Triple Negative Breast Cancer, "I Won't Back Down!"

Just in recent years, Triple Negative Breast Cancer has sparked interest in the news where instead of calling the tumor as ER-negative, PR-negative, and HER2-negative; researchers began using the shorthand term, "Triple Negative," dubbed the "new type" type of cancer. Being Triple Negative, you don't have a targeted therapy and that your only treatment option is chemotherapy.

Triple Negative is seen in about 15% of all breast cancers. Triple Negative is a very aggressive cancer that tends to strike younger women, pre-menopause, especially among African-American women and women who have BRCA1 mutations. The tumor tends to be fast growing and is less likely to show up on an annual mammogram. TN is more likely to metastasis early on; has a high rate of recurrence in the first 2-3 years from diagnosis and has a poorer prognosis than other types of breast cancer due to lack of specific, targeted treatment for TNBC.

Mother, 3 daughters, all fight cancer at the same time

MEMPHIS, TN -
(WMC-TV) - Imagine the devastation of finding out that your child has been diagnosed with cancer. Now, imagine what it would be like to have three children diagnosed with cancer. And that's not even all.
Felicia and Jayla are known throughout St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for their laughter, energy, and enthusiastic hugs. Both were diagnosed with optic nerve glioma at 3 and 4 years old. The oldest, Jayla, is now 10.
"Very unexpected. no warning signs anything like that," said the girls' mother, Elnora.
Both girls went in for eye checkups. When doctors saw the tumors, they ended up at St Jude.
"We do scans every three to six months," added Elnora. "They're on medication every morning. Blood work throughout the month. At St. Jude four out of five days a week."
Elnora and her husband, Frederick, were astounded when they learned that they would not have any out-of-pocket expenses for treatment at St. Jude.
"I was able to take care of my children, be there for them, walk with them, talk with them, be right by their side without having to worry about how am I going to pay for something," said Elnora.
But Elnora's worries are far from over.
Her youngest daughter is now being treated for the same condition as her older sisters. And if that were not enough, Elnora was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. She had to battle her own cancer while her three girls were being treated for theirs.
"I had it in three spots in my neck, my chest area, and a spot on my back. Between stages two and three," she explained.
Thankfully, Elnora is doing better and keeping a positive attitude while focusing on her three children as they receive treatment at St. Jude.
"I hope and pray that you get to do this, you know, milestones you take for granted. Sixteenth birthday, sweet 16, or turning into a teenager, those things you pray for. But I am very optimistic. They're my inspiration," said Elnora.

When the cancer you beat comes back

Kezia Fitzgerald beat cancer once -- and she's determined to do it again, for her husband Mike and son Lochlan.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Kezia Fitzgerald went into remission from Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011
• The cancer relapsed in March of this year
• Fitzgerald says relapse is the "fear of the known"

Editor's note: CNN first covered Kezia Fitzgerald's fight against Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011. Her daughter Saoirse passed away later that year. In March, Kezia found out her cancer had relapsed. You can read more about her journey on her blog.

(CNN) -- When I "beat" cancer the first time, I was excited. My daughter was on her way to remission as well, and we were going to be a normal family again.

It was almost over.

Then Saoirse's cancer came back with a vengeance, and she was taken from us. I wanted to trade places with her, but I was better. I was in remission, and I had to learn to live again, even though my baby girl had died.

So I did just that. I pushed forward. I started a nonprofit neuroblastoma foundation in Saoirse's honor, helped my husband start a business called CareAline Products to distribute products I had made for her when she was sick, and gave birth to our second child.

Mom sews a new dream after toddler's death

Life seemed to be moving in the right direction. I felt great, and while there was always a little voice telling me remission wasn't a guarantee, I thought that I had made all the necessary changes in my lifestyle to keep me cancer-free forever.

Then, in one instant of excruciating pain, that belief that everything was going to be OK was gone.

A kidney stone sent me to the ER. When the doctor came back with the CT results, I wasn't expecting the words that would come out of her mouth:

"You have a 4-millimeter kidney stone. But you also have some swollen lymph nodes next to your aorta. They were flagged by the radiologist because of your history."

The world went silent, which is a feat, considering I was sitting in a busy ER. I'm pretty sure I stared dumbfounded at the doctor for at least a minute, unmoving. Lymph nodes. Swollen. Those words stuck in my head.

