Local woman challenges friends with New Year's Resolution to fight cancer with feet

 

When Melanie Armer, of the Central West End, was asked to run the Go! St. Louis half-marathon she thought there was no way she could run 13.1 miles. But when her friend told her they would be fighting cancer during their training, she was in. Melanie and her coworkers at Covidien joined DetermiNation™, the American Cancer Society's new endurance event training program.

 

"I have two family members who have been touched by cancer; my aunt and my mom. They're both doing well now," said Melaine. "The cause is a really good cause and since there were a bunch of friends doing it I figured I would try."

 

Through the Society's DetermiNation program athletes can make every mile more meaningful by dedicating it to someone they know who has been touched by cancer. While raising money to support the American Cancer Society's efforts to fight the disease and save lives, the participants receive numerous benefits to help them achieve their personal victories, including free team training with Fleet Feet, social opportunities, race weekend amenities, mentor support and more.

 

"It was really great to do all of the long runs with a big group of people," said Melanie. "I'm still friends with the people I met. It's been motivating." Now that the New Year is coming, Melanie is challenging friends to get involved and make it their New Year's resolution.

 

Training through the American Cancer Society's half-marathon program begins January 16 at the Fleet Feet in Chesterfield at 7:30 a.m. "It's a good way to get through the winter," said Melanie. "I kept running after the race as well. It's something that's important to me and I feel like I'm making a difference." As for Melanie's New Year's resolution: "I want to improve on my time."

 

DetermiNation was born out of a program called Charity Runner, which began in 1996 by an individual in the American Cancer Society's Illinois Division who wanted to run a marathon in memory of a friend he had recently lost to cancer. Because of the program's rapid growth, the Society decided to expand this initiative nationwide to include all types of endurance events.

 

Endurance athletes interested in training with the American Cancer Society DetermiNation program for the Go! St. Louis Marathon on April 11 should visit determinationstlouis.org or call Sara Downard at 314-286-8192 for more information.

 

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation's largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing nearly $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

Local woman challenges friends with New Year's Resolution to fight cancer with feet

 

When Melanie Armer, of the Central West End, was asked to run the Go! St. Louis half-marathon she thought there was no way she could run 13.1 miles. But when her friend told her they would be fighting cancer during their training, she was in. Melanie and her coworkers at Covidien joined DetermiNation™, the American Cancer Society's new endurance event training program.

 

"I have two family members who have been touched by cancer; my aunt and my mom. They're both doing well now," said Melaine. "The cause is a really good cause and since there were a bunch of friends doing it I figured I would try."

 

Through the Society's DetermiNation program athletes can make every mile more meaningful by dedicating it to someone they know who has been touched by cancer. While raising money to support the American Cancer Society's efforts to fight the disease and save lives, the participants receive numerous benefits to help them achieve their personal victories, including free team training with Fleet Feet, social opportunities, race weekend amenities, mentor support and more.

 

"It was really great to do all of the long runs with a big group of people," said Melanie. "I'm still friends with the people I met. It's been motivating." Now that the New Year is coming, Melanie is challenging friends to get involved and make it their New Year's resolution.

 

Training through the American Cancer Society's half-marathon program begins January 16 at the Fleet Feet in Chesterfield at 7:30 a.m. "It's a good way to get through the winter," said Melanie. "I kept running after the race as well. It's something that's important to me and I feel like I'm making a difference." As for Melanie's New Year's resolution: "I want to improve on my time."

 

DetermiNation was born out of a program called Charity Runner, which began in 1996 by an individual in the American Cancer Society's Illinois Division who wanted to run a marathon in memory of a friend he had recently lost to cancer. Because of the program's rapid growth, the Society decided to expand this initiative nationwide to include all types of endurance events.

 

Endurance athletes interested in training with the American Cancer Society DetermiNation program for the Go! St. Louis Marathon on April 11 should visit determinationstlouis.org or call Sara Downard at 314-286-8192 for more information.

 

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation's largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing nearly $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

The cancer death rate and the number of new cancer cases in the United States continue to drop, according to an annual report released today by leading health organizations. However, certain types of cancer appear to be on the rise.

The findings come from the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2006, Featuring Colorectal Cancer Trends and Impact of Interventions (Risk Factors, Screening, and Treatment) to Reduce Future Rates, authored by researchers from the American Cancer Society (ACS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries (NAACCR).

"The continued decline in incidence and death rates for all cancers combined is extremely encouraging, but progress has been more limited for certain types of cancer, including many cancers that are currently less amenable to screening, such as cancer of esophagus, liver and pancreas," said Betsy Kohler, executive director of NAACCR.

Steady decline overall

According to the report, the cancer death rate for men and women combined fell 1.6% per year during 2001-2006, in keeping with the steady downward trend that started in the 1990s. Men saw slightly larger declines in cancer death rates (1.5% per year during 1993-2001 and 2.0% per year during 2001-2006) compared to women (0.8% per year during 1994-2002 and 1.5% per year during 2002-2006).

New diagnoses for all types of cancer combined (known as incidence) also decreased, about 1% per year on average from 1999 to 2006. Here, too, the decline was steeper among men compared to women, dropping 1.3% per year from 2000 through 2006 in men compared to 0.5% per year from 1998 through 2006 in women.

"The continued decline in overall cancer rates documents the success we have had with our aggressive efforts to reduce risk in large populations, to provide for early detection, and to develop new therapies that have been successfully applied in this past decade," said NCI Director John E. Niederhuber, MD.

"Yet we cannot be content with this steady reduction in incidence and mortality. We must, in fact, accelerate our efforts to get individualized diagnoses and treatments to all Americans and our belief is that our research efforts and our vision are moving us rapidly in that direction," he said.

