Sunday, March 15, 2009
Call Me Crazy, But....
My sister did Relay For Life for the first time in 2005. She wore this hat. I didn't make it to Relay that year. I remember her saying to me, "Next year, we will do Relay For Life together!" The next month, cancer took her from us, and our Relay For Life walk was not to be. However, I think that in a way, she was there with me the next year. Our local American Cancer Society dedicated the next Relay For Life to my sister. That year, I was pumped up and ready to go. That year, and every year after, I wore my sister's pink hat and I walked in Relay For Life. That first year, my dad handed me that purple "Cancer Sucks" button, and not wanting to poke the hat, I strung the pin through the hat's tag where it has stayed ever since.
The following two Relays was also good for me. I asked some bloggers if they would mind if I walked in memory of their lost loved ones, and they agreed. I always think of the people who I have met that have been affected by cancer. But last year, I just didn't have my heart into it. While in the past, I asked the online community to help me with donations, I think I did one post. And one person who has always been anonymous has always donated. (Thank you, anonymous person! I do know who you are!) It seemed harder and harder to ask for donations. I still wore the pink hat, I still thought of the people. Even though I haven't forgotten what cancer took for me, I felt sure that others were tired of me talking about my sister and her cancer. But every year, I wear the pink hat and I do my laps around the track.
But last weekend, it hit me. People are still dying of cancer. People of all ages. Mothers and fathers. Sisters and brothers. Friends. Aunts. Uncles. Cousins. All three of my mom's sisters are battling cancer right now. One of my aunts signed up for Relay For Life within minutes when my mom sent out the email a few weeks ago. And I procrastinated. But I've signed up now.
And as I was walking the other day, I realized I wanted to try and get more donations than ever. And I wanted to try to do something to motivate me to raise some money this year.
My sister was 25 when she died of lung cancer. Ironically, this year is also Relay For Life's 25th anniversary. So, my plan this year is to try and raise at least $2500 in donations. And if I raise this much, I intend to walk 25 miles. Part of me doesn't think it can be done. Part of me says there is no way I am going to get enough donations to have to walk 25 miles, so hey, I can just do things I always have done. But, I'm going to train for it, none the less. Because maybe the community out there will prove me wrong. If you are interested in proving me wrong, the link to my page is: http://main.acsevents.org/goto/lyndas_page
Are you willing to help spread the word and prove me wrong? Labels: awareness, cancer sucks, Laurianne, Laurianne's hope, organizations, Relay For Life, support
Posted by Lynda ::
4:17 PM ::
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Saturday, February 28, 2009
Cancer Still Sucks
I feel a certain indescribable pain every time I hear that someone has cancer. I don't remember being as emotional before my sister died. I have met people through this great World Wide Web who have cancer. The amazing thing is that they are all fighters. What can you do, but fight?
Once again, I am bawling over my keyboard for one of these great fighters, someone who ended up losing their fight. Lisa was a wonderful person. I have never seen a community pull together for someone before, like the blogging community did for her. I emailed her last September about Relay for Life, and she was so friendly. It pained me to see her fight this, another young mother, whose children will have to grow up without her.
Rest in Peace, Lisa.
Labels: awareness, cancer, cancer sucks, ovarian cancer
Posted by Lynda ::
12:27 AM ::
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Monday, November 03, 2008
Be Aware
October was Breast Cancer Awareness month. You probably saw it. Pink everywhere. Product packaging. Merchants asking for donations to the Susan G. Komen foundation.
November is Lung Cancer Awareness month. There will be no proclamations far and wide. In fact, many people won't even know that there is a month for Lung Cancer Awareness. But, if you are reading this, it means one more person is aware. Maybe you will tell your friends. Maybe they will tell their friends.
Lung cancer is a concern. Not just for smokers, like everyone wants to believe. Lung cancer is a concern for everyone.Labels: awareness, cancer, lung cancer
Posted by Lynda ::
7:09 PM ::
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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Don't Pass Gas
I will not pass gas in my house
I will not pass gas near my spouse
I will not pass gas in your face
Because the gas I pass is worse than mace
A silent by deadly cloud of toxic waste.
The End
What does this have to do with lung cancer awareness? Click the link and find out:
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Vote for Laurianne's Hope for Best Health Blog for the Blogger's Choice Awards 2006.Labels: awareness, second-hand smoke, smoking cessation
Posted by Lynda ::
8:21 PM ::
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Monday, July 09, 2007
Beverly Sills is a name from opera even my mom knows. (My mom is not a big opera fan.) In June, Beverly Sills was diagnosed with lung cancer. At the beginning of July, she succumbed to the disease.
Beverly Sills is a perfect example of how quickly lung cancer can progress. I would bet that she really took care of her lungs and voice while in the profession. Many articles have stated she was a non-smoker. Still, she got the disease.
Because of Beverly Sills, and all the people who are fighting this disease, and all that have lost their battle with this disease, we need to find a cure. Sills transcended opera stages
By RONALD BLUM
Associated Press Writer
In remembering Beverly Sills, Henry Kissinger didn't think about her singing - he never heard her perform.
Their birthdays were two days apart - Sills on May 25, Kissinger on May 27 - and they celebrated some years with joint parties. Kissinger visited her Friday, just before Sills left a hospital and returned home for the final time.
"She gave me many of the records which she recorded, and I listened to those," the former secretary of state said Tuesday, a day after the celebrated soprano died of lung cancer at 78.
"She was a woman of tremendous human intuition and tremendous compassion for others. She had a marvelous understanding of people," he said.
Sills never faded after she retired from singing in 1980 at 51. She handled CEOs and politicians as deftly as Donizetti's high notes, as smoothly as she soothed sopranos and tenors.
"New York, the nation, and the world have lost a leading light and a melodic voice," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
Bubbles, as she was known throughout her life, spent 10 years as general director of the New York City Opera, then served as chairwoman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and later as chairwoman of the Metropolitan Opera. She became a leading figure on the American cultural scene, hosting TV broadcasts and raising millions of dollars with just a few phone calls.
