HOPE is a Wonderful Word
If ever there was a time to be hopeful about the field of breast cancer research….it’s now.
At M.D. Anderson (where my cousin Martha goes every six months) they announced this year that they have a vaccine that lowered the re-occurrence rate of cancer by a significant percentage. http://www.mdanderson.org/newsroom/news-releases/2012/hybrid-vaccine.html
At Baylor College of Medicine they are asking for volunteers for a promising study: http://www.bcm.edu/news/item.cfm?newsID=6391
And then there is this article I ran across that’s encouraging.
Breast Cancer PREVENTION Is Knocking On Our Door. Who will answer?
by; Cindy Sullivan
Breast Cancer Awareness Month is just around the corner and while we are encouraged to run, walk and wave our pink ribbon, The Pink Vaccine, the world’s first PREVENTIVE breast cancer vaccine awaits funding. This vaccine could potentially save more than $86.44 Billion in healthcare costs in this country, per year.
A preventive vaccine, developed by Dr. Vincent Tuohy of the Cleveland Clinic was found to be 100% effective in preventing breast cancer in mice. Even mice bred for a high incidence of breast cancer failed to develop it when the vaccine was administered. Further, researchers found that mice already infected with breast cancer saw a marked reduction in tumors after being given this vaccine.
Funding for The Pink Vaccine would have a tremendous affect on millions of lives as well as on spiraling health care costs in our country. The $6 Million needed to move forward with clinical trials is a drop in the breast cancer bucket yet women continue to be diagnosed, and others die every day of this horrible disease.
How did I arrive at my $86.44 billion? Almost $300,000 was billed to my insurance company to ‘cure’ my breast cancer, not including the cost of reconstructive surgeries. According to BreastCancer.org, an estimated 288,130 were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. If you multiply the cost of my treatment by the 288,130 women diagnosed in 2011, the result is $86.44 Billion, not including income lost and the emotional toll breast cancer takes on its victims and their families.
It seems that funding this vaccine is up to us, the women of the world who want to eradicate this disease from our lives and the lives of those we love.
Share, like, re-post, write your congressmen, the President, tell your doctors you want this funded. But most of all, make a tax deductible contribution today.
http://thepinkvaccine.wordpress.com/donations/
You can read more about this vaccine from the Cleveland Clinic here too:
http://www.cleveland.com/healthfit/index.ssf/2012/04/grass-roots_efforts_grow_to_ra.html
Do Something!
