"Pink" comics

(I sent this to the Seattle Times this morning after seeing the "pink" comics in today's paper. We'll see if they print it in the letters to the editor.)

What is with the "pink ribbon" comics in Sunday's paper? I can't believe there is anyone in the USA who is not aware of breast cancer. Will pink coloring in the comics somehow cure breast cancer?

All the pink ribbon images in the world won't help me, a woman living with metastatic breast cancer since 2002.

"According to a FORTUNE examination of NCI grants going back to 1972, less than 0.5% of study proposals focused primarily on metastasis--trying to understand, for instance, its role in a specific cancer (e.g., breast, prostate) or just the process itself. Of nearly 8,900 NCI grant proposals awarded last year, 92% didn't even mention the word metastasis." (Fortune Magazine, March 22, 2004)

I believe there is only one USA nonprofit raising funds exclusively for research into metastatic breast cancer: METAVivor.

Where is the Seattle Times coverage of this issue?

2% to research B Ca mets?

I read today that only 2% of USA breast cancer research funding helps people like me, who live with metastatic breast cancer.

Then I read about one small nonprofit that funds research solely devoted to B Ca mets: METAVivor Research and Spport Inc, where I read about a 2004 study by Fortune Magazine which "found that METASTASIS RESEARCH RECEIVES ONLY ABOUT 1% OF THE $5 BILLION ANNUAL NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE FUNDING. Metastatic breast cancer research receives even less."


Here are some statistics from their web site:

*  In 2008, 40,930 Americans, including 450 men, died of metastatic breast cancer. (American Cancer Society – 2008 Statistics)  Worldwide, roughly 465,000 die annually of the disease (2008 Global Survey by Pfizer Oncology).

* There has been no reduction in the number of annual deaths from breast cancer since the late 1980s (Cancer World article by Marc Beishon).  

*  Five-year survival is generally said to be 27% and 10-year survival roughly 10% (Silent Voices, an LBBC publication).

* 2-3% are considered "cured" of the disease.  Most of these individuals fall into one of two categories:  1) young people who responded well to their initial BC mets treatment and never again recurred, and 2) persons diagnosed with a single, isolated lesion that was surgically removed and who never again recurred (Journal of Clinical Oncology - 2002).

So if you really want to make a donation to cure breast cancer, and you want to find a cure for people like me who have metastatic breast cancer, please donate to METAVivor, the only USA charity exclusively funding research into B Ca mets.

Stanford center for stem cell research

Lokey gives $75 million to create nation's largest stem cell research center at Stanford by Ruthann Richter (News Release, Office of Communication & Public Affairs, Stanford University Medical Center, October 6, 2008). Excerpts:

Lorry I. Lokey, the Business Wire founder and philanthropist, is giving $75 million to the Stanford University School of Medicine to help build what is expected to be the nation’s largest center for stem cell research, the medical school announced Oct. 6.

.....

His contribution will help build a new home for the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Institute, one of five major research institutes based in the medical school. Institute scientists are involved in the full array of stem cell research, including studies in both embryonic and adult cells, as well as work in cancer stem cells and in the development of disease-specific stem cell lines.

.....

“Scientists in the fields of stem cell and cancer research are on the brink of new discoveries that may soon affect the understanding and treatment of disease,” said Irving Weissman, MD, the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research and director of Stanford’s stem cell institute. “With this magnificent lead gift from Lorry Lokey, Stanford will have the facilities to lead those efforts.”

Weissman, who was the first to isolate stem cells in both mice and humans, said the availability of new space will attract key faculty to Stanford and spur collaborations with scientists from the around the world. The new center will include 60 laboratory benches for scientists who will visit Stanford for a month or a year at a time. Lokey said the prospect of bringing top research talent to Stanford is far more meaningful to him than any worldly goods his money could buy.

“I don’t want airplanes and boats and country club memberships,” he said. “I believe that if you fall into a lot of money like I did, you put it into the soil—you replenish the soil for next year’s crop.”

Found via MarketWatch, Oct 06, 2008.