Tuesday, December 3, 2019

NEW SERIES:
CANCER SURVIVOR STORIES

CONNIE BUSH

Not unlike others who have received the news “cancer”, I was surprised and taken aback.  Faithfully every year, for the past 20 years, I’d go for my annual mammogram screening resulting in no suspicious findings.  In July 2018, since I had no symptoms, I thought about following the recommendations of some health care providers, researchers, and advocates that recommend women 55 years and older be screened for Breast Cancer every 2 years.  By August 2018, I’m thankful my internal dialog kept reminding me of the education I provide to the Peninsula community informing them to have discussions with their primary care physicians, and that the gold standard for early detection of breast cancer is an annual screening mammogram starting at age 40.

I went for my annual screening mammogram the last week in August.  After a Call Back, Ultrasound, and Biopsy, I was informed that I had late Stage 2 Breast Cancer.  If I had skipped my annual screening last year, my options and outcomes would have been more limited.  Thankfully, I followed the education I provide to our community. Remember to get your annual mammogram.  It could save your life!

Community Engagement and Informative Events

UPCOMING EVENTS

These Educational Seminars are being hosted by Riverside Cancer Care Center.

UPCOMING EVENTS

NOVEMBER EVENTS RECAP

NATIONAL STUDIES

Your Oppportunity to Answer the Call

RESPOND is the largest research study ever to look for answers to the prostate cancer problem for African American men.

RESPOND is working with African American community leaders to make sure the community's voice is heard.

RESPOND needs 10,000 African American men with prostate cancer to complete a survey. RESPOND needs many of those men to also give saliva or cancer tissue samples. 

RESPOND participants will receive $10 for completing the survey, $20 for providing a saliva sample, and $20 for giving permission to access stored prostate tissue samples.

HOW TO JOIN RESPOND: Complete the survey by mail or online: www.RESPONDStudy.org
 

The Metastatic Prostate Cancer Project (MPCproject.org) is an patient-partnered online research study for men with advanced and/or metastatic prostate cancer. The goal of the project is to generate linked patient-reported, clinical, and genomic data that is de-identified to protect patient privacy and then shared widely with the research community to speed discoveries in prostate cancer.

Both diagnosis and survival rates for metastatic prostate cancer vary a great deal, particularly across racial and ethnic backgrounds, and researchers still do not fully understand why. The MPCproject hopes to enroll and learn from men across the US and Canada, and particularly alongside those who are underrepresented in research to better understand the basis for these differences.

Participation in the MPCproject is easy:

1. Visit MPCproject.org and click “count me in” to complete a short online form with optional questions.

2. Fill out an online consent form that gives permission for the study team to send a simple saliva sample kit, obtain copies of your medical records, and provide an optional blood sample and/or stored tumor tissue (if available)

 Find out more at MPCproject.org

KNOWLEDGE:

•  Early stage prostate cancer that has not spread has no symptoms! 
•  A PSA test may indicate prostate cancer early before it has spread. 
•  The digital rectal exam (DRE) may also indicate prostate cancer before it has spread.

FAITH:

People of faith have felt the need to express their experience with and belief in a much higher power especially in times of trouble such as learning they have cancer. Proclaiming the good news seems to serve most cancer patients well as it helps with their psychosocial and spiritual well being.

EARLY DETECTION:

• Early treatment of prostate cancer may help some men avoid major problems.
•  Early treatment of prostate cancer may help some men live longer.