Cancer Patient Gets Help From 'Bake Sale' And Aetna CEO

Enlarge Poopstrong.org

One of the slogans on a T-shirt sold to raise money for the care of Arijit Guha.

Poopstrong.org

One of the slogans on a T-shirt sold to raise money for the care of Arijit Guha.

It’s a diagnosis nobody in grad school would ever expect.

Arijit Guha, who’s working on a doctorate at Arizona State, felt sick after coming back from a trip to India in early 2011. His severe stomach pain, which he thought was probably from a bug he caught on the journey, turned out to be caused by colon cancer. He was 30.

He’s had a bunch of operations and lots of chemo since his diagnosis in February 2011. Within a year, the cost of his care had passed $300,000, the lifetime limit of his university health insurance policy from Aetna.

The Washington Post‘s Sarah Kliff told the story of how Guha has raised money for his care. The centerpiece is a website — Poop Strong — that is a takeoff on Lance Armstrong’s LiveStrong cancer project.

Guha has harnessed the Web to sell T-shirts and tote bags and to raffle off items donated by celebrities.

A friend told Guha once he was running “the world’s most important bake sale,” the Post reported. And some supporters have held bake sales to help him. “It sometimes feels like this weird joke, that I’m selling tee shirts to pay for chemotherapy.”

Last week, the power of social media helped Guha get results from Aetna. In a fascinating and often testy conversation on Twitter, Guha, tweeting as Poop_Strong, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini and others went back and forth about lifetime limits on care, insurance industry profits and a solution for Guha’s shortfall in coverage.

 

Here’s are some highlights.

Breast cancer experience shapes new values, priorities

Wednesday marks the first anniversary of my breast cancer diagnosis.

This year has been one of transformation. Yes, my health and body have changed significantly, but so has my approach to living and to developing meaningful relationships in my life.

Albert Einstein was right when he said, "The only source of knowledge is experience."

The suffering during treatment has molded my values. The meanings of the words "problem," "urgent," and "important" have changed. And my priorities have a new, healthier order. I have learned that balance is important.

After the first chemotherapy, it became clear that it was going to be impossible to maintain the 24/7 approach I took to my job, which I loved.

"I can't see clearly. I am in pain. I don't have energy. There is no way I can work from home," I told a Miami Herald editor a few days after my first chemotherapy. I returned to the newsroom six months later, with a more balanced outlook. I now break for meals, go for walks and turn off my phone when I'm not on duty.

During chemo and radiation, I had a lot of time to think while I rested at home. Einstein has become one of my favorite historical figures. For him, time was not uniform and absolute. In 1955, when a friend died, he wrote, "People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

My perception of death has also changed. It no longer feels like a distant reality. I now like the colorful Mexican skulls that painter Frida Kahlo adored. Their bold colors and flowing designs do not speak of fear of mortality, but of an acceptance of the inevitable.

My relationships have also changed.

Prior to my cancer, my younger brother and I had a distant relationship. Today, we talk frequently and get together at least once a week. We now touch upon difficult subjects and regularly express our feelings, a complete change.

I've also let go of expectations. The truth is that a helping hand doesn't always come from the people you expect. During this process, I had many relationships end and new ones begin, often unexpectedly.

It wasn't my family or friends who got me to call my gynecologist after I found the lump. It was two honest strangers I ran into while doing one of my least favorite things, standing in line.

While at the cafeteria at work, I met a woman who had long blond hair and looked like an energetic sales person. I didn't know then what I know now — cancer is a silent killer. She was wearing a white hospital wristband like the one I would later wear for months. I asked her why she was wearing it.

"I have breast cancer," she said. "They are doing tests, so since I have to go back to the hospital, I am not taking it off."

I ran into the second stranger a few days later at Walt Disney World. She was young and bald. It was hot. She wasn't hiding her condition with a hat or a wig. She didn't look like the type who would choose to shave her head as a fashion statement. I noticed a pink ribbon on her shirt.

I realized you could be young, full of life and have cancer.

That Monday, I called my doctor.

Years ago, I had chosen Dr. Edward Michael Fidalgo as my gynecologist because he had an office close to my home on Key Biscayne, and he had a good reputation. I didn't know then that he was a cancer survivor who had lost his fertility at a young age. I also didn't know that his nurse, Ileana Caballero, also was a breast cancer survivor.

When I called to tell them about the irregularity in my left breast, they sent me to get a mammogram right away.Testsrevealed that the cancer had spread to my lymphatic system, but not to other organs. Fidalgo and Caballero saved my life.

My experience with cancer has taught me that human suffering is a powerful motivator. This year, I lost many things, but not my faith in science and innovation.

We have mourned many cancer deaths recently, but none more painful than Steve Jobs, who died of pancreatic cancer.

When the Apple inventor died at age 56 in October, I was getting chemotherapy. Jobs' son Reed set an example. Instead of drowning in pain, he focused on becoming a cancer expert at Stanford University.

I hope to live to see him reach his goal.

Hugo Chavez steps up campaign after cancer fight

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez celebrated his 58th birthday at a re-election campaign rally Saturday, appearing vigorous after declaring himself free of cancer earlier this month.

Chavez rode atop a truck and waved to crowds of supporters in the Caracas slum of Petare. He hugged and kissed two of his daughters on a stage where he sang and danced alongside a band. His supporters sang “Happy Birthday.”

“I want to thank everybody for the messages I’ve been getting. … Well, I made it to 58,” Chavez told reporters, adding that Cuban President Raul Castro had called him and that he had also heard from his allies in Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Chavez said earlier this month that he is free of the cancer that forced him into months of treatments and caused speculation about whether he would be able to campaign.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles spoke at an event east of Caracas in Guarenas, where he swore in supporters who will monitor polling stations during the Oct. 7 vote. He said Chavez’s government has wasted money while schools and roads remain in bad shape. Capriles noted that one Caracas hospital has been in construction for years and called it a “monument to corruption.”

Capriles also pointed to blackouts, double-digit inflation and seizures of private companies that he said have cost jobs. “He doesn’t have anything new to offer,” Capriles said of the president, who has been in office since 1999 and is seeking another six-year term.

Over the past 13 months, Chavez has undergone two surgeries that removed tumors from his pelvic region, most recently in February.

The socialist leader has not disclosed key details about his illness, including the type of cancer that had been diagnosed.

Chavez has stepped up his public appearances in recent weeks, but he has led fewer rallies than Capriles, who has been campaigning energetically, sometimes jogging, in cities and towns across the country.

“Chavez has appeared more, but it’s a far cry from the Chavez of 2006,” the last presidential vote, said Jose Vicente Carrasquero, a political science professor at Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar University. He said Chavez’s advisers “have realized that the need to appear is fundamental” in facing his younger challenger.

Chavez has been leading in most recent polls, though his lead over Capriles has varied widely depending on the survey. A large segment of voters, more than 20 percent in some surveys, has not revealed a preference for either candidate.