"New York City, the arts community and music world have lost a major light," former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said. "Beverly Sills' exuberance in spreading the joy and beauty of the opera helped bring it those who might have not been familiar with it."
Sills took on the coloratura repertoire at a time when it was out of favor, shunned by Rudolf Bing's Met, where Verdi, Wagner and Puccini reigned. She became famous at the smaller City Opera, triumphing in Bellini, Rossini, Handel and Massenet.
And, with guest-hosting stints on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and TV appearances with Carol Burnett, she became the one American opera singer known by the masses.
"I lost one of my best friends ever, and I'm devastated," Burnett said.
Julius Rudel, then City Opera's music administrator, first heard Sills in the early 1950s at the recommendation of her teacher, Estelle Liebling. Sills had to make several auditions before she was hired by the company, then headed by conductor Joseph Rosenstock.
"He was a little concerned about how tall she was," Rudel recalled. "She said, 'I'm happy to come back, but I'm not going to shrink.'"
Sills, about 5-foot-6 according to manager Edgar Vincent, became a giant in the bel canto world, helping revive works that had gone out of fashion, such as Donizetti's three operas about Tudor queens - which still have never been staged by the Met.
Placido Domingo, who starred opposite Sills at City Opera, remembered "beautiful times of bubbling, giggling" nights spent on trips to Los Angeles, Mexico, Peru and other places. In recent years, she gave the tenor advice on his jobs running the Los Angeles and Washington Operas. He was surprised by the speed of her decline in recent weeks.
"We had been planning a dinner for the last year and a half," he said by phone from Madrid, Spain. "We seem to always meet on opening nights with a 1,000 people there. We missed that dinner."
At City Opera and then the Met, Sills influenced a generation of singers - the Met even established an award in her name in 2005.
"There isn't another American singer in the 20th century who managed to accomplish the enormous feat of making opera accessible to the American public," soprano Renee Fleming said. "We shared our first lunch together four years ago, when I was overwhelmed by her generous candor, her vulnerability, and the openness with which she shared her life with me. She gave advice freely, on repertoire, negotiation, on possible career trajectories, and I felt suddenly that I had a much-needed mentor, so many years after she had hired me to sing Mimi in 'La Boheme' at New York City Opera as a beginner." James Conlon, music director of the Los Angeles Opera, remembered attending City Opera performances in the 1960s, then while at Juilliard playing rehearsals as an assistant conductor for one of her performances of Bellini's "Norma."
"She demonstrated that one's commitment to opera doesn't have to stop when the singing is over," Conlon said.
In recent weeks, Sills had been concerned with the future care of Muffy, her daughter, who was born with severe hearing loss. Her son, Bucky, was born with mental retardation, and she spent much of her final years caring for her husband, Peter, who died last September.
"She had a very hard life herself in some respects, but she never talked about it. She was an inspirational person," Kissinger said.
A private funeral was scheduled for Wednesday. Lincoln Center planned to honor Sills with a moment of silence Tuesday night on its plaza, and the New York Philharmonic was to celebrate Sills' life with a conductorless version of Bernstein's overture to "Candide."
The Met hopes to arrange a memorial tribute for August or September.
"Opera has lost its biggest booster and friend," said Met general manager Peter Gelb - hired on Sills' recommendation.
Labels: awareness, in the news, lung cancer
Posted by Lynda ::
9:26 AM ::
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Thursday, May 31, 2007
Female Lung Cancer Deaths Up Five-Fold
Female lung cancer deaths up five-fold
DutchNews.nl
Wednesday 30 May 2007
The number of women dying of lung cancer has gone up five-fold since 1970 and they are likely to die at a younger age than men, the national statistics office CBS said on Wednesday. Last year, some 9,400 people died of lung cancer in the Netherlands, accounting for some 7% of total deaths.
Because women started smoking heavily at a later date than men, the women’s death rate is still rising, the CBS said. Among the men who die aged 60 to 70 and women who die aged 50 to 60, one in seven will be killed by lung cancer, the CBS said.
Nevertheless, men are still twice as likely to die of lung cancer than women, even though male death rates are falling.
Some 30% of the Dutch aged 12 and over smoke and a similar percentage will have stopped smoking, usually before they reach their early 40s, statistics show.
But fears that stopping smoking could lead to weight gain may be true, the statistics indicate. Ex-smokers are 1.4 times more likely to be overweight than smokers, with female ex-smokers weighing four kilos more than smokers and women who never smoked, the CBS said.
The Netherlands is still struggling to develop a policy for smoking in bars and restaurants, with health minister Ab Klink saying he wants a total ban next year. And although smoking is banned in public buildings and all workers have the right to a smoke-free environment, bar and café workers are exempt from the rules.
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Vote for Laurianne's Hope for Best Health Blog for the Blogger's Choice Awards 2006.Labels: awareness, lung cancer, smoking cessation
Posted by Lynda ::
7:41 PM ::
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Friday, May 11, 2007
The Glamour of Smoking
I saw a report on TMZ.com that said smoking is going to be factored into a movie rating. It it is glamorized, then a movie could earn an "R" rating.
Since TMZ.com is a gossip rag, of course, I had to search out some articles from some other sources.
I actually was a little concerned a few weeks ago, when TMZ had on their sidebar, "Check out the smokin' celebs in our photo album, Whatcha Smokin'" or something like that. I clicked on it out of curiosity. Here is a sampling:
I don't think it looks all that glamorous. But that's just my opinion. Now sometimes seems rather glamorous in movies, so keep reading to find out about how smoking is going to affect movie ratings.
MPAA adds smoking as film-rating factor
DAVID GERMAIN
Associated Press
As reported by: Akron Beacon Journal
LOS ANGELES - Smoking will be a bigger factor in determining film ratings, the Motion Picture Association of America said Thursday, but critics said the move does not go far enough to discourage teens from taking up the habit.
MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman said his group's ratings board, which previously had considered underage smoking in assigning film ratings, now will take into account smoking by adults, as well.
That adds smoking to a list of such factors as sex, violence and language in determining the MPAA's G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17 ratings.
