Cancer

Susan G. Komen is presently the largest non-profit organization that fights against breast cancer and finances breast cancer researches hoping that the professionals working in this field will find a cure for this terrible disease that affects so many people and that it will happen soon.
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It is the global leader of the breast cancer movement and it has succeeded in gathering over $1.5 billion that were invested in this cause. The name of the foundation is given by the name of a person who suffered from breast cancer , but unfortunately she died after three years of difficult and hard battle with the cancer. Susan G. Komen was a breast cancer patient and a fighter, but she did not win the battle. however, even though she was sick herself, she could not stop worrying about the other suffering people around her and tried to help them every way she could.

That is why , two years after her death in 1980, her sister Nancy G. Brinker started this foundation and named it after her only sister who died because of breast cancer. She promised her sister that she would do everything in her power to find a cure for this disease and she felt this was the only right to keep her promise.

Nancy is now the CEO of this organization and a breast cancer survivor herself. She explains why she started the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (this was the original name) by saying that she feels her sister would have had better surviving chances if she had known more about this disease, if she had discovered the cancer sooner and, of course, if there were better drugs to help her in the fight against breast cancer. Now the organization changed its name into Susan G. Komen for the Cure and this new name suggest their main purpose: of finding a cure for this disease.

Nowadays the organization is very large and it has 125 affiliates both in the United States and also all over the world and there are over 100.000 volunteers working there on a regular basis. It is considered to be one of the most trusted organizations in US that does not take any gains from its activity, but on the contrary - finances breast cancer research. The foundation awards a lot of grants for breast cancer research every year and also organizes breast cancer awareness races.

The woman who started all this fight against breast cancer saw her sister dying of breast cancer when she was only 33 and then fought against the disease herself. That is why she has an inside view on the problem and that is why she does not want other people to suffer from the same thing.

And even if the main purpose is financing the research with the hope of finding a cure for breast cancer, they also consider awareness campaigns very important. They organize these campaigns all over the world telling people what to do and how to recognize the first signs of breast cancer, and encouraging them to have regular checkups and do everything in their power for an early diagnostic that can be life saving.

Susan G. Komen and her sister - Nancy

Breast cancer is usually treated the same for all the patients suffering from this: first there’s the surgical intervention that removes the lump, a part of the breast or even the whole breast f the tumour is too big and it got into the neighbouring tissue. Then there’s chemotherapy and radiation therapy that have the purpose of distroying any possible trace of cancer cell or tissue that might still be in the breast or already travelling in the system.
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Well, even if the treatment is standard for all these people, the results can be quite different , as the human body responses in unexpected ways. Sometimes the success is total and the person lives a normal life after that (proving , of course, that the tumour was discovered in the incipient stage of the disease), but sometimes the cancer reappears after a period of time.

Scientists and doctors have studied the mechanisms that decide the recurrence of the cancer or not and they were able to find some genes that are responsible for this. It’s about 21 genes that can be studied now in a few moments by using a test called Breast Cancer Oncotype DX that is able to tell you with a high degree of accuracy the risk of getting breast cancer recurrence in 10 years time after the surgery.

According to this degree of risk the doctors can tell if their patient will undergo chemotherapy or not. If the risk is really small there’s no need for chemo, as it has a lot of bad side-effects. So in this case they will use only hormone therapy.

I must make a specification, thoug: this test is only recommended for a certain type of breast cancer patients: those who were tested negative for lymph nodes cancer and positive for estrogen receptor tumour or in early aggressive breast cancer. The tumour or tumours removed during surgery are studied and tested with this Breast Cancer Oncotype DX and it establishes the degree of risk of getting breast cancer recurrence for each patient. The values of this risk are situated between 0 and 100.

What is below 18 is considered a low risk, so chemotherapy is no longer necessary, those over 36 are considered as having a high risk , so are strongly recommended a systemic treatment like chemotherapy, and the ones between 18 and 36 are considered intermediate risk. It is still not very clear what this middle class will do (chemo or not) , but there are some case trials undergoing, so i guess we will find out soon enough about it.

