Kat's Corner

KAT'S CORNER is dedicated to a brave young woman who is also very much loved by the Wilderness family. She was a breast cancer sufferer who battled this terrible disease with all her heart and soul and did so for oh so long. Her strength, courage and faith are an example to us all.

From all of us who knew and loved Kat to her family and all those who suffer from this deadly disease:
Our thoughts are with you. Our prayers include you. Our hearts embrace you.

Link to Ask Dr. Manny Show: Breast cancer is not just your mother's disease. Young women and men are also at risk and we will bring you their survival stories

The American Cancer Society reports:
"Based on the most recent data, relative survival rates for women diagnosed with breast cancer are:
• 89% at five years after diagnosis
• 82% after 10 years
• 75% after 15 years
Caution should be used when interpreting long-term
survival rates since they reflect the experience of women
treated using past therapies and do not reflect recent
trends in early detection or advances in treatment."

I know all the Slip, Slap, Slop people that are advocating virtually no exposure to the sun at all are going to disagree with my re-print of this information. That's the way it goes, the item is the result of a professional study done by qualified individuals and worth consideration:
Lack of Sunlight May Increase Lung Cancer Risk
December, 2007
Lack of sunlight may increase the risk of lung cancer, suggests a study of rates of the disease in over 100 countries, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
Lung cancer kills over a million people every year around the globe. The researchers looked at the association between latitude, exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) light, and rates of lung cancer according to age in 111 countries across several continents.

They took account of the amount of cloud cover and aerosol use, both of which absorb UVB light, and cigarette smoking, the primary cause of lung cancer. International databases, including those of the World Health Organization, and national health statistics were used.

Smoking was most strongly associated with lung cancer rates, accounting for between 75% and 85% of the cases.

But exposure to sunlight, especially UVB light, the principal source of vitamin D for the body, also seemed to have an impact, the findings showed.

The amount of UVB light increases with proximity to the equator. And the analyses showed that lung cancer rates were highest in those countries furthest away from the equator and lowest in those nearest.

Higher cloud cover and airborne aerosol levels were also associated with higher rates of the disease.

In men, the prevalence of smoking was associated with higher lung cancer rates, while greater exposure to UVB light was associated with lower rates.

Among women, cigarette smoking, total cloud cover, and airborne aerosols were associated with higher rates of lung cancer, while greater exposure to UVB light was associated with lower rates.

The associations for a protective role for UVB light persisted after adjusting for smoking.

The link between cancer and sunlight is chemically plausible, say the authors, because laboratory research has shown that vitamin D can halt tumour growth by promoting the factors responsible for cell death in the body.

"Although cigarette smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, greater UVB exposure may reduce the incidence of the disease," they conclude.

Last summer, at the age of 21, Colleen Cappon was diagnosed with breast cancer.
This summer, the now 22-year-old Watertown, N.Y. college student will be celebrating her victory over it.

Cappon's story was first reported by FOXNews.com this past October during Breast Cancer Awareness month. Now cancer-free, Cappon, a former intern at the FOX News Channel, said she "feels great" and only wants what any other college senior wants: a job.

"When I was told [the cancer] was gone, it was very surreal," said Cappon, who is finishing up her studies at the State University of New York in Cortland, N.Y. "It was like everything was in slow motion. I love college. But I'm ready to move on. I really liked doing an internship at FOX and I'm hoping to find a job in television news."

Breast Cancer in young people is rare, said Dr. Cynara Coomer, a breast surgeon with the Surgical Associates of New York in Manhattan.

"Only 2 1/2 percent of patients are under the age of 35," she said. "And when you get into the 20 to 24 age range, only about 1.4 per 100,000 patients will be in that range."

Though it's rare, breast cancer in young women tends to be more aggressive than in older women, said Coomer and Dr. Ann Partridge, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a clinician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute specializing in young women with breast cancer.

