Breast Cancer- There Is A Way Through Your Fears

Breast Cancer- There Is A Way Through Your Fears by Anne Bennett Bennett

Have you had breast cancer in the past, or are you undergoing treatments now? If so, SoulCollage® is a practice that you will seem like a gift to you.

Get in touch with the voices inside of you that have something to say about your cancer.

Open yourself to the gifts they bring you... and free yourself from your fears. It's time to live again!

The Journey Begins

This is the story of my breast cancer journey, and how gluing magazine pictures onto mat board led me back to my spirit.

In December of 2001, breast cancer was the furthest thing from my mind. I was busy. I had a loving husband, a nice home, three beautiful stepchildren, a good job. Then my perfect little world was suddenly turned inside out and upside down.

A routine, suspicious mammogram. A phone call. Mammogram #2. A stereotactic core biopsy.

My diagnosis: breast cancer, stage 2, infiltrating, ductal, HER2.

All of the above happened within the fearful, anxious, unbelievable time span of 7 days. And my life has never been the same.

The next nine months held a most strange quality of disbelief and exhaustion. It also held two surgeries, four chemotherapy treatments spaced three weeks apart, and 47 radiation treatments (spaced daily, over the course of 9 weeks).

Fears of the Cancer Returning

It's been three years since my life was turned upside down and inside out.... Three years. My prognosis is very good. I hear this every three months depending on which doctor my appointment is with: breast surgeon, medical oncologist, or radiation oncologist.

Three years have passed. I look good. I feel good. And yet nothing has been able to quiet the storms of fear that threaten to overwhelm me from time to time. The insidious fear that the breast cancer might return. The intimidating fear of another potentially deadly diagnosis.

I have meditated and prayed about this. I have talked about it with my wonderful therapist and with other breast cancer survivors. I have tried guided imagery, journaling, and art journaling. These have all tempered the fear to some extent, but only for a very short while.

How SoulCollage Soothed My Fears

Then I began practicing SoulCollage® and my inner dynamics began to change.

SoulCollage® is a personal growth tool that is a mystical, magical blend of intuitive art and good ol' collage fun. Using our intuition and imagination, we create a deck of collaged cards where each card reflects a different aspect of who we are. The cards are then used to assist us to access our own deep wisdom and help us answer life's questions.

There are four suits in a SoulCollage® deck: The Committee (the inner voices in our minds), The Community (the family and friends who love us), The Companions (animal totems who lend us their energies) and The Council (archetypes who symbolize major life themes for us).

SoulCollage® cards are made using magazine images, scissors, a glue stick, and 5" x 8" pieces of mat board.

It turned out to be the best way for me to deal with the lingering fears that I was left with after my cancer treatments were over. I listened carefully inside of me to the voices that had something to say about my breasts, and my breast cancer, and I made three cards over the course of a few months.

Naming my Inner Voices

The "voices" I named and then worked with in the coming months were: I am the one who fears breast cancer returning, I am the one who hates her disfigured left breast, I am the one who survived breast cancer and walked away from it (both of these voices were Committee members), and I am the one who gave you the courage to survive breast cancer.

You can see the SoulCollage® cards I made for each of these voices at http://www.kaleidosoul.com/breastcancer.html.

After making the cards, I journaled with them, asking each voice the following questions: Who are you? What do you have to give me? What do you want from me? How will I remember?

The Healing Continues

The entire process of making these SoulCollage® cards and then dialoguing with them led me deeper into my feelings about my diagnosis and all that I had been through on my journey since then. This led me to a very deep and powerful spiritual healing that is difficult to describe, yet very real in my life.

Now, when my fears of another cancer diagnosis threaten to consume me, I simply look at my SoulCollage card that honors that voice inside of me and I acknowledge it. This voice, this fear will always be a part of me, but I do not have to allow it to control me.