Film raters will consider the pervasiveness of tobacco use, whether it glamorizes smoking and the context in which smoking appears, as in movies set in the past when smoking was more common.
Some critics of Hollywood's depictions of tobacco in films have urged that movies that show smoking be assigned an R rating, which would restrict those younger than 17 from seeing them.
"I'm glad it's finally an issue they're taking up, but what they're proposing does not go far enough and is not going to make a difference," said Kori Titus, spokeswoman for Breathe California, which opposes film images of tobacco use that might encourage young people to start smoking.
Glickman said a mandatory R rating for smoking would not "further the specific goal of providing information to parents on this issue."
Smoking in movies with a G, PG or PG-13 rating has been on the decline, and the "percentage of films that included even a fleeting glimpse of smoking" declined from 60 percent to 52 percent between July 2004 and July 2006," Glickman said.
Of those films, three-fourths received an R rating for other reasons, he said.
"That means there's not a great amount of films in the unrestricted category as it stands," said Joan Graves, who heads the ratings board. "We're not saying we're ignoring the issue. We're trying the best way possible according to what we've learned from parents to give them information about what's in a film."
Titus said smoking in films had declined in recent years but remains more prevalent than MPAA figures indicate.
Descriptions on sex, violence and language that accompany movie ratings now will include such phrases as "glamorized smoking" or "pervasive smoking," Glickman said.
If rated today, a film such as 2005's "Good Night, and Good Luck," about chain-smoking newsman Edward R. Murrow, would have carried a "pervasive smoking" tag but probably would have retained its PG rating because of its historical context in the 1950s, Graves said.
Titus said film raters should be as tough on smoking as they are on bad language to minimize the effects of on-screen smoking on children, including her own 5-year-old daughter.
"I don't want her using that language, but last time I checked, she's probably not going to die from that," Titus said. "If she starts smoking from these images she sees in movies, chances are she's probably going to die early from that."
While Titus' group wants tougher ratings restrictions, the MPAA released statements of support for its plan from John Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden and filmmaker Rob Reiner, among others.
"By placing smoking on a par with considerations of violence and sex, the rating board has acknowledged the public-health dangers to children associated with glamorized images of a toxic and lethal addiction to tobacco," Barry Bloom, dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, said in a statement.
[end article]
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Vote for Laurianne's Hope for Best Health Blog for the Blogger's Choice Awards 2006.Labels: awareness, organizations, second-hand smoke, smoking cessation
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
2:04 PM ::
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Tuesday, May 08, 2007
To Smoke, Or Not To Smoke
I really enjoy the few weeks of nice weather we have here in Indiana, before it gets too humid to really enjoy being outside. When my husband, Dan, and I met for lunch, it would be really nice to sit outside.
There is one thing that stops us though. The nice weather always brings out smokers. If there is a breeze, it always seems to blow in our direction. In a lot of ways, I am more sensitive to it than Dan is, and even he will say, "It's such nice weather. Too bad sitting outside would be ruined by smokers."
I remember the great debates about smoking in California, before their establishments became smoke-free. In Indiana, it seems to be different. I think Indiana has a great smoking population than California does. We also have some of the best cancer research centers. Go figure. The way many people in Indiana feel is that if they are smokers, they have the right to smoke. They should be able to do this whenever and where ever they want. I remember reading an article in the IndyStar about how family restaurants were going to be changed to non-smoking. A woman commented that it would be nice to go some place with her family where she didn't have to worry about breathing in the smokey air. A person commented back to her that they were a smoker, and if this woman didn't want to breathe smokey air, she should just stay home.
Even before this ordinance, I was a little conflicted. Dan and I went to two restaurants where we asked for non-smoking, and the hostess sat us on the border of the smoking section. My sister had just passed away at the time, so as soon as we started smelling the foul stench of cigarettes, I flagged down the hostess and told her that we needed to be moved or we wouldn't be patronizing their establishment. I would tell her how my sister died of cancer at 25 years old, and even though it wasn't because she was a smoker, it doesn't mean it couldn't have factored in. The truth is, we probably will never know what caused Laurianne to develop lung cancer.
Once again, these are just my opinions. I can tell people to stop smoking, and list all the harm that smoking does to the smoker. Ultimately, it is each individuals choice. I know this. But, I think it is only fair, though, that smokers and non-smokers show each other consideration. Maybe then, I could enjoy the nice weather.
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Labels: awareness, cancer, Laurianne, lung cancer, second-hand smoke, smoking cessation
Posted by Lynda ::
7:18 AM ::
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Thursday, April 19, 2007
Five Blogs That Make Me Think
Shelli at Shelli's Sentiments awarded me the Thinking Blogger Award for this blog.
The participation rules are simple:
1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to the original post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).
Between this blog and my less serious blog, I have been thinking long and hard about the blogs that make me think, because almost everyone in my blogroll has at one point or another. (Note that these are not cancer-related blogs, just people who I admire and make me think.) The people I choose are:
- Mammassage - Because of her own personal experience with her daughter, she shares information about the importance of organ donation.
- Life, Vegas Style - Vegas Princess talks about the issues that are important to her, whether it is family life, career, media, or just something on her mind.
- LynneMW - Unfortunately, we will never see this award on Lynne's blog, because she passed away last August. However, Lynne's blog is still out there. In her archives you can find out the struggles she had to go through as a person with non-smoking lung cancer. I highly recommend reading some of her entries. I want to give Lynne's blog posthumous recognition.
- For Smith's Sake - Anne is a real person, going through ovarian cancer. Her blog is about her life, relationships, and living with cancer. She shares her thoughts and fears about this path that was put before her.
- My Life - Cathy's blog, My Life, is about her life, going to school, and the various triumphs and struggles that she has gone through or is going through. I have gotten some interesting ideas from reading her blog, and I love when she posts a recipe.