"It tends to be more advanced in younger women than in older women," Partridge said. "This is due to several reasons, including a lack of awareness and a lack of screening. The lack of awareness is because young women don't expect to get breast cancer. And there's no good way to screen young women. And because so few young women get it, screening young women is kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack."

The lack of awareness and screening leads to a delayed diagnosis, which means that breast tumors are likely larger and more likely to have spread by the time doctors find them, Partridge said.

Cappon was diagnosed with Stage IIB breast cancer, which is divided into two subsections,

She had a tumor that measured 2.5 centimeters and had spread into her mammary lymph nodes. Her tumor also was fast growing and had tripled in size within nine days from diagnosis.

Because of this, Cappon and her doctors took an aggressive approach to treatment.

"Everything I did, I did to the extreme," Cappon said.

Cappon chose to have both of her breasts removed, along with the surrounding tissue. She also underwent chemotherapy, which meant losing her hair.

But she never lost hope.

"I'm a strong person and I could kind of see something like this happening to me in the future," she said. "I had thought of it before because it runs in my family but nothing can prepare you for when it does happen."

Although many studies have shown that in most cases double mastectomies are not necessary, Coomer and Partridge, neither of whom has treated Cappon, said doctors often suggest such a measure in young women, especially those with a family history — Cappon's mother had it twice.

"You're going to see this kind of approach more commonly in this age group than with people in their 30s and 40s," Coomer said. "You'll also see [a more aggressive approach] in women who have a family history of breast cancer or a genetic risk."

Cappon has been cancer-free for more than four months. She will take Tamoxifen to block the hormone estrogen, which can promote the development of breast cancer, for the next five years as a follow-up to her breast cancer treatment.

"I'm really excited that it's over with and that I can sleep well at night now," she said.

The prognosis for women in Cappon's age group is dependent on many factors, including the stage in which the disease was caught, the therapy that's used to fight the cancer and a person's overall biological risk for reoccurrence.

The five-year survival rate for Stage IIB breast cancer is 81 percent. Although survival rates aren't routinely calculated past five years, Partridge said rates, on average, are about the same 10 and 20 years out.

"The later the breast cancer is caught, the higher risk for reoccurrence," said Partridge. "The good news is that we're getting better and better in our treatment of breast cancer and the majority of women will survive."

Partridge and Coomer said Cappon will face unique circumstances going forward.

"For young women it's a whole different ballgame," Coomer said. "They basically have their whole lives ahead of them and are facing much different circumstances than women in their 50s and 60s, and even women in their 40s. Women in their 20s are more likely to be single. They're not yet settled in their careers. Many of them will want to get married and have families."

The doctors suggested that Cappon seek out a support group either in her community or online of women her age that have survived breast cancer.

Cappon said she has already met a number of other young women who have experienced breast cancer.

"I spoke at Cortland's Relay for life and other women started e-mailing me," she said. "I met a 26-year-old and a 29-year-old with it. I was shocked to see how many young people like me had it."

Coomer also said Cappon should follow a healthy diet rich in antioxidants, and limit alcohol and soy consumption — high soy consumption is thought to increase estrogen levels in the body. High estrogen levels are believed to be one cause of breast cancer.

"I don't think anyone can prevent breast cancer solely on diet," she said. "But we don't want patients to be overweight, which can be a contributing factor. Other than that, she will have to be followed very closely over the next five years and have annual screenings after that.

Moving forward Cappon's positive attitude also will go a long way in her fight against breast cancer."

"We're all going to die some day, but most of us don't have it in our faces at 20," Partridge said. "What I tell my patients, is that going forward you have to assume you're going to do well and, statistically speaking, the vast majority will do well."

Cappon, who has spoken about her cancer at various events, said she hopes to continue to raise awareness.

"I don't want to be consumed by it," she said. "It's not who I am, it's something I had. I want to let people know about the dangers of breast cancer when you're young and raise awareness for young women. But I don't want to make it my life's work."

