Last week, the Los Angeles Movember launch event had downtown fire fighters out in full force. Their goal is to challenge a total of 100 firehouses in the greater LA area to join the cause in 2010 and, of course, to start follicularly-stimulated discussions about the scope and severity of the prostate cancer problem. At Davidson College in South Carolina, students will kick off Movember on November 1st with participants wearing suits and ties on campus to focus on the movement. In Westwood, members of the UCLA Greek system are also turning in their razors for a month. The list goes on.
Fun? Definitely. Frivilous? Certainly not. They are all helping to save lives.
In ten countries around the globe, men will soon be letting their hair out to support awareness and raise crucial funds for finding better treatments and cures for this disease that affects more than 16 million men and families around the world. Since 2004, Mo’ bros and Mo’ sistas have raised more than $40 million dollars to support research for men’s diseases. What’s more, in the U.S. they are changing the way prostate cancer is viewed. The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG are the beneficiaries of Movember efforts in the States. In its first three years in the U.S., Movember raised $2.3 million to support prostate cancer research through PCF. This year’s goal is $2 million. That’s a whole lotta mo’s and mo’ola.
Adam Garone is a founder of this unique movement that first started growing in Australia. He and his global team have engaged and motivated an entire generation of young men to tear down the taboos around prostate cancer and educate their contemporaries and their families about the second most deadly cancer for American men, after lung cancer. In 2010, it is estimated that 218,000 new cases will be diagnosed in the U.S. and more than 32,000 American men will die from it. By 2015, the number of new U.S. cases each year could rise above 300,000.
Literally and figuratively, Movember is definitely living up to it tagline: Changing the Face of Men’s Health. The teaching moment starts the moment anyone asks a participant, “What’s that on your face?”
The annual Movember campaign is fun, quirky and purposeful. It’s also proof that one should never be too quick to dismiss a good idea that might arise on a weekend afternoon while having a few beers with your mates. Interested? More information on Movember can be found at www.Movember.com.
Sheryl Crow, Cynthia Nixon, and Christina Applegate are just a few of the celebrities who have fought breast cancer.
You know their faces; you heard they had breast cancer. But do you know what really happened to these women? We’ve pulled together the details about how 10 of the world’s top performers and public figures endured breast cancer’s treatments and traumas——all while living in the public eye.
To read about their stories, click here.
By Rebecca Webber
Mary McGuire-Wien and her husband, Charles Wildbank, had been searching for a new home on Long Island for more than a year, but every place they’d seen was either unsuitable or unaffordable. After one long Sunday of unsuccessful house-hunting with their agent, the couple was anxious to get back home, but got stuck at a traffic light right next to an old barn that was under renovation. “A guy in a hard hat looked over at us and said, ‘Are you looking for a house?’” says Mary.
Though the barn didn’t look like a house—it didn’t even have any visible windows—Mary and her husband got out to take a look. The building turned out to be loftlike, with beautiful historical details (including back-facing windows). “A normal family probably wouldn’t want it,” says Mary. “But it was absolutely perfect for us because we needed a space where I could have a yoga retreat, and where Charles could paint.” They agreed to buy the place from the construction worker, who turned out to be the barn’s owner.
Mary and Charles could be considered fortunate—what are the chances that the owner would stop them when they were most in need of a home? And yet, they were the ones who agreed to investigate an unlikely prospect. Their open-mindedness turned a strange moment into a lucky break.
People who spot and seize opportunity are different. They are more open to life’s forking paths, so they see possibilities others miss. And if things don’t work out the way they’d hoped, they brush off disappointment and launch themselves headlong toward the next fortunate circumstance. As a result, they’re happier and more likely to achieve their goals.
Psychologists are figuring out why some people always seem to juggle incredible opportunities. Their insights can help us all lead luckier lives.
To read about these insights and the rest of the article, click here.
