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His friends and family are keeping vigil and he was administered last rites shortly after midnight. Fr. George Rutler, who gave him the Catholic Sacrament, says that “he is not expected to live long” and suggests “that it is appropriate that prayers be offered for a holy death.” Fr. Neuhaus has come close to this moment before and been back. If it’s his time: Go in peace. He's a man who has loved and served His Lord. When he leaves this world, his vast intellectual and spiritual body of work will have a long life here....

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp, 73, has been diagnosed with cancer. According to a statement from his consulting firm, Kemp Partners, doctors are still testing Kemp before determining a course of treatment. “Mr. Kemp and his family are grateful for the thoughts and prayers of friends and appreciate respect for their privacy at this time,” read a statement from his spokeswoman Bona Park. Kemp has been calling friends and political associates to inform them of the news, a well-connected Republican said. The Republican said Kemp has told friends that he went to the doctor complaining of pain but...

He may show a brave face in public and on the set of his new television drama “The Beast,” but Patrick Swayze has admitted his day-to-day battle with pancreatic cancer is scary. “There’s a lot of fear here,” Patrick told Barbara Walters during a new sit-down interview with the actor and his wife, Lisa Niemi, airing Wednesday on ABC. “There’s a lot of stuff goin’ on. Yeah, I’m scared. Yeah, I’m angry. Yeah, I’m [like], ‘Why me?’ Yeah, I’m all this stuff.” The star of such Hollywood blockbusters as “Dirty Dancing” and “Ghost” confirmed he is suffering from pancreatic cancer...

One of the current handicaps of cancer treatments is the difficulty of aiming these treatments at destroying malignant cells without killing healthy cells in the process. But a new study by McMaster University researchers has provided insight into how scientists might develop therapies and drugs that more carefully target cancer, while sparing normal healthy cells Mick Bhatia, scientific director of the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, and his team of investigators have demonstrated – for the first time – the difference between normal stem cells and cancer stem cells in...

President-elect Obama will have to choose: more diversity on the pharmacy's shelves or less at the cash register. He says he wants both, but he's going to get only one or the other--more drugs to fit more biochemical profiles, or lower, more uniform drug prices negotiated by the federal government. He's said to be a strong supporter of "personalized medicine." Good call. One lung cancer drug targets a receptor that predominates in patients of Asian ancestry. White Americans have less tolerance for some antidepressants, antipsychotics and heart-disease drugs. Blacks respond poorly to certain drugs for high blood pressure and hepatitis....

A team of scientists from the US and China have discovered that grape-seed extract kills laboratory leukemia cells by making them commit suicide, thus showing the potential value of natural compounds in the treatment of cancer. The study was the work of lead author, Dr Xianglin Shi, professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky and colleagues and is published online in the 1 January 2009 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. A number of studies have already revealed that eating fruit and vegetables helps to prevent cancer,...

Prayers for Father Neuhaus Please pray for Father Richard John Neuhaus, who is quite ill. This note went out yesterday to his friends and associates: Fr. Neuhaus is in the hospital here in New York. Over Thanksgiving, he was diagnosed with a serious cancer. The long-term prognosis for this particular cancer is not good, but it is not hopeless, either, and there is a possibility that it will respond to the recommended out-patient chemotherapy. Unfortunately, over Christmas, he was taken dangerously ill with what seems to be a systemic infection that has left him very weak. Entering the hospital the...

An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract... ...While grape seed extract has shown activity in a number of laboratory cancer cell lines, including skin, breast, colon, lung, stomach and prostate cancers, no one had tested the extract in hematological cancers... ..."These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers," said...

An extract from grape seeds can destroy cancer cells, US research suggests. In lab experiments, scientists found that the extract stimulated leukaemia cells to commit suicide. Within 24 hours, 76% of leukaemia cells exposed to the extract were killed off, while healthy cells were unharmed, Clinical Cancer Research reports. The study raises the possibility of new cancer treatments, but scientists said it was too early to recommend that people eat grapes to ward off cancer. Grape seeds contain a number of antioxidants, including resveratrol, which is known to have anti-cancer properties, as well as positive effect on the heart. Previous...

