Around the Web

Here's what caught my (and my friend Kathryn's) attention this week.

Remember my swimsuit post? And then there are these.

I love the idea of a few of these in theory. Some I call a big bluff on; that last one is not so much a swimsuit as an ice-dancing competition costume inspired by "Mad Max." Either way, I'm pretty sure I would never be brave enough to carry off any of these looks in public. (Also, depending on your office, some of these might be considered NSFW. Just so you're prepared.)

Could the solution to breast cancer really be so simple?

"We believe that it might be possible to treat breast cancer — the leading cause of female death — with a drug that can already be found in nearly every medicine cabinet in the world: Aspirin.

In 2010, we published an observational study in The Journal of Clinical Oncology showing that women with breast cancer who took aspirin at least once a week for various reasons were 50 percent less likely to die of breast cancer."

Stocking my medicine cabinet with Bayer tomorrow.

And not one, but TWO possible new breakthroughs for treating Her-2+ breast cancer.

Thanks to the lovely Kathryn for the second article. These studies are so promising. As the Facebook page says, "I fucking love science."

I fall into the "I just wanted them to match" category.

If I had it to do over, though, knowing what I know now (mostly regarding numbness and phantom itching), I might have kept my healthy breast.

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"The number of women getting double mastectomies after a breast cancer diagnosis has been rising in the past 10 years, even though most of them don't face a higher risk of getting cancer in the other breast."

Saving the best for last: we are on the threshold of powerful breakthroughs in cancer research, and very possibly, a cure.

Now if researchers could just translate these findings to solid-tumor cancers like breast and lung cancer, I know a whole lot of people who would be thrilled.

And thanks, Kathryn, for this one, too. 

Thirty-Nine Point Three

As you may or may not know, I'm walking in my third Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in San Francisco this July. It is a grueling and exhilarating two-day, thirty-nine-point-three-mile walk through the city, across the Golden Gate Bridge, and up the hills of Marin County (seriously, they never seem to go down).

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When I did my first Avon walk in Santa Barbara in 2012, I was about halfway through six months of high-dose, intense, ugly ugly ugly chemo. I signed up for that walk at the last minute, giving myself just over five weeks to train and raise the $1,800 minimum. I was shocked as the donations poured in and topped out at more than $12,000. Avon took notice and asked me to be the survivor speaker at the closing ceremony that year. I even got to meet Fergie (that's me in the stranglehold in the lower left photo).

I signed up for walk number two almost as soon as I limped across the finish line that year. Last September, I walked San Francisco with eight friends and family. I'd been on my current drug Kadcyla for four months then; I'd just received news it was working, but there were still signs of cancer. I was once again a top ten individual fundraiser, and I vowed I'd keep walking and raising money and awareness for as long as I'm able. I am so lucky I'm still able.

Every year, I have this little seed of hesitation at the back of my mind, wondering whether I should sign up again, whether I'll be around in twelve months or healthy enough to walk. And then I say, "Fuck it," and sign up again, optimistic and hopeful and willing myself to keep doing this year after year, mile after mile, lost toenail after lost toenail.

I walk because I can. Because I believe we are on the precipice of monumental medical innovations and breakthroughs, and I want to do every little thing in my power to help drive that forward. Because Avon gives back to local communities to help under-served women get access to healthcare, gives to charities that support people as they're going through chemo (and I know firsthand how life-changing that is, to have someone else bring your family a meal when you're too sick to manage it), and funds cutting edge research -- the type that is bringing me smart-bomb medicine and ever-so-slowly shifting the tide in our collective fight against cancer.

If you'd like to contribute, you can visit our team page here: Team Booby and the Beast. Every dollar helps. Thank you for your kindness, your unwavering support of me and my family over the years (years!), and for walking with me -- in person and in spirit.

Next year, I'm setting my sights on Washington, DC. Who's with me?

Around the Web

Here's what caught my attention this week.

{In honor of sleep}

What do you think of Right to Try laws?

I think patients who have no other alternatives, when working with their doctors, are probably best equipped to decide whether a drug is too risky or not. But I'd love to hear your take.

"The Right to Try bills aim to provide a streamlined alternative to the FDA process. Instead of having to fill out lengthy and complex paperwork, patients would only need to get an okay from a drug company and a simple prescription or “recommendation” from a doctor to access an unapproved treatment. The drugs involved also must have successfully completed an initial safety trial and moved to the next phase of development."

Thank you, Under Armour.

I can't help it. This kind of news makes me giddy.

"Under Armour Inc. has made a $10 million contribution to the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center to fund breast cancer and breast health support programs and a women's wellness center."

Go the #@%! to Sleep, Okay?

"Dr Akhilesh Reddy, from the University of Cambridge, said the body clock influences every biological process in the human body and the health consequences of living against the clock were "pretty clear cut", particularly in breast cancer."

Have I mentioned how awesome scientists are?

Fighting deadly illness with deadly illness. Brilliant.

"In a proof of principle clinical trial, Mayo Clinic researchers have demonstrated that virotherapy — destroying cancer with a virus that infects and kills cancer cells but spares normal tissues — can be effective against the deadly cancer multiple myeloma."

Reason #439 to adopt a dog.

