Y268ckfK4AF9MTxODFrpVQ..&s_tafId=182530
Click here to view the team page for Mamas for Tatas If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:http://www.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/ChicagoEvent?team_id=85260&pg=team&fr_id=1293&et=OBi5R6M5rU79t-qbPyhWAA..&s_tafId=182530
For more information about the Breast Cancer 3-Day, Susan G. Komen for the Cure or the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund, visit http://www.the3day.org/ or call 800.996.3DAY.

© 2009 Breast Cancer 3-Day. 205 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 2640, Chicago IL 60601

Living Proof
I watched “Living Proof” on LMN about the doctor and his development of the cancer drug Herceptin, with my mother. Swoosie made me cry when she displayed a torturous agony of desperation while BEGGING the doctor to help her daughter. He knew the drug worked on the daughter. She knew the drug worked. But the funding entity did not allow room for continued treatment for her in the next phase of the study. You could feel the distress and misery of a mother, desperately wanting to save her daughter. Of course I was teary eyed when Bernadette received her good news that she was cured. But it wasn’t easy watching as time went by those treatment chairs become empty from the deaths occurring.
While the movie did illustrate difficulties in getting a good drug pushed through the system, I don’t think it quite captured the severity and true nature of what the doctor really goes through to get it done.

October / Breast Cancer Awareness Month

I know we are all actually aware of breast cancer.
But what I never realized is it is a cancer like other cancers.
I thought it was just in the breast. You get it taken out or the breast off and you are done with it. However that is not the case. It can spread. It spreads to your lungs or brain which is a natural pathway through the lymph nodes and how they drain. It travels into the bones or to any distant organ in the body. One that is necessary to be alive. There are also different types of it, different receptors etc. Some are cured, if you are lucky, after enduring grueling and punishing treatments. Many are not.

This Saturday, on Lifetime Network (I don’t usually watch Lifetime) is a movie based on Dr. Dennis Slamon (portrayed by Harry Connick, Jr.) detailing his hand in the development of the drug Herceptin. This is the drug they use on breast cancer patients that are HER2/NEU positive. Not long ago, being HER2/NEU positive was a hopeless death sentence. I’m 0.2 points away from being positive for HER2/NEU, so currently I won’t be receiving this drug. Today, doctors actually consider it a good thing to be positive because this drug WORKS. Anyway, the movie, “Living Proof” showcases the difficulties in getting this drug passed for a clinical trail, and the struggles of the first women to take it. The cast is an interesting out of the ordinary mixture and could prove to be quite powerful, among them Bernadette Peters, Amy Madigan, Regina King, and who doesn’t love Jennifer Coolidge or Swoozie. (At times Swoozie looked a lot like MY MOM).

"LIVING PROOF" - 8 pm / Saturday October 18th.

Lifetime Movie Network

My next posts I hope to share pictures of radiation effects (burns) to explain how that is all going, and share what I've learned about lymph nodes & lymphedemia.

THANKS FOR STICKING WITH ME DURING THIS.... JOURNEY.