About the Author

Anne Marie is a breast cancer survivor, freelance writer, & self-taught artist who teaches SoulCollage® with passion and joy. Anne Marie lives, laughs, sings, works, (and makes her own SoulCollage cards!) in Beverly, MA. To see some of her cards, and to learn how to make your own SoulCollage® cards, please visit http://www.kaleidosoul.com

Breast Cancer Ribbon

Breast Cancer Ribbon by Jonathan Mayheart

These days almost every worthy cause finds itself a proper ribbon, without getting into the debate about the use of ribbons and how people use them, there are not many ribbons that I know of that are more important than the breast cancer ribbon.

Breast cancer is a dangerous enemy, while it is true that the awareness to its risks and the understanding of the prevention measures that need to be taken on a regular basis has increased over the years and had probably saved many lives, some people are still not aware of breast cancer and others prefer to live in some sort of denial.

So why is it important to use the pink ribbon and join the fight against breast cancer? First of all it shows the most important thing a person can show, it shows that you care, its shows that you are willing to give a little of your time or energy to try and educate more people, to warn some others and to maybe, just by doing this very small action contribute to saving a life. This is not a joke, sometimes awareness is all that separates the ill from the healthy and the dead from the living, we are at an age where people are learning of new dangers every day, and with all these upcoming potential dangers of terrorism and natural disasters breast cancer has been here long enough and has cause so much pain and suffering that it certainly deserves to be treated as something we should all remember, even on a daily basis.

Every October is the international breast cancer awareness month, this is the time to try and do the most to increase the public awareness of this disease, and educate woman about the ways they can fight breast cancer, this month is also dedicated to raising money for the many different organizations and foundations that are working all year round on helping victims of breast cancer, some of these patients have no money and no funds they can use to try and treat the cancer, and these organizations help them get the support that they need.

So all you got to do is just place one of these pink ribbons on your shirt of jacket, and show the solidarity you have with the breast cancer patients, the victims and the family and friends of those who have been effected by this terrible disease. Remember that you do not have to limit yourself only to the month of October, and that it is enough for only one person to ask you about this ribbon - once a year to make a huge difference, think about hundreds, if not thousands of people like you doing the same thing every day, and each one of these people is approached by an uneducated person, how many lives can be speared.

Lets hope that in the future the fight against breast cancer, as the fight against all kinds of cancer, will achieve its goals and that this disease will claim less victims, that modern medicine and science will find cures and that more and more people around the world will live healthier and happier lives.

Visit http://breastcancer.healthandcosmetics.com/ for more Breast Cancer information.

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer by Top Women's Health

Breast cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women. It affects approximately one out of eleven to twelve women at some stage of their life. Next to lung cancer, breast cancer is the second most fatal cancer in women. The breast is composed of identical tissues in males and females, that is why breast cancer can also occur in males but the incidence is very low, less than one percent.

What is breast cancer? Breast cancer occurs when the cells in the breast begin to grow uncontrollably and invade the nearby tissues or spread throughout the body. These extra cells can form a mass of tissue called a growth or tumor. Tumors can be benign or malignant. Benign tumors may grow larger but do not spread to other parts of the body, they are not cancerous. They are rarely life threatening, and generally benign tumors can be removed and don't usually grow back. Malignant tumors on the other hand, can invade and destroy nearby tissues and spread to other parts of the body, they are cancerous. They may be life threatening. They can be removed but they sometimes grow back. Cells from malignant tumors can spread to other parts of the body. Cancer cells spread by breaking away from the original or primary tumor and entering the bloodstream or lymphatic system. The cells invade other organs and form new tumors that damage these organs. The spread of cancer is called metastasis.

When breast cancer cells spread, they are often found in lymph nodes near the breast. Breast cancer can also spread to almost any part of the body; the most common are the bones, liver, lungs, and brain. This new tumor has the same kind of abnormal cells and the same primary tumor, which results to different types of cancer.

What are the risk factors of breast cancer? The exact cause of this disease cannot be determined but doctors often explain why one woman develops breast cancers and another does not. One thing is for sure, bumping, bruising, or touching the breast does not cause cancer. It is also not contagious. Research has shown that women with certain risk factors are more likely to develop the disease. Here are some risk factors for breast cancer:

Age. As a woman gets older the chances of getting the disease goes up. Most cases occur in women over 60. The disease is not common before menopause.

