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Great comics and Star Wars teaming up to fight cancer? That’s certainly something we can all get behind. For more information on how you can help, be sure to check out the Stand Up To Cancer website.
Via The Mary Sue
An Egyptian mummy known as M1 is being studied at the National Archaeology Museum of Lisbon in Portugal. The 2,250-year-old male is thought to have have been between 51 and 60 years old when he died a slow, painful death from cancer.
Several post-mortem fractures, possibly produced by mishandling when the mummy was transported to Europe, afflicted the body.
But that wasn’t all they found. A pattern of round and dense tumors, measuring between 0.03 and 0.59 inches, interspersed M1′s pelvis and lumbar spine.
“The bone lesions were considered very suggestive of metastatic prostate cancer,” wrote the researchers.
Indeed, prostatic carcinoma typically spreads to the pelvic region, the lumbar spine, the upper arm and leg bones, the ribs, ultimately reaching most of the skeleton.
Prates and colleagues considered other diseases as alternatives. But M1′s sex, age, the distribution pattern of the lesions, their shape and density, strongly argued for prostate cancer.
Only one older case of prostate cancer has ever been found, in a 2,700-year-old skeleton from Siberia. Read more at Discovery News. Link -via Breakfast Links
Erik Martin, better known as Electron Boy, the super hero who saved Seattle, succumbed to liver cancer on Friday. Neatorama featured his story last year, and again just last week in a link about the Make-A-Wish Foundation. In addition to his Seattle exploits, Electron Boy will also be remembered for the boost he gave to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The story of his big wish went viral on the Internet. The foundation was swamped by people pledging money and offering to help other children with life-threatening illnesses see their dreams come true.
“Erik’s wish just cast this net and brought them into the mission” of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, said spokeswoman Jeannette Tarcha. “People just wanted to be part of it.”
A group of independent comic-book creators inked and published a real comic book of his exploits. And the “Fans of Electron Boy” page, still active on Facebook, drew thousands of members — today, its fans number nearly 12,000.
Erik’s superhero deeds were recognized on the floor of the U.S. House by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn. The boy, who is a foster child, became a hero to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and to cancer patients and foster families alike.
Martin was 14 years old. Link -via Fark
A team of doctors and medical researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tried a bold new experiment on three leukemia patients who seemed to have no hope left. One of them was 65-year-old William Ludwig.
Doctors removed a billion of his T-cells — a type of white blood cell that fights viruses and tumors — and gave them new genes that would program the cells to attack his cancer. Then the altered cells were dripped back into Mr. Ludwig’s veins.
At first, nothing happened. But after 10 days, hell broke loose in his hospital room. He began shaking with chills. His temperature shot up. His blood pressure shot down. He became so ill that doctors moved him into intensive care and warned that he might die. His family gathered at the hospital, fearing the worst.
A few weeks later, the fevers were gone. And so was the leukemia.
Another patient had a complete remission, and the third had a partial remission. What is surprising about the experimental treatment is that it uses diabled HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, to carry the new cancer-fighting genes to the patient’s T-cells.
The University of Pennsylvania team seems to have hit all the targets at once. Inside the patients, the T-cells modified by the researchers multiplied to 1,000 to 10,000 times the number infused, wiped out the cancer and then gradually diminished, leaving a population of “memory” cells that can quickly proliferate again if needed.
The researchers remain cautious, because so few patients have been given the treatment, and because the therapy itself can be dangerous. But Mr. Ludwig has gained 40 pounds and a playing golf again. Read how they did it at the New York Times. Link -via Metafilter
According to a new scientific paper, cancer might actually be a newly evolved species of parasite based on the fact that the cells depend on their hosts for food, but otherwise act independently and to the detriment of their host.
Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues believe that carcinogenesis—the generation of cancer—is just another form of speciation, the evolution of new species.
“Cancer is comparable to a bacterial level of complexity, but still autonomous, that is, it doesn’t depend on other cells for survival; it doesn’t follow orders like other cells in the body, and it can grow where, when and how it likes,” said Duesberg in a UC Berkeley press release. “That’s what species are all about…Once a cell has crossed that barrier of autonomy, it’s a new species.”
Researchers are hopeful that if this is true, the species might be defeated if we continue to force them to rapidly evolve through the use of increasingly powerful medicines. What do you think, is it a parasitic species or a disease?