As Chavez spoke to the crowd in Petare, they waved flags and blew horns. Chavez vowed victory, “but for that, we need to work very hard.”

Lessons from Cancer columnist Joyce Rothman dies at 64

Living with lung cancer gracefully was a feat in itself, but chronicling every step of the disease and inspiring others was a courageous act.

Joyce (Lippa) Rothman, who wrote Lessons from Cancer — a column that was published by The Herald News in Fall River, Mass., and distributed through GateHouse Media — died July 25.

Rothman, 64, wrote articles that appeared on about 400 Gatehouse Media websites and in newspapers around the country.

Rothman, who worked in the nursing field for four decades, was diagnosed with lung cancer two years ago. Soon after, cancer was also discovered in her pancreas. She began writing a blog about her experience in October 2010.

The blog was poignant, reflective, heartbreaking, cheerful, hopeful and informative. It took readers on a journey through Rothman's life interrupted by cancer, through her good days and bad days, to doctor's appointments, radiation treatments and family gatherings.

Herald News Associate Publisher and Editor Lisa Strattan said she was a reader of Rothman's column and found her to be "remarkably candid" and "courageous."

"She was one determined lady, both in the way she approached her disease and the way she approached life," Strattan said. "I never met Joyce, but I still felt a connection with her. I know it was one shared with all of her readers. You just felt as if you really knew her after reading her column."

Lessons from Cancer gave Rothman hope while stirring the emotions of many readers.

In Rothman's own words: "By writing about the raw experience of coping with lung and pancreas cancer, I find the answers and guidance I need to help me find courage, lose fear and keep hope. It has made my days so much easier, and my sincerest wish is that, in sharing what I learn, I might also help someone else going through a difficult life challenge."

Reader Angela Foley said she would miss Rothman's column.

"She was very strong and very brave," Foley said. "She taught people about what she was going through and offset it with her hope and faith."

Another fan of Lessons from Cancer, Ellie Leite, said she and her prayer group, Prayer Net Team from Calvary Temple in Fall River, had been praying for Rothman for about a year.

"We didn't know her personally, but we were very sad," Leite said. "She fought a gallant fight. She was an inspiration to everyone. She touched our lives, thousands of lives."

Rothman — a mother, grandmother, sister and friend — was probably closest to her daughter Karen Robinson.

In Rothman's June 8, blog, "Cherish friends and family," Rothman seemed to be writing a thank you and farewell letter to her only child.

"My daughter has been absolutely incredible, and this is the hardest thing that she's ever had to do," Rothman wrote. "Everything pretty much falls on her shoulders, and not having any siblings or first cousins makes it even harder. She deserves incredible credit and a standing ovation. I am so grateful and proud to call her my daughter."

"I'm so proud of my mother," Robinson said. "She just always believed. She didn't give up. She was incredibly strong. I never saw anything like it."

Robinson said her mother fought with "dignity and grace" and felt love from her readers who sent her comments from all over the country.

"I don't think she would have lasted as long as she did if she didn't have her blog," Robinson said. "She inspired people. She really held onto her hope."

Email Deborah Allard at dallard@heraldnews.com.

From cancer to Olympics, twice, for US beach star

LONDON — First the drug tester told American beach volleyball player Jake Gibb that he was suspended.

Then he said to call a doctor.

A quick Internet search told Gibb the abnormal levels of hormones in his blood were most often found in pregnant women, steroid users and men with testicular cancer. A biopsy soon confirmed what he had already concluded. The doping ban was subsequently lifted, but Gibb was expected to miss the Olympics anyway while recovering.

“The Olympics were out,” he said in a video posted to his website in the days leading up to the London Games. “It was a tough dream to let go of. The toughest part was telling people and letting them know. Because once it came out of my mouth, it felt real.”

But surgery got the cancer — all of it, meaning Gibb didn’t need chemotherapy. He got back on tour with partner Sean Rosenthal and earned enough points to qualify for the London Games in the very last event of the year.

Now, Gibb is a two-time Olympian.

And a two-time cancer survivor.

“The pinnacle of our sport is the Olympic games. For me to go and put USA on my chest, it means the world to me. It’s something so special,” said Gibb, who has a scar on his left shoulder from a 2004 skin cancer. “It almost wasn’t a reality to me. I was scared. I didn’t know anything about it, didn’t know how to react.”

Gibb and Rosenthal, who finished fifth in Beijing, won their first match in the 2012 Games but lost their second on Monday night against Poland. Asked in London about all that has transpired since the 2008 Olympics, Gibb politely referred a reporter to his website and declined to discuss it.

“It’s too emotional,” he said, his voice cracking. “The facts are out there and you can find what you need. But if I start talking to you, I’m going to start breaking down.”

Rosenthal also said he didn’t want to revisit the details.

“It was tough at first, but he’s such a strong guy,” he said. “He was working as hard as anybody.”

According to spokesman Hans Stolfus, whose agency represents Gibb and helped produce the video at jakegibb.com, Gibb was told by USADA in December 2010 that he had abnormal levels of alpha fetoprotein and beta-hCG in his blood and he would be suspended for doping. (Beta-hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin, is often taken by steroid users to combat testicular shrinkage that is a side effect of the performance-enhancing drugs.)

Before the tester hung up, he told Gibb to go see a doctor immediately — but he would not say why, Stolfus said. Gibb’s Internet search found a lot of references to AFP and beta-hCG for pregnant women but only one explanation in men: testicular cancer.

“USADA actually saved his life,” Stolfus told The Associated Press.

Surgery was scheduled.

Then, the day before he was to have his testicle removed he learned that his wife, Jane, was pregnant.

“Going through cancer and having my wife pregnant and giving birth while I was on tour, pursuing this Olympic dream, it felt like a heavy load on my shoulders. It was a very tough year,” Gibb said in the video. “I realized what matters most to me, and that’s health and family.”

It wasn’t just Gibb’s Olympics at risk: It may have been too late for Rosenthal to find a quality partner and accumulate enough points to make it to London.

In a statement provided by Stolfus, Rosenthal stressed the most important thing was Gibb’s health but added it was a relief to have his old partner back in time for an Olympic run — even though Gibb had to take it slow for about a month to avoid tearing open his scar.

“We really got to put volleyball in perspective after something like that. Volleyball is just a game,” Rosenthal said. “Jake is one of my best friends. He’s like a brother, and I wouldn’t be here without him. To get through something like that and turn around and play like he has is crazy. But I’m glad I’m on his team, ’cause as far I’m concerned, he can beat anything.”

Ten days after the surgery, tests showed Gibb was healthy enough to avoid chemotherapy. His wife, Jane, gave birth to their son Crosby about 11 months ago.

“I don’t know how you go through something like this without someone right there with you,” he said as the video showed images of him and his wife in their kitchen.

“The birth of my son, it was a game-changer. It was more impactful than I would have thought. I don’t know what I would have thought before, but it’s amazing what he has become in my world: everything. He’s an amazing little boy. He’s learning to crawl and learning to walk. I love him to pieces.”

