Cancer: The Emperor Of All Maladies

"Cancer is built into us: the genes that unmoor normal cell division are not foreign to our bodies but rather mutated, distorted versions of the very genes that allow us to grow, to adapt, to recover, to repair - to live. Malignant growth and normal growth are so genetically intertwined that unbraiding the two is one of the most significant scientific challenges faced by our species. If we seek immortality, then so, too, in a rather perverse sense, does the cancer cell." ~ Siddhartha Mukherjee

Cancer. The very word can cause great fear. Humankind has been in a great war against cancer for thousands of years, long before we even knew what cancer was. Hundreds of millions of lives have been lost to cancer, both human and animal. Cancer does not discriminate. It doesn't care about age, gender, race, religion, socioeconomic background or nationality. It is a worldwide problem.

In the U.S.A. one in two men and one in three women will get cancer. The science behind these diseases is complex. In his Pulitzer Prize winning book, "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer", Siddhartha Mukherjee takes us on a journey through the history of cancer. According to Mukherjee, cancer has always existed, but it wasn't until 440 B.C. when the queen of Persia discovered a lump in her breast that the removal of a tumor first happened.

The publication of this book in 2010 sparked a new documentary film, "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies" premiering tonight on PBS. The 3-part, 6-hour film is considered the most comprehensive documentary on a disease ever made.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a proud sponsor of the film. You can read more about it HERE. Or view the trailer below...

Why Charlie Brown, Why?

In 1990, Charles M. Schulz departed from the typically light hearted theme of the Peanuts specials. "Why Charlie Brown, Why?" is a story about leukemia.

Janice, a school friend of Linus feels sick one day at school and then begins to miss a lot of school. When Linus and Charlie Brown find out that Janice has leukemia, they are deeply troubled and go visit her in the hospital where they hear all about her tests and treatments.

This story touches on many aspects of childhood cancer, including fear, sibling distress, misunderstanding about cancer, insensitivity, hair loss and much more. It was nominated for an Emmy. Charles Schulz died of cancer 10 years after the film premiered. 

To view the entire movie on Youtube, click HERE.

Throwback Thursday: Cancer Treatments of the Past

Patient receiving radiation therapy. Photographer unknown.
From G. Terry Sharrer, Ph.D. National Museum of American History.

If you heard the news you had cancer before the 1950s, you knew your life was over. It was extremely rare in those days for someone to be diagnosed with any kind of cancer and think "I'll beat this".

Before the 50s, the most common treatment options for cancer were radiation therapy and surgery. Then, during World War II, military personnel were exposed to mustard gas and were later found to have major toxic changes in their bone marrow. Their white blood cell counts were extremely low when exposed to the gas.

It was believed that an agent that could damage rapidly growing white blood cells might have a similar effect on cancer. So, in the late 1940s, patients with advanced lymphomas were given the gas by vein. Not long after this, nitrogen mustard was used in children with acute leukemias and it began to produce remissions. This drug was the predecessor of methorexate, a chemo agent still in use today. The 1950's is considered the era of chemotherapy and researchers were heavily funded by the Leukemia Society of America (now called the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society). You can read more about LLS funding over the years HERE.

Someday, we hope to look back at the year 2015 and say "Wow, remember when people had cancer? So glad that's something of the past." Thank you to all our donors who are making someday TODAY!

Mission Moment Monday: Dr. Helen Heslop

Our mission at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society includes curing leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. It is with great pride and honor that we fund researchers across the country including many great researchers right here in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Helen Heslop is one of the Texas researchers being funded by the LLS. She and her team work out of Baylor College of Medicine and they are the recipient of an LLS SCOR (Specialized Center of Research) grant of $6 million through 2018. Dr. Heslop is the director for Center Cell and Gene Therapy  at Texas Children's Hospital as well as director of Adult Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program at BCM.

With her team, Dr. Heslop is using the LLS funds to continue research on mobilizing the immune system to control cancers of the blood. The team has successfully worked to create safer, simpler immunotherapies for two different types of blood cancer - acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and multiple myeloma. Not only are they researching methods in which immunotherapies will provide better results in a safer manner, but they are also working toward achieving reduced costs of treatments to make them more accessible to patients.