Shirley McQueen is a fashion store owner. She lives in terror of something her family calls ‘the beast’. It’s killed 14 of her relatives, but Shirley McQueen has a radical plan to evade the disease. Shirley McQueen has spent most of her life preparing for her death; she has even planned her funeral.

“The Beast” in actual, the breast cancer, felled her mother, her older sister, five of her aunts, one great, great aunt and six of her cousins. Another cousin in the United States has just found out that “the beast” has attacked her too.

Shirley has decided to remove both her breasts to prevent her from getting the disease. “Every woman who has died in my family has died of breast cancer,” she says.

“The women in my family haven’t lived long enough to see their grandchildren. When my older sister was diagnosed, her daughter was pregnant and she said she was going to hang on to see the baby, but she didn’t manage it. If I ask to be here to see my grandchildren, am I asking too much?”

She will be checking into a clinic next month for pre-surgery checks before undergoing breast-removal surgery.

Frustrated with death and attending funerals, McQueen, whose mother died of breast cancer when she was five years old, is determined to see her children get married, hence her drastic pre-emptive move.

And not even a man would have a say in her decision.

She said: “Even if I had a man, it wouldn’t matter. I don’t want to die prematurely. I want to see my children marry. My mom did not have that opportunity. None of the women in my family did. This is a lot easier to deal with than finding a lump in my breast.”

“My family has tried to dissuade me. They think that illness comes directly from God and that you shouldn’t play around with God’s work,” she says.

But Shirley firmly believes that more can be done to reverse the horrible fate of women like herself, and that awareness needs to be raised about breast cancer, particularly in the black community. Regular breast checks, screening and, in cases like hers, preventative mastectomies should all be considered, she says.

McQueen says that she is undergoing her surgery for the sake of her children. “I’m not frightened of dying but I am frightened of leaving my children. I’m always thinking about dying and I want that to stop. Once I’ve had the surgery I’ll be able to sleep again. All I want is to have my life.”

In a survey of 1,600 women only 2.5% cited human papillomavirus as a risk factor for cervical cancer.

Researchers said the results, published in the British Journal of Cancer, were “striking” considering recent publicity over the development of a HPV vaccine.

Experts said the public needed to be better informed before widespread vaccination was introduced.

There are over 100 different types of HPV and they are the most common sexually transmitted disease.

Around 80% of sexually active women can expect to have an HPV infection at some point in their lives.

Two vaccines have been developed – Gardasil and Cervarix – which have been shown to be very effective against the strains most commonly linked with cervical cancer.

In June, government advisors recommended girls aged between 12 and 13 in the UK should be vaccinated against the HPV.

It has also been suggested that HPV testing should play a part in cervical screening.

The disease kills 1,120 women in the UK every year.

The American Journal of Preventive Medicine issued a report that stated American cigarette warning labels are the smallest and have the least detail printed, making them the least effective.

Other countries such as Canada, Australia, and Britain have warnings that are much larger and include more health information appearing on both sides of the packages. Some countries even have very graphic warning labels printed on their cigarettes.

A study was conducted to see if these larger, more informed labels could make a difference. The study included 15,000 adult smokers in the U.S., U.K, Canada, and Australia to test the effectiveness of the warning labels used in those four countries between 2002 – 2005. The research did suggest that U.S. smokers might benefit from large graphic warnings on the packages. The U.S. smokers were least likely to notice their American labeling. The researchers also concluded that the U.S. warnings are poor compared to those in other countries. It is suggested that the U.S. labels need a makeover and putting quit-smoking resources on cigarette packages might also help.

Cancer rates across Europe will continue to rise as the population steadily ages, according to an International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report.

Around 3.2 million cancers were diagnosed across the continent during 2006, up from 2.9 million in 2004.

While screening programmes and lower smoking rates have helped to reduce some cancers, the increasing average age of Europeans was key to the growth, said the report.

“Cancer is a major cause of illness and premature death in the UK,” said Ruth Yates, head of statistical information at Cancer Research UK.

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Following on the news of the drop in cancer deaths for the second consecutive year, the American Cancer Society is launching the Great American Health Challenge to educate and motivate Americans to take action to reduce their cancer risk. Many Americans are concerned about potentially developing cancer, but in fact, at least 50 percent of cancer deaths could be prevented through healthy lifestyle factors, including not smoking or using other tobacco products, maintaining a healthy body weight, getting sufficient physical activity, eating a healthy diet, limiting consumption of alcohol, and getting cancer screening tests. Research indicates that cutting cancer death rates by 50 percent nationally would save about 280,000 lives every year in the United States.

“A recent American Cancer Society survey found that 59 percent of adult Americans(i) are concerned personally about getting cancer,” said Richard C. Wender, MD, president, American Cancer Society Board of Directors. “We’re launching the Great American Health Challenge to provide tools and support to make it easier for people to take steps that could reduce their cancer risk.”

Esophagitis is a condition that happens when the esophagus is inflamed and can cause pain and discomfort when swallowing. This is a common side effect when treated with radiation to the chest and neck area and can also be caused by chemotherapy treatments.

Some ways to help deal with the symptoms of esophagitis:

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According to the National Cancer Registry, breast cancer cases would easily double in next 15 years at Ireland. At the official launch of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Dr Harry Comber, Director of National Cancer Registry Ireland, gave a presentation on the theme, Time Trends 2002-20202.

Approximately 650 women die every year in Ireland because of breast cancer. As per the latest stats from National Cancer Registry Ireland, there were 2,285 new cases of breast cancer in 2004 and this figure is expected to rise to 4700 cases by 2020 thus predicting a 105 percent rise.