"New blood" can revitalize a company or a sports team. Recent research by Tel Aviv University finds that young blood does a body good as well, especially when it comes to fighting cancer. The TAU researchers, led by Prof. Shamgar Ben-Eliyahu from the Department of Psychology's Neuroimmunology Research Unit, discovered that a transfusion of "young" blood -- blood which has been stored for less than 9 days -- increased the odds of survival in animals challenged with two types of cancer. This finding, reported in the journal Anesthesiology, may solve an age-old mystery as to why some blood transfusions during...

BATTERY-powered cigarettes, sold as a "healthier alternative" and a way to beat smoking bans, will be outlawed in Victoria from Friday. Distributors say electronic cigarettes have been used by up to 10,000 Victorians since they hit the market a year ago. The Egar device works by heating up a small cartridge of liquid nicotine, releasing puffs of vapour resembling smoke that are inhaled by smokers. But because the lookalike product is not lit, it can be used in "no smoking" areas. It contains no tobacco, but Health Minister Daniel Andrews says its nicotine is no less toxic and addictive. From...

When researchers look inside human cancer cells for the whereabouts of an important tumor-suppressor, they often catch the protein playing hooky, lolling around in cellular broth instead of muscling its way out to the cells' membranes and foiling cancer growth.

Drinking a pint of beer or two measures of gin or vodka on a nightly basis can also have the same effect. The warning appears to conflict with other studies which suggest moderate alcohol intake can help combat heart disease. Although the link has not been definitively explained, it is thought the alcohol damages a person's DNA, making them susceptible to the risk of cancer. Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK, with more than 36,500 people diagnosed each year and 16,000 deaths. More than 3,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with liver cancer each...

Randomized Trials of Antioxidant Supplementation for Cancer PreventionFirst Bias, Now Chance—Next, Cause Peter H. Gann, MD, ScD JAMA. 2009;301(1):(doi:10.1001/jama.2008.863). In 1996, a wave of hope arose when the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer trial reported a 65% reduction in prostate cancer incidence in men receiving selenium supplementation.1 This came only 2 years after the ATBC (-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene) Cancer Prevention Trial had reported a 35% reduction in prostate cancer occurrence among men taking vitamin E supplements.2 Suddenly, it appeared to make sense that this cancer could be prevented by bolstering antioxidant defenses in middle-aged and older men. Prostate cancer was not...

Lance Armstrong will soon have four children to go along with his seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong, 37, and his girlfriend Anna Hansen, 28, have announced they’re expecting a child next year. "Anna and I are thrilled to confirm that we are expecting in June and our families are ecstatic and grateful," Armstrong said via a statement. "We are very much looking forward to what 2009 brings on many fronts. We appreciate respecting our privacy, as we are both eager to celebrate the holidays as a family." The expected child of Armstrong and his girlfriend is via natural pregnancy.

A woman is to give birth this week to the first baby in Britain which has been selected to be free of a gene which greatly increases the risk of breast cancer, experts said.

he question as to whether mobile phones do or do not increase ones risk of getting cancer, in particular brain tumours is a hot topic. Recent studies are contradictory and inconclusive. Experts say it might be decades until we have the answer, some argue that we should already act on the side of caution.

They've demonstrated the cancer research "holy grail." In a manuscript published today, researchers say they have successfully targeted and killed two of the most deadly types of cancer cells, colon and pancreatic, using the treatment invented by Sanibel Island and Erie, Pa. resident John Kanzius. "This is what everybody's been waiting for," Kanzius said. "Can you target cancer cells? And the answer is 'yes.' Can you kill them? Yes. Can you target specific cancers? Yes." Though the researchers said the destroyed cancer cells were not in animals or humans, the findings published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Experimental Therapeutics and...

You drink diet soda, so you must be healthier. Right? That's what New York Gov. David Paterson is talking about with his proposal for an "obesity tax" — a 15 percent slap on non-diet sugary soft drinks. Think $1 for a Diet Coke, $1.15 for a Coke. There's just one problem: Studies have found links between drinking diet sodas and obesity and diabetes. A 2005 study at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, and separate studies released in 2007 at the University of Alberta in Canada and the University of Massachusetts found that diet soda drinkers were...

XIDITOU COUNTY, China (Reuters) - Once an isolated haven, the Chinese village of Liukuaizhuang is now a tainted hell, surrounded by scores of low-tech factories that are poisoning its water and air, and the health of many villagers. One in fifty people there and in a neighboring hamlet have been diagnosed with cancer over the last decade, local residents say, well over ten times the national rate given in a health ministry survey earlier this year. Many fear they are paying for the country's breathtaking economic expansion with their lives, as surrounding plants making rubber, chemicals and paints pour out...