Photo Credit: David Schlaich
Cancer, depression, or any sort of ailment can make you feel terribly isolated. As part of a series called Shining Light on Cancer, health photographer David Schlaich captures light paintings to illustrate the feelings of cancer patients. The series is for a book of light art images to help raise money for cancer charities.
“It can feel isolating to feel like no one knows how you feel. But when you go to a cancer support group and some groups you may find fit you better than others, you can find a community of people that can relate and a friend who knows how you feel. Of course this can apply to all kinds of problems, depression, addiction there’s lots of people out there who know how you feel. You don’t have to be alone if you find them”.
Link via Ian Brooks
Dr. ZDogg and Dr. Harry are physicians and comedians who bring you medical advice that you can laugh at, or entertainment that might save your life. They’ve produced several musical videos on subjects ranging from a doctor’s workday to STDs. One in particular instructs men on how to check for testicular cancer. The video made me laugh out loud alone in the room, but is just slightly too adult to embed here.
I awoke one morning from a vivid fever dream in which the heavenly spirit of Michael Jackson appeared to me in the form of a sequined glove lovingly grasping a perfectly smooth oblong jade stone. On closer inspection, the stone had a small flaw that slowly, menacingly enlarged, until the entire dreamspace filled with its malignant presence. MJ’s distinctive voice intoned, “They’re ignorant, Dr. Dogg, they must be taught. Touch these young males in a way that I am no longer able to. Hee hee…OOOH!”
My dream-self shifted uneasily, and before the King of Pop could finish I awoke to find myself drenched in sweat, one hand “down there,” instinctively curled in a primitive protective gesture. It was this very fever sweat, noted so crudely by Dr. Harry in his screed above, that dampened the axillae of my garment. Having rushed to his home to convey the high mission given us, I couldn’t contain my enthusiasm at the prospect of shielding the young from such a cancerous scourge.
You have to see it for yourself. And guys, be sure to check yourselves every month. Link -Thanks, Zubin!
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An experiment using the hallucinogen psilocybin on terminally ill cancer patients found that it helped to ease their anxiety.
The study included 12 patients who took a small dose of psilocybin — the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms” — while under the supervision of trained therapists. In a separate session, the participants took a placebo pill, which had little effect on their symptoms.
By contrast, one to three months after taking psilocybin the patients reported feeling less anxious and their overall mood had improved. By the six-month mark, the group’s average score on a common scale used to measure depression had declined by 30 percent, according to the study, which was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
In follow-up interviews with the researchers, some patients said their experience with psilocybin gave them a new perspective on their illness and brought them closer to family and friends.
“We were pleased with the results,” says the lead researcher, Charles Grob, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, in Torrance, Calif.
Another study using larger doses of the drug is planned. Link -via reddit
Brian Fugere had already run the Boston Marathon once when he was stricken with a cancer called synovial sarcoma in 2005. He had part of lung removed and began chemotherapy at Kaiser Walnut Creek Hospital in California. He didn’t like being confined to a hospital and wanted to stay in shape.
“So, I started moving,” Fugere said. “I did one, then two, then three, then four, then five laps. Then I started measuring the distance of a lap around the cancer ward and figured out it would take 144 laps to do a marathon.
“So then I figured, why not?”
Fugere called his hallway odyssey the “Box of Chocolates Marathon,” borrowing a line from Forrest Gump. (“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”)
“I want to show other chemo patients that you don’t have to accept the notion of lying in bed all day getting liquid Drano pumped into you,” Fugere said the week of the marathon. “Well, you do need to get the liquid Drano — you just don’t need to take it lying down.”
Fugere had to drag his IV pole along with him as he began his marathon. Read the entire story at CNN. Link
(Image credit: Kat Wade/San Francisco Chronicle/Corbis)
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have developed a protein that makes laboratory mice highly resistant to breast cancer:
Cancer vaccines, unlike traditional vaccines, are generally designed to arm the immune system with the tools to fight a certain existing disease or cancer-causing virus, rather than directly prevent cancer from developing. But researchers have found a protein manufactured in cancerous breast cells that primes the immune system to attack tumor cells themselves and prevent the growth of tumors altogether.
In mice that had been pre-engineered to develop breast cancer, an injection of the protein stopped the cancer from ever forming. Healthy lactating cells produce the protein as well, and as such it could one day provide a vaccine that prevents breast cancer in non-lactating women.