How could this be happening again? I didn't have time to deal with cancer.
Kezia Fitzgerald

While I did my best to believe that follow-up tests would be negative, in the back of my mind, I knew.

The cancer was back.

I was sent home to pass my kidney stone, and to start the excruciating process of figuring out what the heck was going on inside my body. First came the scans -- CT and PET. Then a biopsy.

Waiting for test results takes an extreme emotional toll. With every day that passed I grew more anxious, and more unfocused.

The news came at lunchtime on a Tuesday six weeks after that fateful ER trip. "They are calling it a Hodgkin's lymphoma," the doctor said. All I could say was, "OK."

I was numb. Then frustration set in, quickly followed by extreme annoyance.

How could this be happening again? I didn't have time to deal with cancer. I had a foundation to run, a business to help with, and first and foremost, an 8-month-old to take care of.

When I set out to fix something, I do it right. I think this is why my cancer relapse hit me so hard. It means I have to go back to the drawing board and start again. It's a feeling of failure that is hard to overcome.

I have tried not to let my family and friends see my disappointment, but it has been almost impossible to hide.

This time, cancer isn't the unknown beast it was the first time I was diagnosed. This time cancer was the nagging neighbor who finally moved and put their house on the market and then decided to come back instead of paying closing costs.

Relapse is a fear of the known.

I know what chemo feels like. I know the nausea, the hair loss, the numbness, the fatigue, the burning veins and the pain. I know that chemo can take me from feeling great to feeling like crap in less than four hours.

I know what high-dose chemo does to a patient whose only wish is to live a little bit longer. I've seen quality of life stripped away for a chance at a few more months, and the ever-diminishing chance of a cure.

With that knowledge came a major decision: Should I give in and allow myself to be thrown back into the chaos of toxic therapy -- or defy the fear and find a better way?

During the six weeks I waited for my test results, I started to think about, talk about, and research different treatment options. I wasn't comfortable doing chemotherapy again, as I knew the treatment would be much more intense and toxic than what I had already been through.

When relapse was confirmed, my general practitioner told me about homeopathic cancer therapy. I did more research, and made more phone calls. It just felt right. My doctors are on board, especially since I have a slow-growing disease.

While some may not understand my choice to forgo conventional treatment, this time around I'm determined not to be scared into toxic therapy. This is a chance to take back control of my body.

I'm determined to beat cancer, and I know that I am strong enough to do so.

After all, I did it once before.

Schoolboy set for US cancer treatment trip

A SCHOOLBOY from Overslade is to travel to America for specialist life-saving treatment against an extremely rare cancer.
Adrian Secareanu is one of only 77 people in the UK since 1967 to have Mucoepidermoid Carcinoma.
And after being diagnosed in 2012 and having several operations to remove it from his neck and jaw, the 12-year-old is to have Proton Therapy to prevent it returning in a more aggressive form.
The treatment - which directs radiation treatment to precisely where it is needed with minimal damage to surrounding tissue - will be funded by the NHS and carried out at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville where he will spend around three months.
Mum Corina, a nurse at St Cross, said: "We are overjoyed at being able to secure the funding and that he will be going to America as soon as possible.
"You think something like this wouldn’t happen to you and that it can’t touch you. But we now know this is not the case.
"Adrian is a wonderful child, very polite. We want to have his life back.
"Hopefully we can help raise awareness of the condition because another child could have to go through the exact same situation."
The family are now hoping to raise £10,000 with the help of charity Kids ‘N’ Cancer so his mum and dad can stay with him in America.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) Names Devin C. Carty Chief Talent and Experience Officer

Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) today announced the appointment of Devin C. Carty as Chief Talent and Experience Officer. Carty will serve as a key member of the CTCA leadership team, creating and executing an enterprise-wide talent strategy that includes talent acquisition and selecti..

SCHAUMBURG, Ill., April 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cancer Treatment Centers of America® (CTCA) today announced the appointment of Devin C. Carty as Chief Talent and Experience Officer. Carty will serve as a key member of the CTCA leadership team, creating and executing an enterprise-wide talent strategy that includes talent acquisition and selection, external talent brand reputation, stakeholder engagement, and leadership development.

"We are truly fortunate to have someone of Devin's professional and personal caliber," said Gerard van Grinsven, President and CEO. "With the addition of Devin we look forward to continuing our mission of creating a world class, talent based organization that attracts individuals with a passion and expertise in treating the whole person and not just the disease of cancer."