Speaking at the launch Dr Patricia Fitzpatrick, epidemiologist with Breast Check, the National Breast Screening Programme and Senior Lecturer, UCD School of Public Health and Population Science, said, “Every day we open a newspaper or turn on the radio and hear about something that seemingly increases our risk of getting breast cancer so Action Breast Cancer correctly took the decision to adopt ‘know your risk’ as the key theme for Breast Cancer Awareness month 2006 to try and separate fact from fiction.

“A risk factor for breast cancer is anything that increases your chance of getting the disease. However, having a risk factor does not necessarily mean you will get breast cancer. Most women who have one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop the disease. Furthermore, many women with breast cancer don’t seem to have any of the risk factors we know about, apart from being female and getting older.”

October is the Breast Cancer Awareness Month. As per the researchers, women should have a good idea on how normal breasts look like from the very young age.

According to Dr Evelyn, you are your own yardstick and you need to be really in tune with what your normal breast feels like from an early age (after puberty is the best time to start).

“The earlier you understand what your normal breasts feel like, and start becoming aware of changes in your breasts”, the easier you will find it to compare how your breast feels, she says.

“Starting early also means that you develop the routine, so that every month, after your period, you remind yourself to check your breasts.

All women should be checking their breasts every month, especially women below their 40s who don’t need mammograms yet.

So what should we be checking for?

• What you should look for is a change, any change, in your breast. Don’t wait for all these changes to affect the whole breast, even a small part should be a matter of concern.
• You should not just be looking for a lump. “It’s not always a lump. In fact, I would say that if you wait for a lump, it will become very big before you can feel it,” says Dr Evelyn.
• Of course, if you do feel a lump, you should go and get it sorted out.”
• Other things to look out for are characteristics that you have never seen before that have suddenly appeared, such as an area that has suddenly become hard, a change in the texture of the breast, the skin turning orange, or a part of the breast becoming puckered inwards.
• Your breast isn’t just a piece of flesh on your body, so here are some things to note:
• Don’t expect all parts of the breast to feel the same. In some women, the upper, outer part of the breast may feel lumpier, which may just be normal texture.
• Nobody’s breasts are totally smooth on the inside, because the breast contains several types of tissues. Whether these tissues are soft or hard depend on the individual.
• No two breasts are the same. What could be normal in one person, could be abnormal in another.“If you think you feel something hard like a lump, or something is wrong, then an ultrasound combined with an examination can be done,” says Dr Evelyn.

  There’s no need to be angry with yourself if you forgot to check your breasts this month. Simply remind yourself next month, and keep up the routine.

  And talk to your daughter, sister, mother or aunt about this – no woman is too young or too old to know her breasts.

Source: The Star

New fundraising records have been set this year for “Weekend to End Breast Cancer Walk”, raising $17.2 million funds for the Princess Margaret Hospital. This 60 kilometers walk and a two day event, is the largest, single fundraiser event in Canadian history.

With over 5000 people walking on the streets in rain, on this weekend to help battle the breast cancer, Organizers were shocked and thrilled not only with the record breaking funds raised, but with large turnout and community awareness. Paul Alofs, President and CEO of The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation stated in a press release, “We’re so grateful to the 5,382 courageous women and men walking this weekend, and to all the volunteers, Donors, and truly the entire community for their amazing support”.

After the opening ceremony, all the participants wearing pink caps left the Exhibition Palace at 7:15 a.m. They will be setting up a camp for the night at Downsview Park, after walking for 30 kilometers on Saturday. On Sunday, the participants will walk their way back to Exhibition Grounds for a closing ceremony that is to be held at Direct Energy Centre. Along the route, friends and family members are encouraged to cheer up the participants at the particular cheering stations.

Such an event has been held for the fourth year. All the raised fund will go towards Princess Margaret Hospital for treatment, research and education of breast cancer.

September is the month for Prostate Cancer Awareness. In United States alone, approximately 234,460 men will learn that they have prostate cancer, and nearly 27,350 will die from the disease. However if diagnosed and detected earlier, prostate cancer can be treated in time. The survival rate is far up to 100 percent. As per a study, men are at a much higher risk for prostate cancer and are more likely to suffer as due to lack of screening for this disease. However most of the cases can not be prevented or treated because of the risk factors beyond a man’s control (such as age, race and family history), there are few steps that can certainly reduce the risk for prostate cancer. As per a research, eating a high fiber, low-fat diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables daily can help reduce the risk for both prostate and colorectal cancers. Another way out is to reduce the risk is to get checked for prostate cancer every year, usually after the age of 50. However, African-American men and those with a family history of prostate cancer need to begin annual testing by age 45.

Usually, Prostate cancer has no symptoms in it’s early stages but as it becomes complex, the prostate cancer affected patients can face the symptoms like difficulty in urination.

Screening for prostate cancer consists of two steps: a doctor’s exam of the prostate gland and a blood test that measures a protein made by cells in the prostate. The blood test is called a PSA, which stands for “Prostate-Specific Antigen.” High PSA levels in a man’s blood indicate a prostate problem, but not necessarily cancer! Since neither of these screening techniques are 100 percent effective, it is the combination of the two that allows for the early detection of prostate cancer.

Prostate Cancer is the second most found cancer in men, next to skin cancer. We hope that with this program in pursuit, many men will realize and be proactive regarding their health issues and be a good decision-maker as far as the necessity of screening for prostate and colorectal cancer is concerned. Stat says that one out of six will get prostate cancer.

We hope that this program will help in eliminating cancer and its sufferings through awareness and education.