Archive for March 22nd, 2008
[NS]Cancer survivor disgusted with handling of retesting
Author: -=M=-Daphne Coffin considers herself the lucky one.
“I feel good,” said the blond, retired ultrasound technologist who once worked with cancer treatment pioneer H. Bliss Murphy at the old General Hospital. “I consider myself very lucky out of this fiasco.”
Coffin was speaking to reporters outside the hormone receptor testing inquiry in St. John’s Thursday, the last witness to testify in a shortened week bracketed by a snowstorm Tuesday and the Good Friday holiday.
“There are a lot of people who didn’t do as well as I did,” Coffin said.
She was compelled to testify because of those who have died, those who were too shy to come forward, or too old to endure the arduous task of sitting before more than a dozen lawyers in the temporary courtroom.
Coffin expressed disgust at the way Eastern Health dealt with the breast cancer retesting fiasco – which saw patients seeking out their test results through phone calls and cajoling. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001, and is well today, but her initial test results were drastically different from the corrected results she was given in 2006 after her samples were retested. She first heard about the retesting at a cancer support group meeting.
“Absolutely, it was word of mouth,” said Coffin.
“There was no professional explanation of what was going on, I don’t think, to anybody. There was certainly none given to me. People are saying they heard about it on the open-line show and things. Eastern Health can send you out a letter for anything at all. All of a sudden, this massive thing was happening that affected a lot of people and they just did nothing.”
Hundreds of breast cancer patients received the wrong results from hormone receptor tests – used to determine treatment options – between 1997 and 2005. The errors were discovered when samples were retested beginning in 2005 after massive problems were discovered in the medical lab at the General Hospital.
The inquiry, led by Justice Margaret Cameron, is trying to uncover what went wrong.
Hormone receptor tests determine if a patient’s cancer cells can be stimulated by hormones. Patients who test positive may be offered drugs that block this action. Positive results bode well for treatment by hormone therapy drugs, such as Tamoxifen. Coffin’s initial estrogen and progesterone receptor (ER/PR) testing indicated she was weakly positive. Much later she learned she was strongly positive. The new results were known six months before Coffin was told.
Coffin was the fifth witness to testify at the inquiry, and answered stock questions much the same as other witnesses had, including whether Eastern Health had apologized, explained what went wrong or offered face-to-face meetings with patients.
All those answers have been no.
Only one witness so far – Norman White – has said he was contacted by Eastern Health about the fact retesting would be done.
“I’m sure other people feel the same that are involved in this. … Yes, I think we are owed an apology,” Coffin told the media.
She told the inquiry she’s hardly the only person who fell through the cracks.
There was no luck for Geraldine Avery. She suffered through four bouts of cancer. The former St. John’s Health Care Corp. – predecessor to the much larger Eastern Health – got Avery’s hormone receptor tests wrong, too. Avery died in 2006. But her younger sister, Patricia Goobie, also a breast cancer patient, spoke for her, with Avery’s picture resting on the table beside her.
Goobie listened, too, solemnly as inquiry lawyer Bern Coffey outlined the sisters’ medical timelines through charts and progress notes. Goobie’s initial hormone receptor results were accurate; Avery’s were wrong.
read comments (0)LONDON, March 22 — Britain’s Department of Health warned that women who drink above the recommended limit are 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer.
The government has launched a 10-million-pound (about 20 million U.S. dollars) advertising campaign targeting middle-aged women who might underestimate the harm of their drinking habit, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported on Saturday.
A health department report to be published says women who drink more than 14 units of alcohol a week are at increased risk of breast cancer.
Dawn Primarolo, minister of public health, said: “Women who regularly drink too much are 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer. And many drink too much simply because they have no idea how many alcohol units they are consuming.”
Charity organization Cancer Research also says alcohol causes about 2,000 breast cancer cases in Britain a year.
Other health risks for women who binge on drink include liver disease, unplanned pregnancies and ruptured bladders.
[NS] Boobs, Bands and Beers: Concert for a Cure
Author: -=M=-BALTIMORE – When it came time for Brooke Mowry and Cristina Orndorff to pick a team name to walk in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, there was no contest.”The Jugg-ernaughts. We felt it exemplifies the courage and determination that men and women show in order to beat the disease,” Mowry said. “At first, we got some skeptical looks, but it’s all about positivity. What better way to encapsulate what survivors go through than that name?”
Mowry, 24 and Orndorff, 25, first became interested in charity work while attending Virginia Tech. “We were sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha, whose philanthropy is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation,” Mowry said. “It was only natural that we wanted to participate in Avon’s cause.”
But in order to walk the 39.2 miles of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, participants are required to raise at least $1,800. Mowry, who participates in several other fundraising walks, wanted to join the race but worried about how to raise the money.
