Around the Web

If I'd read nothing else on the internet this week, it would have been okay. The first article (below) alone would have been enough. Tomorrow is my thirty-sixth birthday, and this felt like a little bit of an early birthday present, even if it is only Phase 2 and still likely has a couple of years before FDA approval, assuming Phase 3 goes as well as this one did. There are a lot of ifs. But so many, many thank you's from the bottom of my heart to the researchers who are letting me celebrate more birthdays.

Vaccine for Her-2 Positive Breast Cancer Shows Promise

"Women with HER2 +3 who were administered trastuzumab [Herceptin] as part of the standard of care prior to receiving the vaccine experienced no cases of cancer recurrence."

Not from The Onion: Bras Don't Cause Breast Cancer

I can't believe someone got funded to study this.

Male Orangutan Dies of Breast Cancer

"Eli was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011. Zoo veterinarians have monitored him closely since then, said spokeswoman Erica Hansen, in part because cancer is rare in orangutans. He was the only male known to have it, along with two females."

A Perspective on "Battle" Language

I am definitely guilty of personifying cancer. The name of my blog is Booby and the Beast, after all. I've talked about hunting down and eradicating cancer cells. I've compared chemo to smart-bombs. But I don't know that any of what I've done is brave, certainly not heroic. I'm just not sure how else to talk about living with cancer. I thought this post was excellent food for thought. 

"And I don’t want anyone at my funeral saying, “She fought bravely.” Because really, who doesn’t?"

But Speaking of Brave...

A teenager shares his cancer journey in pictures on Instagram.