comment from post 5

1.Cancer is the word no one wants to ever hear. When it strikes a family friend or colleague, it hits home making it even more upsetting.  The American Cancer Society(ACS) provides information, education and support to the patient with cancer as well as to family and friends through on-line information and on-line resources that connect them with the local and individualized care that is needed.  Because the diagnose can be overwhelming at first, I would recommend the cancer patient and their family to focus on understanding the diagnoses as well as using the finding and paying for treatment tabs found on the ACS website.  Knowledge is power, and the patient needs to be armed with information to best understand what the physicians and specialists are talking about. Understanding cancer terminology, and different treatments will help the cancer patient to better make important medical decisions. At the same time, I believe it is important for the cancer patient and family to use the link for finding and paying for treatment.  The cancer diagnosis can cause panic that leads to the patient making medical decisions that could cause medical bills that far exceed their financial capabilities. It is important to get information up-front from the insurance company and learn how to handle expenses that may not be covered. Besides all of the on-line information, I would recommend the cancer patient check-out the Lodge Service. Qualifying to stay free in a Lodge near the treatment with support from staff can only help to progress treatment through emotional support and medical technology.

2.According to the ACS statistics, it is overwhelming to know that an estimated 1.5 million new cancer cases diagnosed each year.  According to the American Cancer Society, “much of the suffering and death from cancer could be prevented by more systematic efforts to reduce tobacco use and obesity, improve diet and physical activity and the use of established screening tests” (ACS, 2017, Prevention). It is estimated that by the end of 2017, 190,500 cancer deaths in the US will be caused by cigarette smoke alone and 20% of all cancers are caused by a combination of excess body weight, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption and poor nutrition (cancer.org, 2017). It is interesting that breast cancer is projected to be the highest number of newly diagnosed cases of cancer, yet it drops down to being the fourth estimated leading cause of death in 2017  (ACS, 2017, Prevention). These estimated numbers lead one to believe that early detection and treatment are helping to reduce the number of terminal cases.

3.The American Cancer Society funds many research programs, one of which is for Breast Cancer. As of August 1, 2017, the ACS has funded 159 Grants in the amount of $88,348,750 for breast cancer research (ACS, 2017, Funding). Researchers who have received these grants are focusing on different aspects of breast cancer.  Some of this research includes developing a new combination HER2/neu treatment, investigating if a newly discovered protein called CCLS has any link to breast cancer, looking for other pharmacology medications that provide treatment to women who have become resistant to certain drugs, trying to identify the biomarkers that are responsible for breast cancer spreading to the brain, researching if acupressure is an effective alternative to pain management, and this list does go on and on.  The ACS also has an internal research team that is “analyzing data on an ongoing basis from Cancer Prevention Study 11, which the Society began in 1982, to investigate linkages between lifestyle and breast cancer” as well as “conducting a new multi-year cancer prevention study, CPS-3, to better understand ways to prevent cancer, including breast cancer (ACS, 2017, Funding). The impact of this research has been proven already.” From 1989-2014(most recent data available), breast cancer mortality decreased by 38 percent (avoiding about 300,000 deaths). This decline in mortality is due to improved breast cancer treatment and early detection” (Susan G Komen, 2017). This decline has been made possible through organizations such as the American Cancer Society.

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