Is the cure in sight?

dianetavegia

Someone said recently that once one type of cancer can be cured.....

Have you seen this story today?

After long fight, cancer drug suddenly effective
Therapy targeted toward gene mutations gives patients some reprieve



updated 2:57 p.m. ET, Tues., Feb. 23, 2010

For the melanoma patients who signed on to try a drug known as PLX4032, the clinical trial was a last resort. Their bodies were riddled with tumors, leaving them almost certainly just months to live.

But a few weeks after taking their first dose, nearly all of them began to recover.

Lee Reyes, 30, of Fresno, Calif., who had begun using a feeding tube because of a growth pressing against his throat, bit into a cinnamon roll.

Read full story here

msccolon

Fantastic article!
Can you IMAGINE being a melanoma survivor right about now?! Let's all pray this means good news for other cancers as well!
mary

mom_2_3

Interesting article!
Diane,

Thanks for posting this article. I found it very interesting and look forward to the next part. My sister's brother-in-law was diagnosed a few years ago with melanoma (actually a rare case where there was no mole or skin lesion to start). He had treatment and was fine and then had a recurrence. He ended up in this particular trial (at MSK) and he had phenomenal results with the drug. Unfortunately he just passed away this past Saturday but it was from pneumonia and not from the cancer. He was 55. Through his experience others will hopefully benefit.

zenmonk

this is huge
We will win!

dianetavegia

I'm really excited!
We could be the generation that sees an end to colon cancer deaths!

I understand about melanoma. I have a girl friend who lost her husband to melanoma that began in his eye. He lived 5 years and was only in pain for the last few weeks. I have another friend with advanced melanoma. He's been taking the trial drugs and seems to be doing well. A very young church friend has had 2 bouts with melanoma but it's been 'caught' before it went in to her sentinel nodes.

My hubby has (had) red hair and light skin. He's had 30 skin biopsies and 3 were basal cell carcinoma but the other 27 were mild to medium melanocytic changes. We have his eyes checked often and his body is checked every 3 months.

coloCan

dianetavegia said:

I'm really excited!
We could be the generation that sees an end to colon cancer deaths!

I understand about melanoma. I have a girl friend who lost her husband to melanoma that began in his eye. He lived 5 years and was only in pain for the last few weeks. I have another friend with advanced melanoma. He's been taking the trial drugs and seems to be doing well. A very young church friend has had 2 bouts with melanoma but it's been 'caught' before it went in to her sentinel nodes.

My hubby has (had) red hair and light skin. He's had 30 skin biopsies and 3 were basal cell carcinoma but the other 27 were mild to medium melanocytic changes. We have his eyes checked often and his body is checked every 3 months.

Anyone familiar with "nanotechnology"?
That seems to be a promising means of conquering cancer, utilizing super microscopically tiny particles that can differentiate cancer from healthy cells and therefore attack only cancerous cells, causing less harm to us than current chemo. Vaccinations are another avenue being explored by scientists, researchers,etc .Hopefully, a cure will be found.....Steve

dianetavegia

coloCan said:

Anyone familiar with "nanotechnology"?
That seems to be a promising means of conquering cancer, utilizing super microscopically tiny particles that can differentiate cancer from healthy cells and therefore attack only cancerous cells, causing less harm to us than current chemo. Vaccinations are another avenue being explored by scientists, researchers,etc .Hopefully, a cure will be found.....Steve

Hey Steve
Start a thread on it. I seem to remember snomminj (John) talking about it a while back. He's a genius (not kidding)

coloCan

dianetavegia said:

Hey Steve
Start a thread on it. I seem to remember snomminj (John) talking about it a while back. He's a genius (not kidding)

Just did
Thanks for the suggestion, Diane. From articles I've read, nonotechnology IS quite interesting so I'll publicize it a lttle here......Hope all went/goes well with your recent difficulty --be careful of fecal blockage, as it can be dangerous to your health.(Also appreciate John's intelligence and determination)....Steve

rrob

Thanks!
Thanks for posting this. I read the article and then a follow-up interview with the reporter. She said that about 10% of colon cancer patients have the same mutation, so this drug could possibly be effective against cc too. Very encouraging to realize there are so many possiblities if we can hang on long enough. Thanks again!

Rebecca