Carty was most recently the VP, Culture, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer for Vanguard Health System where he oversaw a network of 30 hospitals and more than 45,000 employees. Prior to his role with Vanguard, Carty was a partner with Gallup Consulting where he worked extensively with healthcare clients on issues including culture improvement, human capital management, employee engagement and physician partnership and engagement. Carty also worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a researcher for its space program, studying the different rates of E. coli in an oxygenated vs. deoxygenated environment.

Carty received an Executive MBA in International Executive Leadership from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska. Prior to that, Carty received a dual bachelor's degree in biology and biochemistry from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. Additionally, Carty advanced his education through Executive Development and Certifications in Design Thinking from the Institute of Design at Stanford, Lean Process Improvement from Toyota University, Leadership and Organizational Transformation from Center for Creative Leadership, Strengths Coaching from Gallup University, Information Technology from SUNY-Binghamton School of Management, and Corporate Restructuring, Mergers and Acquisitions from Harvard Business School.

20 years of data shows treatment technique improvement for advanced abdominal cancer

Meaningful long-term survival is possible for selected patients suffering from advanced cancer of the abdomen when treated with cytoreductive surgery with Hyperthermic IntraPeritoneal Chemotherapy, or HIPEC, according to a first-of-its-size analysis by physicians at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Wake Forest Baptist has the largest reported, single-center experience with cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC, said lead author Edward A. Levine, M.D., and analysis of 20 years' worth of patient data shows that outcomes have clearly improved for patients undergoing this treatment technique.
Cytoreductive surgery, or debulking, is removal of part of a malignant tumor which can't be completely excised and is done to enhance chemotherapy effectiveness. HIPEC is a perfusion technique in which heated chemotherapy is administered directly into the abdomen during the surgery to kill remaining cancer cells.
The findings are published in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons and were presented by Levine, professor of surgery and chief of surgical oncology service at Wake Forest Baptist, last year at the annual meeting of the Southern Surgical Association.
"Peritoneal dissemination of abdominal malignancy has a clinical course marked by bowel obstruction and death," Levine said. "It traditionally does not respond well to intravenous chemotherapy. This two-phase approach has clearly extended the lives of many of our patients."
For the study, Levine and colleagues reviewed data of 1,000 patients who underwent 1,095 HIPEC procedures over the past two decades. The average age of patients was almost 53 years and slightly more than half were female. Primary tumor sites were: appendix 472(47.2 percent), colorectal 248(24.8 percent), mesothelioma 72(7.2 percent), ovary 69(6.9 percent), gastric 46(4.6 percent), others 97(9.7 percent).
Levine said the median overall survival was 29.9 months, with a five-year survival of 32.5 percent. "The data further shows that patients with advanced abdominal cancer should no longer be approached with therapeutic nihilism," he said. "Long-term survival is clearly possible for selected patients treated with HIPEC."

Molecular Biologist Explains How THC Completely Kills Cancer

Below is a video of Dr. Christina Sanchez, a molecular biologist at Compultense University in Madrid, Spain, clearly explaining how THC (the main psychoactive constitute of the cannabis plant) completely kills cancer cells.
Not long ago, we published an article examining a case study recently published where doctors used cannabis to treat Leukemia, you can read more about that here. To read more articles and view studies about how cannabis is an effective treatment and cure for cancer, click here.
Cannabinoids refer to any of group of related compounds that include cannabinol and the active constituents of cannabis. They activate cannabinoid receptors in the body. The body itself produces  compounds called endocannabinoids and they play a role in many processes within the body that help to create a healthy environment. I think it’s also important to note that cannabis has been shown to treat cancer without any psychoactive effects.
Cannabinoids have been proven to reduce cancer cells as they have a great impact on the rebuilding of the immune system. Although not every strain of cannabis has the same effect, more and more patients are seeing success in cancer reduction in a short period of time by using cannabis. Contrary to popular  belief, smoking cannabis does not assist a great deal in treating disease within the body as therapeutic levels cannot be reached through smoking. Creating oil from the plant or eating the plant is the best way to go about getting the necessary ingredients, the cannabinoids.
The world has come a long way with regards to accepting this plant as a medicine rather than a harmful substance. It’s a plant that could benefit the planet in more ways than one. Cannabis is not something offered in the same regard as chemotherapy, but more people are becoming aware if it, which is why it’s so important to continue to spread information like this. Nobody can really deny the tremendous healing power of this plant.