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 | | Happy Fourth of July |
Happy Fourth of July and a belated Happy Father's Day. If you're in Houston, I hope this newsletter gets to you in a timely way and that you'll be able to attend the June 23rd Thursday meeting where Dr. Choi is going to speak. It's a special occasion when we get Dr. Choi or Dr. Lee to speak to the group.
Working with a large medical care provider like MD Anderson (re HIPAA guidelines) is like working as a reporter with the Vatican. In my job as the director of the ProtonPals, where we remain at arms length when it comes to medical data and management news of the center, I feel like the media in Vatican City must feel when a big election is being held. You know when the College of Cardinals is electing a pope. I have to look for tell tale signals coming from the chimney and when they burn the ballots and the smoke is black there will be no news and when the smoke is white there are some news.
I know this not a good analogy but it represents in a way what I have to work with. I look at the emphasis and read between the lines on the press releases and the video clips. Some times I get information from the source but not often. In my humble opinion I think the management is anticipating and knows significant changes in insurance reimbursement for prostate cancer treatment in the new environment. Many denials will be forthcoming and the current administration's minions have decided that IMRT and surgery are just as good as proton therapy. For a fact I know that I'm getting more requests for "how to appeal" guidelines.
This opinion is further supported in recent video clips and in the one covered here, you'll hear Dr. Cox talk about everything but prostate cancer. So I'm still looking for the signal, a statement, but my gut tells me that the number of prostate cancer patients covered by insurance and Medicare will be decreasing and the Center is moving its emphasis to other tumor sites. Treatments where there won't be challenges to proton therapy effectiveness. The emphasis on childhood cancers is not new since last year Dr. Cox pointed to us that the PTC has treated more pediatric cancer patients than any other facility in the world.
The other signal I get at times from the Vatican Chimney is about what is Dr. Lee up to. When he's awfully busy and frequently out of town he's probably working on presentations and testifying to healthcare insurance companies like in this article where he testified to a Congressional Caucus.
In Gratitude,
Joe Landry |
| Dr. S. Choi to Speak at Monthly Meeting | | Prostate Cancer Patients Meeting on Thursday
The monthly prostate cancer patients meeting will feature Dr. Choi from 1:00 to 2:30 on Thursday June 23rd to be held in the east wing of the Proton Therapy Center. See you there.
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| MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center | |
Molly is Now Cancer Free
Deborah ("Debra") Duncan the host of the KHOU television show Great Day Houston interviewed Dr. James Cox and Molly Allen. Molly is one of Dr. Cox's lymphoma patients who was treated with proton therapy. The five minute video clip does an excellent job of describing the advantages of proton radiation along with a quick overview of how it works. Dr. James Cox on Great Day Houston
"Get rid of the bad while avoiding the good tissue" was how Debra summed the advantages of proton therapy as she led into the interview. The patient Molly had a lingering cough that turned out to be more than an allergy. It was a tumor aggressively growing right in the center her chest, behind the breast bone. Treatment with normal X-ray radiation which is normally used in some cases would have exposed her heart, lung, and esophagus to potential damage. Collateral damage as they referred to it. Dr. Cox explained how he can target the protons so that the beam delivers it's almost all of it's energy dose to the tumor and stops at that point, going no further into other organs and tissue. Accurately targeting the area and no more.
Molly found out about proton therapy from a friend and learned more by doing research on the Internet. |
Congressional Briefing on Proton Therapy
| Dr. A.K. Lee and Susan Ralston Testify
Dr. A. K. Lee, Director of the Proton Therapy Center and for many of you - your doctor - testified to a Congressional Caucus on May 9. The intent of the hearings was to inform staff members who work with agencies related to health care.
The BrotherHood of the Balloons monthly newsletter reported on the hearing. Dr. Lee's testimony In this testimony Dr. Lee used results on non-small cell lung cancer treatment with proton therapy as his lead case. Until quite recently is was not treated with proton therapy and MD Anderson, well known for it's lung cancer treatments is switching from regular radiation to proton therapy. In combination with chemo therapy cure results are exceptional. Please read more in the June issue of BobTales.
Four years ago, Susan Ralston's son, Jacob, received treatment at the MD Anderson proton center for Ewing's Sarcoma. He is now a healthy six year old. In 2007, on returning to her executive job in Virginia Beach, Susan formed a foundation with a mission of providing education, advocacy, and assistance to families in need of pediatric proton therapy". solely to educate and help fund research in pediatric proton therapy.
