Cancer

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.

In the beginning, she fooled everyone. When Dina Perouty-Leone began telling friends and acquaintances that she had terminal stomach cancer and that she needed help paying for treatment because she had no health insurance, there was little reason to doubt her word. "She was very kind, sweet and pleasant," Jennifer Lasek, a former classmate in Dundalk who donated thousands of dollars, recalled on Tuesday. "She kept saying, 'I love you. No one helps me like that.' " But Lasek and others in Perouty-Leone's circle were deceived, according to Baltimore County prosecutors, who charged the former real estate agent with four theft counts.

What began as a younger brother railing against "the Man" has morphed into a Facebook fundraising phenomenon that has buoyed his older brother in the health battle of a lifetime. Six months ago, at age 40, Marc Nesbitt, the elder of two sons of Columbia soccer coach Dave Nesbitt, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma, a rare type of brain tumor that is primarily found in children and very seldom seen in adults. Left with little use of his left arm and hand, weakness in his left leg and double vision, Marc had to quit his job as a video game producer and stop driving.

A 41-year-old Pikesville woman was ordered Wednesday to stand trial March 10 on charges that she obtained $10,000 from Mike Flynn, the former Ravens player, by fraudulently claiming that she was dying of cancer. It is the second such case to be tried in Baltimore County in a year. Lisa Hoppenstein Cohen, a mother of two and the wife of a chiropractor, told friends and acquaintances — including Flynn and his wife, Mary — that she had terminal cancer and needed money to pay for medical treatment, according to prosecutors.

Reports in the press have me nervous and confused about what can be done to prevent cancer. It seems that every few months a newspaper headline describes another food, activity or chemical as a risk factor for cancer. Then, all too often, another article reports on opposite result. How can we decide what to do?Most experts in the field of cancer believe that outside factors are responsible for 70 percent to 90 percent of cancers. Identifying specific risk factors is the troublesome part, because they are almost always based on observational epidemiological studies.

Thanks to The Sun for all its coverage of the bill to re-label trash incinerators as renewable energy ("Waste-energy bill to get O'Malley's signature," May 18). But once again, industry wins and the people lose. We are now going to pay more money to trash incinerator companies for giving us cancer. Thanks, Gov. Martin O'Malley. Jane Page

Lowell, Mass. -- CANCER survivorship, presidential politics, people's fears about cancer, the public's right to know. This volatile mix of forces swirled around me for the past year, and even managed to outlive my candidacy.More than once during those months I wondered whether it was possible to have a rational discussion about surviving cancer in a society that equates cancer with a death sentence.Put simply, how does someone who has entered the hell of cancer and emerged from the other side help others truly understand how to cope with "thinking" about cancer.

A 38-year-old woman who was sent to prison last month for 15 years for defrauding friends by claiming she had terminal cancer was sentenced Tuesday to an additional six years. Dina Perouty Leone's conviction in Baltimore County in the cancer scam triggered a probation violation in four earlier cases in Carroll County, where she had been found guilty in a series of mortgage frauds and bad-check cases several years ago. In most of those cases, she was given suspended sentences, which were turned into hard time at Tuesday's hearing.

Q: More than 10 years ago, a close friend was found to have cancer of the pancreas. He was told that there was almost no hope for a cure, and he died within six months. My wife has just become jaundiced. Her doctor suspects she may have a pancreatic cancer and has suggested that she have tests done. I would like to know what tests are done to diagnose cancer of the pancreas and whether the chances for survival are better now than in the past.Q: The pancreas' location deep in the abdomen allows cancers to grow and spread without giving any early warning signs.

The Governor's Task Force to Conquer Cancer will hold a series of hearings starting next week to get input from the public. The 21-member panel has begun to hear from experts about Maryland's high cancer rates and existing programs and research.Formed two weeks ago as one of three initiatives from the $4 billion the state is receiving over 25 years from a tobacco industry settlement, the task force will address prevention, education, research and treatment.It will make its recommendations about the state's needs and how best to address them in a report, due Nov. 1, to Gov. Parris N. Glendening.