In last month's newsletter it was easy to forecast that September would be a busy month for us after the summer vacations. What I didn't know was that a lot of the work ended up compressed in the few days of the month. One reason why the news letter is going out late. 

During the month and on the 25th,  Dave Stevens gave another of his presentations entitled "MORE Answers to Questions on Proton Therapy topics hard to find information about." to a relatively large prostate patient group at the Proton Center, on Friday and Saturday we participated in the well attended 25th Annual Anderson Survivorship Conference where we serve on the planning committee, I was able to get a door prize in ProtonPals name approved and produced in time for the Conference, while at the conference Dave facilitated a breakout session in each of the 4 clusters, while I coordinated the recruitment of a Facilitators and a Partners for each of the 28 breakout sessions in the weeks leading up to the conference. Drew continued his volunteer work, coordinating the Wednesday night dinners and arranging a reunion for Mark Anderson's class.

It wasn't all work and no fun. We were able to attend the keynote talk by Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D.,Ph.D. a cancer researcher and oncologist. Sid wrote "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer" which traces the factors that have influenced the hard won advances in cancer treatments since the early part of the last century. Dr. Sid is a hematologist and oncologist by training and his current work addresses links between normal stem cells and cancer cells and it was fitting that he was speaking to survivors at an institution which does more stem cell transplants than anywhere else. His book was on Oprah's Top 10 Books of 2010 and won the Pulitzer Prize from general non-fiction.  It also won the UK Guardian First Book award of £10,000.

Christine Butterfield

At Friday's evening's banquet we were entertained by the most talented and beautiful Austin-based Christine Butterfield a jazz singer and a survivor of a serious but cured brain tumor.  In between songs she told of her story. A young mother of a two year old, extremely fit and health conscious she was struck with the most severe headaches and nausea while on a ski vacation in Breckenridge. Snow storms are great for skiing but really catastrophic when you  need to get out of Breckenridge for a cat scan and then to a top hospital for an emergency craniotomy. Read how she traveled to Houston to be operated on at the Brainsuite at MD Anderson

Life after brain cancer: Austin singer back at the mic

 On the following Conference morning, a popular medical panel presented an overview of their research and answered questions from the audience. It included Ronald DePinho, M.D., president of MD Anderson, Jeffery Gershenwald, M.D.,professor in Surgical Oncology; and Dr. Michael Keating, M.D. professor in the Luekemia 

As the conference finished up with a breakout session entitled  "Should I tell my family and friends to continue PSA screening?", lunch and basically the end of the formal program,  the Conference ended with a real cathartic session led by the Drum Cafe, a group of team building experts. Everyone who wanted a drum could have a drum to beat on while shouting chants and affirmations.  

One of the highlights for us happened when we gave a photo printed on 20 x 24 inch museum framed canvass as a door prize, all in the ProtonPals' name. The image is the theme I've been using on the tee shirts but now with approval to use the M.D. Anderson brand logo on the print. The message "We Gave Cancer the Boot" was supported by what Ronald DePinho said on the previous day to Christine Butterfield in his introduction at the banquet, "We'll kick cancer's butt." Easy for him to say, but I didn't even try to get approval for the sentiment in that phrase. One of the attendees, Susan S., a 6 year breast cancer survivor won the door prize and it turns out she loved it enthusiastically. She had numerous photographs taken of her with the canvass and she noted to me that her husband was a city "cowboy" and he would love it also. 

Also in mid September I got together with a most remarkable man and one of the most consistent financial supporter of the ProtonPals. David M. Brown, Ph.D. from Fayetteville, Arkansas, was in Houston on Sept. 14 - 16th for his 4 year follow up and although we had never met we agreed by email to get together on Sunday after the Texans had managed to beat Titans. At a meal in one of Houston's grills we started a 3 hour conversation about him and his most illustrious history, his achievements and his hobbies. Like many of us he's interested in this thing called cancer from a perspective broader than just prostate. Like some of us, his family has been impacted by other tumor types and he wants to stay up on new developments. 

In Gratitude,
        Joe Landry 

 "I had been dealing with prostate issues since 2003 when I had my PSA checked for the first time and it came back at 9.2.  Since then, I have had my PSA checked every 6 months and it continued to rise.  Along the way, I've had traditional biopsies performed at least 4 times and maybe as many as 6 times (I've lost count).  In any case, between December 2007 and June 2008, the PSA jumped from about 17 to over 25.  My doctor and I decided on another traditional biopsy plus TURP surgery (see description below).  These procedures were performed on August 5^th at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock. . .