Some people complained of the fact that the price of this test is a bit too high (about $4000). But considering the fact that chemotherapy, too, can be really expensive, as it may cost thousands of dollars every year for every patient, the oncologists and general practitioners who take care of the breast cancer patients might suggest them to take such a test for material purposes, too.

I think it’s good to know what are your chances of getting breast cancer again, too, in order to know what to do for the near future and to keep your eyes wide open for any signs that the cancer reappeared and also to have regular checkups, mammograms and breast screening.

Breast cancer is an horrible disease and it’s even more repulsive as it has no cure and no known cause. It just appears out of thin air and turns our lives upside down. If you are fortunate enough to dicover it in the early stages, you will be able to follow proper treatment and have the breast tumour removed surgically and then maybe chemotherapy and radio-therapy until hopefully the disease is gone. However, nothing can guarantee you that it won’t come back.
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With all these nasty perspectives in mind think of the fact that there are still lots of people who are not so fortunate as to be able to detect it and treat it properly for various reasons. I am talking about the countries that lack the money, funds, education, hospital facilities, treatment devices and everything else needed when dealing with a huge number of breast cancer cases.

A very typical example is Philippines, a country in the Far East, that has an abnormally high incidence rate of breast cancer among the people living there. It is estimated by the statistics for breast cancer in the Philippines that 26 out of 100 women and 1 out of 100 men will experience breast cancer at a certain point in their lives. The numbers are huge and most of the time the outcome is not very satisfactory, as the survival rates are less than 50%. What’s even worse is the fact that most of the affected population, almost 70% of the cases, are indigents, so very poor and lacking education and breast cancer awareness.

The breast cancer is now the first cause of death from cancer in the Philippines due to more factors: there are basically no possibilities of getting mammagrams or other advanced screenng of the breast for an early detection of the cancer and where there are such facilities only the few wealthy people have access there, the lack of education leads to the fact that people do not know anything about the symptoms or the ways of detecting breast cancer and they only go to the doctor when the cancer is in the final stage.

The treatment is also very expensive and most of the patients cannot afford it and also a big number of those suffering from this disease do not come to the doctor because they are ashamed. It may sound incredible, but, believe me, it’s not.

Statistics for breast cancer in the Philippines also show something different from the cases met in the rest of the world: the age at which breast cancer occurs is a lot younger than in other countries (35-55 years old) as opposite to the US or Europe where this type of cancer is common for elderly women. Almosyt half a million women die from this cause every year. Only five percent of the breast cancer is inherited and the risk of getting it has reached a ratio of 1 in 18.

The numbers are merciless and show the facts as they are, so the situation there is pretty grim. Fortunately, I could see a non-ptofit foundation that was formed with the purpose of organizing breast cancer awareness campaigns all over the country and provide the people with all the information they need about breast cancer, hoping that this way these numbers will decrease a bit in the future.

There are billions of people on this planet ans some of them suffer from breast cancer. You know somebody and I know somebody suffering from breasr cancer and even I or you may be suffering from this terrible disease. If you think locally it may seem like a small number, for example the number of breast cancer patients on your street: it may be one or even none.
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But taken globally the numbers will really scare you, as millions of breast cancer patients die every year, even if this disease is no longer synonimous with a death sentence. So the solution to this problem can also be found if we think globally.

There are a lot of foundations and organizations supporting breast cancer research and financing breast cancer treatment centers, but it’s very difficult to find the necessary money. Rich people are not always very generous and even if there are some wealthy people making donations every year, it’s still not enough , as there is an increased demand in this field with the increased number of breast cancer cases discovered every year. But, like I said, the solution is to think globally. I mean if all the money in these foundations came from only a reduced number of people, it would not be enough, but somebody thought to sell little nice breasr cancer items that in order to gather the necessary money.

