Routine Exam May Have Been Life-Saver for Greenville's WYFF Weathercaster Keisha Kirkland

If you're young and healthy, it's easy to think that there's not much reason to worry about your health and that an annual physical is something that other, older people have to think about, not you.

But for WYFF 4 Weathercaster Keisha Kirkland, getting that annual physical may have just saved her life.

Keisha, 36, said that she felt perfectly healthy, but because of a family history of heart disease, she had some tests run several months ago.

Her heart was fine, but doctors found that she had the beginning stages of lung cancer.
"I’ve never smoked. I’m young, you know, in shape, I exercise, eat well," Keisha told WYFF News 4's Jane Robelot. "But, hey, I’m still dealing with this."

Dr. James Stephenson of Greenville Hospital System, Keisha's surgeon, said discovering the cancer was almost as unlikely as her chances of having it.

"She decided to have a calcium scoring test to look for heart disease due to some family history," Stephenson said. "Just by chance this abnormal area in her lung was noted on that scan."

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Read Keisha Kirkland's Bio.

Dr. Joan Schiller, National Lung Cancer Partnership President, was nominated to receive the Lynn Kotsiantos Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations!

Dr. Joan Schiller, Partnership President, was nominated to receive the Lynn Kotsiantos Lifetime Achievement Award by the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHAMC). The award is made every year in honor of Lynn, a young mother who died from lung cancer.

Dr. Schiller will accept the award at RHAMC's May 7th Inspiration benefit for women's lung health in Chicago, IL.

Read more about Dr. Schiller, the National Lung Cancer Partnership's President here.

Spring issue of CR magazine reports: The High Costs of Cancer Mortality

A new analysis helps put research funding into perspective
By Hannah Hoag

...new studies found that at least 25 percent of cancer’s costs could be attributed to lung cancer. In 2008, an estimated 161,840 people died of the disease in the U.S., far more than died of any other cancer. The researchers further calculated that if lung cancer mortality rates declined by 1 percent annually, the value of life lost in 2020 due to lung cancer would drop from a projected $433 billion to $355 billion. A 4 percent annual decline in these mortality rates would put the estimated value of life lost to lung cancer in 2020 at $192 billion.

“The issue with lung cancer is that we are so naive about what we really know,” says Regina Vidaver, the executive director of the National Lung Cancer Partnership. “We need more knowledge in every single aspect, certainly in understanding [cell] signaling pathways and where they go wrong in cancer initiation and drug-resistance development.”

Even so, Laurie Fenton Ambrose, the president and chief executive officer of the Lung Cancer Alliance, is optimistic that a 1 percent annual decline in mortality is possible with additional funding for lung cancer research, including efforts aimed at finding cancers earlier. “Most cancers that have seen improvements are due to a more robust mechanism to detect their cancers early,” she says.

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Lung Cancer Alliance to Canadian Medical Association Journal Editorial on Lung Cancer Screening

Monday, April 20, 2009: Last week, the Canadian Medical Association Journal published an editorial discussing lung cancer screening. In the piece, they misrepresented LCA's position on lung cancer screening. In addition, they came to the conclusion that the best use of funding for lung cancer would be in tobacco control and cessation programs. LCA President & CEO, Laurie Fenton Ambrose, sent in a Letter to the Editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal clarifying LCA's position on lung cancer screening and urging those within the community to address the disease in a comprehensive manner with tobacco cessation programs, early detection and treatment research.

View the Canadian Medical Association Journal Editorial

LCA's response: (Text Below)

Dear Editor,

The editorial in the April 14, 2009 Canadian Medical Association Journal entitled "A Pause for Thought on Lung Cancer Screening", by M.B. Stanbrook and K. Flegel accuses the Lung Cancer Alliance of having "promoted" CT screening for lung cancer. For the record, our position is that those at high risk for lung cancer (those with greater than 20 pack year smoking history, those with a family history of lung cancer, those with exgtensive exposure to asbestos, radon, Agent Orange and other carcinogens) should speak with their doctors about the risks and benefits of a CT scan.

Please note that we emphasize those at high risk, not population based screening. Even before mammograms and psa testing became widely accepted population based screening tests in the US. (The 5-year survival rates for those cancers are now 88% and 99% respectively and whether or not screening played a role in this increase in survival rates you can debate). The 5-year survival rate for lung cancer is still only 15%.