Congratulations to you all! :)
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Vote for Laurianne's Hope for Best Health Blog for the Blogger's Choice Awards 2006.Labels: awareness, cancer
Posted by Lynda ::
4:21 PM ::
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Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Clues to the Cancer - St. Petersburg Times
Awareness about the Human Papilloma virus is still relatively new to the public. I found this article about David Hastings to be very interesting and informative. This article seemed like something worth sharing here. (Please note: I have notified Mr. Barry that I would like to share his article on this blog. However, at his request, this post may be removed.)
~oOo~
[Times photo: Martha Rial]
David Hastings nearly died last year from throat cancer. His wife Jo saved him by nagging him to see a doctor.
Clues to the cancer
David Hastings doesn't fit the throat cancer profile. So he looked for answers and was surprised by what he found.
By John Barry
St. Petersburg Times
Published April 17, 2007
During the grisly battle for his life, David Hastings played medical detective. He read everything he could find on what was trying to kill him. Nothing made sense. Hastings had throat cancer, mostly known for killing old people. Imagine an elderly soul addicted to cigarettes and alcohol for 40 years. There's a likely victim.
Hastings didn't fit. He was 58. He looked 48. He hadn't smoked since college, and he doesn't drink. His chief addiction is cycling. He rides his bike about 100 miles per week.
He'd never have guessed where he finally did fit in.
He did not have an old smoker's disease, after all. His throat had been attacked by a cancer-causing virus infamous for killing women. It was HPV, the human papilloma virus, that causes most cervical cancers. HPV is the virus at the center of a national argument over preventive vaccinations of young girls.
To his great surprise, Hastings discovered that this controversial women's vaccination plan aimed at ridding the world of HPV cancers may have started with the wrong gender.
One day, the answer might be found here. A thousand Tampa men are currently participating in the world's largest study of male HPV infections. The National Institutes of Health has awarded the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa $10-million for the work. It involves 3,000 men worldwide, including the Tampa thousand, and may soon include their female partners. One preliminary finding is a male infection rate double that of women.
Hastings found other studies as well that have long linked HPV to anal and penile cancers. Gay men and men in impoverished countries are most afflicted. They were horror stories - cancers that required the most ghastly of surgical remedies.
By the end of his searches, Hastings had become an official HPV cancer statistic - one of 10,000 American men afflicted by any one of five types of HPV cancers each year. The male number is close to the annual number of HPV cervical cancers detected in women.
Doctors are seeing more and more cases like Hastings': young, nonsmoking men and women who are turning up with oral cancers they aren't supposed to have. There has been an 11 percent increase - after 50 years of constancy - even as smoking has declined. A Chicago conference is planned for June. The maker of the current vaccine for girls is seeking FDA approval to give it to boys, too. Some Johns Hopkins University patients are receiving a new experimental vaccine.
Hastings even found himself briefly inserted into the debate in Tallahassee over requiring vaccinations of schoolgirls. His message to the lawmakers: HPV kills men, too.
It almost killed him.
- - -
Hastings had shaved over a swelling on the left side of his neck in March 2006. "It felt muscular," he says, "almost as if I'd been working out." He ignored it. That was typical of his personal approach to all things medical. "I didn't even know what a primary care physician was."
He's a CPA. His tax office is next door to the Habana Cafe in Gulfport, run by his Cuban wife, Josefa. They've been married for 17 years. They have one of those marriages where the fun and fur fly simultaneously. "She promised me I'd never have to work in the restaurant when we started it 10 years ago," he says. "I've been there every night since the first night."
A month went by before he showed his wife the swelling. It was a Friday morning.
"God, you've got golf balls in there," she said.
Jo wanted his neck checked that day. Over his protests, she started calling doctors. The only one she could find late on a Friday was their neighbor, a plastic surgeon. He felt two swollen lymph nodes and arranged a Monday appointment for Hastings with a primary care doctor. That doctor referred him to a general surgeon.
The general surgeon said it might be cancer or might not be, but, regardless, they should come out. He scheduled surgery for that Thursday.
Hastings was finally paying attention. He wanted a second opinion. Jo thought he was trying to get out of the surgery. She called another doctor neighbor, this one an oncologist.
That doctor told Hastings he didn't fit the profile of a "cancer candidate." He thought Hastings might have caught cat-scratch fever from one of Jo's eight cats. Surgery was scrubbed; Hastings went on an antibiotic. But the oncologist also ordered a CT scan.
Then Jo tricked her husband. She asked him to take her mother to an ear, nose and throat specialist. After examining the mother-in-law, the specialist turned to Hastings: "I understand I need to look at you, too."
The doctor felt the neck. "That's not good." He took a foot-long needle out of a drawer. With the needle, he extracted fluid for biopsy. Then he looked over a report on the CT scan. It contained the word "necrosis." That means dead cells and usually indicates cancer. "I didn't want to read that," he told Hastings.
A week later, the doctor saw him again. "Your wife saved your life," the doctor said.
He diagnosed a deadly squamous cell carcinoma. He said Hastings would need a radical remedy that involves the removal of lymph nodes, jugular veins, nerves and muscle between the tip of the ear and the collar bone. It would leave him with a drooped shoulder. And afterward, Hastings would still need chemo and radiation.
His chances of survival after all the cutting, chemo and radiation would be 60 percent.
Hastings fainted.
- - -
He again went looking for options. He ended up at Moffitt, which gave him the first good news since he'd felt the lumps. It concluded he didn't need the surgery. It preferred simultaneous radiation and chemotherapy as a first step, saving Hastings from a crippled upper torso.
During 35 treatments in seven weeks and nausea and dehydration that nearly killed him, Hastings read up on HPV.
It's sexually transmitted. About two-thirds of the population are infected with it in young adulthood. But about 3 percent of women get a strain called HPV-16 that causes cervical cancer and kills about 3,700 women a year.
Last July, the FDA approved a HPV-16 vaccine called Gardasil for young girls. Almost immediately, legislatures, including Florida's, drafted laws to require the vaccinations for girls in public schools.
Almost immediately, parents and religious groups protested, fearful that the vaccinations might encourage sexual promiscuity and take medical choices away from parents.
Overlooked in the furor was the fact that men can get HPV-16 from having sex, too. Sexual encounters in their teens can come back to haunt them in their 50s. The virus usually lies latent until middle age. Then it can show up in anal and penile cancers or in oral cancers like Hastings'.
