3 Years Ago... a letter to my mom

Mom,


I can’t believe that it was 3 years ago this weekend that you told me you had breast cancer again. I remember feeling like someone punched me in the stomach. I was terrified. I was upset. I was mad. It didn’t make sense, we’d already been through all that, why did we need to do it again?

You were amazing. You let God be in control and did what you needed to do to be healthy again. You lived life to the fullest and were an example to many. Because of your faith in God, my walk with him became stronger. Thank you.

I am so glad that things turned out the way they did and you are still with us today, happy and healthy. I love you more than I could ever express.

Love,
Lisa

Are Coffee Drinkers Less Prone to Aggressive Breast Cancer?

Study sees lower risk for ER-negative tumors, which don't respond to hormonal therapies.

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay

TUESDAY, May 10 (HealthDay News)
Their study linked consumption of five or more cups of coffee a day to a relatively marked reduction in the non-hormone-responsive disease known as ER-negative breast cancer. However, coffee consumption did not appear to lower the risk for developing ER-positive breast cancer, a hormone-responsive estrogen receptor form of the disease.

Daily consumption of coffee may protect against the most aggressive type of breast cancer, ER-negative, said study co-author Dr. Per Hal, a professor in the medical epidemiology and biostatistics department at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.

"Now, we don't have all the details," he cautioned. "We don't know, for example, what specific type of coffee we're talking about here. But what we do know is that the protective effect is quite striking and remains even after adjusting for a lot of other factors that have the potential to play a protective role. And we know that we're talking about what we could call a relatively normal amount of coffee drinking. Certainly we're not talking about consuming gigantic amounts of coffee. So, this is a very intriguing finding."
The study, reported online May 11 in Breast Cancer Research, involved 5,929 Swedish women, aged 50 to 74. About half of the women had breast cancer.

Questionnaires were used to assess behavioral and health characteristics, including smoking and drinking patterns, physical activity routines, family history of breast cancer, hormone therapy protocols, nutritional intake, body mass index, education level and coffee consumption habits. Both tumor status and breast cancer type were also noted.

The principle finding: Drinking coffee appeared to spur a "strong reduction" in risk for ER-negative breast cancer, the researchers wrote. Women who drank five cups of coffee a day had a 33 percent to 57 percent lower risk for ER-negative cancer than did those who drank less than one cup a day. The study revealed an apparent association between coffee consumption and a reduction in breast cancer risk, but not a cause-and-effect relationship. And Hal was not eager for consumers to jump to conclusions.

"There are one or two other studies that have pointed in the same direction as ours — but not many, just a few," he cautioned. "So before I would go to tell my neighbors to start drinking more coffee than they already do, I would like to know what is the biological mechanism at work here. And that's not yet clear."
Hal noted that he and his colleagues are now working on a new study to tease out that information.
Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, described the findings as both "interesting" and "provocative," given that the kind of cancer coffee appears to protect against is one for which there are relatively few effective treatments.

"It is this kind of study that opens the door to improving treatment, as scientists try to uncover what biologic factors in a substance are beneficial, and then attempt to extract these factors and use them to defend against cancers," Bernik noted. "The goal would be to try and discover what it is in coffee that may be beneficial."
"The next step is to find out what chemical factors in coffee cause the decreased rate of cancer and then attempt to see if these same chemicals can be used to treat a patient once they are already diagnosed with cancer," she said.

Last Updated: 05/11/2011

— Women who drink a substantial amount of coffee each day may lower their risk for developing a particular type of breast cancer, Swedish researchers say.

Race for the Cure 2011

Whose Life Are You Running For? Participate in the 15th Annual Susan G. Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure® and show everyone whose life you are running for. Are you running for your mother, your sister, a co-worker, a friend? Are you running for your own life? Or are you running for the future? No matter whose life you are running for, now is the time to get involved and run for their life!

Komen Salt Lake City Race for the Cure
May 7, 2011
The Gateway Mall


Up to 75% of net proceeds from the Salt Lake City Komen Race for the Cure stay in Utah to fund local education, screening and treatment programs. The remaining 25 percent goes to fund national research to discover the causes of breast cancer and, ultimately, its cures.
We want over 17,000 participants at the 2011 Race, so start recruiting your team now! We plan to raise $550,000 with this event and we need your help to reach our goal!
Get Involved. Keep the Promise.

Freedom Ride- Honor our Troops

• Check in starts at 8:00am at the Fort Douglas Military Museum, 32 Potter Street, Fort Douglas.
• The ride will start at 9:00 stopping at three military memorials (West Jordon, Camp Floyd, and Tooele) and end at Miller Motorsports Park 100 miles later. No fuel stops are planned.
• Poker hands will be drawn at each stop as well as the start and ending of the ride. $5.00 per hand.
• When we get to Miller Motorsports Park, we will ride a lap on the track, have a great lunch, rock out to a live band playing some oldies. Utah's classic 103.5 the Arrow Van will be there to keep things rockin! Don't miss out on this party! Honor our troops, have a great ride, and take a lap on the track!
• Lunch, FreeedomRide Patch, and access to the Miller Motorsports Park Museum included in ride fee.

Join us... http://www.utahfreedomride.webs.com/