Miracle cancer drug...

Interesting news report over at Gizmodo concerning a "miracle drug" that has kept cancer at bay for 70 year old American, Don Wright.

Don has run 60 marathons in 41 US states since being diagnosed with myeloma (a form of cancer affecting white blood cells) eight years ago.

Amazingly, Mr Wright only takes one pill a day (pomalidomide) and has more trouble with his knee than with his illness.

In other cancer news, this week it emerged that patients in Wales could be asked to rate their care
as the government plans a major overhaul of services there. This is part of an overall strategy for cancer care in Wales entitled Together Against Cancer, with improvements intended to be rolled out by 2016. More info from walesonline.

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Cancer awareness

This isn't really a subject most of us like to talk about - once we reach a certain age we all know someone whose life has been affected by cancer. It's just a fact of life that we acknowledge but never really discuss.

Which is why it's good that there's so much info on the web - what once would have been questions you'd never in a million years ask your GP are now the standard FAQs published in many places. In terms of the preventative aspect alone, the internet has been a great help for millions.

But there's still a long way to go. A lot of people still think 'cancer' is a single disease, when in fact the word refers to a class of diseases many of which are very different from each other.

So - awareness is key, but we need to take it upon ourselves to make sure we can educate ourselves as much as possible on this topic. Things as simple as self-checking can be crucial. Speak to a medical professional or have a look at the NHS website for the types of checks that you can do yourself.

Some links:

Cancer medical fact sheet
Cancer Research
BBC Health Cancer page

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Increase in Screening is Jade's Legacy

Questions remain over the coverage of the tragic death of Reality TV star Jade Goody, we found some of it rather intrusive (ie pictures of her family leaving her bedside day after day), although apparently Jade herself was keen to document her final days in detail.

Anyway, press coverage notwithstanding, it seems that Jade's fight has had a positive effect on the cervical cancer screening rates amongst the traditionally hard two traditonally hard-to- reach demographics - the 25 to 35 year old age group, and people of lower socioeconomic groups.

According to BBC News:

Julietta Patnick, director of NHS screening programmes, said some laboratories are reporting a 20% increase in cases, others as much as 50%.

On targeting persons from socioeconomic sectors, medical director of Cancer Partners UK, Professor Karol Sikora told the BBC:

"What is interesting is that if you look at the number of people who take up the offers, it is on average 70%.

"If you break that down to socioeconomic groupings it is about 90% in class one - wealthy and educated people - and something like 50% in some geographical areas of Britain where there are predominantly people living in deprivation with poor education," he said.

"What Jade's story does is get to groups you can not get to with other methods.

"Putting out a leaflet or an advert on TV just does not work.

"She appeals to socioeconomic groups four and five, people who read the tabloids rather than the broadsheets."

Increasing the awareness of this issue withing these difficult spheres is a signififcant legacy for Jade to leave. Hopefully early detection will ensure that thousands of other won't share her fate.

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