Free Republic

Remember Julie Boonstra? She’s the single mother fighting leukemia who appeared in an anti-Obamacare television ad running in Michigan: (see video at link) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assailed Ms. Boonstra, and others like her, in a breathtakingly mean-spirited floor speech — going so far as to say that “all” of their negative experiences were “untrue” and “lies.” Reid now claims he doesn’t remember saying any such thing, but there’s video tape: (see Reid video at link) In his effort to discredit Boonstra, Reid relied on a Washington Post “fact check,” which effectively ruled her story half true. In fact,...

Welcome to your feel-bad story of the month. Remember Julie Boonstra? She’s the single mother fighting leukemia who appeared in an anti-Obamacare television ad running in Michigan:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEOS Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assailed Ms. Boonstra, and others like her, in a breathtakingly mean-spirited floor speech — going so far as to say that “all” of their negative experiences were “untrue” and “lies.” Reid now claims he doesn’t remember saying any such thing, but there’s video tape: In his effort to discredit Boonstra, Reid relied on a Washington Post “fact check,” which effectively ruled her story...

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is battling cancer and will retire at the end of his term.... When Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., pointed out that the majority of cancer centers in the country aren´t covered under Obamacare while arguing that the law´s problems go beyond early website issues, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., dismissed the critique as too "in the weeds." Coburn, a medical doctor battling cancer, panned the coverage offered to cancer patients. "Nineteen of the cancer centers in this country, only five are covered under Obamacare," he told the Washington Examiner Tuesday, a data point he

Our Noel Sheppard passed away yesterday (Friday) morning at about 5:00 AM. Say a prayer for the soul of a man we'll all miss professionally, and many, many of us will miss personally as well. Noel was not just a force of nature, he was a very good man. How quickly this all happened. Just two months ago, Noel wrote about suddenly getting cancer at 53 called "Cancer's Ray of Hope." Nine days ago, he wrote us and said he was interested in writing about his "progress" -- and he put "progress" in quotes. We were all wishing for better...

As barbecue season approaches, researchers have discovered an unlikely ingredient that could improve the safety of your meat - letting it swill in beer. They say that letting meat marindade in pilsner can help reduce the formation of potentially harmful cancer-causing substances in grilled meats. They say pilsner and black beer are most effective, halving the amount of Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which have been linked to colorectal cancer.

Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is preparing for another surgery related to his oral cancer. ... On her personal website, Kelly’s wife wrote that “the cancer’s back, aggressive, and starting to spread.”

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that a substance called Vacquinol-1 makes cells from glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain tumour, literally explode. When mice were given the substance, which can be given in tablet form, tumour growth was reversed and survival was prolonged. The findings are published in the journal Cell . The established treatments that are available for glioblastoma include surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But even if this treatment is given the average survival is just 15 months. It is therefore critical to find better treatments for malignant brain tumours. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and...

Obamacare patients are discovering that many doctors, hospitals, and top cancer centers do not accept the plans they purchased. "It's so frustrating," Terri Durheim of Enid, Okla.,told CNN. "It's not doing me a lot of good." Durheim is not alone. Obamacare's so-called "narrow networks" are designed to limit customer choices to push patients into cheaper choices in an effort to control costs. Earlier this year Washington Post health writer Sarah Kliffwarned that "Obamacare's narrow networks are going to make people furious – but they might control costs." A McKinsey and Co. study finds that more than one in three (38%) Obamacare plans permit patients to select...

The first symptoms of throat and mouth cancer -- also known as oropharyngeal cancer -- may differ depending on whether the condition is caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV), a small study suggests. Oropharyngeal cancer arises in the throat, soft palate, tonsils or base of the tongue. Smoking is a major risk factor, as is chronic infection with certain strains of HPV -- which causes warts in the genitals, mouth and anus, and is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the United States. Although oropharyngeal cancer is relatively uncommon, the rate of HPV-linked cases has been rising -- particularly...

Erin Youngerberg learned in 2010 that she was facing a possible death sentence. “I had a mole on my back that started to grow,’’ she told The Post. “Dermatologists removed it and said it was nothing. But they called back and said it was a form of melanoma.’’ And it was the worst possible type of the skin cancer — the kind that causes tumors to grow all over the body. But she has new hope — thanks to a remarkable drug called Yervoy, developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center using millions of dollars donated by billionaire David Koch.