Personal history of breast cancer. If a woman has had breast cancer on one of her breast, there is an increased rate of getting cancer on the other breast.

Family history. If a family member has had breast cancer, like the mother, sister or daughter, or other relatives (either the mother's or father's side) the risk of breast cancer is higher.

Certain Breast Changes. Some women have abnormal cells in the breast called, atypical hyperplasia and lobular carcinoma in situ, increases the risk of breast cancer.

Gene Changes. Changes in genes increases the risk of breast cancer, this includes BRCA1, BRCA2, and others.

Reproductive and Menstrual History. The older the woman is when she has her first child increases the chance of having the disease. Women who had their first menstrual period before age 12, women who went through menopause after age 55, women who never had children, women who take menopausal hormone therapy with estrogen plus progestin, have risk to having breast cancer.

Race. More often, breast cancer is diagnosed in white women than Latin, Asian, or African American women.

Other risk factors include: radiation therapy to the chest before age 30, breast density (more dense or fatty tissue are at increased risk), taking DES (diethylstilbestrol), being overweight or obese, lack of physical activity and alcohol. Other possible risk factors are under study, including certain substances in the environment.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer? Unfortunately, early stages of this disease may not have symptoms. Following screening recommendations or having regular breast check-ups is important. As a tumor grows in size, it produces a variety of symptoms that include: * lump or thickening in the breast or underarm * change in size or shape of the breast * nipple discharge or nipple turning inward * redness or scaling of the skin or nipple * ridges or pitting of the breast skin

Having or experiencing these symptoms may not necessarily mean that you have breast cancer, but you need to be examined by a doctor. Early detection and treatment of the disease if diagnosed can save you from illness or maybe even death.For More Information Visit Top Women's Health

Treatment of cancer

Treatment of cancer by Daniel

Cancer treatment offered different ways to prevent the cancer. Cancer treatment is depending on which type of cancer and which stage of cancer. Basically, the treatment is to cure the cancer and not dispersal to other part, to avoid the symptoms of cancer. Cancer treatment has some opportunity to prevent cancer they has follows: * Surgery * Diagnosis * Treatment * Chemotherapy * Hormonal Therapy * Radiation Therapy * Targeted Therapy

Surgery:

Cancer patient want to do surgery. Surgeries mainly execute the removal of living tissue. Its have some types to do surgery. Initially they gave a local treatment and they determine whether the treatment is needed or not. If cancer patient need a surgery it's according to their stage of cancer. Now days they are technically develop their surgery part.

Diagnosis: Diagnosis a cancer is the best way. Suppose if its lump or group, so that they used to locate the surgeon part clearly. They supposed to remove the cancer part and directly sent to pathology laboratory, check whether the part is affected by cancer or not. After the suggestion is sent from the laboratory the physician does their treatment according to their stage of cancer.

Treatment:

The active treatment of cancer they need a best involvement and coordination for every treatment. The most important is that surgery is not a good result for a patient. Cancer is diagnosed, through the blood, cancer cells are suppose to spread allover the part of the body, if it is spreading cancer. Cancer treatment needs some therapy treatment they are chemotherapy, radiation and hormonal therapy if it is necessary.

Chemotherapy:

Chemotherapy is a one of the treatment that made up of drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy had a consist of single drugs or blend of drugs they bid the medicine according to their stage of cancer. Chemotherapy is totally varies from surgery, because in that cancer-fighting drugs is use to prevent the cancer whether it is spread to every parts of the body or blood. Many of the people diagnosed with cancer can receive the chemotherapy. Millions of people affected with cancers they can receive the chemotherapy treatment. Chemotherapy is very easy way to prevent the cancer.

Hormonal Therapy:

Hormones are generally emotive part in the body that will grown because hormone in sensitive tissues, such as breast gland. When cancer on breast part it will occur all over part of the body with own hormones. Hormone therapy are the best way to prevent the cancer but its used take away the secrete hormones such as ovaries or testicles. Hormonal Therapy analogous to chemotherapy. But its systematic treatment is used to clear the cancer cells all over the body.