So they sell all kinds of items wearing the breast cancer symbol - the pink ribbon and gain profit from every item sold. It’s not much taken individually - maybe one dollar per item, but if there are dozens of sales every day, you can get quite a nice sum of money after a year or so. Not to mention the fact that all the sales on these web sites double or multiply a few times when there’s breast cancer month or other awareness campaigns.

So you can find a lot of web sites selling these items and people buy them because they want to be supportive and because the items are not expensive. You can buy breast cancer jewels, breast cancer car magnets, breast cancer clothes and so on.

If you are wearing these items you also show your support for the cause and maybe make some other people think about it and wanting to buy similar items, too. So, you can see that small items like these - breast cancer car magnets for example , can be worn proudly on your car, cost very little money, but contribute a lot to the cause. Every contribution is important because it’s the final result that’s important.

And the final result is that breast cancer foundations gather a lot of money that is used wisely in breast cancer research, in the attempt of finding a cure for this ugly disease, for buying very modern and accurate surgical equipment or any other equipment used in treating breast cancer, for financing the breast cancer treatment centres or even for helping thos patients who simply can’t afford the necessary treatment.

If you are interested in purchasing one of these lovely pink ribbon breast cancer car magnets, just follow the links: www.pinkribbonshop.com, www.bumperstickermagnet.com, www.theshoppe.com, www.shopwiki.com, www.amazon.com and www.thefind.com.

Breast cancer has been a disease that affects millions of people all over the world. Even if only a small number of men is affected, lots of people , regardless of sex decided to support this cause. That is because this type of cancer is usuallu detected in the late stages and a very big number of deaths are due to this cause every year.
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Nowadays it can be treated only in the traditional ways that include surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy and radiation therapy. But we all hope that one day scientists, researchers and doctors involved will find a cure for cancer, or at least for breast cancer, so it won’t be a deadly disease any more. That is why many non profit organizations and foundations were created.

They want to support breast cancer research in order to find new improved ways of treatment and also a possible cure. Experts have even started studying this disease from the genetical point of view, as it is known that once the cells mutate and become cancer cells, cancer can also be transmitted from generation to generation, genetically.

One of the most famous such non profit foundations in the world is the Breast Cancer Research Foundation that was started in 1993 by Evelyn Lauder. It has organized a big number of very successful fund raising campaigns and also breast cancer awareness campaigns. All the money gathered during these charity actions were used for financing breast cancer research. The people working in this field have already succeeding developing more accurate surgical devices used in removing the breast cancer tumour without leaving any cancer tissue behind, invented better drugs used in chemotherapy and continue the genetical research regarding the discovery of the genes that are responsible for carrying the breast cancer information.

In 2005 this foundation started a very nice collaboration with Delta, one of the largest airline companies in the United States, that decided to paint one of its airplanes in pink, with the pink ribbon logo on, showing the support for the cause of breast cancer and also wanting to make people aware of this disease. The tradition continued in 2006 when, at the end of September, Delta decided to use a Boeing 757 painted in pink for showing support for breast cancer. This was done as part of the awareness campaign organized every October, the breast cancer month. As you can see from the pictures, the Delta Boeing 757 looks really nice all pink, with ribbons on and all the symbolic design of breast cancer sign. They even went further and served airplane customers pink lemonade for only $2 each glass and all the money obtained this way was donated to the foundation and used for research.

I think this was a very nice gesture and both parts showed their support for breast cancer patients and also helped by raising funds. Even the fact that there was an awareness campaign was very beneficial, as women were advised to go to the doctor if something was wrong and also to self-examine and they were presented the first symptoms of this disease. And if only ten percent of the passengers paid attention and looked for more information about this topic, then the campaign was succesful because this can mean at least a few dozen of lives saved.

Breast cancer is a popular topic of discussion because it affects the lives of so many people around us. We all know someone who has breast cancer, either a friend, a relative or even a TV star or an actor we see in movies. But, just like us, these stars are also people and they can’t avoid getting sick or getting breast cancer for example.
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Some of the stars, singers or actresses, who had breast cancer chose to speak openly about their cancer experience because they want to help other people. They want to make a wake up call and to make all women aware of the fact that this can happen to anybody anytime. That is why many famous magazines write articles about this topic: it sells really well and, besides, it helps women get the information they need.

I am not talking here only about specialized magazines, medical journals or other similar magazines that address only a limited public. They approach breast cancer from the medical point of view, with articles about the latest discoveries in this field, the latest drugs to be used or I don’t know what other surgical procedures and performances. But there are also a lot of magazines that address to common people, to all the women , who are very interested in finding out some credible information about their health.

They will contain maybe interviews with people like Anastacia - a famous singer, or Kylie Minogue. They both wen through the unpleasant experience of breast cancer treatment and survived because the cancer was detected in the incipient stages. So women can read such a magazine and find out things about fashion, music and health issues at the same time. And it’s beneficial for everybody.

Then there are the magazines specialized on health topics and advice , but the articles written there use a very accessible language in order to be understood by the common people, not only by specialists. SO a breast cancer article in such a magazine will be both easy to read, but also containing what’s the most important thing we need to know about the subject: location, risk factors, treatment, detection and so on. They may even contain the point of view of a specialist that will make the article credible and trustworthy.

Nowadays almost all famous magazines also have an online edition or web site, so you can find a lot of these breast cancer articles if you search the internet. Here are some examples of very famous magazines that published breast cancer articles lately: Time magazine, The New England Journal of Medicine, Natural News, Breast Cancer Research, Women’s Health, Ms. Magazine. As you can see from the tiltles, the magazines in the list are both specialized ones - medical journals, but also fashion and beauty or health magazines.

But the most important thing about all of them is the fact that they offer veridic information to the readers and they open the door for further curiosity and knowledge. The article in each of these magazines can’t possibly exhaust the subject and tell you everything about it, but it does offer the essential. The further detailed information is up to us to find after that.

Everybody knows that in the case of breast cancer or , as a matter of fact any cancer, it is better to have an early diagnosis because if the cancer is in its incipient stages it is easier to treat and also the patient has higher survival chances. But cancer does not hurt or show any painful symptoms until it is already in the metastatic phase when it has spread to other organs in the body .
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SO I guess you all understand the importance of being diagnosed with the right diagnosis as soon as possible. But that does not always happen as human beings are subject to mistakes. The problem is that if a professional makes such a mistake as misdiagnosing a breast cancer case for example, the patient will get a delayed treatment and, as a consequence, their chances of survival decrease more and more, depending on the period of time between the misdiagnosis and another right diagnosis.

Sometimes there may be even a period of several months between the two moments in time, which is vital for the treatment of breast cancer patients. So it’s only reasonable that the patients that have been misdiagnosed are furious with the doctors and specialists who did this (X-ray specialists, mammogram specialist, general practitioner or any other medical staff involved in the diagnosis process).

If you think that this can only happen to people who go to the doctor too late and then they want to blame somebody for their misfortune, you’d better think again. It does happen and it can also happen to famous people who have access to very sophisticated diagnosis devices and also to very famous specialists. The most recent case is that of Kylie Minogue who went to the doctor because she felt something awkward inside her breast, but the doctor said she shouldn’t worry because there was nothing dangerous there, just a lump.

But she trusted her instincts that something was definetly wrong and went to another specialist where her fears were confirmed: she had breast cancer, but in the incipient stage, so she had the lump removed and then followed some chemotherapy to remove all the possible cancer cells left behind after surgery. She did not sue the doctor that misdiagnosed her, but she had every right to do so, and so does every woman who experiences the same unpleasant thing.

So if something like that ever happens to you do not hesitate to contact a breast cancer attorney, located in your area of residence, for example New Jersey. There are a lot of law firms that have this speciality: to represent people who suffered a misdiagnosis.

