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Plain old bad luck plays a major role in determining who gets cancer and who does not, according to researchers who found that two-thirds of cancer incidence of various types can be blamed on random mutations and not heredity or risky habits like smoking. The researchers said Thursday that random DNA mutations accumulating in various parts of the body during ordinary cell division were the prime culprits behind many cancer types. They looked at 31 cancer types and found that 22 of them, including leukemia and pancreatic, bone, testicular, ovarian, and brain cancer, could be explained largely by these random...

'Cancer is the best way to die, according to a former editor of The British Medical Journal. Richard Smith, who is chairman of the board of directors of medical smartphone app Patients Know Best, believes the opportunity to reflect on life before it ends is important. In an article published in The BMJ, the 62-year-old wrote that while most people tell him they would prefer a sudden death, he thinks that is very hard on the families of the deceased.'

Patrick McIntosh's wife, children and grandchildren think he's gone mad. His business clients think he's joking. And his doctors think he's lucky to be alive. Yet on Monday, despite the concerns of his family and bemusement of his colleagues, the businessman left home to trek to the South Pole – despite having been diagnosed with three unconnected cancers in less than a year. "It is perhaps a bit unusual," said Mr McIntosh, 58. "I've never done anything quite as mad as this. But I just want to get going." For the past few months, Mr McIntosh has been training hard...

42nd Entry: December 23rd, 2014- Report on AUG radiation therapy and 5 years since diagnosis Well, I am very late entering this information and making this entry. In early August we traveled to MD Anderson in Houston for our annual pilgrimage and to accomplish three things. To conduct our annual check-up on my Chorodoma with Dr. Rhines and Gisella, his chief nurse practioner. To attend the Annually Brain and Spine Tumor conference held each year at MD Anderson, hear the presentations, and especially to see all of our friends there. To conduct the stereo-tactic radiation treatment that Dr. Rhines had...

A trio of 5-year-olds in Michigan is teaming up to help children with cancer this holiday season by donating their hair. Ava, Sari and Jenna, all friends who live in the Keego Harbor, Mich. area, went to get their locks chopped for charity without any coaxing from their parents.

In this special episode, our host sides with the under-privileged victim of the Israeli occupation of science — Cancer! See the video and transcript below: TRANSCRIPT: I’m Andrew Klavan and this is the Revolting Truth. Today a disturbing story from across the sea. International news sources are reporting that Israeli scientists have been plotting to kill cancer. That’s right, sinister Jewish researchers who are Jewish have unleashed several new and deadly weapons in their insidious war against cancer. They’ve developed a revolutionary new protein that could cause cancer cells to destroy themselves in what can only be described as a...

FOX News - A 5-year-old Staten Island girl diagnosed with leukemia was self-conscious about her hair loss until she met a princess who looked just like her, abc7.com reported. When Isabella Harvey was 3, she was diagnosed with leukemia, an aggressive cancer of the bone and blood marrow. Her mother, Pina Harvey, told ABC that at the time Isabella was too young to be bothered by the aesthetic side effects of her treatment, which included hair loss. But after nearly two years of fighting the cancer, Isabella has lost her hair again, and this time, she's more insecure about it....

Stacy Alexander, a home schooling super Mom of eight, was admitted to the ER On January 21, 2012 and on January 25th she was diagnosed with stage 4 Esophageal Adenocarcinoma which had spread to her lymph nodes and liver. This diagnosis was bleak. The tumor was HER2 positive meaning that it was overproducing a growth factor that made the cancer especially aggressive and it was also inoperable. A Cancer Treatment Centers of America study showed that only 6% of patients with this diagnosis survive 2 years and only 3% survive 5 years or more. Walt, Stacy's husband, who is a...

Tom Telford ’s stomach ached. The New York City teacher had been drinking cup after cup of coffee as he labored to finish year-end grading and coach his high-school baseball team through the playoffs. He worried he might have an ulcer. When school let out, though, Mr. Telford looked forward to relaxing on a 25th anniversary cruise with his wife. But once in the Caribbean, he struggled to swim and climbing from one deck to another exhausted him. Back at home, he collapsed while running a TV cable in his bedroom. His family doctor told him he had lost two...