Link | Photo: USDA | Previously: DNA Vaccine Tattoo
I present you the new band "Belle and the Buttons" with their hit "Get Waisted". Enjoy!
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by axelk.
Erik Martin always wanted to be a superhero. The 13-year-old even designed his own secret identity as Electron Boy. On Thursday, his wish came true with the help of the regional chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Erik suffers from liver cancer, but he was ready to respond when Spider Man called for his assistance.
Pulling off a wish like this one required a big story, and a lot of heart. And so, with a note of panic in his voice, Spider-Man explained the dilemma: “Dr. Dark” and “Blackout Boy” had imprisoned the Seattle Sounders in a locker room at Qwest Field. Only Electron Boy could free them.
Erik got into his red-and-blue superhero costume, and called on the powers of Moonshine Maid, who owns a DeLorean sports car. For good measure, more than 20 motorcycle officers from the Bellevue Police Department and King County and Snohomish sheriff’s offices escorted Electron Boy to Seattle.
“They shut down 405 — they shut down I-90,” marveled Moonshine Maid, aka Misty Peterson. “I thought it would just be me, in the car.”
At Qwest Field, Electron Boy was directed by frantic fans to the Sounders locker room, where the entire team was shouting for help behind jammed doors. With a little help from Lightning Lad, the alter ego of local actor Rob Burgess, Erik opened the door with his lightning rod. The Sounders cheered.
That’s just the beginning of the story. Dr. Dark and Blackout Boy had also trapped a city worker in a bucket truck and stalled elevators at the Space Needle. Erik rescued everyone, helped police arrest the bad guys, and accepted a key to the city. Link to story. Link to photographs. -via I Am Bored
(image credit: Dean Rutz/The Seattle Times)
Also, Electron Boy has a Facebook page.
Eighteen-year-old Connor Olson of Tonganoxie, Kansas spent the past year fighting bone cancer. Earlier this month, he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on one side. But he also achieved the rank of Eagle Scout and was looking forward to graduating from high school. Last week, Tonganoxie High School held an early graduation ceremony for Connor in which he was the only graduate.
The high school let out early Thursday so that Connor’s friends could watch him get his diploma.
So by the time he made his way into the auditorium, more than 500 people — classmates, neighbors, school board members, people who have raised money for his medical bills — were waiting for him.
Connor’s teachers, wearing black graduation gowns, stood in a big semicircle in front of the stage, most of them blinking back and wiping tears from their eyes.
Even though the stage has a lift, Connor’s friends carried his wheelchair to the stage where he received his diploma. Speakers included the senior class president and a representative of the University of Kansas football team. The school band played the national anthem and a slide show of Connor’s school days was shown. After he received his diploma, he went home with his parents and hospice nurse. Link (with video) -via Fark
Connor died a week later. Link
(image credit: John Sleezer)
Scientists at the International Cancer Genome Consortium assert that they have genetically decoded lung and skin cancer. This will allow the development of drugs that specifically attack cancer at the genetic level because it will be possible to determine precisely which mutations cause certain cancers:
The scientists found the DNA code for a skin cancer called melanoma contained more than 30,000 errors almost entirely caused by too much sun exposure.
The lung cancer DNA code had more than 23,000 errors largely triggered by cigarette smoke exposure.
From this, the experts estimate a typical smoker acquires one new mutation for every 15 cigarettes they smoke.
Link via Popular Science | Image: US Department of Health and Human Services
Forget
the namby-pamby cigarette warning label we have here in the United States.
Here's a very graphic warning label from cartons of Malaysian clove cigarettes.
Alas, even these warning labels do not have much effect on smokers. From World Health Organization's Regional Office for the Western Pacific's smoking statistics:
- About half of all Malaysian men smoke.
- Every day about 50 teenagers below the age of 18 start smoking
- Studies show about 30% of adolescent boys (aged 12 to 18) smoke.
- Smoking among female teens is rising. According to two studies on teens conducted in 1996 and 1999, the numbers of female teens smoking rose from 4.8% to 8%. Overall, the 1999 study found nearly one in five teens smokes.
- Some studies have shown that lung cancer is rising at a rate of 17% a year.
- Although there are restrictions on advertising, tobacco companies have found ways to bypass these laws through using brand names and remain the top advertisers. Heavily advertised products include the Benson and Hedges bistro, Dunhill accessories, Marlboro clothing, Kent Horizon Tours and Salem Cool Planet concerts.
