It's the diagnosis no one wants to hear from their doctor: cancer. The great equalizer, it seems no one is immune from developing cancer or dealing with the devastating attack on the body. In fact, ABC's Sam Donaldson, a cancer survivor, refers to...
It's the diagnosis no one wants to hear from their doctor: cancer. The great equalizer, it seems no one is immune from developing cancer or dealing with the devastating attack on the body. In fact, ABC's Sam Donaldson, a cancer survivor, refers to the disease as 'the terrorist within.'
"Well we think of terrorism today in terms of Al-Qaeda – people trying to kill us and properly so. But if you think about it, that's what cancer does. And that's why I say it's like terrorism. And like terrorism, we must combat it." Donaldson says.
Diagnosed with melanoma in 1995, Donaldson's physician, Dr. Steven Rosenberg said he fit a protocol that was currently running at the National Institutes of Health.
"After the operation, three days later, he came in beaming. He said, no apparent spread, it just couldn't be better! And I said, well Dr. Rosenberg, it would be better if I hadn’t had it at all!" Donaldson says.
The veteran newsman's unflappable response to his doctor's good news reveals a basic truth about a receiving cancer diagnosis.
"I'm a member of the cancer club. It's a club that no one ever asks to join," Donaldson says.
Yet, as Dr. Richard Schilsky, the 2008-2009 President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology points out, there is good news for cancer patients.
"Cancer death rates are declining. They've been declining at about two percent per year," Dr. Schilsky says.
This message is echoed by Donaldson who is a member of the Moffitt Cancer Center Advisory Board. He fundraises and helps bring perspective to others with cancer.
"We lose 40, 50 thousand people in this country every year to cancer. But there are over 10 million of us in this country who have had cancer of one form or another who are still alive and doing pretty well today," Donaldson says.
The positive news extends to advances being made in personalized cancer care and treatment. This was the theme of this year's ASCO meeting.
"Instead of treating all patients the same, we're now able to understand the molecular makeup of each individual patient, the molecular characteristics of each person's tumor, and then to use that information to design a treatment plan which we hope will be optimal for that particular person," Dr. Schilsky says.
Therapeutic vaccine therapy is another treatment that is showing success, thanks to better understanding of immunology and improved technology for producing vaccines.
"Typically, the way a therapeutic vaccine works is that often times we can take a sample of the patient's own tumor and the tumor has abnormal proteins on its surface. We can use those proteins to immunize the patient so that they react against their own cancer cells. And by then giving the patient a tailored vaccine, we can stimulate their own body to help fight off the cancer," Dr. Schilsky says.
This kind of tailored vaccine has helped prolong remission in lymphoma patients following chemotherapy.
"We also heard about a new vaccine treatment for melanoma which, as you may know, is the deadliest form of skin cancer. It tends to be one that is very difficult to treat. An abnormal protein that occurs on the surface of the melanoma cells is injected into the patient under the skin. With that, they're given high doses of a drug called IL2 and it helps to really rev up their immunity so that their body then can, in a sense, find the cancer cells and attack them," Dr. Schilsky says.
One of the most popular presentations at the ASCO conference was surprisingly old school and involved 600 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.
"Basically, what the study showed is that the ginger really helped reduce further the nausea from chemotherapy," Dr. Schilsky says.
Whether it's something as seemingly simple as using ginger to reduce nausea from chemotherapy or as advanced as treatments customized at the molecular level, it's clear that there's good reason to be hopeful for the future of cancer care.
"Across the field of cancer, these breakthroughs are being made almost daily. We're going, thanks to the scientists, to conquer this disease. These terrorists are going to be destroyed," Donaldson says.
Click Here to Learn More About Cancer Prevention and Early Detection From The American Cancer Society
Click Here to Learn More About Cancer Treatments From The National Cancer Institute
Click Here to Learn More About Cancer Treatment Methods From The National Cancer Institute