Posts tagged cancer

I Do Not Fear Death by Roger Ebert

“I will pass away sooner than most people who read this, but that doesn’t shake my sense of wonder and joy.”

The essay is from Roger Ebert’s Life Itself: A Memoir and was published to Salon as a memorial of sorts for a recently deceased critic and friend. It is a beautifully written essay about that final threshold to which we all find at the end of our days.

A Girl Dying from Leukaemia Saved Using Altered T-Cells

Now this is very impressive.

Last summer, Emma, then six was near death from chemo-resistant leukaemia but is now in remission thanks to an experimental cancer treatment method developed by the University of Pennsylvania.

Doctors remove millions of Emma’s T-cells, and inserted new genes that enabled them to combat cancer cells. The kicker is that it involved using disabled HIV virions to deliver the genetic material. HIV particles are excellent genetic vectors and already have specificity towards T-cells. The new genes program the T-cells to attack B-cells.

The treatment very nearly killed her but she has emerged cancer free and still in complete remission.

This is very exciting stuff but make no mistake this is no end-all-be-all. Emma might have done extremely well with her treatment but the experiment has had its share of mixed results. Despite this, the researchers involved and the experts of the field think this approach has tremendous promise.

Life, Interrupted: Five Days of Chemo

“Every month, I go to the hospital to receive outpatient chemotherapy injections for five days in a row. My doctors say this will be my routine for the next year.”

I remember when my father underwent chemotherapy. “Experimental combination,” the oncologist would say. The cancer was aggressive and advanced. A standard treatment protocol was out of consideration. There was not much they could do about his mets, but they were hopeful that chemo would prolong his life beyond the months they could foresee. 

Sadly, that never came to pass, but what did pass was the terrible after effects of chemotherapy. My father was a strong man, and even in his last days following chemo, the misery of it was plainly obvious. It is such a strange and horrible dilemma to suffer at the hands of either cancer unchecked or of the potent and toxic chemo.

To not have undergone chemo would have most likely made his last days easier, but then again, at that point, we were willing to take any chance.

Follow the link to read the first person account of Suleika Jaouad as she writes about her experiences as a young adult with cancer in the series: Life, Interrupted.

Cancer-killing nano particle system created by 17-year-old

All it takes is a fresh new perspective, commitment and innovative thinking to take something to the next level. 17-year-old Angela Zhang, under the mentorship of Dr. Zhen Cheng of Stanford University, has created a potential “Swiss army knife” of cancer therapy. Not only has her research yielded nano particles that target cancer stem cells, it also has the capacity to allow current imaging techniques to track the therapy in real time. 

Did I mention she is 17? Absolutely amazing work.