Radiation Therapy:

Radiation therapy is a main part to harm the DNA cancer cell and is used to avoid the growing and reproduction of cancer cells. When cancer cells died and the cancer are supposed to disappear. The main advantage of Radiation therapy is uses to destroy the cancer cells and improve the cure of cancer and reduce the side effects of cancer. Radiation therapy may possibly used for reducing the symptoms under the medical condition.

Radiation is typically organized in the way high-energy mean radiation gave a heavy dose where the cancer cells are performed. Radiation can kill the cancer cells in the location part of the body if they continue is not easy to destroy the cancer cells.

Targeted Therapy:

A targeted therapy is one of the therapy treatments that is use to treat just cancer cells and reduce the harm cells whether it's normal, healthy cells. The target of cancer treatment is reducing the side effects of cancer and to improve the good results who are affected by cancer.

Promote Breast Cancer Awareness

Promote Breast Cancer Awareness by Abbie Stutzer

According to BreastCancer.org, "Every three minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer." Breast cancer is a serious illness that affects a significant population and should not be disregarded.

Research concerning breast cancer prevention and early cancer detection is constantly conducted, but some people are still uninformed about how to protect themselves against this disease. So, how can you educate your employees, clients and patients about breast cancer? One simple way is by recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. Throughout the month, give employees, clients and patients promotional products that send a message - tell them to learn about breast cancer and the ways to detect it before it takes another life.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is filled with different activities to help people learn about the disease. One of the events that takes place every year in various cities around the United States is the Breast Cancer Three-Day. This walk allows breast cancer survivors, their family and friends a chance to walk together to raise breast cancer awareness. The event raises money to help find the cure for breast cancer. This year, why not give out pedometers to employees, clients and patients to encourage them to train for this event. With each step taken, they can think about the lives that could be saved by participating in this event.

Another promotional product that can inform people of breast cancer awareness is a gift of chocolate. Now, you may think this sounds silly, but there is some logic behind it. Not only do a lot of people enjoy chocolate, but dark chocolate is filled with antioxidants that help ward off cancer. Ok, it may not be as good as a salad, but hey, it's fun! Give employees these tasty chocolate bars with the slogan "Don't be in the dark! Educate yourself about breast cancer," printed on a sheet of paper with the time and date of the Three-Day that is near your city. If you don't think your employees will like the chocolate, create a similar gift with one of our antioxidant-filled green tea samplers. This is a creative and tasty way to create awareness about breast cancer.

Breast cancer awareness can be promoted in a more traditional manner as well. One great promotional product to consider is a pink car magnet in the shape of a ribbon. These pink ribbon magnets may not seem original, but they are a great way to raise awareness everywhere you go. The magnet will be seen by everyone who drives by.

Whether you discuss breast cancer through the giveaway of a promotional product or by sending out a memo reminding employees about the importance of Breast Cancer Awareness month, you are spreading an important message and educating people about breast cancer.

Breast Cancer

Breast Cancer by Frank Vanderlugt

Words cannot describe the feeling you get when you find out that you or a loved one has been diagnosed with breast cancer. To hear that breast cancer kills as many as 500,000 women and men worldwide each year and that's it's the fifth most common cause of death by cancer makes it all seem so hopeless.

Breast cancer treatments may sound scary. Chemotherapy? A mastectomy? Will you feel like yourself after such invasive procedures? Where do you turn? What doctors do you trust? Don't despair, though, and don't let breast cancer win!

You're not alone! And you'll be pleasantly surprised to learn that your chances of survival, if your breast cancer has been caught early enough, are very high!

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation (komen.org) has become the leading nonprofit breast cancer awareness and charity foundations in the world since it was founded in 1982. The Komen Foundation welcomes women and men battling breast cancer, survivors of breast cancer, and all of their friends and family to join in promoting awareness and helping to raise funds for scientists to discover the cure for breast cancer.