In this hearing her testimony covered the challenges of getting insurance coverage for Jacob's treatment. One segment which I had not hear before - the insurance company threatened to turn her over to child welfare services for child neglect if she didn't accept the less expensive therapy they believed was appropriate for her child. Read about Jacob
We've benefited from Susan's work in the ProtonPals group based on her insurance strategies and also teamed up with her at the Anderson Survivor ship Conference last September where we shared an exhibitor's table.
There are many stories about how the MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center is the world leader in the treatment of childhood cancers. Read more. Pioneer in Proton Therapy For housing assistance while in Houston check with Mathew's Miracle House
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| Ride for Life | Walk on the Wild Side (Telephone Road)
Being a member of the Anderson Volunteer Network means you get to participate in interesting events and sometimes you get really
 | | Shiny Object |
great tickets to celebrations, baseball games and a patients day out. That's in addition to the satisfaction you receive from volunteering. On Sat. June 4th, I showed to help with registration and parking at the "Ride for Life 2011" event held annually. The start was being held at the very large Harley Davidson motorcyle shop on Telephone Road.This event is held to benefit the Anderson Network's Survivorship Conference which is coming up in September 16 -17. The Riders for the Cure is the MD Anderson employee's motorcycle riders group and is quite large. On that Saturday, I worked for a while, by helping set up tents, running errands for ice, showing them where to park; and then I picked up the old trusty NIkon and really went to work looking for interesting snap shots. I still have a lot to learn about action shots and it makes me appreciate what sports photographer even more than I did before. You can take a look at a web album where you'll see how big the turnout was. Several bikers clubs showed up for this benefit. Ride for the Cure
Some of the riders who caught my eye.   Kay Rogers was the founder of the Ride for Life event. I didn't get the name of the woman on the left. |
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A New President for MD Anderson
| "Supremely Positioned to Make Major Progress"
With all that's going on in the world it's easy to be a cynic and very hard to find gems of hope in today's news. Last December, Dr. Mendelsohn, president of MD Anderson Cancer Center announced his retirement and the process started to find his replacement. The months long process
 | | Dr. Ronald DePinho |
finally bore fruit in May and in June it was formally announced that Dr. Ronald DePinho was going to be president of the new system. In my mind it's an outstanding choice in that they are bringing in a world class scientific leader with a vision in keeping with what Mendelsohn has for the Center. At the formal announcement DePinho said, " It is with great pride that I have accepted this solemn responsibility as it is my belief that MD Anderson - armed with its scientific and clinical brilliance, determined spirit and singular focus on cancer - is supremely positioned to make major progress in the prevention, detection and treatment of this disease." Read more and Commitment to Making Cancer History
Dr. DePinho is a genetics researcher and was director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Science at the Dana-Faber Cancer Institute in Boston.
On this Fourth of July it's great to celebrate an American dream. The son of a Portuguese immigrant (his father came to the Bronx NY in the 1940s) who went to Fordham and received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
I have hope that treatments and the cure for many cancers will come from the personalized medicine that MD Anderson is committing so much time and research funds. As Dr. Mendelsohn said at last year's Anderson Survivorship Conference - "With the projection of our scientific advances and technology the day will come in the not distant future where your DNA will be typed the day you enter the Cancer Clinic; and we will know with some certainty what it will take to cure your cancer. Just as today we can tell you whether you are at risk of lung cancer from your DNA and your life style choices."
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| Texas Will Have Two | Proton Center for North Texas
US Oncology is working with Baylor Health Enterprises and Texas Oncology to bring an advanced proton therapy center for cancer treatment to North Texas.
The Woodlands-based oncology company and the two Dallas companies have not yet decided on a location for the facility yet, but expect it to be completed in two or three years. The facility will be the tenth proton therapy center in the country. There is one in Houston at The MD Anderson Cancer Center. Read More about the announcement
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About the ProtonPals Organization
Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter and using the ProtonPals website. We won't sell or give your addresses to anyone. You'll receive one or at most two mailings a month from us. If you're a new subscriber you may want to take notice that the past newsletters are archived back to May 2009.
We're a group who chose proton beam therapy to cure their cancer and were treated at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Proton Therapy Center in Houston, Texas. The "Pals" formed a network in order to:
Stay up to date with treatment cure resultsProvide support to others and Center activitiesBe informed on any side- effectsPromote 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
Support ProtonPals by letting us know how you're doing. That is so important to newly diagnosed men and their wives and partners. 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 a tax deductible non-profit) at the address above. Read more about about it on the website How to Help - Giving
Sincerely, 
Joe Landry
ProtonPals, Ltd.
ProtonPals, Ltd. is a 501 (c) (3) public charity incorporated in Texas.
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