June 2013
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The Financial Hardship of Cancer

When you are diagnosed with cancer your life is put on full stop. It may be for a moment, or an hour, or much longer. Depending upon the diagnosis and treatment plan, your living situation, and your emotional state, you may rebound quickly or not at all. My experience has been, for sure, that you [...]

Balancing Cancer Excitement with Cancer Reality

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Glass

This time of year we hear the word “exciting” used a lot when it comes to cancer. Specialists and clinical investigators in many cancer conditions are upbeat as study results come out at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting (ASCO) in Chicago and the European Hematology Association meeting [...]

Angelina Jolie: Cancer Prevention to the Max

Photo credit: People.com

Even before the Human Genome Project blossomed with a map of all the genes in the body some genes had been identified as putting people at high risk for serious diseases such as breast and ovarian cancer. Actress Angelina Jolie is making news because she chose to have both breasts removed, [...]

Why Today’s Cancer Experts Love Educated Patients

Time is limited, and time is money, right? Doctors never seem to have enough time. As our population ages, there are more people in need of care and with spiraling higher costs doctors are required to see more patients per day. There’s little time for chit chat.

At the same time medical science is making [...]

Why You Must Demand Precision Medicine for Cancer

The Human Genome Project was a really big deal, identifying the genes that make up our body. And quantum leaps in computing power, added to scientific discoveries, have been helping cancer specialists identify subtypes of disease, enabling drug developers to come up with ever more targeted therapies. More and more of these medicines for ever [...]

Boston Recovery: Surviving Sudden Trauma

Photo Credit: John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe/AP

The horror at the Boston Marathon finish line was felt around the world. I was shaken by the explosions in my home in Barcelona, where I now live, as I was a long-time marathoner. My son, Ari, is an elite marathon runner but opted not to run in [...]

The Magic of Giving Back

Marty Taft

This is a personal story from my own family that, I believe, speaks to all of us as we age, face challenges and, hopefully, overcome them. The story is about my father-in-law, Marty Taft, a resident of Los Angeles and now 82-years young. Like many his age he has had health “interruptions.” [...]

Diagnosed with Leukemia? Are You Sure?

The headlines each day bring more good news about progress in treating blood cancers. We now know more than ever before about leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and other disorders. There used to be a fairly standard approach to treatment, but that’s changed too. There are many subtypes and new therapies, new drug combinations, various clinical trial [...]

Back to School: An Ongoing Need for Patients

It’s tough to be a cancer patient today. Not just because you have cancer, but because you have to do a lot of work to ensure you have knowledgeable doctors, the best care, and that you do your part.

The human genome project has ushered in the age of “precision medicine.” Cancer centers around the [...]

Why New Standards Are Needed for Faster Cancer Drug Approvals

Several years ago I attended an FDA Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) hearing. What the medical experts and the FDA regulators wanted to know most was did a proposed new cancer medicine help people live longer? Not better, just longer. The CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) drug in question that day was not recommended for approval [...]