In a new tactic in the fight against cancer, Cornell researcher Michael King has developed what he calls a lethal "lint brush" for the blood -- a tiny, implantable device that captures and kills cancer cells in the bloodstream before they spread through the body. The strategy, which takes advantage of the body's natural mechanism for fighting infection, could lead to new treatments for a variety of cancers, said King, who is an associate professor of biomedical engineering. In research conducted at the University of Rochester and to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering,...

Everyone, I would like to thank you all for your heartfelt prayers. In April of this year I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma without hope of remission. Today I received the news from my oncologist that the second biopsy, taken three weeks ago, showed no cancer cells. I need to thank many FReepers who prayed for me and sent me best wishes. Bless you all! May God richly reward you. I love you all!

Ann Romney, the wife of former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, announced today that she was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy to remove the affected tissue. In a statement, Romney said a lump was discovered last week during her annual mammogram at Brigham and Women's Hospital. She described the discovery as "technically not cancer but rather pre-cancer, as it has not become invasive." Doctors performed the lumpectomy today as an outpatient procedure. "Mitt and I feel fortunate to have caught this so early," she wrote. "And, it reminds us how important it is...

ACTOR Patrick Swayze has reportedly started saying goodbye to family and friends after learning his cancer has spread to his liver. The Dirty Dancing and Ghost star, who in January was told he had pancreatic cancer, has started preparing himself for death, reports say "Patrick recently got word that the cancer had spread to his liver and that is what his doctors said would begin the countdown to the end," a source told National Enquirer magazine. "Patrick knew it was coming because he was suffering increased weakness. "At times, he was so weak that he could barely walk without feeling...

The incidence of new cancer cases has been falling in recent years in the United States, the first time such an extended decline has been documented, researchers reported Tuesday. Cancer diagnosis rates decreased by an average of 0.8 percent each year from 1999 to 2005, the last year for which data are available, according to an annual report by the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society and other scientific organizations. Death rates from cancer continued to decline as well, a trend that began some 15 years ago, the report also noted. It was published online in The Journal of...

There is a new breakthrough in search for prostate cancer treatment. Following three years of study, University of Southern California researchers have found a way to halt the spread of prostate cancer. Suppression of the GRP78 protein, a genetic biomarker of aggressive prostate cancer, leads researchers to what they consider a "breakthrough" in cancer research. Amy Lee, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, the study's principal investigator, says, "This research has far-reaching implications in a wide range for human cancers," GRP78 contributes to the spread of prostate cancer. It protects tumors, and...

Cancer researchers have known for years that it was possible in rare cases for some cancers to go away on their own. There were occasional instances of melanomas and kidney cancers that just vanished. And neuroblastoma, a very rare childhood tumor, can go away without treatment. But these were mostly seen as oddities — an unusual pediatric cancer that might not bear on common cancers of adults, a smattering of case reports of spontaneous cures. And since almost every cancer that is detected is treated, it seemed impossible even to ask what would happen if cancers were left alone. Now,...

How Vegetables Cooked Makes DifferenceBroccoli appears to lower the risk of lung cancer in smokers and ex-smokers, according to a new study. Li Tang of the roswell Park Cancer Institute said that cruciferous vegetables don't eliminate the threat of cancer, but they help. "Broccoli is not a therapeutic drug, but for smokers who believe they cannot quit nor do anything about their risk, this is something positive," Tang said. "People who quit smoking will definitely benefit more from intake of cruciferous vegetables." Other common cruciferous vegetables include kale, collard greens, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and bok choi. A team studied...

Prayer is urgently needed for my daughter's friend, Molly, who has cancer. She is 16 years old. Here is her story from yesterday written by her parents... I start by asking you to pray for Molly. Today was another date that we will never forget. Around 11:15am Molly started to notice that her left leg was not responding for her. She then noticed that she could not seem to get her left hand to function properly. The head ache she had woken up with was worse. Mom called dad who left work as she got Molly into the car to...

What is best in life? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. This is precisely what the Democratic party achieved with Barack Obama’s historic victory on November 4. The Democrats increased their majorities in both the House and Senate while eliminating anything even resembling a functioning opposition. Those Republicans that survived the massacre are exhausted, scattered and foraging for scraps. It was a bloodbath, and one that should have satiated the blood lust of even the most committed Democratic partisans. Yet some Democrats can’t seem to accept a complete and...