Ever wonder how pink came to be associated with fighting breast cancer? The Komen Foundation is largely responsible for the idea of using pink ribbons and the color pink being used in products that give some of their donations to the foundation in order to fight breast cancer.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the Komen Foundation holds it annual Race for the Cure. Survivors of breast cancer, people battling breast cancer, and their loved ones get some exercise in 5K runs/walks across the nation, with proceeds going to the Komen Foundation. It's a time for people impacted by breast cancer to form a sense of community and support, to breathe in the fresh air and stay in shape, and to laugh and have fun.

Visit the Komen Foundation's breast cancer awareness Web site for tips on living with and preventing cancer, a help hotline when you're feeling overwhelmed, the latest information on breast cancer research, an online community of support, and to purchase breast cancer awareness products to help fight breast cancer.

There is so much support and help available for those affected by breast cancer. You can find features similar to the Komen Foundation's Web site at BreastCancer.org, BreastCancer.net, NationalBreastCancer.org, and the National Cancer Institute's Web site on breast cancer at Cancer.gov.

Millions of people have fought breast cancer and millions of people are still living happy, productive lives with or without their breast cancer today. Stay informed about the latest breast cancer news, stay in touch with others in your situation, and do all that you can to help find the cure!

Failed Cancer Diagnosis Can Be a Fatal Mistake by Lynn Fugaro

One of the most frequent types of medical malpractice cases is the failure to diagnose cancer. Cancer is a group of more than 100 different diseases and occurs when cells become abnormal and keep dividing and forming more cells at an alarming speed. If cells continue to divide when new cells are not needed, a mass of excess tissue is formed; this excess of cells forms a tumor. Tumors can be either benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Cancer cells can also invade nearby tissues or travel through the bloodstream to form additional tumors elsewhere.

Some cancers have warning signs such as unusual bleeding or discharge, change in bowel/bladder habits, a thickening or lump in a body part, digestion problems/difficulty swallowing, or a nagging cough/hoarseness. A biopsy is one of the only sure methods to find out if cancer is present. During a biopsy, a physician removes a part of the tissue and examines it under a microscope to see if there are cancer cells present. Cancer can be treated with surgery, hormone therapy, radiation therapy, or chemotherapy.

There are some screening tests utilized for early detection of some cancers. Yearly pap smears and mammograms are tools doctors use to detect cervical cancer and breast cancer. Colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy are used to detect colon and rectal cancer.

Cancers can be missed when these early detection tests are not properly administered or when they are simply not ordered at all. Some of the tests, especially mammograms, can be misread and misinterpreted by a radiologist, leading to the spread of the cancer. Biopsies can also be misread or biopsies that do not properly sample the affected tissue can lead to a failed diagnosis.

As the ability to diagnose cancer continues to improve, a doctor's failure to diagnose cancer becomes more difficult to understand and accept. A patient's chance of survival is directly linked to how early his cancer is diagnosed; failure to diagnose cancer in an early stage may require the patient to undergo more aggressive and painful cancer treatment than would otherwise be necessary. Certainly, a patient's prognosis worsens when cancer is not diagnosed in the early stages.

The following is a list of the most common types of cancer that doctors fail to diagnose:

· Cervical cancer
· Colon cancer
· Breast cancer
· Prostate cancer
· Esophageal cancer

Early treatments of all of these types of cancer are far less painful than the later courses of action necessary as a result of failing to diagnose them early. Often times, chemotherapy and radiation can be avoided if cancer is detected early enough. When a doctor fails to diagnose a cancer, the pain and suffering and financial hardship of the patient increases; this now becomes the physician's responsibility as he/she was the one who missed the early diagnosis.

FAN-C®

The research team of America's leading scientist Dr. K. N. Matsumura (Time Magazine Inventor of the Year, 2001) in Berkeley (California, USA), has discovered a means for greatly reducing the toxic side-effects of chemotherapy agents. With the substantial reduction of toxic side-effects, scientists believe chemotherapy can be made more effective. The newly discovered side effect reducing medicament is used during chemotherapy. However, for the side effect medicament to be used safely, chemotherapy must be monitored much more carefully than usually. Baja Institute with its rigorous quality controls is the first clinic in the world to be ready to monitor patients using the new FAN-C™ side effect medicament.

