Closer to a Cure for Cancer?

I had recently become privy to the fact that the FDA has approved a therapeutic vaccine as part of the treatment plan for prostate cancer. Apparently, it works by using the body's natural disease-fighting mechanism and sort of turns it against the cancer. This is great news and, while still in clinical trials for the most part, some experts are already starting new trials to see if they can get the same successes with other forms of cancer.

I saw on Dr. Oz one day that these trials were spreading out to other states and Ohio is one of them. Couple this with the fact that lung and colon cancers were among those chosen for the new trials. As I mentioned in a previous post, my sister's boyfriend is battling stage 2 colon cancer and one of my friends is undergoing chemo for stage 4 brain and lung cancers. Needless to say, I got the info to them so that they can at least discuss it with their oncologists. I'll double-check to make sure they check into it.

I did get some good news earlier tonight about my friend. I actually made it out of the house (which I've barely done all year!) and visited them to help his wife with her homework (she's in college too). He mentioned that they got the brain cancer when they operated and that the chemo is steadily shrinking the tumors in his lungs. Very good news! They invited me to go with them tomorrow to his next treatment. If I don't wind up going with my dad tomorrow, I'll go with them.

On another note, his wife made another doll (she's my friend that I made those awesome dolls with). This one's over 2 feet tall (the originals were more like 16 inches) and she asked if I was still cool to paint the faces. Am I? Of course! I bought an artist's paint set back around my birthday and still haven't touched them...and I really need to get back to having a hobby, even if I don't have time to design any clothes.

At any rate...I had to pass on the news about the vaccines. I've heard the success rates are good, though I haven't researched that myself yet. And, if we keep making advances in this field, we bring ourselves that much closer to eradicating cancers of various forms. Can you imagine a world without cancer? What a beautiful world that would be!