"[T]he doctor called me with the biopsy results.  The 12 biopsy samples taken in the traditional manner (rectally) were negative.  However, the prostate material removed via the TURP procedure was positive.  The bottom line is that I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  However, it is possible (hopefully) that the TURP surgery I had last week got rid of it. 

"In consultation with my doctor, a decision was made to wait until December 2008 to see if the PSA changed due to the surgery. That PSA test was 13.5, down from the 25.3 reading in June 2008.  However, the TURP biopsy performed in June yielded a Gleason number of 6 for me. 

[Bill was accepted by the MD Anderson Proton Center in January, 2009, and started his six months of hormone therapy a few months before beginning his treatment. As a result, his PSA decreased from 13.5 to 0.8 by the time he started the radiation in July, 2009. Bill finished his treatments in mid-August 2009. Bill was treated on Gantry 4. For those of you treated on Gantry 3, you'll be interested to see the difference with Gantry 4. Here is how Bill describes it:]

"The total dose for the entire treatment (38 irradiations) is 7600 CcGE (or about 76 CGE).  I am irradiated through the right hip by a pulsed beam that actual implants protons for a total of 2-3 seconds, rotated and irradiated through the left hip for a total pulse time of 2-3 seconds.  Immediately before each of the two irradiations, custom machined inserts are placed in the beam path to form the beam properly for me. 

"These inserts are of two types (Lucite and brass).  There is a single Lucite plate, called a compensator, and 3 brass plates per side.  The Lucite is about 2 inches thick and the brass plates are about ¾ inch thick each.  The compensator and plates are about 8-10 inches square.  They are machined in the center to the shape of my prostate profile.  The brass plates stop the beam from hitting me anywhere except where the center is machined out.  The Lucite plate compensates for differences in body mass as a function of position.  I get to take the Lucite compensators home with me when I'm finished.  They do not release the brass plates because they are radioactive with a half-life of about 3 months so they have to be stored for this period of time.  I think that they are recycled once the radioactivity drops below background level simply because of the cost of brass.  There is a delay between the two irradiations because of the time required to rotate me (this is accomplished by rotating the table) and insertion of different beam forming inserts for the second irradiation (interestingly, because of where the prostate is located, the profiles from the left and right sides are different. 

"[Proton Therapy] is not an inexpensive process, but it has a success rate equal to having ones prostate surgically removed, i.e., almost 100% effective.  However, surgery results in impotence in one out of two patients and incontinence in one out of three patients.  Of course, a significant number of patients suffer both. The incidence of these two "permanent disabilities" for proton therapy patients is 3-5%, which are by far the best odds of any of the available treatments.  This is obviously a huge difference and primarily the reason I chose proton therapy over the other treatments.  

"Believe me when I say that the therapists who actually perform the treatments don't just have a job or a position or a profession.  They, in fact, have a true ministry through what they do and by the way they go about doing it.  I cannot praise them enough.  They are truly angels of mercy.  Finally, we each get to ring the gong (see below) signaling the end of the treatment process and the beginning of a new life without prostate cancer.   I find it interesting that the gong has a crack much like the Liberty Bell.  Maybe this is a subtle message about liberty."

Bill retired from the University of Arkansas on June 30, 2008 after 31 years of service as a faculty member and was granted the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering effective July 1, 2008 by the Board of Trustees.  In 2013, he retired from the Washington County Sheriff's Department after 35 years of service as a part time deputy sheriff. Bill is the Pastor of the West Fork Community Church.  He has served in this position for more than 20 years. He's quite an interesting guy, and you will enjoy reading his story on the Proton Pals website. Read more

• This is a humbling fact but an aging population will make cancer even more common and will drive the increase of cancer to 45% increase in a decade.

• MD Anderson dedicates it's 20000 employees and 7000 trainees to:
• FOCUS is on CANCER
• CORE VALUE - serve the patient
• CULTURE - Caring and Collaboration
• Example of collaboration 10 papers per business day and most are in collaboration with other institutions.
• STRATEGY - Research driven patient care  
•  More stem cell transplant than any where else
•  60,000 patients on interventional clinical trials
•  1/3 of the new FDA approvals were on drugs based on research at MDAnderson

 He wrapped up his talk by saying that "as a nation we're focused on the economics of health care, but we should be focused on the technical knowledge that can be acted on to increase survival at reduced costs."

"We (MD Anderson) already have proof of concepts on many treatments in the clinic."

REDUCING CANCER MORTALITY IS THE ONLY METRIC that the Moonshots will be measured by or as it was phrased on announcement day "Designed to significantly increase patient survival over the next decade." 