“I had done the Alzheimer’s walk not too long ago, so I had already pulled my resources with friends and family,” Mowry said. “I knew I would have to hold some kind of benefit.”
That’s when Jessica Newman stepped in. Friends with Mowry since high school, she decided to help the girls raise the money.
Things came together perfectly. All three girls liked the idea of a concert to raise money. “I’ve always thought about how cool it would be if I could make something like a benefit concert happen, but I never had a good cause,” Newman said. “When Brooke came to me, freaking out about how to raise the money, that’s when I got my cause.”
Regulars at the 8×10 in Federal Hill, the girls decided that would be the place to hold the concert. They contacted local bands Can’t Hang, The Jon Bailey Band and Shook, which all agreed to play the concert for free. They named it “Boobs, Bands and Beers,” and using grassroots marketing techniques — posting on MySpace, handing out flyers, writing e-mail blasts — the girls are hoping for the best on March 31.
Mowry and Orndorff are adamant about supporting breast cancer research, even though neither has been personally affected by cancer. “We’re lucky. But we’ve seen family members of friends affected by it,” Mowry said. “We’ve walked before in the Susan G. Komen race, and just seeing the community of survivors and supporters is amazing. We just want to be tied to the cause.”
IF YOU GO
Boobs, Bands and Beers: Concert for a Cure
WHERE: The 8×10, 10 E. Cross St., Baltimore
WHEN: 6 p.m. Monday, March 31
TICKETS: $12*
INFO: 410-625-2000
*All proceeds benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
[NS]Silent vigil held in fight to save cancer services
Author: -=M=-MORE than 3,000 people held lighted candles in silent vigil outside Sligo General Hospital last night in protest at the proposed removal of breast cancer services.
The campaign to retain the service in the north west was delivered a major blow recently when Professor Tom Keane declared that the debate on the locations of the centres of excellence was over.
He indicated that plans were imminent to transfer breast cancer services at the hospital to University Hospital Galway, one of eight proposed centers of excellence under the Government’s Cancer Care Strategy.
But anger is mounting that the region, comprising counties Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal, has been left without a center of excellence in the strategy, forcing patients to travel hundreds of kilometers for cancer treatment.
Over 1,600 people have signed an online petition to save breast cancer services at the hospital amid growing concern about the capacity of the Galway hospital to deal with the additional patients.
If, as expected, the mammography service at the hospital closes down within months, an estimated 4,000 additional patients will have to travel to the Galway hospital for diagnosis because of the absence of Breast Check in the north west.
Breast cancer patient Catriona McGoldrick (43), from Sligo, who is about to commence radiotherapy treatment in Galway, said that her appointment letter had included a warning to patients to come in plenty of time because of parking problems at the hospital.
“People are going into an overloaded system as it is. Even in the letter they are warning of the parking situation. It’s off-putting.”
The mother of a four-and-a-half-year-old Eva said she was now facing a round trip of approximately 260 kilometers by bus from Sligo to Galway five days a week for six weeks while she is undergoing treatment which lasts 20 minutes.
Former breast cancer patient at the hospital Anne McGowan also attended last night’s rally.
“None of us thinks we are ever going to get cancer but we don’t know who will be next. We are being treated like second-class citizens.”
Vigil organizer and local Fine Gael councilor Imelda Henry said the seriousness of the situation for the north west was not being realized.
“Our situation is unique. We have a huge catchment area and it is unrealistic to ask people to travel when we have a fantastic unit in Sligo. A huge area of the country has been left out and we’re not going to stand for it,” she said.
Boxing charity event.
Author: -=M=-Two time world champion Robert “THE GHOST” Guerrero teams up with undefeated UFC champion Frank Shamrock, Shonie “Mr. International” Carter from The Ultimate Fighter season 4 on Spike TV, Mike Cook from Iron Ring on BET, and UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith to Fund Womens Battle with Breast Cancer Charity event.
Womens Battle with Breast Cancer Charity event [Via the Sweetscience]
Ads
Calendar
Archive
Blogroll
Categories
Pages
Meta
Activity
- [NS]Advocacy Groups and Lifetime Television Lobby Congress to Pass Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act
- [NS]BREAST CANCER WALK Many miles to go
- [NS]Run for breast cancer research
- [NS]3rd Annual Birdies For Breast Cancer Golf Tournament
- [NS]Cancer survivor disgusted with handling of retesting
- [NS] British women drinkers warned against breast cancer risk
- [NS] Boobs, Bands and Beers: Concert for a Cure
- [NS]Silent vigil held in fight to save cancer services
- Boxing charity event.
- [NS] Rivals unite to fight breast cancer softball tournament