He and Rosenthal went back onto the international tour, where points for the Olympic rankings are accumulated, and slowly moved up the rankings before passing Nick Lucena and Matt Fuerbringer on the final weekend of qualifying for the second and final spot available to the Americans.

“Finding out that I didn’t have to go through chemotherapy was the biggest relief and joy of my life to that point. It opened up my world,” Gibb said. “It opened up the Olympics again, it opened up a career — just to keep competing. I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have my family and friends around me and to play the game I love.”

—

AP Sports Writer Anne Peterson contributed to this story.

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com’s automated news wire. Wire index

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Prostate cancer screening test may prevent 17000 advanced cases yearly

Screening for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test is controversial, but stopping this screening could result in many more cases of advanced disease, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed information from the time before and after PSA testing became widespread, and found that screening using the PSA test prevents an estimated 17,000 cases of advanced prostate cancer in the United States each year. The average survival rate of men with advanced prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of their body at diagnosis is one to two and a half years, the researchers said. In contrast, nearly 100 percent of men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer at an early stage, before it has spread to other areas, are alive five years later, according to the American Cancer Society.

The findings add to the recent debate over prostate cancer screening.

Last year, an influential organization called the U.S. Services Preventive Task Force (USPSTF) recommended against prostate cancer screening altogether, saying its harms outweigh its benefits.

Recent studies on the topic have also had conflicting results, with some suggesting prostate cancer screening saves lives, and others finding no benefit.

The researchers say their new findings should be taken into consideration when creating PSA screening recommendations.

“There are trade-offs associated with the PSA test, and many factors influence the disease outcome,” said study researcher Dr. Edward Messing, chairman of urology at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “And yet our data are very clear: not doing the PSA test will result in many men presenting with far more advanced prostate cancer.”

Preventing advanced prostate cancer

Messing and colleagues reviewed data from the largest cancer registry in the U.S. for the years 1983 to 2008. Prior to 1986, PSA screening in men was not routine.

Based on the incidence of advanced prostate cancer in the mid-1980s, the researchers estimated that there would have been about 25,000 cases of advanced prostate cancer in 2008, had PSA screening not been done. But the actual number was about 8,000 cases, or three times less than expected.

The biggest reduction was seen in cancer cases in older men, particularly in those ages 80 to 85.

The study found only an association, not a cause-effect link between screening and fewer prostate cancer cases. It’s possible factors other than PSA testing were responsible for the decrease in cases of advanced disease, although the researchers took into account participants’ ages and ethnicities, two of the strongest risk factors for prostate cancer.

The researchers also pointed out that finding cancer earlier does not always translate into better survival. But in general, they concluded, PSA testing reduced the incidence of advanced disease.

Window of opportunity

“The USPSTF will be criticized for not having done analysis such as this,” Dr. Martin Sanda, director of the Prostate Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said of the study findings.

The task force based their recommendations mainly on one large, yet flawed, study, Sanda said.

The new findings agree with earlier research that estimated there would be about 30,000 more deaths from prostate cancer each year without screening. “Studies like this provide us a window of opportunity to not let that happen,” Sanda said.

Dr. Louis Kavoussi, chairman of urology at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, agreed the main reason for the reduction in advanced cases of prostate cancer is PSA testing.

While men who have been screened for prostate cancer can end up receiving treatment they don’t need, Kavoussi said, the screening test itself can’t be blamed for this.

“The problem isn't prostate cancer screening, it’s what you do if you detect prostate cancer,” Kavoussi said.

After undergoing screening, men may receive unnecessary biopsies and treatments, which come with a risk of erectile dysfunction and loss of urinary control.

Doctors need to get better at knowing when to wait, and when to being prostate cancer treatment, Kavoussi said. Men should speak with their doctor about whether they should receive PSA testing, Kavoussi said.

 

 

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Copyright 2012 MyHealthNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Study: No PSA Tests, Advanced Cancer Triples

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Todayrecommendation against routine PSA screening tests, according to an article published online in Cancer.

“Our analyses suggest that, if the pre-PSA era incidence rates were present in the modern U.S. population, then the total number of men presenting with M1 prostate cancer would be approximately three times greater than the number actually observed,” Edward M. Messing, MD, of the University of Rochester in New York, and co-authors wrote in conclusion.

“We believe that these estimates must be taken into consideration (bearing in mind the limitations of observational data) when public health policy-level recommendations are made regarding PSA screening.”

Conflicting clinical evidence and guideline recommendations have made PSA testing a hot-button issue in U.S. healthcare policy. Three years ago, published results of two large screening studies showed different outcomes: A large European study demonstrated a survival benefit with PSA screening and a large U.S. study suggested that screening did not reduce the risk of prostate cancer mortality.

Long-term follow-up in the U.S. study confirmed the lack of a survival benefit.

Last year the USPSTF issued a conditional recommendation against PSA screening for prostate cancer as a component of routine care. Earlier this year the task force finalized the recommendation, as its panelists concluded that screening asymptomatic men had the potential to cause more harm than good.

The American Cancer Society threw its support behind the USPSTF decision, whereas the American Urological Association condemned the recommendation and reaffirmed its support for risk-guided PSA screening.

Earlier this month the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued a provisional clinical opinion that discouraged PSA screening of men with a life expectancy of less than 10 years and that encouraged individualized decision making for patients with a longer life expectancy.

Messing and colleagues sought to inform the debate by seeking evidence from a different perspective. Specifically, they examined the age- and race-specific annual incidence of M1 prostate cancer at diagnosis in the era before PSA testing became widely available and compare the rates with those in the most recent years of the PSA era.

The investigators also estimated the number of men who would be expected to have M1 prostate cancer at diagnosis in the current era if PSA testing were not available. For purposes of their calculations, they defined the pre-PSA era as 1983 to 1985.

Examination of the current era consisted of data from participating registries in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for 2008, the most recent year with complete data.

Analysis of the SEER data showed that 739 men had M1 prostate cancer at diagnosis in 2008. On the basis of diagnoses in the period from 1983 to 1985, the number of M1 cases would have increased to 2,277 had PSA testing not been available in 2008, an expected-to-observed ratio of 3.1 (95% CI 3.0 to 3.2).

Applying the ratio to the general population, Messing and colleagues estimated that 25,000 men would have had M1 disease at diagnosis in 2008 in the absence of PSA testing. In contrast, the observed number of M1 cases at diagnosis in 2008 was 8,000.

The results also have relevance for several recent studies suggesting that PSA screening can be safely stopped after age 75.

“We observed that, for both races, the apparent benefit of screening in terms of the absolute reduction in the risk of presenting with M1 prostate cancer increased with age,” the authors wrote. “In particular, differences in the rates during the pre-PSA era and the PSA era in presenting with M1 prostate cancer increased with age until age 85 years.”

The study was supported by the Ashley Family Foundation.

The authors had no disclosures.

Primary source: Cancer
Source reference:
Scosyrev E et al “Prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer and the risk of overt metastatic disease at presentation. Analysis of trends over time.” Cancer 2012; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.27503.