Certain cancer types increase

While men saw greater declines, overall cancer death and incidence rates still remain much higher among men than women. And while rates of the most common cancer types in men (prostate, colorectal, and lung) are falling, incidence rates are up for others, including kidney, liver, and esophageal cancers, as well as leukemia, myeloma, and melanoma - cancers that are generally harder to detect early.

Among women, rates for two of the most common cancers, breast and colorectal, have declined somewhat. Lung cancer rates, however, increased. Other cancers also on the rise among women include thyroid, pancreatic, bladder, and kidney cancer, as well as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, melanoma, and leukemia.

Among racial and ethnic groups, cancer death rates were highest among black men and women, and black men had the highest rate of incidence overall. However, there are some positive indicators for this group. For example, black men were less likely than white men to die of pancreatic cancer, the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the United States, and prostate cancer incidence among black men declined significantly.

Focus on colorectal cancer

This year's report includes a special section on colorectal cancer, with estimates on colorectal cancer mortality and incidence trends through 2020.

According to the report, colorectal cancer death rates have been falling since 1984 in men and since 1975 in women, with a more marked decline in recent years. For new diagnoses, men and women 65 years and older have seen the greatest declines, while cases are up in people under 50.

Using modeling, the researchers estimated how controlling colorectal cancer risk factors (smoking and lack of physical activity, for example), increasing screening rates using colonoscopy and other tests, and improving treatment may affect colorectal cancer rates in the future. Based on their estimates, if current trends persist, Americans could see a 36% decline in colorectal cancer death rates by 2020. With greater improvements in risk factor control, screening and treatment, that reduction could be as much as 50%.

"The extraordinary progress on colorectal cancer shows what can be achieved by coordinated and targeted efforts to apply existing knowledge to cancer control at the state and federal level," said John R. Seffrin, PhD, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society.

"Increases in colorectal cancer screening have been achieved through a variety of efforts, including education of the public and medical community and advocacy for health insurance coverage of the full range of colorectal cancer screening tests," said Seffrin. "The American Cancer Society is committed to continuing these efforts to get as close as we can to the potential 50 percent colorectal cancer mortality reduction that this report says is possible."

The report appears online today in the American Cancer Society journalCancer.

Reviewed by: Members of the ACS Medical Content Staff

Citation: Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2006, Featuring Colorectal Cancer Trends and Impact of Interventions (Risk Factors, Screening, and Treatment) to Reduce Future Rates. Published online December 7, 2009 in Cancer. First author: Brenda K. Edwards, PhD, Surveillance Research Program, National Cancer Institute.

House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health Holds Hearing to Examine Breast Cancer Screening Recommendations

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. - December 2, 2009 - Reducing the number of breast cancer deaths in America requires improved access to mammography and clinical breast examination, testified Otis Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health today.

At the hearing, which focused on the new breast cancer screening guidelines issued last month by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, Brawley also testified that health care reform legislation could reduce confusion and improve public confidence by ensuring that the process for determining such recommendations is transparent, inclusive and evidence-based.

"The American Cancer Society continues to recommend annual screening using mammography and clinical breast examination for all women beginning at age 40, a practice that saves lives," Brawley said. "Tragically, the high cost of screenings to patients contributes to the fact that 30 to 40 percent of American women aged 40 and over fail to get regular mammograms. The inability of millions of women to access proven life-saving services such as mammograms is a failure of our health care system."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, accounting for nearly one in four cancers diagnosed. An estimated 192,370 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 40,170 women will die from the disease in America this year. Only one in four women without health insurance has had a regular mammogram in the past year, and Society studies have shown that uninsured breast cancer patients are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of the disease and have lower survival rates than patients who are privately insured.

The controversy surrounding the task force guidelines caused confusion about when screening is appropriate and emphasized the need to improve the way such recommendations are determined. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the Society's advocacy affiliate, strongly supports action taken by the House of Representatives in passing health care reform legislation that would create a more open and informed process for making recommendations about preventive services.

ACS CAN has proposed the following changes to the function and composition of the task force:

• Membership - USPSTF membership should include experts in clinical and community medicine, health delivery, public health, and health data, as well as patient representation and representatives experienced in minority health and health disparities.

• Transparency - USPSTF meetings should be open to the public, and the methodologies used to establish priorities should be made available to the public through forums and drafts that are subject to public review and comment before being made final.

• Representation - USPSTF advisory panels should include a cross-section of interests, including patient representatives, experts in health care delivery and health care providers.

• Outside sources - The Secretary of Health and Human Services should be empowered to recognize other sources and interpretations of scientific evidence in determining recommendations for preventive services.

"ACS CAN strongly supports language in House-passed health care reform legislation that would lead to a more transparent and inclusive process for the task force to perform its important work," Brawley said. "We are now working with members of the Senate to ensure that all Americans have access to credible information and coverage that allows them to make meaningful decisions on what preventive services are best for them."

Cancer in all of its forms is one of the most costly medical conditions. A recent survey by ACS CAN showed that half of people under age 65 with a history of cancer had difficulty affording medical costs in the previous year, and more than a quarter have used up all or most of their personal savings. For more survey results, visit www.acscan.org/cancerpoll.

Brawley is a practicing oncologist and the chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.  A world-renowned cancer expert, Brawley currently serves as professor of hematology, oncology, and epidemiology at Emory University. Previously, he held the position of medical director of the Georgia Cancer Center for Excellence at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, and deputy director for cancer control at Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University. He has also previously served as a member of the Society's Prostate Cancer Committee, co-chaired the Surgeon General's Task Force on Cancer Health Disparities, and served in a variety of capacities at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), most recently serving as director of the Office of Special Populations Research. He currently serves as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection and Control Advisory Committee.

ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.