FAN-C® therapy is designed not only to minimize side effects, but also to make chemotherapy more powerful. Usually, only a fraction of cells in a tumor are immediately killed by chemotherapy. Many more cells are damaged without being killed. These damaged cancer cells can repair themselves, unless they are located and dissolved by "helper" blood cells in the patient's body (the "immune system"). Ordinary chemotherapy destroys "helper" cells; FAN-C® therapy solves that problem by protecting "helper" cells. Thus, FAN-C® therapy not only kills cancer cells directly, but also assures that "helper" cells can dissolve damaged cancer cells that would otherwise survive and kill the patient.

Latest clinical trial results are promising. A 62 years old male lung cancer patient was bedridden and on narcotics around the clock for severe pain. After a round of radiotherapy and FAN-C® chemotherapy with carboplatin and gemcitabine, he became free of cancer seven months later and remains without a trace of cancer almost two years later. A second lung cancer patient is also now 18 months without a trace of cancer. Lung cancer patients like these usually have a year's lifespan. A 59 years old woman with a uterus sarcoma was first treated with gemcitabine and capecitabine. Subsequently, when her tumor showed no shrinkage with four cycles of carboplatin and gemcitabine given every three weeks (side effect to bone marrow was so severe she required Filgristim to stimulate her bone marrow), she was placed on weekly doses of carboplatin with FAN-C®. After only three cycles, her tumor showed twenty per cent shrinkage. A 53 years old woman with lobular carcinoma of the breast was found to have a solitary metastasis to the liver. Despite four cycles of taxane and capecitabine, her liver metastasis persisted. She was placed on weekly doses of carboplatin with FAN-C®. After five cycles, the liver metastasis fully responded. She remains free of cancer 17 months later. Typically, in conventional chemotherapy, remissions last 6 to 8 weeks. A 61 years old woman with myeloblastic leukemic condition in terminal status receiving frequent transfusions underwent weekly low-dose carboplatin therapy with FAN-C for just three weeks. Her blood count stabilized without transfusions and her remission has lasted 19 months. None of the above patients experienced any side effects from carboplatin despite the strong effect it had on the patient's cancer in every instance. In fact, patients tolerated chemotherapy well when FAN-C® was used and even an 82 years old woman underwent FAN-C® chemotherapy with weekly carboplatin without any symptoms. A 59 years old breast cancer patient with a huge liver full of hundreds of metastases underwent alternating weekly carboplatin and gemcitabine therapy with FAN-C®. After only a few cycles, the CT X-ray showed her liver looking like Swiss cheese with multiple holes where liver metastases had been. FAN-C® protected all classes of white blood neutrophil cells so that rather than chemotherapy slowly shrinking tumors such as in conventional chemotherapy, neutrophils liquefied all the cancer cells damaged by chemotherapy. The radiologist had never seen anything like it; it was indeed historic. The response rate in the most recent series of patients undergoing carboplatin chemotherapy with FAN-C® has been 100%. Above are not results selected from among poorer ones. Above cases represent a consecutive series of patients worldwide. LATE BULLETIN FROM FAN-C ADMINISTRATION The FAN-C Clinical Trial Administration is quite aware of what above results mean for cancer patients and for the world. The Administration has already revised this “clinical trial” into the status of Provisional Therapy. Unlike in ordinary trials where some patients are not given the investigational medicaments, all patients accepted at Ensenada are given FAN-C medicaments. The scale up of this work so that more than a few patients can be treated at a time is quite challenging since the production of FAN-C medicament is still limited. We must ensure that every patient accepted at Ensenada is someone the Baja Center can help in a relatively short time since most of our applicants must travel from Europe, South Africa, and Australia. The patients who have achieved these astonishing long-term remissions were predominantly no more advanced than “Early” Stage IV with no bone metastases, no brain metastases, and no extensive lung involvement. Cancer, even in early Stage IV, is almost always fatal, with conventional chemotherapy able to achieve mostly only short term remissions; we are astonished with the achievements of our early Stage IV patients and we would like to give more such patients an opportunity to be treated with FAN-C. The primary reason the FAN-C Clinical Trial Administration authorized Baja Cancer Institute to become the first global center to monitor patients undergoing FAN-C therapy is Dr. Guillermo Aguirre Condit, whom Dr. Matsumura describes as one of the most brilliant and kind physicians he has come to know over the past seven years. As Baja Center has recently added an American and a South African patients with extensive, advanced colon cancers, the FAN-C Administration is very pleased with Ensenada, Mexico as a center that is visa-accessible to patients from ALL countries. Medical care is a right not a privilege and it is important to FAN-C administrators that terror-concern not be a reason for a visa rejection and delay where days make a life or death difference. We have seen a derogatory blog comment by a patient who was offended by our inability to accept her due to the extremely advanced stage of her cancer. While the Baja Center is not able to accept a large number of patients, who fall outside the strict criteria of the study protocol, please know that new protocols are being developed that will shorten the treatment period of even advanced Stage IV cases. The fulfillment of the criteria for inclusion into the study is measured at the time of arrival of a patient in Ensenada, not before. It is regrettable that many patients fulfill their requirements when they first write, but by the time many patients wait to see if their current therapy at home will work, they are shocked to find their cancer dramatically advanced, falling outside the criteria for inclusion at Ensenada. The South African patient wrote the Baja Center and decided to seek enrollment after only a single reply from the Center and arrived in Ensenada only ten days later. His case was far more advanced than our new criteria, but was accepted because he was felt to have such a positive attitude about the therapy, enough to assure the doctors that he would undertake a far lengthier therapy than was necessary in previous cases. His positive attitude is reflected in his statement that every morning he awoke and thanked the staff of the Baja Center and Dr. Matsumura in California for a therapy in which he felt not one side effect while his tumors shrank. Baja Center is not one of those alternative cancer centers that will accept every patient who arrives. We are able to accept few patients because each patient becomes a large investment of our time and funds. In addition to strict adherence to the study inclusion criteria, the Baja Center must feel assured that the patient is completely comfortable with every aspect of the therapy, including the appreciation of the fact that they cannot receive the toughest quality controls practiced at this distinguished, elite Mexican institution even if they went to the best cancer institutions in the United States, Europe or Austrasia. What other institution re-tests their cancer drug for potency shortly before they are used in their patients? Recapitulation Nota Bene: If cancer recurs in a distant organ like the liver, it is fatal almost always, sometimes rapidly so. We hear from too many patients who think the therapy their local doctor started may save them. They wait a few months and they write us again when it has become hopeless, even for FAN-C therapy. Please note that we are now enrolling only early stage 4 cases.