HPV vaccinations of schoolgirls are a fine thing, contends Brian Hill, founder of the Oral Cancer Foundation in California and a survivor of HPV cancer in his tonsils.
"But if they don't do boys it's solving only half the problem."
- - -
Studies at Moffitt are tending to confirm that. Early findings in one study are showing a 60 percent overall HPV infection rate among men, compared with less than 30 percent among women.
Anna Giuliano, Moffitt's lead HPV researcher, is seeking an additional grant in order to add female partners to her study of the 3,000 men. Then she should know if men are more commonly infected than women.
The ultimate goal, she says, is "one simple vaccine" for all.
Merck, the maker of Gardasil, has already submitted to the FDA its tests of the vaccine on boys ages 9 to 15. They're in the process of testing boys and men ages 16 to 23. Moffitt is participating in those trials. Gardasil is already given to boys in European Union countries, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Hopkins is testing an HPV vaccine specifically for men who already have oral cancers. "It's designed to enhance the immune response to the HPV-16," Maura Gillison, the lead HPV cancer researcher at Hopkins, said by e-mail.
Hastings has tried to get into the trial. He did so by pressing Moffitt to send his cancer tissues to Hopkins for HPV-16 testing.
Last month the tests for HPV-16 came back positive, vindicating his medical detective work.
Some good news from Hopkins came as well: People like Hastings with HPV cancers have a higher survival rate than those with oral cancers from smoking.
Now Moffitt, which has sent other samples besides Hastings' to Hopkins, is testing a screening procedure of its own.
- - -
Hastings took his message to the Legislature's House Education Committee in early April. He flew to Tallahassee with Ed Homan, a Tampa representative who was sponsoring the schoolgirl vaccination bill. He told Hastings, "Tell them you're a man with HPV."
He had three minutes. Hastings is a guy who has trouble telling his name in three minutes. He rattled off his message as fast as he could. "I was told my testimony was emotional."
Then, with little discussion, the committee rejected the vaccination plan.
Hastings left the hearing shocked by his three-minute civics lesson.
"Unbelievable!" he sputtered. "Kids will die in Florida."
John Barry can be reached at (727) 892-2258 or jbarry@sptimes.com
Fast Facts: HPV- The human papilloma virus is one of the most common sexually transmitted viruses. More than half of all people will be exposed to any one of 80 HPV viruses.- The HPV-16 strain causes most cervical cancers, nearly 10,000 a year in the United States. It kills about 3,700 U.S. women annually.- HPV-16 has been linked to oral, penile and anal cancers in men. About 9,800 U.S. men are afflicted each year.Labels: awareness, cancer, chemotherapy, human papilloma virus, throat cancer
Posted by Lynda ::
12:13 PM ::
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Monday, April 16, 2007
Blogger's Choice Awards Update
We are still needing a lot of votes for Laurianne's Hope at the Blogger's Choice Awards. It looks like we are no longer in the Best Educational Blog category, but we are still in the running for Best Health Blog.
If you haven't voted, please consider doing so. I am proud of the work my dad and I have done on Laurianne's Hope. It would be nice to be recognized and possibly even bring in more traffic.
Of course, then I should probably post more. :)
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Vote for Laurianne's Hope for Best Health Blog for the Blogger's Choice Awards 2006.Labels: awareness, Laurianne, organizations
Posted by Lynda ::
12:07 PM ::
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Friday, April 13, 2007
Pall Malls
Yesterday, I read the Kurt Vonnegut died. I also read he was a long time fan of Pall Malls cigarettes. It got me to thinking.
The Pasadena Weekly said: Vonnegut smoked non-filter cigarettes most of his
adult life. Pall Malls to be exact, which back in Vonnegut's beginnings in the
mid-1950s had a catchy TV commercial pitch that invited consumers to try a smoke
that was “smooth and rich, and you can light either end.”
The Republican quoted a local lawyer as saying: "He always smoked Pall Malls and
drank JB with soda on the rocks," Scheinman said.
The Times Union said: Mr. Vonnegut died Wednesday at 84, some age for someone
who so long ago called himself an old (mildly scatological word here) with his Pall Malls.
From what I have read of Mr. Vonnegut, he seemed to have known the risks of lung cancer. It is even said that he felt his unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes were "a classy way to commit sucide". And what does he die from? Hitting his head.
The point I am trying to make is not that you shouldn't smoke. Ultimately, that is your decision. The point that I am trying to make is that you never know what is going to do you in. Still, people want to blame lung cancer on smoking. I think more awareness is getting out there, but I have learned of so many people who have died from lung cancer, and never smoked. We need to think of these people too.
I have said it before, and I will say it again. Until we found out my sister had lung cancer, I would have been one of the people who said, "Well, you shouldn't smoke if you don't want lung cancer." I probably would not have attributed smoking to increasing breast cancer, colon cancer, prostrate cancer, any other type of cancer, but smoking increases your risk of getting those types of cancer as well.
So, how is it that a man can smoke for 70 years, and die from brain injuries, and someone in their 40's, 30's or 20's can be a non-smoker and die from lung cancer? Because other factors besides smoking can contribute to lung cancer. Other factors besides smoking can contribute to any kind of cancer.
That is why we created this blog.Labels: awareness, cancer, lung cancer, second-hand smoke, smoking cessation
Posted by Lynda ::
10:48 AM ::
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Monday, April 09, 2007
St. Baldricks - March 2007
Here are the pictures of St. Baldrick's for March 2007. These were taken in Santa Rosa, California, at Sweet River Grill & Bar. One of the young boys pictured below raised $1000 to have his head shaved and help find a cure for childhood cancer!
To find out more about a St. Baldrick's event in your community, visit www.stbaldricks.org
(On a side note, don't forget to vote for this blog in the two categories it has been nominated for - Best Educational Blog and Best Health Blog. See more details in the sidebar.)
Labels: awareness, bald, cancer, childhood cancer, events, organizations
Posted by Lynda ::
9:38 PM ::
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Sunday, April 08, 2007
Happy Easter and Vote for Us!!