Lung cancer is far more lethal for the individual patient and in its overall public health impact. Nearly one in every three cancer deaths in the United States is due to lung cancer and only 16% of patients are being diagnosed at an early, most curable stage. Advances in CT scanning now present an alternative to late stage diagnosis for those at hight risk and recent papers coming out of ongoing European trials are further refining the process of CT screening.

Certainly we can look forward to a simple biomarker to further refine the optimal population subset for a CT scan, and we have adocated strongly for reseach funding in these areas. But in the meantime are you suggesting that those at high risk should do nothing? Your conclusion is: "In the meantime, given how much we know about the prevention of lung cancer, targeting smoking avoidance and cessation, rather than detection and management of lung cancer, would seem a better investment."

Sadly this statement ignores the fact that over 50% of lung cancer is being diagnosed in people who have already quit, many of them decades ago. Another 15 to 20% have never smoked. Without considering these individuals,any investment analysis in lung cancer in 2009 and the future is incomplete and suspect.

Sincerely,
Laurie Fenton Ambrose
President & CEO
Lung Cancer Alliance

Read more about the Lung Cancer Alliance's effort to fight back against lung cancer.

The New York Times: Voices of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in the country, killing more than 160,000 people a year. Yet the disease remains low on the list of cancer funding priorities. In 2006, the National Cancer Institute spent $1,518 for each new case of lung cancer and $1,630 for each lung cancer death. By comparison, the agency spent $13,452 per death on breast cancer, which takes 41,000 lives annually.

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Breath of Hope: Lung Cancer The Invisible Disease

A new lung cancer documentary has been released and has started airing on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Stations across the country.

“Breath of Hope: Lung Cancer The Invisible Disease” is an hour long documentary that profiles lung cancer survivors from across the country, including LCA-MA advocate Kevin Brumett.

Hosted by Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress S. Epatha Merkerson of Law and Order fame, “Breath of Hope” attempts to eradicate the stigma of lung cancer by sharing the perspectives of survivors and their families as well as information from leading experts in the field.

The documentary, produced by CRW Productions in partnership with CancerCare and with input from LCA, has aired in more than 15 major markets, showing the true face of the disease in San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, Orlando, Indianapolis and Knoxville, TN.

For more information about “Breath of Hope”, or to see where and when it will air, please visit the documentary website, http://breathofhope.net/.

HealthDay News reports: Urine Test Could Gauge Smokers' Lung Cancer Risk

Those with higher levels of a compound had nearly 9 times the risk, scientists say

By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter

SUNDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- Someday, a simple urine test might spot smokers at highest risk for lung cancer, scientists report.

The research is still in its preliminary stages, and it may be years before such a test becomes publicly available. But if it works, the urine-based screen could give added motivation to smokers who can't find other reasons to quit, said study author Dr. Jian-Min Yuan, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota.

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Moonlight and Magnolias Gala - sponsored by the American Cancer Society of Greenville

Moonlight and Magnolias Gala - Saturday, May 9th - Downtown Greenville

Your support of the American Cancer Society’s mission of health awareness, research, education, advocacy and service is vitally important. At the Moonlight & Magnolias Gala, we honor and celebrate cancer survivors who benefit from your generosity in beating this dreaded disease. These survivors inspire us with their courage, strength, and zest for life.

Visit with these marvelous individuals and hear their inspiring stories in the “Voices and Faces” section on their website: http://www.moonlightandmagnolias.com/index.php

South Carolina Cancer Alliance meeting - Friday, April 24th in Columbia

Register TODAY for the next meeting of the SC Cancer Alliance to be held Friday, April 24, 2009 at the Columbia Conference Center located at 169 Laurelhurst Avenue, Columbia, SC. The meeting will begin at 9:30 AM with task force meetings.

We have a great agenda lined up for you for this meeting, including:

“NCI Designation & What it Means for South Carolina” Carolyn E. Reed, MD MUSC Hollings Cancer Center

“Clinical Trials Matching Service” Simbonika Spencer, MPH of the American Cancer Society

“SCCA Legislative Update” Ted Riley, Esq., SCCA Lobbyist, Riley, Pope & Laney, LLC

You won’t want to miss this great meeting. Register online at www.sccanceralliance.org. Please submit any questions to Laura Stuckey at laura.stuckey@sccanceralliance.org


The mission South Carolina Cancer Alliance is to reduce the impact of cancer on ALL people in South Carolina. The SCCA is a 501(c)3 organization. To donate, go to www.sccanceralliance.org.