So if you are interested in finding a New Jersey breast cancer attorney, you might consider visiting the following web pages: www.nj-fl-lawyer.com, www.breastcancermalpracticelawyer.com, www.njfailuretodiagnosecancerattorney.com, www.mwsdlegal.com, www.breastcancerlawyerattorney.com, www.gairgair.com, www.breast-cancer-lawyers-attorneys.com, www.lawnj.net, www.njmedlaw.com and www.njatty.com. Some of these law firms even have their own collaborating breast cancer specialists who will give you a free consult in order to confirm or infirm the diagnosis you suppose you have and see if there are any solid grounds for suing the medical specialist or not.

The rectum is that part of the body that links the lower bowl to the anus. Its role is that of storing the stool before it is evacuated. But, just like any other part of the human body, it can suffer from infections and other diseases, too, like rectal cancer.
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The recatla cancer does not show any incipient signs of the disease, but only manifests in the last two stages, when the cancer is already spreading. That is why it is very important to have colonoscopies and rectal screening if you have a family history of rectal or colone cancer or when you feel uncomfortable and realize it’s something wrong inside your body. Rectal cancer appears fisrt as a growth in the rectum, also called a polyp. It can develop into a cancer tumour and increase its size until affecting the organ in a negative way.

The first symptoms of rectal cancer can also be associated with other conditions, that is why this diagnosis is pretty difficult to establish. Only when the patient associates two or more of these symptoms does he go to the doctor. However, people should have a medical checkup the moment they suspect something and not wait until it’s too late and the cancer has already spread to other organs where it’s a lot more difficult to remove and treat appropriately with good results.

Because the polyps or tumours interact with the stool when it moves towards the exit, it is possible that they may be hurt, so there may be a blood trace in the stool. This is the first sign of rectal cancer, one of the typical symptoms, but it is often overlooked as it can also be caused by hemorhoids or anal fisures.

In time, this bleeding can lead to anemia and weakness, permanent tiredness, also a typical symptom if associated with some others. Then the tumour in the rectum can enlarge and reduce the space in the rectum, so the stool will have to reduce its width in order to reach the exit. So very thin stool, pencil like, is also a common sign of rectal cancer.

Then there are all kinds of modifications in the functioning of your intestines and you may experience symptoms like diarrhea, constipation, abdominal disconfort (gas in the bowels) and strong cramps. The patient has the feeling that his boewls are never empty, that he is constantly full, even if he has recently defecated. Because all the changes in the intestinal habit are not beneficial, sometimes the patients might experience vomiting or even an unexplained and sudden weight loss.

Do not ignore these symptoms, even if you may relate tehm to other diseases. Just go to the doctor and signal any discomfort or change of habit or unusual thing happening in your body because this survival instinct may actually save your life. Even if it’s not colon or rectal cancer, you may discover another condition and cure it before it does further damages. So go to the doctors at the first sign that something is wrong because that’s why they are there: to help and consult you.

Rashes are most of the times minor injuries of your skin that should not alarm you, as they are caused by bugs, the change of detergent, an allergic reaction or something similar. However, sometimes these rashes may indicate something a lot more serious and that is exactly why you should try to learn how to make the difference between them.
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Well, apparently there are two types of breast cancer - inflammatory breast cancer and Paget’s disease of the breast that are signaled by a rash in the breast. But do not panick unless the rash has been there for more than a week and does not show any sign of improving its appearance. If your general practitioner told you a different diagnosis and you followed by suggested treatment, if the situation persists you should go to the doctor immediately and suggest another consult and maybe another opinion.

Some of the doctors might not suspect the variants I mentioned before because they are very rare forms of cancer. However, cancer is still cancer and it should be treated very seriously. In the case of the two particular types of breast cancer there is no lump to be felt inside the breast, but you can see some signs like a rash on the outside of the breast.