Guess what!? Laurianne's Hope was nominated for Best Educational Blog at The Blogger's Choice Awards! Last I looked, we were on page2. If you want to vote, you will have to register. Registering is easy and takes about 30 seconds. So, please vote for Laurianne's Hope! We can't win without your vote!
Laurianne's Hope
Laurianne's Hope was also nominated for Best Health Blog. Last I looked, we were on page 2 there as well. Go vote!!
Laurianne's Hope
Happy Easter!
Labels: awareness, cervical cancer
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
10:47 AM ::
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Friday, March 30, 2007
Some Chemicals found in Secondhand Smoke
Because I signed up for Smokefree Indiana information, I recieved a guide to help quit tobacco for good. For the record, I do not smoke.
Then again, Indiana has laws that allow smoking in some places. Recently, Dan and I went to Memphis, and even though I don't remember them asking us smoking or non-smoking, the people next to us were given an ash tray and lit up. I was glad we were done with our meal.
Stopping in Effingham, IL for dinner, we were asked smoking or non-smoking by the hostess. My well trained husband said, "As far away from smoking as possible!" Even worse is when you have to walk through the smoking section to get to the non-smoking section. Dan and I had that situation happen to us once at a restaurant.
Getting back to Indiana, a recent smoking law was passed that family restaurants were not allowed to have smoking sections anymore. If there was a bar, like in Applebee's, smoking is allowed during non-family hours, which is after 10 p.m. Dan and I use to go to lunch at this place near my work. We had only gone a few times, but they had pretty good burgers and potatos done in a different way. When the new smoking law came out, they actually built a bar and did not allow anyone under the age of 21 to enter the establishment.
Dan and I went there one time afterwards, right before they were about to close. Since they were ten minutes from closing, they turned us away. The place never smelled smoky and I never noticed anyone smoking, but I told Dan that I wasn't going to patronize them anymore. Why take the risk? Do you know what is in second hand smoke. The folks at WhiteLies.TV have a list:
Some Chemicals found in Secondhand Smoke. Polonium-210 Power in space satellites
Benzo[a]pyrene Motor vehicle exhaust
Hydrazine Rocket fuel
1,3 butadiene Found in gasoline
Benzene Found in crude oil
N-nitrosopyrrolidine Found in pesticides
Nickel Used in batteries
Aniline Used in lacquers and wood stains
2-Naphthylamine Used in dyes
4-Aminobiphenyl Rubber antioxidant
Nicotine Insecticide/addictive drug
Cresol Industrial adhesives
Pyrene A main constituent of coal tar
DDT A banned pesticide
Carbon Monoxide Car exhaust fumes
Ammonia Toilet bowl cleaner
Hydrogen Cyanide A fumigation poison
Acetone Fingernail polish remover
Methanol Rocket fuel
Formaldehyde Embalming fluid
Butane Cigarette lighter fluid
Naphalene Moth balls
Nitrobenzene Gasoline additive
Arsenic Rat poison
Cadmium Found in batteries
Toluene Industrial solvent
Isoprene Tire rubber
I prefer fresh air, thanks.
P.S. Anyone need a pocket guide to help them quit?Labels: awareness, cancer, second-hand smoke, smoking cessation
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
7:58 PM ::
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Friday, March 09, 2007
One Year Ago This Month
Tuesday, March 6 was the anniversary of Dana Reeve's death from lung cancer. I did not fail to notice and wanted to blog about it. I just didn't know what to say.
I am glad there is still some awareness out there because of this disease. She really put lung cancer in the media spotlight. It still makes me angry that people were trying to brush off her death to smoking, because she use to sing in smokey lounges. I admit that second hand smoke could be a factor, but in the long and short of it, anyone can get this disease. Laurianne never sang in smokey lounges.
Hopefully, people continue to be aware of lung cancer. I heard recently of a breath test that has been developed. It shows if you have lung cancer, no matter what stage you are at. It sounded very promising. For those of you in the medical profession, the results were published in the medical journal, Thorax. I still see it on my Google alerts as well, so some news agencies are still talking about it.
Every breakthrough is a step closer to awareness, detection and cure.
Labels: awareness, cancer, lung cancer, organizations
Posted by Lynda ::
7:45 AM ::
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Saturday, March 03, 2007
Look Good, Feel Better
When Laurianne found out she had cancer in 2005, she went to the American Cancer Society to find out more about wigs. This is just one of the services the American Cancer Society offers as a service to cancer patients. Fortunately, Laurianne took some pictures of her wig choices, so she is my model for this post.
The American Cancer Society administers a program, in partnership with the National Cosmetology Association, called Look Good, Feel Better which provides wigs to women who have lost their hair to cancer. There is also a program for Men called Look Good, Feel Better for Men as well as a program for teens, and the 2BMe website.
If you know someone who doesn't have web access, you can call the program at 1-800-395-LOOK or contact the American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345. You can also visit the American Cancer Society's Look Good, Feel Better web page.
By calling 1-800-395-LOOK (1-800-395-5665)you can also request self-help materials. And because you don't need to struggle with cancer alone, some areas offer group programs. Here is some information on the group programs, taken from the American Cancer Society's Look Good, Feel Better web page:
Volunteer beauty professionals lead small groups, usually consisting of 6 to 10 women, through practical, hands-on experience. Women learn about makeup techniques, skincare, nail care, and options related to hair loss such as wigs, turbans, and scarves. Each group program participant receives a free kit of cosmetics for use during and after the workshop.
Laurianne was lucky. She didn't actually end up losing her hair. But, most people do experience hair loss with chemo. With programs like this, someone going through cancer can feel less self-conscious and better about themselves. And sometimes that is half the battle.Labels: awareness, bald, cancer, chemotherapy, Laurianne, organizations
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
6:49 AM ::
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Monday, February 19, 2007
St. Baldrick's
I have always wondered what it would be like to be bald. I imagine a warm breeze over a bald head, or rolling down the windows of my car and not having to worry about getting rid of tangles later. Unlike Laurianne, who loved her hair, I have never been as attached to my hair as it is to me. I keep saying that one day I will definately try it.
