Cancer

Late last fall, Dartmouth Medical School researchers reported in the journal Cancer that 100 percent of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients experienced at least some level of distress, and nearly half met the criteria for a significant psychiatric disorder such as major depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Well, duh! Is it really news that a serious medical diagnosis can shake a person to the core? The only surprise, to me, is that a study like this is necessary. While some medical schools are adding classes in things such as how to deliver bad news, the medical establishment as a whole still isn't as good as it could be at helping people who go in a heartbeat from merely having a medical appointment to wondering how long they have to live.

JUDY WINTER died on Sunday, December 3, 2006. She lived in Amarillo, Texas and was the beloved daughter of the late Joseph Schaffer and Pauline Schaffer of Parkville, MD. She was the devoted sister of Robert Schaffer also of Parkville, MD. Ms. Winter was born and raised in Parkville and attended Elementary, Middle and High school there. She received a degree from the University of Maryland, and did an internship at Duke University and her Masters from Purdue University. She was a dietitian at Harrington Cancer Center in Amarillo for 20 years, retiring in June, 2006.

Peacock named patient navigator Rebecca Peacock has been named cancer patient navigator at Howard County General Hospital. The new position is designed to help cancer patients facing confusing or frightening choices find help from hospital and community resources. The position was created with support from the American Cancer Society, the Howard Hospital Foundation and the Horizon Foundation. Peacock, who was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 17, spent several years as a volunteer and staff member of the Columbia-based Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults.

Researchers probing the roots of autism say they've found fresh evidence that the disorder, like cancer, could be a tough one to conquer. That's because it's really a constellation of related diseases - with a wide range of genetic underpinnings. In a study released today, scientists say that children who are the sole cases of autism in their families are five times more likely to have a particular genetic mutation than autistic youngsters in families in which the disorder has shown up repeatedly.

LAURA ARCHERA HUXLEY, 96 Widow of Aldous Huxley Laura Archera Huxley, the widow of Brave New World author Aldous Huxley, who worked to preserve his legacy for nearly half a century after his death while writing her own books, died of cancer Thursday night at her Hollywood Hills home, said Karen Pfeiffer, her legal ward, who helps direct Huxley's nonprofit foundation, Children: Our Ultimate Investment. During the seven years of her marriage and for the decades after Mr. Huxley died of cancer in 1963, Mrs. Huxley explored the vistas of psychotherapy, New Age spirituality, consciousness-raising and natural health regimens.

Hospice plans support groups Hospice of the Chesapeake's Spiritual & Bereavement Care Center will begin several six-week bereavement support groups in September: A parent loss support group will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays from Sept. 10 through Oct 15. The registration deadline is Sept. 6. An adult bereavement group will meet from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays from Sept. 11 through Oct. 16. The registration deadline is Sept. 7. Two adult bereavement groups will be held specifically for those who are grieving the death of a spouse or life partner.

Just four days after securing a place at the state tournament with a win at districts, the Liberty golf team put itself in strong contention for a county title with a surprise win at the county tournament last weekend. Led by a 1-over 73 by senior captain John Rosecrans, the Lions' four-man team shot 318 at the Links at Challedon in Mount Airy, outdistancing Century (322) and Westminster (329). North Carroll, which had entered the day unbeaten in the county and could have virtually cemented an outright county title with a win, finished fourth, 15 strokes off the lead.

Rory Calhoun, 76, the stalwart hero of Western movies and the television series "The Texan," died Wednesday in Burbank, Calif. He had been hospitalized with advanced emphysema and diabetes.Dame Christian Howard, 82, a leader in the movement that led the Church of England to ordain women as priests, died April 22 in York, England.Melba Liston, 73, a jazz trombonist, composer and arranger who worked with bands led by Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones, died April 23 in Los Angeles after suffering a series of strokes.

For a terminally ill cancer patient, the audio tape had an appealing title: "There is Hope. You Do Not Have to Die."But U.S. postal inspectors say the message illegally misled dying people into paying $12,000 for an unapproved drug. A Baltimore businessman and a Virginia doctor were indicted yesterday in connection with a scheme that prosecutors described as deplorable."They raised the hopes of cancer patients, and that is insidious," said Lynne A. Battaglia, the U.S. attorney for Maryland.

Mary Hudson, 86, a self-made businesswoman who built an oil empire worth $325 million that made her one of the few women on the Forbes 400 list, died in Prairie Village, Kan., Thursday of cancer.Almeric L. Christian,79, the first native of the U.S. Virgin Islands to be named a judge in the territory's District Court, died in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, Wednesday of an undisclosed illness. He was appointed by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969 and retired in 1988.Stanley Weigel, 93, a retired U.S. District judge who defended professors in loyalty oath cases, died in San Francisco on Wednesday.