Those who have been touched by cancer–patient or family member–are compelled to do a lot of thinking. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you already know I’ve done a fair share of my own during the past six months. Recently, while navigating to and from my daily radiation sessions, I have had time to make a mental inventory of what I have learned as a cancer patient.
Here are my personal lessons:
1. No matter where you stand in your diagnosis, Stage 4 or Stage 1, living with prostate cancer can sometimes suck…, but, it certainly beats the alternative. No one invited this unwanted guest to our party, but we’ll deal with it. I’d rather enjoy the celebration with a few challenges than to have missed the party.
2. I am not afraid of dying. I am afraid of missing those I love and being there for them. No, I am not being morbid. This is a simple realization and important distinction I plan to carry with me for the rest of my life. I suppose my faith and spiritual foundation are stronger than I might have guessed. If I am wrong on what might come next, the only downside I can see is a nice long sleep. However, it’s the idea of not being with those I know and love and sharing with them that gives me pause. The solution to this quandary is to at least try and do my best for them everyday of my life. Simple, yes. However, I would never have seen it with such clarity otherwise.
3. While cancer shouldn’t define me, it remains an undeniable part of who I have become. This disease has imparted an influence that will forever be a part of my existence. (Heck, some marriages don’t last six months…) I won’t annul myself from this part of my life. I will continue to acknowledge it and talk about it whenever I feel the need. I will also listen to any fellow patient or family member when they need an ear.
4. People aren’t comfortable with cancer until you are. They can’t offer compassion when you need it until you ask for it–if that’s what you need. If the “C” word paralyzes patients, I believe the effect on others can be ten-fold. Some stutter or stammer. Others fall into awkward silence. Worse yet, some may choose to deny there is anything wrong with you. As the central player in the film, a cancer patient needs to let others know what he or she is going through and how much or little discussion they need. To not do so risks isolation by default.
5. Women in menopause deserve a medal of honor. New to this whole man-o-pause thing, I don’t know how our sisters in humanity have dealt so admirably with this phenomenon throughout the ages. Add it to the whole “Super-mom” set of expectations that our generation has imposed on many women and it’s a mystery millions haven’t already combusted instantaneously–hot flashes or not.
6. Using the term “survivor” is a personal choice. I have met some former cancer patients who refuse to assume this distinction. It’s often applied to any patient who is currently battling the disease. That’s okay too. In my mind I do not yet qualify for the title. In five years, when I hear the words “cancer-free” applied to me, I will gladly accept it. I will have earned it. As I said, it’s a personal thing.
7. Silver linings and lemonade from lemons do exist. This might sound hackneyed, but I have certainly found my share of linings and enjoyed a great many glasses of refreshing lemonade along the way. I think having cancer just has a way of letting you see things differently and you can find these blessings more easily.
8. The world is a better place than the evening news leads you to believe. Working with compassionate care givers, feeling the love and hearing the concern of friends and family, and meeting so many others in the same position as me has reminded me that there are more good and wonderful people in this world than not. It’s easy to forget when we live life in status quo mode.
9. LST (Laughter Stimulation Therapy) should be standard for all patients regardless of their ailment. I love to laugh. I always knew this about myself, but the upside of hormone therapy is when the mood swing defaults to the hysterical. I have had several wonderfully out-of-control laughing jags in the past few weeks. I hope to never lose these and appreciate the endorphins they release.
10. Modesty and privacy are highly overrated. In the past six months I have had my private parts poked, prodded, tugged, removed, sliced, swabbed, injected, inserted with things–even clamped…YES, CLAMPED, all in view of numerous medical professionals. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but if giving up some privacy will allow me to grow old and someday share some golden retirement days with my wife and family, have at it. Groping for a cure–I’m all for it.
From the blog “My New York Minute” – http://mynewyorkminute.org/?p=743
Tyler’s heroic and inspirational story of survival and advocacy shows us why, working together, we can make a difference.
Loss of libido and difficulty having sex are common complaints among breast cancer survivors, new research confirms.