What causes chemotherapy side-effects?

The problem with chemotherapy agents is that they have poor focus and end up destroying many normal dividing cells along with the cancer cells found in a patient's body. Invariably, patients suffer side effects. When bone-marrow cells are damaged patients suffer fatigue and become susceptible to infections. Many patients also suffer nausea and vomiting from the damage done to gastrointestinal cells.

What have physicians done traditionally to eradicate chemotherapy side-effects?

Traditionally scientists have tried to address the issue of side-effects by designing methods to deliver chemotherapy agents only to cancer cells. These methods of selective targeting have been employed with limited degrees of success. The reasons for the limited success are varied, but by in large, the failures reflect one simple fact -- all cancer cells are not identical. If all targeted cells are not identical, it is very difficult to target them for direct delivery of the chemotherapy agent.

In addition, there are several other therapies offered for the reduction of side-effects, but their success is limited.

How do the new medicaments help eliminate chemotherapy side-effects?

Berkeley Scientists have discovered a means whereby chemotherapy agents can be administered more safely and effectively. This technology is called Focused Anti-Neoplastic Chemotherapy (FAN-C™).This technology allows doctors to reduce or eliminate the toxic effects of chemotherapy agents on normal tissues found in bone marrow and the gastrointestinal tract by using the principals of selective targeting.

