World Cancer Day

As usual I’m a day late, yesterday (Feb. 4) was World Cancer Day, a day to raise awareness about cancer in its many forms and recognize cancer survivors. In my family we have had and still have quite a few. As a matter of fact, I have participated in so many relays for life and other fundraisers for cancer research for so many years that it seems like the cure for cancer might as well be pie in the sky. Cancer has been around for a long time. In my reading (New Scientist Magazine, my favorite) I came across some interesting information about metastasizing cancer cells that makes me hopeful about the possibility of a cure or at least a way to improve the odds against cancers that manifest as brain tumors. The news that any kind of cancer has metastasized or spread to other organs in the body is never good and can happen even after some cancers have been in remission for years. The news is especially devastating if the cancer has metastasized to the brain. Once the cells begin to grow in the brain survival rates go into a tailspin. Only one fifth of the folks with brain cancers survive longer than a year from diagnosis. Breast cancer cells have been known to invade the brain by posing as neurons. Rahul Jandial, a neurosurgeon at the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, found this out when he decided to explore how breast cancer cells are able to cross the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain and how they then avoid destruction by the immune system. Knowing that the cancer cells can disguise themselves to avoid destruction is something researchers hope to use in order to find new ways to combat these brain tumors. I can only continue to help support research and hope that more strides can be made against this deadly disease in my lifetime.