Cancer

Michael Landon's good humor last week as he announced to the press in California that he has advanced pancreatic cancer was an exhibition of extraordinary grace in a difficult situation.In fact, the prognosis in most cases of cancer of the pancreas is not encouraging: The vast majority of pancreatic tumors are known as adenocarcinomas, which rarely cause symptoms until they have passed the point of no return.Cure is rare, and survival time is more often measured in months than in years, according to Dr. Richard Kaplan, associate professor of oncology and medicine at the University of Maryland Oncology Center.

McCormick & Co. and The Wine Source are hosting a wine-tasting fundraiser for HopeWell Cancer Support on May 30 at the non-profit's Lutherville headquarters. Fine Wine's Fresh Frontier: The Southern Hemisphere will include wine tastings, cheese pairings, hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction. Funds raised at the event will support the HopeWell mission, which is to create a support community for people coping with cancer. The wine tasting is 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. May 30 at HopeWell Cancer Support, 10628 Falls Road, Lutherville.

MIAMI -- Dorothy Shula, wife and mother in pro football's most famous coaching family, died yesterday afternoon at her home after a long struggle with cancer. She was 57."She went peacefully, thank God," Don Shula said. "It was about as peaceful as it could be. She went into a coma and just drifted away. Thank God everybody was here, all the five children. That's what she wanted."Dorothy and Don Shula, the Miami Dolphins' head coach since 1970, were married in 1958. Their five children include two NFL assistant coaches in David, who recently moved from the Dallas Cowboys to the Cincinnati Bengals, and Mike, of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Oh, no! Here we go again with another "awareness conversation" ("Breast cancer: Angelina Jolie starts the conversation," May 16). After the fortunes raised by Race for the Cure and the other breast cancer groups, must we consider having both our breasts removed? I'm beginning to think being a woman is a life-long death sentence. In "starting the conversation," why didn't Angelina Jolie mention how much her surgery, reconstruction and rehabilitation cost? If an initial exam is $3,000, what is the price of the entire procedure?

Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn is battling cancer of a salivary gland, according to an interview he gave to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Gwynn told the paper he has had surgery three times to remove tumors on the parotid, the largest of the salivary glands. He said procedures done in 1997 and three years ago were cancer-free, but a surgery performed last month revealed a malignancy. Gwynn told the paper that doctors removed three lymph nodes, and testing showed the cancer.

The American Cancer Society is launched a major, long-term prevention study across the country and is looking for people in the Baltimore area to participate. The society says 12 million people have survived cancer and many more have avoided it. This study could provide the information to keep others healthy. The study, much like the one that initially linked tobacco to cancer, will look at other genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors that may play into a person's risk of getting or preventing the disease.

A Harford County restaurant manager is continuing his efforts to assist families coping with childhood cancer by holding a superhero event in Bel Air on Saturday. The Dominator, a character inspired by one child's battle with a brain tumor, will take part in an ice cream social and fundraiser from noon to 5 p.m. at Moore's Candies at 138 N. Bond St. Children will receive a free scoop of ice cream and visit with the red-suited superhero. Members of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Company will be on hand at 3:30 p.m. with their mascot and several giveaways.

An independent panel of scientists says two government-issued studies can't show if people were harmed by toxic pollution from Fort Detrick contaminating the ground water, but further studies are unlikely to answer lingering questions about the health impacts of the cancer-causing chemicals buried decades ago at the Frederick military base. In a review sponsored by the Army, a committee of environmental and health experts with the National Research Council took issue with a study by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which concluded that tainted ground water seeping out from Detrick's Area B was "unlikely to have produced any harmful health effects, including cancer.

The sentencing of a 38-year-old Dundalk woman accused of bilking friends by pretending she had terminal cancer has been postponed until Oct. 28. Dina Perouty-Leone, a 1990 graduate of Dundalk High School and the mother of two teenagers, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. Initially charged with four theft and conspiracy counts, she pleaded guilty in June to a single charge of felony theft. The sentencing by Baltimore County Circuit Judge John G. Turnbull II had been set for Tuesday, but was rescheduled after Perouty-Leone retained an attorney new to her case, John M. Hassett.

Evidence is mounting that dogs aren't just man's favorite companion -- they can also literally save our lives. Researchers in Germany have found that dogs, using just their power of scent, can detect cancer in 71 percent of patients. According to this report in the BBC , the findings build on earlier research into canine's ability to sniff out cancer. This type of research goes back to 1989, the story says, and scientists since have proven that dogs can find skin, bladder, bowel and breast cancers.