- Malaysia has been dubbed the "indirect advertising capital" of the world. Some of the tobacco industry's most blatant efforts to target young people can be seen here.
- Spending on tobacco advertising is extremely high. In 1997, the industry spent about $90 million, while in the year 2000, two tobacco firms alone reportedly spent more than US$40 million.
TYWKIWDBI has the larger pic: Link (as you'd imagine, the pictures are quite graphic - you've been warned)
Looking to cuddle up with your own bit of disease? Try this breast cancer cell sculpture by Amyof Glitter, Vinyl and Thread. She was inspired by the beauty of the cancer cells and entered her creation in the Good Cause Challenge.
Link Via Craftzine Image Via Glitter, Vinyl and Thread
The winners of the 2009 Olympus BioScapes Photo Digital Imaging Competition were just announced yesterday. Here are some of the wonderful winning and honorable mention images:
1st Place Winner:
Water flea Daphnia atkinsoni. This specimen has a "crown of thorns," a defensive trait induced in offspring only when the parents sense chemical cues released by one of their main predators, the tadpole shrimp Triops cancriformis. The water flea´s exoskeleton (exterior structure, green) and subcellular details within the organism (nuclei – tiny blue dots) are both visible – Dr. Jan Michels, Christian Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany.
5th Place Winner:
Unicellular alga Penium, treated with the microtubule poison oryzalin – by David Domozych, Skidmore College.
Ma. Ivy Clemente of Pulilan, Philippines, got an honorable mention in this year’s competition, but I think her entry is the most stunning. Behold, the cancer alphabet:
Spelling out the diagnosis: Glandular structures from fibroadenoma and nodular prostatic hyperplasia cases – by Ma. Ivy Clemente, Pulilan, Philippines
Fetal cat coronal section – by Mike Peres, Rochester Institute of Technology, New York.
Squid embryo – by Rachel Fink, Mount Holyoke College, Massachussetts
Link: Winners Gallery of the 2009 Olympus BioScapes
When 6-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with brain cancer, she began hiding hundreds of little love notes around the house for her parents to find after she was gone. Here’s the story:
Just before her sixth birthday, Elena Desserich (right) was diagnosed with brain cancer and given 135 days to live. She lived 255 days, passing away in 2007. After her death, Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith, found hundreds of notes from Elena hidden around the house — in between CD cases, between bookshelves, in dresser drawers, in backpacks….
"It just felt like a little hug from her, like she was telling us she was looking over us"
Elena left hundreds of notes like these:
Elena’s parents, Brooke and Keith Desserich, have now published these notes in a book called Notes Left Behind to fund a non-profit organization The Cure Starts Now dedicated to fighting pediatric brain cancer.
Link to story (book excerpt) over at Today | The Love Notes | Official Website
Ah, this broke my heart, but the story is too touching not to share. Excuse me while I, erhm, dry my eyes. Got dust in ‘em or something.
There has never been a documented case of cancer found in a Naked Mole Rat, which is unusual as they can live to be 30 years old. Now biologists at the Unversity of Rochester believe they have found the reason.
The findings, presented in today’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, show that the mole rat’s cells express a gene called p16 that makes the cells “claustrophobic,” stopping the cells’ proliferation when too many of them crowd together, cutting off runaway growth before it can start. The effect of p16 is so pronounced that when researchers mutated the cells to induce a tumor, the cells’ growth barely changed, whereas regular mouse cells became fully cancerous.
“We think we’ve found the reason these mole rats don’t get cancer, and it’s a bit of a surprise,” say Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov, professors of biology at the University of Rochester and lead investigators on the discovery. “It’s very early to speculate about the implications, but if the effect of p16 can be simulated in humans we might have a way to halt cancer before it starts.”
Further research might reveal whether the findings will be applicable to humans. Link -via reddit
Asylum blog brought to our attention not one, but two strangely awesome fundraising efforts benefiting cancer foundations. All you’ve got to do is grow a mustache (which is sadly one of those things I can’t do to save my life – darn these Asian genes!) and get people to donate:
Would you like to participate? You’ve got two choices:
1. Mustaches vs. Cancer starts October 5 and lasts for 56 days. Proceeds go to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
2. Movember goes throughout November, with money raised benefiting prostate and testicular cancer foundations.
All you have to do is register with your charity of choice and ask friends and family to donate money to see pictures of you looking increasingly more awesome. If you decide to participate in either charity, check back in at Asylum later this month for free swag and contests. Also, whether or not you participate, you’re invited to the Stache Bash.
