On the pulse
Cancerkin's News.....Cancerkin Portugal Villa up for auction on eBay
A supporter of Cancerkin has very kindly donated her Portugal holiday villa to us, so that we can use it in a new fundraising drive. After much consideration we have decide to auction the stunning villa on eBay. Recently established Mission Fish, helps charities use eBay successfully to raise their profile and funds. With its own swimming pool, and exterior seating and diner area, the villa, which sleeps 10 is a real gem! This is another great way that you can support Cancerkin as well as bagging a treat for you and the family! Please direct everyone you know; family, friends, children’s friends and work colleagues to this site. The money raised really will make a very big difference to the work that Cancerkin do.
To view and start bidding on the villa please click here.
Book Club…
Final reminder that our next book club meeting will be on Tuesday 4th May at 11am. The text is Zoe Wicomb’s ‘Playing in the light’ and centres on South African Apartheid. The book is currently half price on Amazon. Please feel free to come and along for the chat, tea, coffee and cakes.
In the News…
A blood test to detect cancer? Possibly.
A simple blood test which looks for raised chemical ‘markers’ in the blood, has been said to detect the very early signs of breast cancer, potentially saving the lives of hundreds of women in years to come. Already used in the private sphere for around £500, the test could be regularly available on the health service within the next five years.
Developed by Norwegian company Diagenic ASA, the test has been proven to be 75% effective, with its results published in the Breast Cancer Research journal. Detecting a cancer tumour no bigger than a small seed, the blood test has the capacity to spot tumours much earlier than traditional x-ray scanning, which usually require a tumour to be 3-4 times the size. The risk of cancer spreading should thus become much smaller as a result of starting the process of treatment immediately.
Currently the test is being evaluated by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, with a trial involving 6,000 women at high risk of developing breast cancer is to due start next year. Dr James Mackay, an oncologist and researcher at University College London, said: ' This test will be particularly useful for younger women who are at risk of developing breast cancer’. Dr Fiona MacNeil, a breast surgeon at London's Marsden Hospital, said: 'The initial research studies show some promise but the usefulness of the test needs to be established by more detailed trials.'
Read the full article, with particular emphasis on the benefits for younger women with breast cancer here.
Weight gain as you age linked to increase risk in breast cancer..
Researchers have found that a woman who is 5'4 tall and who puts on just over two stone between the age of 20 and 50 is almost twice as likely to develop breast cancer after the menopause. This case study supports earlier research which has linked obesity to breast cancer.
The research which was presented to the American Association for Cancer Research found that fat stored in the body produces hormones and chemicals which may fuel the development of abnormal cells and potentially lead to cancer.
In the study which involved 72,000 women more than 3,600 of them developed breast cancer. Indeed, half of the 72,000 had an increase of 5 points in their BMI from age 20. Laura Sue, a cancer research fellow at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) said: "Compared with women who maintained approximately the same BMI, those who had an increase of 5 points or more between age 20 and study entry had a nearly twofold increased risk of breast cancer."
Read the full article here.
_________________________________________
Lauren Newton
l.newton@cancerkin.org.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment