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Am I Cured?
A First Hand Resource with Pal-to-Pal Support
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| ProtonPals e-Newsletter | September 2010
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Contemplation |
Dear :
Welcome to the ProtonPals and thanks for subscribing to the monthly newsletter. Please share the information and learnings of our group with your friends and family by  forwarding the newsletter. Select this icon and enter your friends e-mail addresses. Last week Marcia and I attended and had a ProtonPals table at the annual Anderson Survivorship Conference. Two of my(your) Pals, Richard and Scott, attended the sessions and joined us in spreading the news about proton therapy and supporting the information table. We were especially busy this year in that we had to sign Passports, a tool used by the conference coordinator to encourage mixing and information sharing between attendees. You needed a completed Passport to win special door prizes by having six unique persons sign your passport. A signatures from someone 1) who had traveled over 200 miles to attend the conference, 2) who was diagnosed in their twenties, 3) who was a 20 year survivor, 4) who had been diagnosed with more than one tumor site, 5) who had been treated with proton therapy and 6) who had been to 3 or more conferences. At one point there were only two of us who had been treated with proton therapy. At the Conference we also sponsored the Pediatric Proton Foundation; an organization founded by Susan Ralston of Virginia
Beach Va. after her two year old son Jacob was successfully treated for spinal
Ewing's Sarcoma at the Proton Therapy Center. We had on the ProtonPals table a poster of Jacob Ralston and some information about the pediatric treatments and the foundation. This is really NEWS, since it came on line just a hour or so before I wrapped up the newsletter. The Proton Center now has it's own Facebook site and you can find it by going to this.  You may have to sign up to be a Facebook member in order to leave comments and photos. Wow, their photos of the same parts of the building are so vivid.
Please note the following ongoing events that are held in Houston. It's a
way to meet new friends, set up a network and learn more about the
Proton Center and the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Proton Therapy Prostate Patients Meeting on 4 th Thurs October 23
Beam News Weekly Information Meeting every Wednesday
Please note the following ongoing events that are held in Houston. It's a way to meet new friends, set up a network and learn more about the Proton Center and the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Many of the Wednesday group diners are getting photographed and their photos published in Facebook. Please use this link to navigate to the photographs. When there choose the link to PHOTOS or to the PICASA tab.
 Your ProtonPals,
Joe Landry, Ban Capron and Peter Taaffe
ProtonPals
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2000 Proton Therapy Patients
A Milestone for the Proton Center and Staff
 An excellent look back by Dr. James Cox published on the M. D. Anderson Cancerwise blog. This milestone was set as the Center approaches it's fifth anniversary next spring.
By Cancerwise Blogger on September 21, 2010 3:31 PM
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By: James D. Cox, M.D., MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center
The MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center recently celebrated a milestone. We treated our 2,000th patient -- and what a journey it has been.
When
I started out in this discipline more than three decades ago, we gave
radiation to incredibly large fields of the body because we couldn't
determine the exact location of the tumor. Now, with the evolution of
CTs, PET scans and other imaging techniques, we can pinpoint exactly
where the tumor is and plan the depth of the radiation to the tumor,
allowing us to offer patients higher doses with fewer side effects.
Proton therapy became compelling because the energy of protons can
be carefully controlled and protons give their highest dose when they
stop in the body. There is no dose to normal tissues beyond the tumor.
Developing a $130 million facility such as the Proton Therapy Center, however, was no small endeavor. Dr. (John) Mendelsohn
listened to our arguments, endorsed the concept and convinced The
University of Texas System Board of Regents to approve its development. A
public-private partnership was formed to finance the endeavor. With
Hitachi chosen as the manufacturer, ground was broken in 2003. Almost
exactly three years later, the first patient was treated.
The
technology has actually been around for more than 40 years, but mostly
for the treatment of rare diseases. At MD Anderson, we are committed to
expanding its use to any and all diseases where high doses are required
to control tumors and X-ray treatments are limited because of the
sensitivities of the surrounding normal tissues.
We treat many men with prostate cancer, one of the few diseases for
which proton therapy has a long history. However, MD Anderson is
breaking ground in proton treatment for many other brain tumors,
especially those in children, as well as liver, lung and esophageal
cancers. Patients with these latter two diseases often benefit from
chemotherapy given at the same time as proton therapy. This is very
advantageous because we can avoid undesirable effects on the normal
lung, heart and esophagus.
Whether at the Proton Therapy Center
or any other department within MD Anderson, our goal is to always
deliver patients the best, most advanced treatment in the most
compassionate manner. The physicians who care for proton patients,
their colleagues in other specialties, and even many patients have all
developed a passion for proton therapy. They recognize the lack of side
effects from the treatment and want to tell all who will listen about
this relatively new and powerful therapy.
Moreover, we are just
beginning to extend proton therapy to all patients who might benefit. MD
Anderson is the only proton center in the country to offer an even more
specialized form of proton therapy known as pencil beam scanning.
Also called spot scanning, this technology makes it possible to paint a
sub-millimeter beam of protons into the tumor and avoid normal tissues
with even greater precision. When pencil beam scanning is fully
developed, we hope to treat patients with cancer in the head and neck,
pancreas, rectum and breast, as well as brain tumors in adults and
sarcomas.
At MD Anderson we are rapidly developing and expanding
our proton therapy practice. There is so much more to be done for our
proton patients, and we are passionately committed to achieving the
maximal, best use of this special resource for all patients who might
benefit. |
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My Prostate Cancer: Decision, Treatment and Aftermath
How the Internet was the Key Information Source
 Like many of you I was introduced to Dr. Atkinson from one of the original Proton Center testimonials produced by Hitachi the primary vendor of the equipment in the center. Hope in Houston In 2006, Walter was diagnosed with prostate cancer and here he reflects on his journey. Both he and his wife are pilots and they flew their Bonanza from Baton Rouge to Houston for treatment at the Proton Center. Walter kept his practice open for those 42 weeks while he was being treated. Now retired and moved to Vail Colorado he's a ski instructor and flying or sailing as a pastime. He also has given back by advising many pilots who have been treated at the Proton Therapy Center.
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For Immediate Release
A
She Said, He Said: Patient-Surgeon Duo Was Featured at Cancer Survivorship Conference Sept. 24-25 Brain
cancer survivor and surgeon banters
HOUSTON - She
calls it "a very bad April Fool's Day joke."
On April 1, 2009, Gail Goodwin drove to her job as a program
manager in the Communications Office at The University of Texas MD Anderson
Cancer Center. She walked to her office and sat at her desk. But at some point,
she could no longer speak.
Her alarmed colleagues called 9-1-1, and she was taken to the
hospital by ambulance.
Diagnosed within days with a rare brain tumor, Goodwin had
surgery performed by Jeffrey Weinberg,
M.D., and remains on a chemotherapy regimen. She returned to work within two
months of her diagnosis and is doing well.
At Anderson Network's Cancer Survivorship Conference Sept.
25, Goodwin and Weinberg shared the story of Goodwin's diagnosis, surgery
and current treatment.
Titled "She Had Her Head Examined: A Patient and Her Surgeon
Share the Inside Story," the talk will feature Goodwin's observations on the
experience of going from being an MD Anderson employee to a patient.
At this year's conference, Sept. 24-25 at the Omni Westside,
13210 Katy Freeway in Houston, participants learned about the issues cancer
survivors faced, met and shared with other survivors, took wellness classes and
had fun.
Speakers, breakout sessions, medical panel
Open to all cancer patients, their families and caregivers,
the conference includes nearly two dozen informative breakout sessions,
including:
navigating
the world of health insurance, a
primer on bone marrow, stem cell and cord blood transplantation, cancer
and its relation to bone health, hereditary
cancer syndromes and genetic testing, body
image concerns, and integrative
oncology and the power of lifestyle change.
On Saturday, Sept. 25, MD Anderson President John Mendelsohn,
M.D., led the popular medical panel that gave participants the chance to
ask questions of doctors. He was joined by distinguished physicians and
researchers Scott Kopetz, M.D., and Razelle Kurzrock, M.D.
Humorist Jill Conner Browne, better known as The Sweet Potato
Queen, provided entertainment at the banquet on the evening of Sept. 24. She also gave 5 outrageous door prizes. You had to be there.
Thanks to MD Anderson-related organizations, sponsors and
individual donors, the cost of the conference is just $50 for early
registrants, which included all meals, activities and self-parking.
The Anderson Network, an organization with support and
educational services for patients/survivors, their families and caregivers, is
a program of the Department of Volunteer Services.
The coordinator of the 2011 Conference and dates have been set for 2011. For more information about Anderson Network's
Cancer Survivorship Conference, including a complete agenda, visit www.mdanderson.org/patientconference.
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Weekly Information Sessions at the Proton Center
Coordinated by Carolyn Allsen, Nurse Manager (current schedule is posted on the ProtonPals website)
As this newsletter goes out I don't have the schedule for October, and the current schedule will be posted on the ProtonPals website. Where to find the current schedule
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Beam News For October... every Wednesday | Time | Oct
6
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A Personal Odyssey - Part 5 of 8
Experiences at the Proton Therapy Center and Houston
This month we're going to postpone publishing the fifth part of a journal by one of our ProtonPals. I've had some feedback about the length of the newsletter since it seems some of you print it so you can read it at your leisure.
For a PDF version of Gene's interesting story please go to the ProtonPals website.
The Odyssey
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About ProtonPals
Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter and using the ProtonPals web-site. You'll receive one or at most two mailings a month around mid month. In addition to the newsletter we'll also send one or two additional emails of special events or news that are of interest to the group that month. ProtonPals is a group of men who chose proton beam therapy to cure their cancer and were treated at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Proton Therapy Center in Houston, Texas. The "Pals" and their caregivers formed a network of Pals in order to: - Stay up to date with treatment cure results
- Provide support to others and Center activities
- Be informed on any side- effects
- Promote proton radiation since it's widely regarded to have a significant advantage over conventional x-rays.
- Attract and nurture more Pals who support our cause, patient-to-patient and friend-to-friend
Joe Landry, Ban Capron and Peter Taaffe
15806 Manor Square Drive
Houston, Texas 77062 - 4743
ProtonPals, Ltd.
Support ProtonPals by letting us know how you're doing. As a former patient we'd all welcome your help in getting the word out about proton radiation and how you're doing. Please donate using the Donate Icon below or mail a check made out to ProtonPals, Ltd.(we're now tax deductible) at the address above. Read more about about it on the website How to Help - Giving
ProtonPals, Ltd. is a 501 (c) (3) public charity501 (c) (c)
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