Yesterday, my mom told me that some friends of hers read this website, and that they participate in an organization called St. Baldrick's Foundation. (Hi, friends of my mom!) This organization raises money for kids with cancer. In fact, their mission statement is:
The mission of the St. Baldrick's Foundation is to raise awareness and funds to cure kids' cancer by supporting cancer research and fellowships.
In Indianapolis, they are having an event for St. Baldrick's towards the middle of March. I am hoping to get out to one of these events and see what it is all about. I am not going to shave my head this year though. I still want to grow my hair out for Locks of Love. But, to help raise funds for cancer, I would be willing to shave my head.
Just in time for summer, too!
Labels: awareness, bald, cancer, chemotherapy, childhood cancer, Laurianne, organizations
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
7:20 AM ::
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Thursday, February 15, 2007
Cancer Stories: Shelli's Dad, Mike
Today's story is from Shelli at Shelli's Sentiments. I came across Shelli's blog shortly after Laurianne died. We found we had a lot in common, including cancer. Shelli has asked people on her blog to consider donating your favorite cancer organization, one of the organizations on this website, or Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN). One of the organizations not on the sidebar is our Laurianne's Hope Relay for Life team 2007, which you can visit to make a donation to as well.
~oOo~
There is a man behind my blog. It is not my husband, Jason. The man is silent to most everyone, but I hear him loud and clear within my head and my heart. He is the reason that I started blogging. He, rather the loss of him is the reason. In February of 2005, I started my blog as a way to deal with the grief and to tell people about my dad. He believed in my ability to write and I wanted to honor that belief in some way. My very first post was titled Lessons From My Dad and was a tribute to him. Let me tell you about him.
My dad was born in October of 1944 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was the first son and second child in a family that would eventually grow to seven children. He would not lead an easy life as a child. But he loved his parents and his siblings immensely and it was obvious.
Dad grew up to meet my mom, Carole, and they were married on August 8, 1964. He was in the army reserves in what was an undoubtedly difficult time in our nation's history. He never went to Viet Nam, and I think that was always a source of guilt and pain for him. He had intended to go, had joined the army with that in mind, but at that time they only took unmarried men and my dad was married. He got news that he would be going but then they said that he couldn’t go if he had any children or any on the way. That was the week that my mom found out she was pregnant with me. There must have been a reason that he wasn’t supposed to go there. Probably it was so that he could have the three of us and raise us to be who we are today.
My dad was a paramedic for 11 years for North Memorial hospital. I loved to ride in his ambulance with him. It was so cool. Maybe that is where I got the first bug to do something medical. He also was a construction worker. He would work his shift at night for the hospital and then go to work during the day at his carpentry job. At some point, that became too much for him and he dropped the paramedic’s job. He really liked his job as a carpenter. He was good at it, too. He especially enjoyed the finish work. He was a craftsman who took pride in details and the beauty of the finished product. When my husband and I got married, his present to us was that he did a major part of the work on our house so that it would go towards the down payment. Now, everywhere I look, I see his loving touch.
Our nightmare with cancer started when everyone else was worrying that the world was going to end. Midnight, January 1, 2000. I called my parents, as I always have, at midnight to wish them a happy New Year. My mom said that they had gone home early because my dad wasn’t feeling well. He had severe abdominal pain. I told them that I loved them and would talk to them in the morning. When I hung up the phone, I told Jason that something wasn’t right and that it was my dad. I just felt that foreboding that something was really wrong. Jason tried to reassure me, but I couldn’t shake it.
The next morning, well it was closer to noon, my mom called and she said that they were heading to the hospital and asked me to meet them there. Jason went to pick up the kids at his parents and I met them at the emergency room.
The attitude of the ER doctor was a little perturbing at first. My dad had been experiencing these symptoms for several weeks. I am sure that the doctor thought “what the hell are they doing here? Why couldn’t they have waited to see their regular doctor on the next work day?” I know he was thinking it because, I have thought similar things myself when people bring their kids in emergently when things have been going on for weeks at a time. But this was different. My dad looked like shit. He was yellow. The man that stabbed himself at work one day and just bandaged it back up and went back to work was in so much pain he couldn’t focus. As the doctor ushered my mom and I out so that he could examine my dad, he still had this look of irritation, but I said, “Dad, make sure you tell him about the 20 pounds that you have lost in the last several weeks without trying.” The drape was closed and my mom and I waited patiently.
The doctor had done a 180 by the time he opened the curtain. He stopped talking to my parents (he knew that I had medical background), his face had lost all it’s color and he was the doctor he should have been from the beginning. He told me that they were going to have to order some X-rays and an abdominal ultrasound for the next business day which was in a day or so (I don’t remember exactly), he also told me that my dad’s liver panel was way out of whack. Here I am thinking that he has hepatitis or liver cancer and I am hopeful that it means a liver transplant and all would be well again. I was very wrong.
He had his radiological studies and then he went to his regular doctor to get the results the same afternoon. In the mean time, being the nurse that I had been, I knew the way to call in and listen to the radiology reports and (I know it wasn’t legal—shhhhsshh) so I did it. I called the radiology line from my home and listened. It took me several times to get through it because I was sobbing. I heard…”Several small lesions on the pancreas…multiple lesions on the liver, with the largest being 3 [or 4] centimeters in diameter…consistent with pancreatic cancer with multiple liver metastases.” Fuck! I knew what it meant. I thought instantly of Michael Landon. I called a friend from my previous work and I was sobbing. The first person who answered, another friend, couldn’t understand me and she handed the phone to the person whom I had asked for. I screamed out, “I am not going to have a dad at the end of this year.” It was unfathomable. And it was like someone was stepping on my chest. I couldn’t breathe.