Here is the difference between the two froms of breast cancer rash:

- Paget’s disease of the breast is a type of breast cancer that appears like a rash, more similar to an eczema that affects mainly the nipple, the areola and the area around them. It is caused by the changing of the nipple cells into Paget cells that are cancerous. This disease only affects the surface of the skin, but is a clear indicator of cancer. It also affects only one breast and can show other symptoms like nipple discharge or blood coming out of the nipples that look like unhealed wounds, like flaky sink or even a crust on the nipple.

There may even be a lump present in the affected breast, which is quite different from inflammatory breast cancer. The best way of getting an accurate diagnosis is performing a biopsy. Most of the time, I mean if the cancer has not spread to lymph nodes or other organs, it can be treated by surgery followed by chemotherapy.

- The breast cancer rash that appears in the case of inflammatory breast cancer is a lot different. Here the whole surface of the breast is affected, becoming red and swollen and also sore. It’s not isolated or only situated around the nipple, but it affects the breast entirely

It may start with a little breast rash but in time it advances. This time there will be no lump found inside the breast because it affects the skin mainly. The cancer cells block the lymph vessels situated in the breast skin and cause its swallowing. This is a lot worse, as it’s more aggressive and it advances rapidly if left untreated. That is why I insist on the medical check up even if your doctor tells you there’s nothing to worry about.

In both cases of cancer, even if the incidence of these two forms of breast cancer is very reduced (about 1-5% of the total number of breast cancer cases), if you can see no improvement follwing the treatment, ask for a second opinion and do whatever your intuition tells you to, as it can save your life and you are not going to get another one.

We, humans, have been on this planet for so long and there are still plenty of things we don’t know about ourselves, about our bodies. The human body is an amazing and complex system that is designed to survive. The only problem is that we don’t know how to make its defence mechanisms work properly for the best results. Or maybe we know , but we are just too lazy to do something about it.
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For example everybody knows that it is very healthy to exercise and have an active life, but how many of us do this regularly? It’s just a lot more comfortable and easier to sit in front of the TV eating junk food instead of getting all sweat and tired in the gym and then coming home and having a bowl of boiled vegetables for dinner. And then, ten or twenty years later we wonder why on earth are we the ones to get a very dangerous disease like cancer for example.

Even if at first sight it would seem impossible to find a link between breast cancer and exercise, there is one very strong connection. Doctors and researchers have recently found that people who exercise for at least 30 minutes every day have a lower incidence of breast cancer. But this is only according to statistics, as further research is yet to be done to prove this effect scientifically. Furthermore, women who already have breast cancer or even breast cancer survivors have better surviving chances if they exercise every day.

They do not have to exagerate, though, as the best results were obtained in the cases when the exercise was a 45 minute walk, so no exhausting exercise at the gym, but a mild walk in the park. This can be done easily by all breast cancer patients, during or after the treatment , as it does not demand a big effort from the already weak people.

The possible explanation for this beneficial effect of physical exercise for breast cancer may be explained by the fact that during physical activities our body releases a lower amount of hormones, especially estrogen, which is supposed to trigger the breast cancer.

But the funnt thing is that physical exercise works for all types of breast cancer, not only for those having hormone receptors. But I guess the explanation will only be found out in the future after thorough research and clinical trials.

Any way, if the direct effect of exercise on breast cancer can’t be scientifically proven yet, it has been proven that it helps us sleep better, have a great muscle tonus, avoid joint and bone pain, lose weight and have a good psychological attitude. When you exercise, you release all the tension and the stress that is both in your muscles and inyour head and feel better.

Not to mention the fact that when you walk in the open air you have the possibility to meet new people and socialize, which is really important for overall psychological status. You walk in the park and breathe fresh air, which is beneficial for the lungs. So, even if you are skeptical about the better survival rates or breast cancer incidence when exercising, it doesn’t hurt to practise, as there are no negative effects if you don’t exaggerate.