Diem Brown hated to lose. She had an irreverent sense of humor. She loved to dance. More than anything, she never wanted to be seen as a quitter. All of those qualities were on display in the last days before her death on Friday at age 32, a time during which she fought to reconcile her devastating cancer diagnosis with her unyielding will to live. "We kept telling her, 'This is not giving up. You have fought enough,' " says her close friend Julie Rotondi. When the MTV Challenge star finally decided to forgo any further treatment on Thursday, she...

A man diagnosed with the same form of brain cancer that led Brittany Maynard to kill herself last weekend says he chose a different path because of his faith in God. Thirteen years ago, David Williams of Newport, Arkansas was told by his doctors that he had a progressive brain tumor called glioblastoma multiforme, and that he had 6 months to a year to live. Williams told WMC TV that although he trusted his doctors, he refused to believe that he couldn't fight the disease and live. As a result of his determination he's undergone surgeries, chemotherapies, takes daily medication,...

Brittany Maynard, the Oregon woman who had become an outspoken advocate for patients' rights following her terminal cancer diagnosis, died on Saturday, the Oregonian reported. She was 29. "Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love," she wrote in a Facebook post, according to People. "Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness... the world is a beautiful place, travel has been my greatest teacher, my close friends and folks are the greatest givers... goodbye world. Spread good energy. Pay it forward!" Earlier this year, Maynard...

A 29-year-old terminal cancer sufferer who had previously spoken of her right to die has ended her own life surrounded by her family. According to friends and family of Brittany Maynard, she passed away in her Portland, Oregon, home after her condition worsened and the tumor took over. However she was able to choose to die before she lost her ability to function. People.com said she wrote on Facebook : 'Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. 'Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness,...

There is an explanation for Vladimir Putin’s hurry to invade Ukraine — it is rumored he has cancer. News outlets from Belarus to Poland have reported for months that the Russian strongman has cancer of the spinal cord. But my sources say it’s pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal forms of the disease. Putin is allegedly being treated by an elderly doctor from the old East Germany whom Putin met decades ago while serving in Dresden for the KGB. The doctor has been trying various treatments including steroid shots, which would explain Putin’s puffy appearance. The physician, who is...

"A 29-year-old terminal cancer sufferer who had previously spoken of her plan to take her life on November 1 has had a change of heart. In a video released on Wednesday, Brittany Maynard said she hasn't decided when she'll end her life, but it remains a decision that she's determined to make before getting too ill. ‘I still feel good enough and I still have enough joy and I still laugh and smile with my family and friends enough that it doesn't seem like the right time right now,’ she said." "‘But it will come, because I feel myself getting...

Medicaid chiefs from red and blue states are urging Congress to stem the cost of revolutionary new drugs for hepatitis C, cancer, and other diseases. In a letter Tuesday to key congressional committees, the National Association of Medicaid Directors said lawmakers should consider everything from outright price controls on manufacturers to federal help for states trying to pay for the new medications. The bipartisan group did not endorse any particular course of action. …

Having an impressive love-making record may protect you against prostate cancer, as new evidence from Canadian scientists suggests. According to new research published by the University of Montreal, men having sex with more than 20 women, have a 29% lower chance of developing prostate cancer, as opposed to men who have gone through 20 similar sexual experiences with other men.

Starting Monday, millions of people who have avoided colon cancer screening can get a new home test that's noninvasive and doesn't require the icky preparation most other methods do. The test is the first to look for cancer-related DNA in stool. But deciding whether to get it is a more complex choice than ads for "the breakthrough test ... that's as easy as going to the bathroom" make it seem. On one hand, the test could greatly boost screening for a deadly disease that too few people get checked for now. On the other hand, it could lure people away...

But...She should think of her fellow sufferers. Brittany Maynard is a 29-year-old woman who learned not long after her wedding that she had an aggressive brain tumour. She has therefore announced that she has chosen to die on November 1, taking advantage of Oregon’s assisted suicide law. A video that she made with the help of the leading assisted suicide organisation in the US, Compassion and Choices, has been a huge hit on YouTube. An Australian whose wife died of a similar disease, Denis Strangman, has written her an open letter below. * * * * * I am...

The thing about cancer is that you need to catch it early. Once it spreads, it becomes harder and harder to treat. But part of the problem is making yourself go to the doctor in the first place; a lot of people would rather avoid finding out really depressing news, in some cases via invasive poking. But what if you could detect cancerous cells and various other diseases in 60 minutes using your phone? A new start-up named Miroculus has made a device, "Miriam," that hopes to allow you to do just that. In hugely simplified terms, cancer happens when a cell...