1. Anything is possible. 
   Dr. Mukherjee frequently reminds his interns to think of 1955. This was the year that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) finally became treatable. It is now 80% curable in children, but prior to that time, was 100% deadly. Before 1955, the consensus regarding treatment was "why bother?" His point? It's a good thing Dr. Sidney Farber, a pioneer of modern cancer treatment, "bothered."
2. A group of thoughtful, committed citizens can in fact change the world.
   When the "war on cancer" was officially launched in 1969 with a New York Times advertisement, it read: "Mr. Nixon You Can Cure Cancer." As a result of the campaign committee's efforts, the budget for the National Cancer Institute was increased. Since that time, we have seen dramatic improvements in mortality rates thanks to groundbreaking research that was given a chance. According to Dr. Mukherjee, we owe this improvement to human ingenuity. "We have taken the curve of the disease and turned it around as if it were a wire," as he eloquently put it.
3. Cancer is here to stay, BUT...
   A question asked by a Baylor Healthcare System Leadership Development Institute (LDI) audience member sparked a humbling discussion about curing cancer. "Will we ever see an end to cancer?" Dr. Mukherjee's reply: Probably not. Some, but not all cancers will go away. Unlike a bacterial or viral illness, cancer cannot be eradicated. It is built into our genome.  However, we know more about cancer than ever and we are changing the dynamics of it.
4. Stopping doesn't mean giving up.
   Another audience member asked: "As physicians, we struggle with deciding when to stop treatment. How do you know for sure?" Dr. Mukherjee's answer: We don't. The practice of medicine cannot be captured in simple reality. We have to balance the statistical reality with psychological reality. Physicians have to use their brains like stethoscopes to really understand what the patient needs and wants.
5. Having second thoughts can save lives.
   Dr. Mukherjee pointed out two examples of people who reconsidered their declination to participate in cancer research. These two people-a three-year-old boy's mother and a breast cancer survivor-changed the course of history. Had they not had second thoughts about their decisions, we may have waited even longer for some of the most groundbreaking discoveries in the history of medicine-chemotherapy and Herceptin®.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

by Siddhartha Mukherjee by Scribner

Paperback ~ Release Date: 2011-08-09

List Price: $18.00

Our Price: $7.99

Buy Now

 

NOTE:

William D. Brown

William D. Brown was born in Shirleysburg,

William David Brown, Ph.D.

            From 1969 to 1977, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM.  In 1977, he joined the faculty of the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Arkansas where he presently holds the rank of Distinguished Professor Emeritus.  He served as Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering from 1983 to 1998, and again, from 2006-2007.  He also served as the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Engineering from 1998 to 2007.  His research interests include microelectronic materials and devices, solid-state and semiconductor physics, and electronic packaging.

            Bill's research has resulted in over 370 conference presentations, over 350 technical journal/proceedings publications, and 15 U.S. patents.  He has contributed to the book, Electronic Manufacturing Processes published by Prentice Hall, and has contributed to and edited the books Nonvolatile Semiconductor Memory Technology, Advanced Electronic Packaging: With Emphasis On Multichip Modules, and Advanced Electronic Packaging, all three published by the IEEE PRESS.

Type caption text here.

            Bill is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Arkansas and holds memberships in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the International Microelectronics and Packaging Society, the Materials Research Society, the American Vacuum Society, the Arkansas Academy of Science, and the American Society of Engineering Educators (ASEE).  He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)and the Electrochemical Society (ECS).  In 2009, Bill was honored as a Distinguished Alumnus of Captain Jack Joint Senior High School by the Mount Union Area Schools Alumni Association. In 2013, he was named a distinguished alumnus of the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas.  In May 2013, he was inducted into the National Academy of Inventors.

            Bill is married to the former Margaret Ann O'Bryan of Little Rock, Arkansas.  They have three children and six grandchildren:

            William Kenneth Brown, police captain with the Fayetteville PD; wife Tammy, high school math teacher; and children, William Michael and Sarah Michelle.

            Dr. Robert Dennis Brown, Dermatologist; wife, Melissa, pharmacist; son, Samuel David; and daughter, Mary Catherine.

            Mary Anne Mabry, elementary school counselor; husband, Wes, paramedic and Captain with the Fayetteville FD; and daughters, Maggie Marie and Annie Elizabeth.

            Bill retired from the University of Arkansas on June 30, 2008 after 31 years of service as a faculty member and was granted the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering effective July 1, 2008 by the Board of 

Deputy Bill Brown.

Trustees.  In 2013, he retired from the Washington County Sheriff's Department after 35 years of service as a part time deputy sheriff.

            Bill is the Pastor of the West Fork Community Church.  He has served in this position for more than 20 years.