Add Your Knowledge ™

---

Charles Bankhead

Staff Writer

Working from Houston, home to one of the world's largest medical complexes, Charles Bankhead has more than 20 years of experience as a medical writer and editor. His career began as a science and medical writer at an academic medical center. He later spent almost a decade as a writer and editor for Medical World News, one of the leading medical trade magazines of its era. His byline has appeared in medical publications that have included Cardio, Cosmetic Surgery Times, Dermatology Times, Diagnostic Imaging, Family Practice, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Medscape, Oncology News International, Oncology Times, Ophthalmology Times, Patient Care, Renal and Urology News, The Medical Post, Urology Times, and the International Medical News Group newspapers. He has a BA in journalism and MA in mass communications, both from Texas Tech University.

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New Cancer Research

Re "In Gene Study, a Map to Fight Colon Cancer" (front page, July 19):

Patient advocates have quite a different idea of what would be "transformative" research. Your articles about advances in gene sequencing tools note that there are no drugs yet to target the mutations found in colon and several other cancers. In breast cancer, where there is at least one targeted drug, we still haven't cured anyone with metastatic disease. And while some may see an initial benefit, the cancer often finds ways to return, perhaps even stronger.

New knowledge about cancer biology tells us that the area surrounding a tumor may be a key to figuring out what to do, and that there is a great deal of heterogeneity within a tumor itself. The technological advances are exciting. But to this cancer survivor, "transformative" means cure, without toxicity and at acceptable financial cost.

True transformation will come when we use tools and technology to figure out how to prevent people from getting cancer in the first place.

FRAN VISCO
President
National Breast Cancer Coalition
Washington, July 19, 2012

New Cancer Research

Re "In Gene Study, a Map to Fight Colon Cancer" (front page, July 19):

Patient advocates have quite a different idea of what would be "transformative" research. Your articles about advances in gene sequencing tools note that there are no drugs yet to target the mutations found in colon and several other cancers. In breast cancer, where there is at least one targeted drug, we still haven't cured anyone with metastatic disease. And while some may see an initial benefit, the cancer often finds ways to return, perhaps even stronger.

New knowledge about cancer biology tells us that the area surrounding a tumor may be a key to figuring out what to do, and that there is a great deal of heterogeneity within a tumor itself. The technological advances are exciting. But to this cancer survivor, "transformative" means cure, without toxicity and at acceptable financial cost.

True transformation will come when we use tools and technology to figure out how to prevent people from getting cancer in the first place.

FRAN VISCO
President
National Breast Cancer Coalition
Washington, July 19, 2012

Breast Cancer Survivor Attributes Cancer to Fertility Treatments

By Jenna Rehnstrom, Anchor

jrehnstrom@kcautv.com

There’s long been debate over fertility drugs and if they could increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer. A new study found that women who used fertility drugs and got pregnant had a small increased risk of breast cancer.

Experts say it could be due to elevated production of ovarian hormones that alter breast tissue. 

Sandra Mueller of Sioux City attributes her bout with breast cancer to fertility treatments.

She’s like many moms: she’s busy and life is sometimes hectic, but Sandra’s greatest joy is spending time with her four year old son, Logan.

Still there was a time when Sandra and her husband, Rex, weren’t sure if they’d get to experience parenthood. They wanted a child so badly, they went through four grueling years of fertility treatments.

“We just knew that if we wanted this to happen – at the time, we thought ‘we have to do this’, because this is the only way it’s going to happen. It’s a very emotional process and the desire to be a parent is so great that you want to try and do what you can to make it happen,” Sandra says.

After eight rounds of invetro fertilization and countless shots, Sandra’s body wasn’t responding like they’d hope.Worse yet, the treatments were making her sick.

And when she and her husband finally decided to stop, there came more bad news: Sandra had breast cancer.

“I just kept thinking… because I didn’t know, initially, what the prognosis was going to be and I thought, I’m never going to get to be a [mom].”

Sandra chose to have a bi–lateral mastectomy. And, because the cancer was found so early, she didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation. But, Sandra suspects it was those fertility treatments that were behind the breast cancer.

“There was no other connection that I could make and I had done some research on my own. We have history of cancer in the family, but we’ve never had anybody with breast cancer,” she says.

Now a breast cancer survivor, it’s clear Sandra and Rex have had their prayers answered. They became parents in 2007, when they adopted their son, Logan.

“He’s just been the center of our world ever since and he is everything and then some and we were meant to be – we were all meant to be together,” Sandra comments.

And does she regret the trials that brought her here? No.So, her advice to other women, maybe isn’t surprising.

“I would never tell a woman: ‘don’t do fertility treatments,’ I would never tell somebody that – I would just want to say, ‘ask questions – find out about what your body’s going to be going through,” she says.

And, through it all, Sandra’s faith helped her believe this day would come. And boy, was it worth the wait.

“Being a mom has just been the most wonderful blessing and I am so grateful that I have been able to experience it.”

 

Study: No PSA Tests, Advanced Cancer Triples

By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Todayrecommendation against routine PSA screening tests, according to an article published online in Cancer.

“Our analyses suggest that, if the pre-PSA era incidence rates were present in the modern U.S. population, then the total number of men presenting with M1 prostate cancer would be approximately three times greater than the number actually observed,” Edward M. Messing, MD, of the University of Rochester in New York, and co-authors wrote in conclusion.

“We believe that these estimates must be taken into consideration (bearing in mind the limitations of observational data) when public health policy-level recommendations are made regarding PSA screening.”

Conflicting clinical evidence and guideline recommendations have made PSA testing a hot-button issue in U.S. healthcare policy. Three years ago, published results of two large screening studies showed different outcomes: A large European study demonstrated a survival benefit with PSA screening and a large U.S. study suggested that screening did not reduce the risk of prostate cancer mortality.

Long-term follow-up in the U.S. study confirmed the lack of a survival benefit.

Last year the USPSTF issued a conditional recommendation against PSA screening for prostate cancer as a component of routine care. Earlier this year the task force finalized the recommendation, as its panelists concluded that screening asymptomatic men had the potential to cause more harm than good.

The American Cancer Society threw its support behind the USPSTF decision, whereas the American Urological Association condemned the recommendation and reaffirmed its support for risk-guided PSA screening.

Earlier this month the American Society of Clinical Oncology issued a provisional clinical opinion that discouraged PSA screening of men with a life expectancy of less than 10 years and that encouraged individualized decision making for patients with a longer life expectancy.

Messing and colleagues sought to inform the debate by seeking evidence from a different perspective. Specifically, they examined the age- and race-specific annual incidence of M1 prostate cancer at diagnosis in the era before PSA testing became widely available and compare the rates with those in the most recent years of the PSA era.

The investigators also estimated the number of men who would be expected to have M1 prostate cancer at diagnosis in the current era if PSA testing were not available. For purposes of their calculations, they defined the pre-PSA era as 1983 to 1985.