News from Winston-Salem: Local Radio DJ Remains Upbeat About Battle With Cancer

A beloved local radio DJ gave his first media interview on Friday about his recent battle with lung cancer.

Bill Dobson, who goes by "Brother Bill" on his afternoon radio show at WTQR-FM, in Greensboro, announced several weeks ago that he was undergoing surgery to treat the disease.

Dobson said he had been experiencing pain for a year and a half but struggled to get a conclusive diagnosis.

"Everybody thought it was everything from arthritis to you name it," Dobson said in an interview on WTQR Friday morning.

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The New York Times: New Yorkers Often Exposed to Cigarette Smoke, Study Finds

More than half of all nonsmokers in New York City have elevated levels of a nicotine byproduct in their blood indicating recent exposure to cigarette smoke, a city health department study has found. The figure is surprisingly high given the city’s stringent public smoking ban, among the toughest in the country.

Some 56.7 percent of nonsmokers living in the city were found to have elevated levels of the nicotine metabolite cotinine, compared with an average 44.9 percent of nonsmokers nationwide. Among the ethnic groups studied, nonsmokers of Asian descent were most often affected, with 68.7 percent of those examined showing elevated blood levels of cotinine.

The long-term health consequences of the finding are not known, but secondhand smoke is estimated to account for at least 35,000 deaths from heart disease and 3,000 deaths from lung cancer in nonsmokers nationwide each year.

Researchers with the health department said they were unsettled by the finding, which they called “puzzling.”

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The New York Times: Constantine Papadakis, Drexel University President, Dies at 63

Constantine N. Papadakis, the president of Drexel University, died on Sunday, three days after taking medical leave. He was 63.

The cause was pulmonary complications of lung cancer, which was in remission, a statement from Drexel said. Dr. Papadakis raised the endowment, enrollment and profile of Drexel, a onetime commuter school.

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Science Daily reports: Young Women Warned Of Lung Cancer Risks

Seventeen people are still dying from lung cancer each week in Northern Ireland despite a small improvement in survival rates for the disease.

The figures are revealed by a report launched April 3 by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry (NICR) at Queen's University Belfast.

The NICR is holding a joint launch April 3 with Macmillan Cancer Support which has released its own report on the experience of patients living with lung cancer and their carers in Northern Ireland, highlighting that services are not meeting their needs.

The Queen's report, entitled Monitoring care of patients with lung cancer in Northern Ireland diagnosed 2006, details the facts of the disease from the numbers of people diagnosed, to trends, treatment and survival.

It looked at the experiences of more than 2,200 lung cancer patients over a decade and points to a fall in cases for men under 65 but not for women in this age group. Lung cancer now kills more women than breast cancer in Northern Ireland.

While highlighting the need for continued work to prevent the condition in all sections of the population by addressing smoking, it also acknowledges the commitment of staff who treat patients with the disease.

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Former Argentine President Raul Alfonsin dies

Raul Alfonsin, the Argentine president who guided his country's return to democracy following a military dictatorship that left thousands missing, died on Tuesday. He was 82.

Alfonsin's personal doctor, Alberto Sadler, said he died of lung cancer. The government declared three days or mourning.

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Ex-studio boss behind 'Heaven's Gate' dies at 70

Former United Artists movie executive Steven Bach, who oversaw the 1980 debacle "Heaven's Gate" and later wrote a memoir about it, has died.

Bach, who spent the last decade teaching literature at Bennington College, died of lung cancer March 25 at his home in Arlington, agent Robert Lescher said Tuesday. He was 70.

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US court dismisses smoking appeal

The US Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by cigarette maker Philip Morris over a $79.5m award to the widow of a long-time Oregon smoker.

The court upheld a 1999 ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court in favour of Mayola Williams.

Having heard arguments in December, the judges said in a one-sentence order that they were not passing judgement on the legal issues presented.

The judgement has grown to more than $145m with interest.

Jesse Williams died of lung cancer in 1997 having smoked for 40 years.

Mrs. Williams sued the cigarette manufacturer for fraud on behalf of her husband.

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N.C. nears House vote banning smoking in public

North Carolina legislators were facing a narrow vote on a proposed law that would ban smoking at indoor restaurants, bars and any other places people are working.

The House was scheduled to vote Wednesday on legislation that advocates say aims to eliminate the dangers of secondhand smoking. Opponents said it takes away a business owner's choice.

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