Read on to learn how side-effect free chemotherapy works and use our interactive graphic for help.

Chemotherapy agents are like poisons. They have antidotes that can reverse the poisonous effects if given quickly after the agent is administered. Doctors commonly use some of these antidotes to rescue patients from overdose of cancer drugs. However, giving patients antidotes without targeting their delivery completely reverses any capacity the agent has to destroy cancer cells.

Berkeley Scientists have developed a way of targeting antidote delivery and selectively protecting only normal dividing cells in the body from cancer drugs. Antidote is not delivered to cancer cells leaving them vulnerable to cancer drugs.

Step 1

Antidote is placed in a drug delivery system called a dendro-microspherule. These dendro-microspherules are chemically programmed to target only normal dividing cells.

What is a dendro-microspherule?

Dendro-microspherules are tiny microspheres made of harmless substances that can be designed to target different cells in the body.

What is the antidote made of?

Many antidotes for chemotherapeutic agents are edible plant extracts or medicines that have been in use in humans for decades. One antidote, monosodium glutamate (MSG), is used as a flavor enhancer and are found in large amounts in common vegetables. MSG is an antidote for the powerful group of cancer drugs called vinca alkaloids. These cancer drugs form part of a cocktail that have cured certain types of cancer. Vinca drugs are very effective in treating breast cancer, but has harsh side effects particularly to the bone marrow. By using MSG in specially-formulated dendro-microspherules that target bone marrow and gastrointestinal cells, vinca drugs can be used with much less side effects. Other antidotes include leucovorin and mesnex, both U.S. FDA approved for many years. Mesnex is an antidote for many cancer drugs in the class called 'alkylating agents.' Drugs such as cisplatin, carboplatin, thioTEPA, cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan ®), ifosfamide, and BCNU, are just a few in this class. Scientists affiliated with Baja Cancer Institute have developed side effect reducing agents for virtually all cancer drugs, including paclitaxel (Taxol ®), methotrexate, doxorubicin (Adriamycin ®) and many others.

Can you tell me more about the vinca alkaloids?

There is a new and powerful vinca drug called vinorelbine. This member of the vinca family is quickly becoming a premier, single agent drug against such forms of cancer as breast cancer.

Step 2

Once the normal cells are protected with the antidote, cancer drugs can be administered without causing harm to the healthy dividing cells.

Step 3

The cancer cells do not receive any antidote, so they are effectively damaged and destroyed by the cancer drugs.

Could you please summarize the benefits?

• First, side-effects of the chemotherapy agent are substantially reduced because the healthy cells suffer no harm.
  
  
• Second, cancer cells are effectively damaged and destroyed because they are not protected by the antidotal agents.
  
  
• Third, chemotherapy need not be interrupted to allow recovery of damaged bone marrow or gastrointestinal tract cells. This means that cancer can be more aggressively treated.
  
  
• Fourth, because the healthy white blood cells have been spared the damaging effects of chemotherapy, they actively seek out and destroy damaged cancer cells that could otherwise recover.
  
  
• Fifth, studies have shown that with this technology it might be possible to use much higher doses of cancer drugs than was possible before. Scientists have always believed that higher doses can eradicate cancer cells more completely.
  
  
• Sixth, cancer is usually treated with multiple drugs simultaneously, because of the side effects. In conventional chemotherapy, any one drug cannot be used in sufficient dosage to be curative as a single agent and treatment usually involves multiple agents. Only time will tell if a single drug, when used with side-effect eliminating agents such as FAN-C™, can be powerful enough to act as a cure when used at dosage levels never thought possible.

FAN-C™ technologies will be offered only in regional cancer centers where health professionals undergo rigorous education and training in the technique. Baja Institute is the first cancer center to be able to monitor patients using FAN-C™ medicaments.

For more information or to enroll in the trial, write: medical@bajacancer.org.

To read more about the clinical trial and the Baja Cancer Institute, click here

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