Examination of the current era consisted of data from participating registries in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program for 2008, the most recent year with complete data.

Analysis of the SEER data showed that 739 men had M1 prostate cancer at diagnosis in 2008. On the basis of diagnoses in the period from 1983 to 1985, the number of M1 cases would have increased to 2,277 had PSA testing not been available in 2008, an expected-to-observed ratio of 3.1 (95% CI 3.0 to 3.2).

Applying the ratio to the general population, Messing and colleagues estimated that 25,000 men would have had M1 disease at diagnosis in 2008 in the absence of PSA testing. In contrast, the observed number of M1 cases at diagnosis in 2008 was 8,000.

The results also have relevance for several recent studies suggesting that PSA screening can be safely stopped after age 75.

“We observed that, for both races, the apparent benefit of screening in terms of the absolute reduction in the risk of presenting with M1 prostate cancer increased with age,” the authors wrote. “In particular, differences in the rates during the pre-PSA era and the PSA era in presenting with M1 prostate cancer increased with age until age 85 years.”

The study was supported by the Ashley Family Foundation.

The authors had no disclosures.

Primary source: Cancer
Source reference:
Scosyrev E et al “Prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer and the risk of overt metastatic disease at presentation. Analysis of trends over time.” Cancer 2012; DOI: 10.1002/cncr.27503.

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Charles Bankhead

Staff Writer

Working from Houston, home to one of the world's largest medical complexes, Charles Bankhead has more than 20 years of experience as a medical writer and editor. His career began as a science and medical writer at an academic medical center. He later spent almost a decade as a writer and editor for Medical World News, one of the leading medical trade magazines of its era. His byline has appeared in medical publications that have included Cardio, Cosmetic Surgery Times, Dermatology Times, Diagnostic Imaging, Family Practice, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Medscape, Oncology News International, Oncology Times, Ophthalmology Times, Patient Care, Renal and Urology News, The Medical Post, Urology Times, and the International Medical News Group newspapers. He has a BA in journalism and MA in mass communications, both from Texas Tech University.

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Breast Cancer Survivor Attributes Cancer to Fertility Treatments

By Jenna Rehnstrom, Anchor

jrehnstrom@kcautv.com

There’s long been debate over fertility drugs and if they could increase a woman’s risk for breast cancer. A new study found that women who used fertility drugs and got pregnant had a small increased risk of breast cancer.

Experts say it could be due to elevated production of ovarian hormones that alter breast tissue. 

Sandra Mueller of Sioux City attributes her bout with breast cancer to fertility treatments.

She’s like many moms: she’s busy and life is sometimes hectic, but Sandra’s greatest joy is spending time with her four year old son, Logan.

Still there was a time when Sandra and her husband, Rex, weren’t sure if they’d get to experience parenthood. They wanted a child so badly, they went through four grueling years of fertility treatments.

“We just knew that if we wanted this to happen – at the time, we thought ‘we have to do this’, because this is the only way it’s going to happen. It’s a very emotional process and the desire to be a parent is so great that you want to try and do what you can to make it happen,” Sandra says.

After eight rounds of invetro fertilization and countless shots, Sandra’s body wasn’t responding like they’d hope.Worse yet, the treatments were making her sick.

And when she and her husband finally decided to stop, there came more bad news: Sandra had breast cancer.

“I just kept thinking… because I didn’t know, initially, what the prognosis was going to be and I thought, I’m never going to get to be a [mom].”

Sandra chose to have a bi–lateral mastectomy. And, because the cancer was found so early, she didn’t need chemotherapy or radiation. But, Sandra suspects it was those fertility treatments that were behind the breast cancer.

“There was no other connection that I could make and I had done some research on my own. We have history of cancer in the family, but we’ve never had anybody with breast cancer,” she says.

Now a breast cancer survivor, it’s clear Sandra and Rex have had their prayers answered. They became parents in 2007, when they adopted their son, Logan.

“He’s just been the center of our world ever since and he is everything and then some and we were meant to be – we were all meant to be together,” Sandra comments.

And does she regret the trials that brought her here? No.So, her advice to other women, maybe isn’t surprising.

“I would never tell a woman: ‘don’t do fertility treatments,’ I would never tell somebody that – I would just want to say, ‘ask questions – find out about what your body’s going to be going through,” she says.

And, through it all, Sandra’s faith helped her believe this day would come. And boy, was it worth the wait.

“Being a mom has just been the most wonderful blessing and I am so grateful that I have been able to experience it.”

 

Chavez rallies supporters on birthday in Venezuela, appearing vigorous after ...

"I want to thank everybody for the messages I've been getting. … Well, I made it to 58," Chavez told reporters, adding that Cuban President Raul Castro had called him and that he had also heard from his allies in Bolivia and Nicaragua.

Chavez said earlier this month that he is free of the cancer that forced him into months of treatments and caused speculation about whether he would be able to campaign.

Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles spoke at an event east of Caracas in Guarenas, where he swore in supporters who will monitor polling stations during the Oct. 7 vote. He said Chavez's government has wasted money while schools and roads remain in bad shape. Capriles noted that one Caracas hospital has been in construction for years and called it a "monument to corruption."

Capriles also pointed to blackouts, double-digit inflation and seizures of private companies that he said have cost jobs. "He doesn't have anything new to offer," Capriles said of the president, who has been in office since 1999 and is seeking another six-year term.

Over the past 13 months, Chavez has undergone two surgeries that removed tumors from his pelvic region, most recently in February.

The socialist leader has not disclosed key details about his illness, including the type of cancer that had been diagnosed.

Chavez has stepped up his public appearances in recent weeks, but he has led fewer rallies than Capriles, who has been campaigning energetically, sometimes jogging, in cities and towns across the country.

During the first 15 days of the campaign, which formally began on July 1, Capriles boasted of visiting 53 towns. Chavez, in contrast, made a handful of campaign visits during that period.

Chavez has seemed to favor his right hip at times, but he showed off his mobility earlier this month when he climbed into the cockpit of a Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet during one military event.

"Chavez has appeared more, but it's a far cry from the Chavez of 2006," the last presidential vote, said Jose Vicente Carrasquero, a political science professor at Venezuela's Simon Bolivar University. He said Chavez's advisers "have realized that the need to appear is fundamental" in facing his younger challenger.

Chavez has been leading in most recent polls, though his lead over Capriles has varied widely depending on the survey. A large segment of voters, more than 20 percent in some surveys, has not revealed a preference for either candidate.

As Chavez spoke to the crowd in Petare, they waved flags and blew horns. He told his supporters: "We need to work very hard."

"Our lead, I'm not going to say it's comfortable, no. But it's a good lead. Now we have to hold on to it and widen it," Chavez said.

___

Associated Press writer Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

My Semicolon Life: Cancer honeymoon's over

In the month between my diagnosis and my surgery, I approached my cancer with confidence. “It’s the very best of a very bad kind,” I told friends, assuring them that we’d caught it just in the nick of time.