Link – Thanks Alex!
Israeli scientists have invented a breathalyzer-type device that can detect chemical markers for lung cancer in a patient’s breaths.
The sensor relies on a film of gold nanoparticles, which conducts electricity, layered over a carbon-based substrate. When a patient breathes into the device, particulates in the breath accumulate on the carbon layer and the sensor swells pushing the gold nanoparticles further apart, which, in turn, alters the resistance of the film. Each type of particulate has a unique effect on the resistance which can be measured by having a current flow through the sensor. “The user gets a figure on the device’s display panel that indicates whether the person is healthy or has cancer” [Physics World], says lead researcher Hossam Haick.
The new device can detect smaller amounts of the target chemicals and therefore diagnose lung cancer earlier, when treatments can be more successful. Link
A biotech company named InSightec is developing a surgical technique that uses focused ultrasound waves instead of scalpels to destroy tumors:
Machinery like this had previously been used to treat some cancers, for example in the uterus and breast. But until now, the distorting effects brought about by the skull’s thickness has made it impossibly tricky to focus the beams onto the brain while also maintaining the required accuracy.
InSightec’s technology solves that by using over a thousand individually focused transducers, which broadcast the ultrasonic beams. But it’s not like shooting a laser into a person’s head–rather, the beams raise the temperature of the location being treated by about forty degrees, or just enough to kill the diseased cells. A built-in cooling system keeps the brain from
cooking like an eggoverheating.
Results from a 20 year study on monkeys and their diets show that eating fewer calories can help you live longer. Animals with a restricted diet of 30% were shown to outlive those that were given the freedom to eat what when and how much they wanted. The monkeys also had improved chances of avoiding age related diseases, cancer, diabetes and brain atrophy.
In terms of overall animal health, Weindruch notes, the restricted diet leads to longer lifespan and improved quality of life in old age. “There is a major effect of caloric restriction in increasing survival if you look at deaths due to the diseases of aging,” he says.
The incidence of cancerous tumors and cardiovascular disease in animals on a restricted diet was less than half that seen in animals permitted to eat freely. Remarkably, while diabetes or impaired glucose regulation is common in monkeys that can eat all they want, it has yet to be observed in any animal on a restricted diet. “So far, we’ve seen the complete prevention of diabetes,” says Weindruch.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by coconutnut.
10-year-old Colby Curtin of Huntington Beach, California had been anxiously looking forward to the movie Up since she saw the first previews. Colby battled vascular cancer for three years, and when the movie was released, she was too sick to go to the theater.
After a family friend made frantic calls to Pixar to help grant Colby her dying wish, Pixar came to the rescue.
The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie.
The animated movie begins with scenes showing the evolution of a relationship between a husband and wife. After losing his wife in old age, the now grumpy man deals with his loss by attaching thousands of balloons to his house, flying into the sky, and going on an adventure with a little boy.
Colby died about seven hours after seeing the film.
Be warned, reading the entire story will make you cry. Pixar declined to make a statement about Colby or the employee who visited her. Link -via Boing Boing
(image credit: Carole Lynch)
After her father Tim was diagnosed with colon cancer, Georgia Browne went on the Internet to research ways to help save him. That’s where she got a brilliant though a bit unconventional idea to feed her dad breastmilk:
Georgia recalls. ‘I started researching on the internet immediately and found separate studies in America and Scandinavia both supporting the health benefits of breastmilk to cancer sufferers.
‘I watched the documentary and thought it was a really mad idea, if it was true,’ she says. ‘I started looking on the net and found research suggesting breastmilk helps kill cancer cells.
‘Finding out I could help was amazing. I could play my small part in helping my dad do something positive for his illness. ‘When I talked to him about it, he thought it was a great idea. He thought: “Why not?”’ [...]
With the family’s blessing, Georgia started expressing her milk for Tim straight away. She dropped the first batch round to her parents’ home in a freezer bag, which her mum popped in the freezer.
‘I thought he’d mix it into a milkshake like the man in the documentary, but when Mum defrosted it the next day, he simply poured it on his cornflakes with a splash of normal cow’s milk. He said it didn’t taste that different to cow’s milk, maybe just a bit sweeter if he didn’t get the mix right,’ Georgia says.
