AnCan has partnered with the Male Breast Cancer Coalition for a couple of years or more now. We hold a successful monthly group and are expanding. For us at AnCan, we view male breast cancer as a rare disease. While its research may not be as underfunded as other rare conditions, there are only arond 3,000 men diagnosed in the US annually. Our virtual groups alow them to get together.
First we are adding a US-based discussion group – the current group is largely used for presentations. Called MBCC – Open Mic, it will launch on July 22 and allow men living with breast cancer to get together to chat about their condition.
And AnCan along with MBCC, DeMontfort University and Walk the Walk ( a large UK BCa charity) will launch a UK/EU/Africa video chat virtual support group in October. Its lead moderator is Doug Harper, and you’ll find him singing with his band about self examination in the video above. If you want to see Doug performing the song live, click here.
Just a little over a year ago, our beloved gene expert and Board Member, Professor Bill Burhans, delivered a webinar we called Cancer Genetics 101. While Professor Bill is sadly no longer with us, two other good AnCan friends, Dr. Eli Van Allen and Dr. Corrie Painter Ph.D delivered their equally good take on the same content late last month sponsored by Cancer Research Institute, the historical research home of immunotherapy.
I have to admit, many of the questions were way more sophisticated than we produced. And in their inimitable fashions, both Eli and Corrie dumbed down teh answers to make them very intelligible for the many – but not all – lay particpants.
This webinar is definitley worth bookmarking for future reference.
Trevor Maxwell is a remarkable man. A young colorectal cancer survivor, he and Joe Bullock, another colorectal cancer survior, have formed Man Up To Cancer. This is a safe and suportive space for male surviors to speak about their condition.
Trevor comes to AnCan via our good friend at Inspire, John Novack, and also through our prostate cancer participant, Russ Smith who is active in Man Up To Cancer. Trevor’s recent video essay on situation is touching and piercing at the same time. Here is what he writes:
6.24.20
“When the storm of cancer hits, you need protection. Something to shield and strengthen you. My shield is an oak tree.”
This short film on YouTube (4 min) was produced and edited by my talented friend, Roger McCord. With stunning footage taken from ground level and from high above the coastline, the film captures the heartache and hope of my cancer journey.
AnCan is a huge proponent of inclkuding palliative care in your treatment plan and medical team!!
Palliative care is NOT about hospice or end-of-life ….. that is just a sub-set of palliative medicine. At AnCan we prefer to call it Symptom Management, the lingo used by UCSF. That is no coincidence as AnCan has an excellent longstanding relationship with the UCSF service. Dr. B.J. Miller is on our Advisory Board, and Dr.Mike Rabow, the Director of Symptom Management Service at UCSF, is a friend of the family too.
Last Friday, Dr. Rabow gave an excellent webinar on CureTalks titled Redefining Palliative Care – you can listen here. For those living with advanced cancer, auditing this webinar is a MUST in our view!
More good news to offset the difficulties of advanced cancer treatment!
If you have been paying attention, you will have noted that ADT (androgen deprivation therapy) drugs may protect against COVID19. A certain male protein, TMPRSS2, acts as a door handle for the virus to enter the lungs. ADT drugs suppress TMPRSS, and the LHRH antagonist, degarelix (Firmagon) has been shown to be very effective in controlling the virus in an Italian trial and is now being tested here in the US through the VA System; Prostate Cancer Foundation has sponsored both trials. Here are a couple of links to enlighten you:
Now the BBC is reporting this morning that dexamethasone may be a “lifesaving” COVID19 drug. Dexamethasone is a steroid, frequently used around the time of infusion for intravenous infused chemotherapy. In the UK RECOVERY Trial it has been shown to perform as a very effective agent to control the immune system, hence the aggression of the COVID19 virus. AND its inexpensive and readily available!
So if you are anything like our intrepid AnCan Board Chair, Peter Kafka, and currently on ADT and chemo, you may be very well protected against COVID19.