New drugs improve breast cancer survival
NEW YORK - Although women diagnosed with advanced breast cancer general do not have as good a prognosis as women diagnosed in earlier disease stages, significant improvements have been made. The introduction of new chemotherapy drugs in the last decade has resulted in longer survival times for these women, the findings of a new study suggest.

As reported in the current issue of the journal Cancer, Dr. Stephen Chia, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 2,150 women who were treated for metastatic breast cancer, cancer that has spread from the breast to other areas of the body.

The women were separated into four groups according to when new drugs for metastatic breast cancer became available in British Columbia: January 1991 to December 1992, the starting point; January 1994 to December 1995, when paclitaxel and vinorelbine were made available; January 1997 to December 1998, when the aromatase inhibitors and docetaxel were released; and July 1999 to June 2001, when trastuzumab and capecitabine hit the market.

All of the patients had similar characteristics, although women treated later in the decade were more likely to have estrogen receptor-positive cancer, receive follow-up therapy after the initial chemotherapy, and have a longer time between diagnosis and metastasis.

The average survival periods for patients first treated from 1991 to 1992 and from 1994 to 1995 were similar, at 438 and 450 days, respectively. The survival periods for those treated from1997 to 1998 and 1999 to 2001 were significantly longer by comparison: 564 and 667 days, respectively.

Further analysis of the data confirmed that treatment during the late 1990s was associated with significantly longer survival periods than treatment during the early 1990s.

This population-based study of a large group of women recently diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer "is the first to our knowledge that demonstrates a significant improvement in survival over time," Chia's team concludes.

"This improvement in survival appeared to be caused by the availability and use of newer, more effective systemic agents for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer."
SOURCE: Cancer, July 23, 2007, online.

Mindy is 7 weeks post op from breast cancer and writes the following:
I have pondered a lot about life, love, friendships and family during my brush with cancer in the past eight weeks and would like to share some of my thoughts with you.

Yes it is winter, it is cold, gray and wet, but I take it as my personal season of the year where I can complete tasks around the house that I would never have time for in the summer. Or to crawl up with a book under the covers of my warm bed or by the fireplace and taking in every word without any distraction of what I might be missing outside. I like bundling up in my fleece and taking my loving dog for a walk, feeling the freshness of the winter and then coming home to a cup of hot steamy chocolate.

I look forward to all of the activities of my women's social club, especially at this time of the year because of the warmth of the friendship I find there. I have learned so much from so many women in the club regarding happiness, sorrow, battles with illnesses, etc, and in the way each individual expresses these emotions and how they deal with them.

Every month it seems that one or more members in our club is dealing with one of these emotions and by sharing them with the rest of us we all learn and grow from their experiences. And since there are so many of us we learn and grow so much more than if we just stayed in our small group of friends. I find this kind of friendship invaluable.

In the past few months before I was diagnosed with cancer, I was sharing a friend's ordeal with the disease, an experience I had never had previously. I did not know how to react or how to be with her. My friend reached out to all of us, her friends, to help us to deal emotionally with her own cancer. She showed us her strength and courage and positivism. Somehow she made us not afraid to talk about and deal with the illness and actually took the time to nurture us. She has always had the amazing ability to bring people together for camaraderie and good times and even in her own illness she used that ability to bring us together. She is just one of those amazing souls, and I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

So, when I was diagnosed with cancer I knew only one way to react and to deal with it. My friend had been my only role model and I just naturally did what I learned from her. I actually amazed my own self with the courage I had through it all. Not one time did I think "poor me" and I never felt scared and never cried. I just wanted to get through it. And now I am trying to make the best of it all and have never felt stronger in my life as a woman. We are all so blessed to have each other and I am so proud of my friends and the people in the club.

I need to put in a personal note about my partner who never missed a doctor's appointment with me and has been by my side loving me and supporting me and protecting me through this whole ordeal. I found an amazing man to share my life with.

I would like to leave you with this strong advice from my heart. I want to ask that all women of every age to be in tune with your body and never ignore something that does not feel right. Use the wonderful intuition God has given.
Mindy