• COLUMN: Last week’s ‘My Semicolon Life’

• MORE: Follow Brian on Twitter

• MORE: ‘Music that makes me want to live’

The reporter in me, honestly, was a little excited. If a country singer had cancer, I’d have been all over the story, doing research, calling doctors. The way I figured, having it myself was the same, I just had better access. It was the best story I’d get to tell all year. Besides, I could stand to lose 20 pounds.

I was in cancer’s honeymoon phase.

That may sound horrific, but that’s how I felt. My wife, Nancy, had gotten me involved in a walking program, and, after the diagnosis, I ramped that up, walking between two and eight miles every day. I’d get out of bed and hit the street, my iPod loaded with brand-new music. I’d walk until I heard at least five unknown songs that I liked. Some days that would take an hour; other days it would take three. And those were hours I wasn’t eating.

I didn’t eliminate red meat, desserts and fried food, but I made eating them intentional — and I’ll take a cup of fresh strawberries over a brownie almost any day of the week. I switched out sodas in favor of high-quality juices.

Between the increased exercising and the healthier eating, I began dropping weight — 10 pounds in four weeks. I had cancer, and I was in better shape than I had been in years.

But cancer is sneaky and lies in wait for you.

I got my first mugging when the results of my genetic screening came back. Only about 3% of people with colorectal cancers have Lynch syndrome, a genetic condition that increases the likelihood of developing colon cancer before age 50 more than a hundredfold. My family didn’t seem to meet the standard diagnostic criteria —which include having two successive generations and a first-degree relative with any type of cancer associated with Lynch — but, sure enough, I tested positive.

Suddenly, the best story I’d get to tell all year turned into a multi-generational epic. I’ve got four kids, each of whom has a 50/50 chance of inheriting my broken chromosome. My 74-year-old father, who had never had a colonoscopy — and who, we eventually learned, had three first cousins diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their 40s — would need to get one. So would my little sister.

Just like that, the honeymoon was over. Even if the surgeon got all of this cancer, it could come back. And not just in my colon. Lynch syndrome increases my risk for cancers of the stomach, the small intestine, the urinary tract and the brain, too. If I’ve passed it on to any of my kids, I might have to watch them go through the same things.

I tried to take the news in stride, but my body started to show the strain. I carried the tension in my jaw, which began to ache and pop when I chewed. A friend at church asked what, specifically, I feared. I hadn’t thought things through that far, but I focused quickly on two areas: 1) finding out the cancer had spread farther than expected, and 2) not waking up at all. Sure, both of those things were unlikely. Just like getting colon cancer in the first place. Or having Lynch syndrome. I was on a run against the odds, but I didn’t like the direction I was headed.

The Sunday before my surgery, I gave my preacher a USB drive filled with songs I wanted played at my funeral. Just in case. “I’ll need this back the next time you see me,” I told him. “One way or the other.”

If I felt great before surgery, afterward was an entirely different story. As I came out of sedation, I dreamed I was curled up in the far corner of a dark room, arms wrapped around my belly, knees folded into my chest, grimacing and clenching every muscle as tightly as possible in an effort to force the pain out of my body, or at least into one manageable spot. Even with the morphine pain pump, I couldn’t relax any part of my body the entire first night following surgery.

As for the procedure itself, my surgeon felt confident he’d gotten all the cancer by laparoscopically removing four feet of colon. Recovery went remarkably quickly. Having made a habit of walking paid dividends: Three days after surgery, I put in a mile, making multiple laps of the hospital floor throughout the day. The nurses began calling me The Walker. On the fourth day after surgery, I went home.

As soon as I lay down in my own bed, though, nausea hit. When my surgeon took me off the pain pump, he put me on Lortab, a mix of acetaminophen and hydrocodone. I hate hydrocodone. I took it twice the time I tore up my hand, and it made me so sick that I decided I preferred the pain. Hydrocodone kills my appetite, and when I take it on an empty stomach, it makes me ill. Twenty-four hours after leaving the hospital, I lost what little I had eaten in two quick heaves, and I headed to the ER to make sure I hadn’t ripped anything open.

Fortunately, I hadn’t. The doctors switched my prescription to Percocet, which not only doesn’t make me sick, it gives me the Best Dreams Ever — colorful, electrified pop-culture dreams. Warren Zevon returned in a wheelchair for the first one. The second imagined a complete renovation of downtown Nashville, courtesy of Disney, Frank Capra and the WWE.

And my recovery’s back on track. For now. But I know better than to make assumptions. Statistics are meaningless, whether they’re for five-year survival rates or the likelihood of a genetic condition. Good news, when cancer’s involved, is good news for that day alone.

And that’s enough. It has to be.

Music that makes me want to live

Cancer has changed the way I hear music, more than any other life event except my marriage. Songs I once appreciated only on a surface level now strike deep at the core of my soul. Some inspire me; some terrify me. Others that I might have liked before, I’ve got no use for now. I’ve also got more time to listen, whether it’s during my morning exercise time or while lying in a hospital bed. These songs form part of the soundtrack to my cancer story.

1. Dance in the Graveyards, Delta Rae

2. Unto the Hills, Julie Lee the Baby-Daddies

3. Deep Dark Wells, Joe Pug

4. Lawdy, The Vespers

5. From This Valley, The Civil Wars

Next week: Lynch syndrome? What the heck is Lynch syndrome?

Camp Diagnosed With Early-Stage Cancer

Representative Dave Camp, the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, disclosed Saturday that he had early-stage blood cancer but that he intended to undergo treatment while continuing his work in the House.

As the top House tax writer, Mr. Camp, 59, Republican of Michigan, is playing a central role in the deliberations over the deficit and the Bush-era tax cuts that are due to expire at the end of December.

In a statement, he said he had a "very early, highly treatable and curable type" of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, known as large B-cell lymphoma that will require him to have chemotherapy every three weeks for several months.

"In between treatments I will continue my work," wrote Mr. Camp, who said he intends to remain as chairman of the tax-writing committee. "Thankfully, my health is otherwise excellent and my doctors and I expect a full recovery and cure. My family and I appreciate the support, good wishes and understanding we have received."

The House speaker, John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, issued his own statement on Saturday, expressing confidence that Mr. Camp, his friend and colleague, will recover. "He'll whip this with characteristic strength and grace," Mr. Boehner said. "He is as tough and determined as they come."

Large B-cell lymphoma is considered the most common type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer that resides in the immune system and is most common in men in their 60s, according to a recent publication by the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, which said the condition could be cured in more than half of the patients diagnosed.

Mr. Camp, a lawyer and former House staffer, helped lead Republican efforts in the House to repeal the health care law, and he has been among the top House fund-raisers, in part because of his critical position in helping set national tax policy.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Mr. Camp said that he hoped to negotiate a bipartisan settlement for changes in the tax code that would not result in an increase in revenues or shifts in the burden among different income groups, a plan that conflicts with the stated objectives of House Democrats.