"With 220 million olfactory cells in a canine snout, compared with 50 million for humans, dogs have long helped on search-and-rescue. Now, a growing body of evidence supports the possible use of canines by clinicians. The largest study ever done on cancer-sniffing dogs found they can detect prostate cancer by smelling urine samples with 98 percent accuracy. At least one application is in the works seeking U.S. approval of a kit using breath samples to find breast cancer."

And then, take that dog for a walk.

"One study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology found dropping a few pounds could lower a woman's likelihood for developing the disease. In the study of 439 obese women aged 50 to 75, those who dieted, exercised and lost significant weight also reduced their levels of the hormones commonly associated with breast cancer. That study found even a 5 percent weight loss decreased one's breast cancer risk by as much as 22 percent."

Well, this isn't good news.

"Black women are nearly twice as likely as white women to be diagnosed with a hard-to-treat breast cancer known as triple-negative breast cancer, a new study says.

That dramatic difference was found no matter what their socioeconomic level was, the researchers added."

So I'll end on this note.

"Pfizer said on Friday that the Food and Drug Administration would let it apply for approval of its heavily promoted experimental breast cancer medicine based on midstage patient testing results. . . Midstage test results showed that by combining palbociclib with letrozole, patients on average survived 20.2 months before their tumors worsened. That was about twice as long as the benefit for women in a comparison group who received only letrozole."

I May Have Found the Antidote to Chemo's Side Effects

When I showed up for chemo this morning, I still had a slight headache from this weekend. I drank too much wine on Saturday, yes (enough that our group landed at a Waffle House at one in the morning to nosh on cheese-smothered hash browns; alas, they did not prevent our hangovers as much as we had hoped), but I also cried a lot and was sleep-deprived from the outset of the weekend. I had taken the redeye to North Carolina to watch one of my best friends, Leslie, get married. As it turns out, I cannot recover from overnight flights or red wine like I used to.

There is nothing like a weekend of indulgence in fried chicken and pulled pork nachos and staying up too late (and maybe one shot of bourbon) to set you up for a successful round of chemo. Ahem.

I should note: this is a fairly rare thing for me, to drink excessively anymore. I know it's not recommended. I know moderation is what's best for staving off breast cancer (although I'm honestly not sure if they've studied it for cases of advanced disease like mine). I know my liver is doing lots of work as it is. I know, I know, I know. These reasons are why I am typically a one-glass-with-dinner-once-in-awhile type of girl. But it was a wedding.

I had a dear friend's marriage and a clean scan to celebrate. And then I had chemo this morning. Next week I might be on a juice cleanse, no joke.

I've mentioned before how wonderful my friends are. The wedding this weekend was between one of my friends who'd cut off her hair for me and a man she met while working in Jordan. Leslie and Bill are the type of people who make you want to be a better person, and I don't say that lightly. They have devoted their lives to helping others and to service in a way I can't say of too many people. Their collective resume (which I'm sure they don't have, but if they did) includes the AmeriCorps, U.S. Agency for International Development, the Army, nursing school, jumping out of airplanes, traveling the world, and just generally making it a better, safer, healthier place to live.

Leslie and her new husband are downright incredible people, so I shouldn't have been surprised at the gesture they made at their wedding, the gift they gave me and so many others. I had already been crying at the mother/son and father/daughter dances because let's face it. I am a sap.

And then Leslie announced that in lieu of gifts, they'd asked for guests to donate to a couple of charities close to their hearts, and that they would also be making contributions to The Special Operations Warrior Foundation and Play for Pink, which donates 100% of its funds to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. I knew they'd been planning this, and it still caught me off-guard, still had me bawling into my napkin and hoping the wedding photographer wasn't getting that particular moment on camera. I'm not exaggerating when I say my friends (and family, too) are helping to save my life.

My heart is so filled with love after this weekend that it will be the thing that gets me through the chemo side effects this week. It will be my antidote. And then I'll do that juice cleanse. 

Around the Web

Here's what caught my attention this week.

These women are my new heroes.

"The film shows the parallel stories of Annie, who lost both her mother and sister to breast cancer before developing it herself and Marie-Claire King, the brilliant geneticist who after fifteen years of research discovered the genetic link to certain types of breast and ovarian cancer, considered one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th Century."

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Another chink in cancer's armor? (This is so cool.)

"Researchers at the National Cancer Institute sequenced the genome of her cancer and identified cells from her immune system that attacked a specific mutation in the malignant cells. Then they grew those immune cells in the laboratory and infused billions of them back into her bloodstream. The tumors began “melting away,” said Dr. Steven A. Rosenberg..."

This will break your heart, but it's worth the read.

Actually, I don't know if it's worth the read. You decide. It's gut-wrenching. I knew it would be, and I read it anyway. 

"Ruth started to go online to find stories of women who had miraculous recoveries; she often spoke of one who was reportedly into her 14th year, and counting, with metastatic breast cancer...This 14-years-and-counting woman was Ruth’s phantom rival, and mine. Our hope and our enemy."

The Avon Foundation funds some scary research. (I'm going to walk for them anyway.)

""Every woman in America has been exposed to chemicals that may increase her risk of getting breast cancer," said co-author Julia Brody."

You're Taller than You Think, Mom

One boy's touching tribute to his mom, a survivor.

"I wanted to throw up, I hate throwing up. I wanted to be angry but there was nothing to be angry at, cancer is not a person."


And again, have something you think I should link here? Please email me (jen dot campisano at gmail) or leave a note in the comments.