New Idea magazine has more: Link
One of the way scientists try to combat cancer is to selectively disrupt angiogenesis, the process by which blood vessels form to support the growth of the tumor cells.
Biotech company Amgen launched a spiffy new website with 15 gorgeously rendered animations explaining the process of angiogenesis as it relates to vascularized tumor in plain English.
You don’t have to be a molecular biologist to appreciate the "Fantastic Voyage"-like animations – and you may learn something cool about cancer biology!
Not to be missed: Link – via Wired Science
Maureen Burns in Rugby, England has a 10-year-old mixed breed collie named Max who probably saved her life. Max started actingly strangely, sniffing his owner’s breath and rubbing against her right breast.
Mrs. Burns discovered a lump but it did not show up on a hospital mammogram. She convinced doctors to do a biopsy and sure enough, the tumor was malignant.
She’s had surgery to remove the lump, followed by radiation treatment, and her prognosis is excellent. Mrs. Burns is convinced that she is alive today because of her dog’s keen sense of smell.
“It was his peculiar reaction that alerted me to the fact that something was wrong. At first I thought he was just getting old, he was not so playful and his eyes were sad. He’d sniff my breath in an odd way — I even asked my husband Roger if I had halitosis.”
– Maureen Burns
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Marilyn Terrell.
Children who receive treatment for cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston are receiving a special treat while construction goes on outside. Children write their names on sheets of paper and tape them to the window. Then ironworkers erecting the new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care paint the names on steel beams and hoist them into place.
The building’s steel skeleton is now a brightly colored, seven-story monument to scores of children receiving treatment at the clinic – Lia, Alex, and Sam; Taylor, Izzy, and Danny. For the young cancer patients, who press their noses to the glass to watch new names added every day, the steel and spray-paint tribute has given them a few moments of joy and a towering symbol of hope.
A similar project was carried out in 1996 when the Smith Research Laboratories were built. A movie was made at that time to raise money for The Jimmy Fund.
Yesterday, crawling on their stomachs in the bitter cold and whipping winds, the ironworkers looked down at the latest batch of names posted in the walkway window. Looking up at them were Kristen and her sisters, Cathryn, 5, and Hannah, 3, who have been accompanying her to chemotherapy. They pointed as the ironworkers painted the girls’ names onto the side of a 4-ton I-beam and hoisted it on to the seventh floor.
“She’ll always be a piece of this building, which is a good feeling to have,” Elizabeth Hoenshell said, holding Kristen. “They don’t have to do this, the guys. They could just do their job and do a good job at it and give us a building that we can get treatment at, but they go the extra step and that’s huge.”
Link to story. Link to photo gallery. -via Metafilter
See a video from the earlier project, but have your hankie ready. Link
(image credit: David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)
Jacob Vanderlaan of Sussex, New Brunswick loved tractors. After he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the 9-year-old made his request to the Children’s Wish Foundation. He wanted to visit the John Deere factory in Moline, Illinois.
But the boy everyone knows as ‘Jake’ is too ill to travel, so the tractors came to him Friday as the extended family that is the farming community around Sussex organized a parade past the boy’s home as he lay on a folded-down seat at the living room window.
Wrapped in a fleece, farm-themed blanket, a stuffed cow on his lap, Jake shielded his eyes from the sun with a black cap in one hand, waving excitedly with the other at the familiar faces behind the wheels of the passing farm vehicles.
For one afternoon, the family was able to forget the cancer that mom Julie Vanderlaan described as “extremely aggressive”, which has left her son heavily medicated to fight through the pain.
Over 50 farmers rode tractors and other farm equipment to Jake’s home -they were the same farmers who had been helping the family in every way possible since Jacob’s illness was diagnosed.
“I never expected this,” Julie said. “People are offering to do anything they can, they are just showing up every day to help. It all means so much.
“It’s overwhelming. It just makes you so appreciative to be a part of this type of community.”
Jacob died the day after the tractor parade. Link -via Fark
(image credit: Cindy Wilson/Telegraph-Journal)
Scientists have grown this Gumby/gingerbread man shape out of living human cancer cells!
The structure was grown using about 100,000 beads of the connective protein collagen, seeded with cells from a human liver cancer culture and tipped into a body-shaped mould. On the surface of each bead are cells of a type that secrete proteins and collagen that bind all the cells together.
Researchers are working to produce cell cultures that resemble organs in order to test new drugs. Link -via Culture Dish