The next weeks were filled with tests, pain, medicines, hospital rooms, pain, chemotherapy, hiccups and pain. The pain never was completely gone and neither were the hiccups, which caused pain. For the last 6 weeks of his life, my dad had the hiccups, no matter what they gave him to alleviate them. I felt like I was trying to walk through quicksand. To say it was painful doesn’t begin to explain it. And that was nothing compared to the pain my dad was feeling. I told someone once that watching my dad in so much pain was something that made me think of Mary and how much she must have suffered watching Jesus being tortured and crucified. It was unbearable.
As unbearable as it was to watch, that’s all that I wanted to do. I don’t mean that in the sick way that it sounds. I just wanted to never be away from him. While writing this, I went back and read a journal that I kept at that time. There were two phrases that I kept repeating over and over in that journal. The first was, “My life sucks and I hate it,” and the other was, “I am so hungry for every moment with my dad.” And I was. I had a very hard time leaving the hospital every night. In fact, some nights I didn’t. I would stay and sleep on a cot in his room and in the morning, I would get up and go home and take care of kids all day and in the evening I would go back again. He was on a patient controlled pain medication where he could push a button to give himself a “bump” if he needed it. If I wasn’t there to do it for him, he would sleep through several bumps and then his pain would be way out of control. I hated that. It took so much catching up. I needed to be there to control it. It was the only thing that I felt like I could do to help him. I felt so powerless in every other way.
From the first day in the ER to the day he left us, it was only 6 weeks and 3 days. Forty five days. It was too short of a time for us and too long of a time for him. Whenever I was with him towards the end, he looked so small and I felt like I really wanted to lie down in the bed with him and just have him be my daddy and me his little girl again. Minutes before he died, I did just that. I lay down with him and as I wiped his mouth with a sponge, I felt him leave and I said, “Good bye, Dad.”
Those weren’t the last words I ever said to my dad. I still talk to him all the time. Sometimes I do it daily. I hear his answers in my heart. I still miss him everyday. I miss that he never got to see Sam or Emily play ball or that he never got to see his beautiful granddaughter, Isabelle. I think she resembles him so much sometimes. I am sure there will be many other things that I will miss him seeing or being a part of.
I could make this go on and on and on, telling you about the man that was my Dad, but if you read on and on and on, I still don’t think you would know. It’s simple, though. He was a good man. He loved his family very much. And we loved him very much. Cancer took him away from us physically, but it could never steal him away from our hearts and minds.Labels: awareness, cancer, pancreatic cancer, share a story
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
7:01 AM ::
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Cancer Stories: Blue's Mom, Sharon
Bluepaintred asked me to post her mom's story on the 10th anniversary of her death. Also, she is going to try to quit smoking for herself. I think that is a great way for her to remember her mom, and I wish her luck!! Also, if you are trying to quit smoking, check out the sidebar. There are some links that may be useful to you.
~oOo~
Maybe, as a smoker myself, I have no right to criticise the lives cancer steals. Or maybe as someone who does smoke, as someone who thought ‘I can quit anytime’, until the first time I tried to quit, I can teach just one person how hard it is to quit. How physically and mentally exhausting it is. How it is not worth it! Maybe I can stop them from lighting up that very first time.
*We do not smoke inside out home*.
I teach my children that smoking is disgusting that it fills my lungs with tar, even my youngest, 2, tells me I smell yucky, and I encourage that… I don’t lie or try to hide my smokers cough from them. I couldn’t bear it if they started. Yet if I had to leave them early, like my mother was forced to leave us, it would hurt so much more.
Today, February 13, 2007, on the tenth anniversary of my mothers’ death, I will put down my cigarettes and try once more to quit. I have failed in the past, but if I keep trying, one day I will succeed.
*************
Sharon Gehon.
May 18, 1954 – February 13, 1997
In September of 1996 my father and I were digging up potatoes in the garden when he told me they found “something” in my mothers’ lung. It all happened very fast from then on; she had a biopsy, which was positive for cancer. I’m not sure the type.
I was seventeen at the time.
My mother hurt her back at work and had me rub it every night. It never seemed to get better, but she did not really think about it.
She had been a long time smoker, and had quit 4..5 (?) years before. I can remember when she was trying to quit, she had a little plastic smoke that she used like a baby would a pacifier. When she was really wanting, she would stick it in her mouth and suck, unfortunately she often forgot, and lit it!
I can’t recall the events very clearly, but some things really stand out in my mind.
Sound. It bothered her a lot when she was in chemo. We, (I have two other siblings, a sister who was 20 and a brother who was 11 at the time), would have to tip toe around, TV was very low and even talking was frowned on.
Smells. They were the worst for her, I think. We had a fridge and a stove down in the basement though, and my dad would cook food down there to help with the smells.
If it’s possible to have a favourite memory of a loved one suffering from chemo, it would be when my mother, sick and tired of hair falling in her food, had me vacuum her head. It occurred to me, much later, that the hair must have been bugging her something awful to have put up with the noise of the vacuum. But hearing her laugh as I tried to get it all… that’s something I cherish.
I got my drivers licence while my mom was in the hospital, I can remember going in to show her it. I was very excited! She looked so tired.
My mothers’ parents came down and stayed with us for a long time. They were there with us in the end.
I was on the phone, down in my room with my then boyfriend when ..my uncle.. my grandpa(?) came and asked me to get off the phone, that dad wanted to call the hospital for a check in. Within minutes all of the adults knew, and I think us kids knew too, that this was it. My dad made it to the hospital in time, and I am happy for that.
I do not remember who told me, or how. That day is very much a blur for me.
It was February 13, 1997, she was 43 years old.
I met my future husband seven months later. Mom never got to meet him. She would have liked him, I think. And when I was pregnant with my first baby, I wanted so badly to ask her about a million questions. There was no way for my dad to know all the stories a mother tells her child.
How big was I? What did I weigh? Was I on time?
I have three boys and they will never know their Grandma Sharon. That, I think is the worst thing of all.
Bluepaintred
Me, Myself and Us - http://redblogblue.blogspot.com/Labels: awareness, cancer, lung cancer, share a story
Posted by Lynda (Laurianne's Sister) ::
7:36 PM ::
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Support A Cause
In Memory of Laurianne
Lives Lost to Lung Cancer