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), making his second appearance on Capitol Hill since he began treatment for a malignant brain tumor in June, told reporters yesterday that he would advance a bill early next year calling for universal health care.

Enlarge ImageIn a bubble. Tracking tiny vessicles of genetic material emitted by tumor cells could help doctors better diagnose and treat brain cancer patients. Credit: Skog et al., Nature Cell Biology Doctors may soon be able to use blood tests rather than invasive biopsies to figure out what type of brain tumors their patients have. The findings, which come thanks to new insights about how tumor cells communicate with their environment, may also bring physicians closer to the goal of more personalized medicine. Cells are chatty, constantly exchanging proteins or electrical signals with their neighbors. For example, tumor cells...

The Physicians' Health Study II is a large-scale, long-term, randomized clinical trial that included 14,641 physicians who were at least 50 years old at enrollment. These physicians were given 400 IU of vitamin E every other day or its placebo, or 500 mg of vitamin C daily or its placebo. Researchers followed these patients for up to 10 years for the development of cancer with high rates of completion of annual questionnaires, and the confirmation of reported cancer endpoints. Analyses indicate that randomization to vitamin E did not have a significant effect on prostate cancer. This lack of effect for...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Nov. 12, 2008 – Rows of illuminated paper bags glowed as servicemembers honored cancer victims and survivors with a moment of silence. Army Staff Sgt. Kelly Greene, a supply sergeant for the 18th Airborne Corps, opens a glow stick packet to illuminate a paper bag during the Hope Ceremony at Camp Victory, Iraq, Nov. 8, 2008, in support of friends and family fighting cancer. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Michel Sauret  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “Cancer touches almost everybody in a certain way,” said Army Staff Sgt. Kelly Greene, who organized the Hope...

In 2000, after 31 years of robust health, James Chippendale, a wealthy Dallas business executive who had traveled much of the world, was found to be suffering from a lethal form of leukemia. Mr. Chippendale’s doctors told him that his only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant, and that the likelihood of finding a matching donor seemed bleak. James Chippendale of Dallas, right, received a bone marrow transplant from Klaus Kaiser, a German who was on a donor registry. “I am very proud of James,” Mr. Kaiser said. “I was a hard match,” Mr. Chippendale said, “and there...

Best selling author Michael Crichton died unexpectedly in Los Angeles after what his reps call a "courageous and private battle against cancer." Getty Images Crichton, best known for such books as "Jurassic Park" and "Disclosure," also created the hit TV series "ER." His rep released the following statement: "While the world knew him as a great story teller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us -- and entertained us all while doing so -- his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each...

My wife saw her Thoracic Surgeon yesterday and he gave her the bad news that she has a small cancerous tumor in her right lung and he will be operating on her this coming Monday to remove it. The PET scan didn't show any spreading to other parts of her body other than the larynx which may be physiologic. He will be removing the whole upper lobe of the three that she has in the right lung to make sure he gets all the cancer. No chemo or radiation if he does that. The type of cancer is called Neuroendocrine....

Just reported.

MADRID, Spain (AP) - Seve Ballesteros' brain tumor is cancerous and he will undergo another operation to relieve pressure caused by swelling and bleeding that have recently developed. The remaining parts of the malignant tumor, located in a very deep part of the brain, will be removed in Friday's procedure. La Paz Hospital said Thursday that the surgery is "of great complexity." Three doctors will operate on Ballesteros. Javier Heredero, head of the hospital's neurosurgery unit, will be accompanied by neurosurgeons Marcelino Perez Alvarez and Alberto Isla. The operation is due to begin early in the morning and is expected...

Have you ever picked up a cold, frosty beer on a hot summer's day and thought that it simply couldn't get any better? Well, you may have to think again. A team of researchers at Rice University in Houston is working to create a beer that could fight cancer and heart disease. Taylor Stevenson, a member of the six-student research team and a junior at Rice, said the team is using genetic engineering to create a beer that includes resveratrol, the disease-fighting chemical that's been found in red wine.