Hal Douglas, the voice behind scores of movie trailers and television commercials, died Thursday. The Connecticut-born voice actor died in his home in Lovettsville, Va., of complications from pancreatic cancer — his daughter, Sarah Douglas, confirmed to TMZ. Douglas was 89 years old. The voice artist enjoyed a career spanning over several decades, lending his voice to trailers and roles in movies like "Forrest Gump," "Lethal Weapon," and "The Holiday." “I’m not outstanding in any way,” he told The New York Times in 2009. “It’s a craft that you learn, like making a good pair of shoes. And I just...

A pediatric cancer charity is offering to pay for 7-year-old cancer survivor Josh Hardy to receive lifesaving medication that could cure him of a potentially deadly virus. But Chimerix, the pharmaceutical company that produces the medication, is still refusing to give Josh the treatment he so desperately needs. In fact, a representative for the charity said he tried speaking with Chimerix CEO Kenneth Moch about Josh's case - but Moch hung up on him. **SNIP** Josh’s mother, Aimee Hardy, has appealed to Moch to grant Josh emergency access to the medication, but the company is refusing to make an exception....

imee Hardy says her son is in agony. He has battled cancer on and off, and now he's in jeopardy again due to complications from a bone marrow transplant. Doctors believe Brincidofovir could save his life, but the maker of the drug won't provide it. Chimerix is the company that makes Brincidofovir. They're facing a major ethical dilemma because they say there are hundreds if not thousands of people who need it, but if they give it to patients like Josh, it will slow down their efforts to make it widely available. They hope that will happen in 2016 if...

That chicken wing you're eating could be as deadly as a cigarette. In a new study that tracked a large sample of adults for nearly two decades, researchers have found that eating a diet rich in animal proteins during middle age makes you four times more likely to die of cancer than someone with a low-protein diet -- a mortality risk factor comparable to smoking. "There's a misconception that because we all eat, understanding nutrition is simple. But the question is not whether a certain diet allows you to do well for three days, but can it help you survive...

Eating too much protein could be as dangerous as smoking for middle-aged people, a scientific study has found. Research which tracked thousands of adults for nearly 20 years found that people who eat a diet rich in animal protein are four times more likely to die of cancer than someone with a low protein diet. The risk is nearly as high as the danger of developing cancer by smoking 20 cigarettes each day. […] The US study found that people with a high protein diet were 74 percent more likely to die of any cause within the study period than...

A brave Tennessee news anchor who recently beat cancer decided to confront another big demon last week — vanity — by whipping off her wig for a live and emotional on-air reveal, according to Yahoo Shine. Photo - Photo via Yahoo Photo via Yahoo announced Pam McKelvy of WMC-TV during a broadcast on Wednesday, still wearing her smooth-haired wig and introducing a preproduced segment about women and their "crowns of glory," in which she discusses how recent chemotherapy treatments caused her to go bald. After the segment, her wig was off, revealing her recently grown-in head of short, lovely curls....

Students at a central Florida high school are devoting their prom money to helping a popular math teacher who is very ill in his third round with cancer, WESH reported. The prom team at Pine Ridge High School in Deltona has taken on the moniker Team Charlie in honor of Charlie Lundell, who has been at the school since it opened 20 years ago, according to WESH. "He really cares about helping people learn and really wants us to be our full potential," junior class President Katie Buday said of Lundell, and students want to help him out. Now the...

For now, the family is trying to focus on the moments of joy and the time they have togetherA U.S. soldier cut his second deployment to Afghanistan short in order to be with his son, who’s battling a rare form of bone cancer called osteosarcoma. As with any big fight, this one includes moments of hope and setbacks. One of those setbacks came Monday, when 6-year-old J.J. Orecchia was supposed to have his right leg amputated. The surgery was expected to prolong his life by four to five years, but an infection has now forced the doctors at UCSF’s Children’s...

Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to add a new element to the Keystone XL oil pipeline debate: its effects on health. The California Democrat claims negative health effects from the proposed pipeline's development were ignored by the State Department's environmental impact review. "The Environmental Impact Statement was woefully inadequate when it came to exploring human impacts of the pipeline," Boxer said Wednesday at a press conference held with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and anti-Keystone XL activists and environmentalists. She said Keystone will add pollutants to the air that will increase the likelihood of peopel getting cancer or heart disease. "I do...

If you like your president, you can keep him. Period. But what if you don’t? Stephen Blackwood, the president of the fledging Ralston College in Savannah, Georgia, has a sad, infuriating piece about his mother’s experience with Obamacare this morning in the Wall Street Journal. […] In some ways Stephen Blackwood’s case is typical. His mother, who had been diagnosed with a particularly nasty form of cancer in 2005 when she was only 49, had been receiving treatment through her insurer. She had had the Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan for nearly 20 years. […] Then came November. She, like millions...