'Selena' star Lupe Ontiveros dies of cancer at 69

Lupe Ontiveros

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Veteran actress Lupe Ontiveros, who appeared in scores of TV shows and movies including “Desperate Housewives,” ”Selena” and “As Good As It Gets,” has died. She was 69.

Ontiveros died Thursday at a hospital in Whittier, Calif., a suburb southeast of Los Angeles, after a brief battle with liver cancer, according to longtime friend and family spokesman Jerry Velasco.

She was perhaps best known for her role in “Selena,” the 1997 biopic based on the life story of the Tejano pop star. Ontiveros played Yolanda Saldivar, who in real-life was convicted of killing Selena Quintanilla. The film launched the career of Jennifer Lopez, who played the title part.

Lopez said Friday she was “tremendously saddened by the news of Lupe’s passing!”

“I’ve enjoyed her work throughout the years,” Lopez said in a statement. “She was a great actress and working with her in ‘Selena’ was an unforgettable experience. She will truly be missed.”

Ontiveros worked steadily in TV and film for more than 35 years.

“I want to go from the set to the grave,” she quipped in 2010 while receiving a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. “From the stage to the grave, that’s how I want go.”

Her credits include “Real Women Have Curves,” TV’s “Desperate Housewives” and — as in “The Goonies” — many, many turns as a housekeeper. She once estimated she played a maid more than 300 times on the stage and screen.

“I’ve had a hell of a good time playing those maids,” she told LA Weekly in 2002. “Each one to me is very special … No matter how much I resent the stupidity that is written into them, the audacity that the industry has when they portray us in such a nonsensical, idiotic, such — oh my God! — such a degrading manner, still, my humor survives in these maids. I’m very proud of them.”

Born Guadalupe Moreno in El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 17, 1942, Ontiveros caught the acting bug in 1972 when she answered a newspaper ad for movie extras. She went on to help establish the Latino Theater Company in Los Angeles and advocated for Latino performers throughout her career.

“She worked tirelessly to perfect her craft and open doors for countless Latinos along the way,” said Alex Nogales, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. “Hollywood never gave her the lead role, but in our hearts she will be remembered as our leading lady. She will be deeply missed by all of us.”

U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis cited the actress as an inspiration.

“Lupe Ontiveros’ great talent extended far past television, stage and motion pictures,” Solis said in a statement. “Indeed, she was a fine actress, but more than that, she was a woman of great action. And she was my friend for more than 20 years.”

Ontiveros is survived by her husband, three sons and two granddaughters.

Copyright (2012) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Chris Elsberry: Cancer fund-raisers a fun ride for creator Keith

FAIRFIELD — It all started with a run. A run across the country.

When Jeff Keith was 12 years old, doctors discovered a malignant tumor in his right knee, forcing the amputation of his leg just above the knee and over a year and a half’s worth of chemotherapy treatments. Despite the loss of his leg, Keith was determined to live his life to the fullest, along with becoming a fund-raising machine for cancer research and cancer survivors.

So in 1985, Keith, from Fairfield, ran across the United States, a total of 3,300 miles. It took him nine months. The run started in Boston, ended outside of Los Angeles and raised over $1 million toward cancer research.

That was just the beginning.

Two years later, Keith and his friend, Matt Vossler, who had helped Keith organize that cross-country run, got together to start planning their next big, non-profit fund-raising event.

That turned out to be the Swim Across the Sound.

That same year, an offshoot of Swim Across the Sound — Swim Across America — was also created by Keith and Vossler. And in January of 2005, the two, along with buddy John Ragland, started their fourth non-profit event, the Connecticut Bike Challenge.

On Saturday afternoon, Keith was to spend the day working the streets of Fairfield as over 1,100 cyclists rode courses from 10 to 100 miles long for the eighth annual Connecticut Bike Challenge, raising money for cancer survivors. The 25th annual Swim Across the Sound, however, was cancelled Saturday by unfavorable weather. Instead of swimming across the 15.5-mile distance between Port Jefferson, N.Y., and Bridgeport, swimmers participated in a series of harbor races starting at noon at Captain’s Cove Seaport in Bridgeport.

In the Swim marathon’s first year, it raised a little over $5,000. Last year, it raised over $400,000. And when you add it all up, from the run to the swims to the bike rides, Keith’s events have raised over $50 million to fight cancer.

“Those are all organizations that I’m very proud of,” Keith said last week in a phone interview. “They’re all important to me. I just like getting involved and starting organizations and getting people together and being part of a team. You look back in time and they’re like different chapters in my life.

“I’m so humbled and honored to still be part of all of them in indirect ways. They’re all really special. What the Swim Across the Sound has done for the Fairfield County area is just absolutely amazing.”

The Swim started after Keith, who was in graduate school at USC (thanks to a scholarship for physically challenged athletes) discovered that his scholarship was funded by a local swim-a-thon. So Keith called Vossler and started making plans to create a swim-a-thon of his own.

“I had started getting into swimming again while in grad school,” Keith said. “And when Matt and I realized how you could raise money swimming, we decided to create an open-water swim event instead of a regular pool swim. We got a bunch of friends together, partnered up with St. Vincent’s Hospital and launched it. Matt and I were glad to light the candle and get it started and built it up and then handed it over to St. Vincent’s, who’s taken it to the next level.”

In 2004, after attending a cancer survivor clinic at the Dana Farber Institute in Boston, Keith realized that very little money was being raised for survivors. So Keith — who said that there are from 130,000 to 140,000 cancer survivors in Connecticut — set out to try to create the state’s first cancer survivor clinic.

“That’s basically why I started the Connecticut (Bike) Challenge,” he said. “I didn’t necessarily want to start a bike event, but I needed to raise money to fund the first survivor clinic.”

And fund it he has. Construction for the Center for Survivorship Clinic, located at 250 Pequot Ave. in Fairfield, started in 2011 and the grand opening is scheduled for late September. And Keith is already in his office working.

“We moved in just over a week ago and we’re in the process of getting all the bugs worked out, but we’re in the space,” he said. “There’ll be exercise, nutrition and psychosocial programs, so we’re really excited to open the first standalone center for cancer survivors in the country.

“I expect this center to impact over 1,000 survivors the first year and just grow from there. My biggest goal is to make sure that the money I raise goes back into communities throughout the state and helps people that need it the most.”

The Run Across America. The Swim Across the Sound. The Swim Across America. The Connecticut Bike Challenge.

For over 25 years, Jeff Keith has been working to raise money for cancer research and cancer survivors. And you can bet he’s not done yet.

“It’s been pretty fun, this whole ride,” he said. “It’s been pretty special.”

celsberry@ctpost.com; http://Twitter@elsctpost

Scientists Confirm Existence of Vitamin 'Deserts' in the Ocean

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Changes could help lower cancer rates

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A sobering new report about cancer diagnoses and mortality rates in New Jersey should serve as a reminder of the need for certain public health policy changes in Trenton and lifestyle changes that individuals ought to adopt if they want to lessen their risk of becoming another cancer statistic.