Combining a nanotech method of getting genes inside cancer cells with genetic engineering of a potent suicide gene driven by control signals that are very active only in cancer cells effectively killed cell lines derived from pancreatic cancer, a deadly cancer for which there is currently no effective treatment. From Thomas Jefferson University, via AAAS EurekAlert “Jefferson scientists deliver toxic genes to effectively kill pancreatic cancer cells“:

A democratic fundraiser has obtained an experimental cancer-fighting drug through the Mayo Clinic although initially the drug maker refused to give it because the drug has not been approved to treat the disease he is suffering. Fred Baron, a prominent political donor for the Democratic Party, obtained Tysabri finally after legal basis was found that he can be given the drug, his son Andrew Baron was cited as saying in an e-mail to the Associated Press. Baron said Tysabri is the last resort for treatment of his 61-year-old father's late-stage multiple myeloma for which the older Baron was given a...

We have lost ruoflaw/Paulette Hoelscher to cancer. She passed away September 17, 2008. Paulette was 57. She fought to live for a year. She loved the history threads and was a regular on the Terry Schiavo Dailies until Terry's death. She leaves behind a husband, son, 3 grandchildren. a brother and a sister.

The 13-year-old, who has been identified only as Roy to prevent him and his family facing persecution on their eventual return to Iran, arrived in Chaim Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer, near Tel Aviv, on Friday, after a journey assisted by an Israeli businessman of Iranian origin. When surgery, chemotherapy and radiation at medical facilities in Iran failed to help their son, the boy's parents took him to Turkey, where doctors advised them to seek treatment at Sheba. The hospital has a highly regarded cancer treatment programme. The Israeli embassy in Ankara issued permits for them to enter the country....

Australian scientists have found that antibodies in shark blood could potentially be a potent weapon in the fight against cancer. Sharks have immune systems similar to humans, but their antibodies - the molecules which actually fight disease - are exceptionally resilient. Researchers believe this quality could be harnessed to help slow the spread of diseases such as cancer. Potentially, it could lead to a new generation of drug treatments. The Australian team found that shark antibodies can withstand high temperatures as well as extremely acidic or alkaline conditions. GutThis means they would potentially be able to survive in the harsh...

There's a new reason, and a big one, to think that we benefit from free-radical-inhibiting antioxidants. We've long thought that by reducing free radicals, antioxidants can help prevent cancer, of course. But a recent experiment at Johns Hopkins and published in the March 14 issue of Science shows how antioxidants may be doing much more: interfering with the growth of cancers that are already established, and potentially, even reversing them once established, by knocking out communications signals between cancer cells that encourage cells to grow and divide. Those communications signals turn out to be... free radicals, which the cancer cells...

The Republican candidate from Burnsville for the Minnesota House has cancer but plans to continue his campaign. Todd Johnson "had cancer a little over 10 years ago, and it has now returned," campaign manager Ron Hill said Tuesday. "He has decided that life goes on and he will continue, but apologizes in the short term for the fact that this will limit his ability to door-knock and attend candidate forums." The return of the cancer was diagnosed just more than a week ago, Hill said. "It's tough for him right now even to talk on the phone. He is in...

Italian police bust Chinese imports in operation 'Toxic Shoes' Fri Sep 26, 5:59 PM ET Italian police said Friday they had confiscated some 1.7 million counterfeit shoes made with leather containing illegal toxins, most of them from China. Operation "Toxic Shoes" began in May and 21 Chinese and seven Italians are now being prosecuted for selling counterfeit products and threatening public health, a police spokesman told AFP. Shoes containing hexavalent chromium compounds which are illegal in Italy due to their high toxicity and potentially carcinogenic effect were seized in Tuscany, police said.

The Race for the Cure® One in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime. The KomenCharlotte Race for the Cure® raises money to fund education, screening and treatment programs for these women and thousands of others in our own community and supports the national search for a cure. The Komen Race for the Cure® Series is the largest series of 5K run/ walks in the world. Since its origination in Dallas in 1983, the Komen Race for the Cure® Series has grown from one local race with 800 participants to an international series of 115 races...

As one's mortality swings into view, be thankful for life -- and whiskey. By P.J. O'Rourke September 28, 2008 I looked death in the face. All right, I didn't. I glimpsed him in a crowd. I've been diagnosed with cancer, of a very treatable kind. I'm told I have a 95% chance of survival. Come to think of it -- as a drinking, smoking, saturated-fat hound -- my chance of survival has been improved by cancer. I still cursed God, as we all do when we get bad news and pain. Not even the most faith-impaired among us shouts: "Damn...