In an unprecedented feat, British surgeons implanted a donor heart in a dying toddler whose own heart was weak, then removed it 10 years later after the girl's own heart had fully recovered. The technique is unlikely to become widespread because of the severe shortage of pediatric donor hearts, but it suggests that better mechanical assist devices that take some or all of the load off a diseased heart could allow time for weakened hearts to heal themselves. The procedure, reported online Monday in the medical journal Lancet, shows that, "The heart has reparative capabilities that we suspected it might have, but for which we have really lacked a great deal of proof," said Dr. Douglas P. Zipes of Indiana University, a former president of the American College of Cardiology.

Her name was Natalie, and she was dying of cancer. She was 9 years old, I think, and one of those groups that grants wishes to terminally ill children had offered to make hers come true. Her wish was simple, she wanted a big party for her 10th birthday, but of course it was also heartbreaking because there would not be an 11th. Her doctor knew it, her family knew it and Natalie - because she was close to a boy who was at her same stage of cancer and had recently died - knew it. I thought about Natalie and her sweet, sad party the other day, more than 25 years after I'd written a story about it for the newspaper I was working for back then.

Each Tuesday in the Toy Department, veteran Baltimore Sun sportswriter Mike Klingaman tracks down a former local sports figure and lets you know what's going on in his/her life in a segment called "Catching Up With ... " He spent only two years in Baltimore, but few players have touched Orioles fans more deeply than Eric Davis. It was here that Davis learned he had colon cancer, here that he fought it and here that he beat it. When the outfielder hit a dramatic ninth-inning home run against the Cleveland Indians in Game 5 of the 1997 American League Championship Series - with chemotherapy drugs coursing through his veins - all baseball applauded.

Orioles Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, perhaps the greatest third baseman in baseball history, revealed Tuesday that he has undergone successful treatment for prostate cancer. "It was diagnosed very early, and I underwent 39 radiation treatments," Robinson said during a downtown luncheon for the American Cancer Society. "I feel healthy and fine, and I'm grateful that I was vigilant about my health." Robinson, 71, chose Tuesday's luncheon - which honored patrons of the American Cancer Society's Patient Resource Navigation Program - to reveal his illness publicly for the first time.

On April 13, 2009, EDWARD ADAM BUTT, JR. passed away. Services private. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America.

Fawcett's cancer spreads to liver Farrah Fawcett is being treated for anal cancer that has spread to her liver and has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for a complication from a routine treatment, a producer who worked with the actress and her doctor said Monday. Confirmation that the cancer had spread to such a distant site was dire news. The actress, 62, was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006. She was declared in remission on Feb. 2, 2007, but three months later, scans showed "not only had it recurred, it metastasized to her liver," producer Craig Nevius said.

Papelbon: M. Ramirez 'cancer' with Red Sox baseball Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon yesterday stood by a magazine interview in which he compared former teammate Manny Ramirez to cancer and said the team made the right decision when it traded the slugger to the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer. Papelbon was quoted in the April issue of Esquire as saying: "It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down. Once we saw that, we weren't afraid to get rid of him. It's like cancer. That's what he was. Cancer."

Senate agrees to debate vote for D.C. WASHINGTON: The people of the District of Columbia were closer to gaining the voting rights they were deprived of more than two centuries ago after the Senate agreed yesterday to take up a bill giving them a fully vested representative in Congress. The Senate vote to debate the bill sets the stage for more legislative hurdles and a probable court challenge if the bill is enacted into law. But with the Senate action, the district's 600,000 residents have their best chance of securing a real voice in Congress since a proposed constitutional amendment to enfranchise the federal capital failed a quarter-century ago. The bill would give the district a vote in the House starting in January 2011.

On January 2, 2009 "Angie" Those who wish may contribute to the American Cancer Society 1041 Rte 3, North Building A, Gambrills, MD 21054 in Angie's name.

I. BERNARD WEINSTEIN, 78 Noted cancer researcher Dr. I. Bernard Weinstein, a researcher and top administrator at Columbia University who advanced the study of how pollutants and other environmental factors can cause cancer, died Nov. 3 in Manhattan, where he lived. He was 78. The cause was kidney disease, his family said. At Columbia, where he headed the Comprehensive Cancer Center from 1985 to 1996, Dr. Weinstein investigated chemical sources of cancer and how cancers can progress in stages and over time at the molecular and cellular levels.