An 18-year-old man was arrested and accused of making a false bomb threat on Thursday that targeted the Old Mill school campus in Millersville, Anne Arundel County police said. Matthew Permenter, 18, of Baltimore, was charged with disturbing school operations, threatening to detonate a destructive device and giving a false statement. It could not be immediately determined whether he had obtained a lawyer. Police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said police received a call from the school at around 8:46 a.m. A current student at the school had said a former student posted an item online that a bomb would be placed near the school and target a "Relay for Life" cancer walk event scheduled to take place on Friday evening.

"Mom. Do you have that gene? Do I? Have you been tested? I thought Grandma had breast cancer . Why weren't you ever tested?" The questions from my 27-year-old daughter were coming fast. Angelina Jolie published an essay in The New York Times on Tuesday, saying that she had had both breasts removed, and then reconstructed, after learning that she carried the mutated gene that can predispose women to breast and ovarian cancer. And Jessie was on the phone to me. Family history had moved the actress to get tested.

Actress Angelina Jolie, who got a double mastectomy to lower her chances of breast cancer, will also have her ovaries removed, according to People magazine. Jolie said in a New York Times editorial Tuesday that she had her breasts removed and reconstructed because she has a gene mutation that makes her risk of breast cancer high. Women with the BRCA1 gene mutation also have a high chance of developing ovarian cancer. There is no test to detect ovarian cancer and women often die from the disease because it is diagnosed in the late stages.

It is well known that HPV (human papillomavirus) can lead to deadly cervical cancer in women, but the virus is causing cancer in men as well. Throat cancers caused by HPV are showing up typically in men with little or no history of smoking, said Dr. Kevin J. Cullen, an oncologist who specializes in treating head and neck cancers. Cullen, the director of the University of Maryland's Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center, talks about the growing cases of HPV-related throat cancers.

Actress Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy rather than risk developing breast cancer hit close to home for Melissa DeSantis, a Bel Air mother of three children. As DeSantis read about Jolie's experience, she began to feel a sense of kinship to the Hollywood star. DeSantis also made the tough decision to have her breasts removed in a February surgery. Like Jolie, she had one of the inherited gene mutations that leaves many women more likely to develop cancer.

Upper Chesapeake Health (UCH) is pleased to announce that it has named Dr. Philip Nivatpumin has been named by Upper Chesapeake Health as medical director of the UCH Patricia D. and M. Scot Kaufman Cancer Center. The Kaufman Cancer Center is currently under construction on the UCMC campus in Bel Air and is expected to open in the fall. Nivatpumin is well-known to Harford County, where he is a medical oncologist with Upper Chesapeake Hematology/Oncology, a mainstay in the community.

Regarding "Cell phone use, tumors linked" (June 1), I am always amazed at what passes for news. Chances are that banning cell phones or other possible causes of cancer won't extend life. And there are far more dangerous endeavors we participate in. My advice is to relax, enjoy life and don't worry too much about the ills could befall us, because eventually one surely will. Michael W. Kohlman, Parkville,

The federal government this week acknowledged a link between unhealthy conditions at ground zero in the  in the aftermath of the the Sept. 11 attacks and several types of cancer. It added 58 cancers to covered illnesses for people exposed to toxins at the site of the World Trade Center after the attacks 11 years ago today. Dr. John Howard, administrator of the World Trade Center Health Program, had originally proposed the additions in June. The recognition of the cancers will help get treatment for firefighters, medical personnel, survivors and others who worked on rescue efforts after the attacks.  The original list of conditions related to ground zero did not include cancers, but allowed for addition of other illnesses over time.  For information: www.cdc.gov/wtc or 1-888-982-4748 for information on how to apply.

Charlie Zill, the popular long-time usher at Camden Yards who entertained Orioles fans with his “Zillbilly” dance during the seventh-inning stretch, died late Saturday night of lung cancer. He was 56. Zill, who had been diagnosed with cancer three and a half years ago, attended his final Orioles game April 17 as a guest of the club.  Wearing an Orioles cap and jersey over his trademark “Zillbilly” overalls, he threw out the first pitch from his wheelchair before the Orioles took the field against the Tampa Bay Rays.

What does it require to get members of Congress to take action quickly and decisively on an issue of federal spending? Now we know. The possibility that they will be delayed in an airport terminal somewhere waiting for a flight out of town is apparently so abhorrent that the usual gridlock and party politics just don't apply. That's the take-away from last week's lightning-fast, lopsided bipartisan votes that transferred more than a quarter-billion dollars to the Federal Aviation Administration budget so that the agency would no longer have to furlough air traffic controllers.