The report from the American Cancer Society New York and New Jersey chapter looks specifically at New Jersey. What it shows is that New Jerseyans, particularly South Jerseyans, are being diagnosed with various forms of cancer at rate higher than the national average.

Some of the findings:

• The U.S. average for incidence of cancer among males is 541 per 100,000 of population. In New Jersey, the incidence rate for males is 584.7.

• The U.S. average for incidence of cancer among females is 411.6 per 100,000 of population. In New Jersey, the incidence rate for females is 447.8.

• The incidence rate among both men and women in New Jersey is higher than the national rates for colorectal, breast, lung and prostate cancer, among others. These four cancers account for more than half of all diagnoses and almost half of all cancer deaths.

• Cape May County had the highest cancer incidence rate above the statewide rate — 15 percent higher — between 2004 and 2008. Other counties with significantly higher cancer incidence rates than the state average are: Gloucester, 7 percent higher; Camden, Burlington and Ocean, all 6 percent higher; and Atlantic County, 5 percent higher.

These numbers really should be a wake up call for New Jerseyans and for those who set the public health agenda in Trenton.

One area that merits immediate attention, and where the money exists to do something, is with lung cancer — that means foremost driving down smoking rates.

New Jersey collects about $1 billion a year in revenue from its high tax on tobacco and from the 1998 settlement with the big tobacco companies as compensation for Medicaid-related health care costs attributable to tobacco.

Yet it spends next to nothing — $1.5 million in the 2012 state budget — on programs to help smokers quit and to encourage people not to smoke. On the flip side, New Jersey spends more than $3 billion a year on medical care related to smoking, including just under $1 billion in Medicaid payments alone.

Why You Need More Folic Acid in Your Pregnancy Diet - WKBW

Healthy pregnancy, healthy baby, healthy mom – expert advice tips: Healthy Pregnancy

By Jill Tomlin for Healthy pregnancy, healthy baby, healthy mom – expert advice tips

If you're going to the store for an ovulation predictor kit, add orange juice, beans, liver and broccoli to your shopping list. These foods are natural sources of folate, an important B vitamin for your pregnancy diet that prevents birth defects. Don't like liver and broccoli? Fortunately, vitamin B is available in pill form.

Where to Get Folic Acid
In fact, most multivitamins contain folic acid, the synthetic form of folate. Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a plan to add folic acid to food in 1998, it can be found in many cereals, breads and grains. Other natural sources of folate include:

• Spinach
• Peanuts
• Asparagus
• Peas
• Lentils
• Brussels sprouts

Since most women can't get enough of these foods in their pregnancy diet for optimal folate benefits, the March of Dimes and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that women of childbearing age take a daily supplement containing 400 micrograms of folic acid.

When to Take Folic Acid
According to Dr. Donald R. Mattison, former medical director for the March of Dimes, women should make a concerted effort to start their pregnancy diet by increasing their folic acid intake at least a month before attempting to become pregnant. Timing is key, because folic acid can prevent certain birth defects within the first four weeks after conception. "That's often a time before the couple has even recognized that they are pregnant,” says Mattison.

Folic acid helps prevent neural tube defects, which cause malformations of the brain and spinal cord and can lead to conditions like spina bifida (which causes paralysis and poor bowel function). Folic acid also may prevent heart defects and Down syndrome.

Once you are pregnant, your doctor will likely encourage you to increase your intake of folic acid, but check with your doctor before you decide to up your dose on your own. Doubling up on a multivitamin could be dangerous, cautions obstetrician Dr. Charles Lockwood.

Why Stick With Folic Acid?
Even after you bring your new baby home from the hospital, it's a good idea to continue taking folic acid daily, experts say, because half of all pregnancies are unplanned. "It's simple to do," says Mattison. "And well worth it."

Like this article? Get more by following us @BabyPlusYou or friending us on Facebook at Baby + You.

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/Choreograph

Jill
Tomlin, a Topeka, Kansas native, writes about health issues for a variety of
national publications, including Baby + You.

More on feeding baby from our sponsor

`Selena' star Lupe Ontiveros dies of cancer at 69

“I’ve had a hell of a good time playing those maids,” she told LA Weekly in 2002. “Each one to me is very special … No matter how much I resent the stupidity that is written into them, the audacity that the industry has when they portray us in such a nonsensical, idiotic, such — oh my God! — such a degrading manner, still, my humor survives in these maids. I’m very proud of them.”

Vitamin Deserts Limit Marine Life

Mother Earth hasn’t been making her oceans take their vitamins.

Oceanographers found that some expanses of the ocean lack B vitamins, like riboflavin, thiamine and niacin. A lack of B vitamins makes those regions of the ocean inhospitable deserts as far as phytoplankton are concerned. Phytoplankton are single-celled organisms that use energy from the sun and support many of the ocean’s food webs, hence no plankton means no larger marine life.

WATCH VIDEO: Oceans Provide Flood of Info

ANALYSIS: Rising Ocean Acidity May Deplete Vital Phytoplankton

Lack of B vitamins can lead to fatal conditions in humans, and lack of the vitamins seriously hinders plankton’s survival as well. Phytoplankton need B vitamins to carry on life processes, such as carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid synthesis, because the vitamins assist enzymes to speed up chemical processes.

Oceanographers have found that fluctuations in B vitamins have an effect on plankton. They had hypothesized that vitamin deserts existed, but had never found one. A team of biologists from the Universities of Hawaii and Southern California first condensed sea water and then used a mass spectrometer to look for signs of B vitamins. They found that some areas of the oceans were lacking these essential parts of a phytoplankton’s diet.

“This is another twist to what limits life in the ocean,” said Sergio Sañudo-Wilhelmy, professor of biological and earth sciences at the University of Southern California and lead author of the paper which was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a press release.

The presence and movement of B vitamins in the ocean may be another piece in the puzzle to understanding what causes plankton blooms. A study published in Science presented evidence that blooms may be fueled by eddies holding phytoplankton in shallow water where the organisms can thrive. 

Thriving plankton lead to thriving fisheries and bountiful catches. Some would like to put the plankton to work on a bigger task. Phytoplankton, like plants, pull in carbon dioxide during respiration. Massive phytoplankton blooms pull in tremendous quantities of carbon dioxide.

NEWS: Largest Iron Fertilization Test Blooms Criticism

Triggering one of these blooms by sprinkling iron on the ocean has been proposed as a quick fix to climate change. Iron seeding experiments’ results have been hit or miss. The failure of some of these may have been related to the B vitamin deserts. Without B vitamins, phytoplankton don’t respond to iron seeding, according to oceanographers at the University of Granada.

Ocean seeding has been labeled by some as a biological Band-Aid which won’t reduce the causes of climate change. Other detractors mention examples of the folly that ensues from tinkering with nature, such as the disastrous introduction of cane toads to Australia or the spread of kudzu over the southern United States.

PHOTOS: Larger Than Life

IMAGE: A phytoplankton bloom (NASA, Wikimedia Commons)

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