More than two-thirds of surveyed survivors reported that they were still having sexual function problems two years after diagnosis. Most described their sex lives as satisfying before breast cancer.
Women taking aromatase inhibitors as treatment for their breast cancer reported more sexual problems than women taking tamoxifen.
Body image issues and vaginal dryness related to aromatase inhibitor use were among the most frequently mentioned complaints.
“Sexual problems are among the most common and least talked about side effects of breast cancer treatment,” study co-author Susan R. Davis, MD, of Victoria, Australia’s Monash University Medical School tells WebMD.
“About 70% of the women in our study were experiencing a meaningful loss of desire and sexual function a full two years after diagnosis.”
By Salynn Boyles
WebMD Health News
African-American men are 60 percent more likely to be diagnosed and 2.4 times more likely to die from prostate cancer. With the stark reality that black men and their families are more more likely to be affected by prostate cancer than any other group of our population, two events provided a fitting end to last week’s Advance on Washington: The African-American Prostate Cancer Health Disparities meeting organized by the Prostate Health Education Network (PHEN) as part of the Congressional Black Caucus meeting, and the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program (BBHOP) that was held at select barbershops in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas on Saturday. To read the entire article, click here.
An elderly couple walked into the lobby of the Mayo Clinic for a checkup and spotted a piano. They’ve been married for 62 years and he’ll be 90 this year. Check out this impromptu performance. We are only as old as we feel, it’s all attitude. Enjoy! They certainly do!
Men with low PSA levels from a baseline blood test were less likely to develop prostate cancer compared to men whose baseline PSA levels were high, according to a new study.
The simple test may be a strong predictor of who will benefit from future screening and treatment for prostate cancer, according to the study published Monday in the journal Cancer.
More than 85,000 men, ages 55 to 74, with no previous prostate cancer history were the subjects of the study. The authors found that in order to save one life, they needed to investigate almost 25,000 men with low PSA levels but only 133 men with high ones. Similarly, they needed to treat 724 men who had low PSA levels to save one life but only 60 men whose levels were higher.
PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, is a protein found in prostate cancer tissue. When that tissue breaks down, the protein seeps into the bloodstream. The heavier the presence of PSA in the blood, the more likely prostate cancer will be dangerous and require some type of treatment, said Dr. Otis Brawley, Chief Medical Officer at American Cancer Society and a contributor to CNNHealth.com.
But aren’t all cancers bad, even if a man’s PSA level is low?
“There are a large number of prostate cancers that don’t need to be treated because they’re not a health threat to the man who has them,” explained Brawley. That makes guidelines for screenings more difficult to set.
The American Cancer Society encourages men to work with their doctors to learn about the test’s benefits and risks before making an informed personal decision around age 50. Research has not yet proven that the potential benefits of testing outweigh the harms of testing and treatment, explains the organization.
The American Urology Association recommends baseline screening for men at age 40 with future screenings determined in conjunction with the patient’s doctor.
“This can’t be done in a vacuum,” said Dr. J. Brantley Thrasher, spokesman for the American Urology Association and the William L. Balk Chair of the Department of Urology at the University of Kansas. “We need to let [patients] know this is an imperfect marker, but we’re getting data that may help us in the future.”
It’s difficult to accept the idea that you could have prostate cancer that doesn’t need to be treated and could be left alone with no harm, while other men have aggressive and deadly prostate cancers. Brawley, who chooses not to be screened, thinks this is why most men get PSA tests regularly, despite the many risks associated treatment.
“By choosing to get screened, there is a guaranteed increase in diagnosis… but there is only a potential decrease in death,” said Brawley.
Some of the risks of treatment include impotence, incontinence and bowel injury.
Still, Thrasher says the importance of the PSA blood test should not be diminished. He tells his patients to get regular screenings every other year or every three years after their initial test.
“I believe knowledge is power to some extent,” said Thrasher. “It’s risks versus benefits… and each decision point is a fork in the road where [me and patients] have to have a discussion.”
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Also known as RC Cancer Centers.
