Battling Cancer

If you’ve been following the Too Sexy For My Hair blog, you’ve learned that Lori Miller has lost her battle against cancer this past October. Her husband Cary, however, is urging people to consider donating to charity in Lori’s name this holiday season.

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On behalf of the kind folks at HART Networks (and by that, I mean HART and Gloria) , I want to wish all of you Battling Cancer readers a Merry Christmas! I’ll see you all under the mistletoe — but don’t tell my husband! (Hmm, I seem to be saying that a lot lately).

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Federal officials are being asked to answer why they gave an “all clear status” to a toxic waste dump in Pennsylvania’s Schukill County after a report given at the the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting stated that the number of rare cancer diagnoses in inhabitants living nearby was “statistically improbable.”

The site, a former mine, was used as a dumping ground for paint sludge, solvents, and other potential carcinogens, before being shut down in 1979. Later, the area was classified as a Superfund site by the Environment Protection Agency.

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We Have A New Template!

If you haven’t noticed yet .. this is a brand new template for Battling Cancer. This picture on the left is a screen capture image view of what it looked like before.

Although, I’m still rolling out the changes, crossing my “T”’s and dotting my “I”’s .. but, for the most part it is ready to roll!

Please take a good look around and leave us a comment if you have any suggestions, or can’t find anything. Although this template is up, we still consider it to be in a ‘beta’ mode.

This similar template is also installed over at Battling Arthritis, and will eventually be installed on all of the “Battling For Health” series of blogs. There is now an easy access to each health blog, by clicking the links at the top of the header.

Season’s Greetings from all of us at HART-Empire Network
HART

Hi everyone — pull up a comfy seat and get ready for some weekend reading. Here’s my favorite posts from the last few weeks from around the blogosphere!

When Your Stool Smells Bad and it Floats in the Toilet Bowl
A very, um, descriptive post about some post-treatment hazards for pancreatic cancer patients.

Cancer Doesn’t Wait ‘Till After the Holidays, Parts II and III
Karen Lynch of Discussing Breast Cancer finishes out a brilliant series on practical advice for

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Since we’ve had a huge wave of users stumbling their way onto our little site lately, I thought I’d spend a little time giving a tour of some neat little functions we have around here:

1. Rating Posts: We’ve rolled out functionality to rate posts — the highest rated posts are in a sidebar, plus a tab up top links to my favorite posts and readers’ favorite posts. Please take the time to rate your favorite posts, because it lets me know what kind of content you like best!

2. Subscribe via Email: We just rolled out a new way for to get all of the Battling Cancer posts delivered right to your email — check out the “Subscribe” box on the right sidebar.

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The American Cancer Society released a report today linking lack of health care coverage with poorer survival outcomes in cancer patients.

Published in the January/February issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the report shows that although Americans are experiencing lower cancer-related mortality rates overall due to better screening and detection methods, education and prevention tactics, and treatment approaches, uninsured patients are still 1.6 times more likely to die within five years than privately insured patients.

According to The National Health Interview Survey, the two age groups most likely to go without health insurance are adults aged 18 - 24 and 25 - 34. The same report also found that nearly half of individuals in low-income households were without insurance within a year of being surveyed and that Hispanic and American Indian households were also more likely to be uninsured than other demographic groups.

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Looks like a lot more people are going to be adding “Quit Smoking” to their New Year’s Resolution list for 2008.

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Anyone who’s ever gone through cancer treatment can tell you that it’s not easy going through The Big Three — surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. Below, Battling Cancer discusses the story of two individuals whose own cancer diagnoses inspired them to seek better treatment plans for themselves and others:

 

Neil Ruzic

A scientific writer and inventor, Neil Ruzic dedicated his life to asking questions and improving the scientific research climate. When he was diagnosed with mantle-cell lymphoma in 1998, he shunned traditional approaches to curative care in search of more nontoxic approaches. For four years, he visited several comprehensive cancer centers, investigated new cures in research laboratories, and enrolled in clinical trials. He compiled his research in a book entitled, Racing to a Cure: A Cancer Victim Refuses Chemotherapy and Finds Tomorrow’s Cures in Today’s Scientific Laboratories. Before he passed away in 2004, he founded the Ruzic Research Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding experimental approaches to lymphoma treatment. More →

It may not be as scandalous as getting naked for charity, but this is definitely a cause that I can get behind.

Mustaches for Kids is a volunteer organization of over a dozen chapters throughout North America that raises money for various children’s charities. Since its inception in 1999, its members have garnered sponsorships to support their facial hair efforts.

From the organization’s website:

Here’s how it works: Each year, during the four-week Growing Season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Growers sprout sweet, sweet Mustaches. Per Mustaches for Kids bylaws, they shave their faces, except for the Mustache, a minimum of one time per week and solicit donations from friends, family, co-workers, and people in the community. Kind of like getting pledges to run a marathon. Without the exertion, cramping, or dehydration. Call it a facial hair marathon. More →