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Team Draft ended the West Coast leg of its national campaign to change the face of lung cancer with a stop at St. Joseph’s Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment in Orange, California where we met DeeDee Weathers-Cox, a former Laker Girl who is using dance therapy to help cancer survivors.  During free weekly classes, DeeDee uses dance not only as way to help cancer survivors stay fit, but to treat the psychological scares that often accompany a cancer diagnosis.

Like DeeDee, Keasha understood the therapeutic power of dance.  Following her first chemotherapy treatment, she and Chris made a video of her dancing to send a message to their friends and family that they would dance, smile, and live no matter what.  Read the full article on the Orange County Register’s website.

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Today, Team Draft had the privilege of touring UC San Francisco’s Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (UCSF) with lung cancer survivor and advocate, Bonnie J. Addario.  Five years ago, Bonnie was diagnosed with Stage IIIB non-small cell lung cancer.  She was given only a 2% chance of survival.  Like Keasha, Bonnie is a fighter, and after life-saving surgery performed at UCSF, she is now cancer free.  But, for Bonnie the fight isn’t over.

Bonnie is a tireless advocate.  She is the founder of both the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (BJALCF) and its partner organization, the Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI).  Through research, awareness, and advocacy efforts, BJALCF and ALCMI are working to increase the survival rate for lung cancer.

Team Draft is proud to call Bonnie a friend, and we look forward to working closely with BJALCF and ALCMI as we change the face of lung cancer.

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Today, Team Draft visited UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, where we had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Edward B. Garon, Assistant Clinical Professor and Director of the Medical Oncology Program in Thoracic Malignancies at the David Geffen School of Medicine, to discuss the future of lung cancer treatment.

According Dr. Garon, this is an exciting period in the history of lung cancer treatment. Thanks to advances in molecular tumor mutation testing, researchers and treating physicians such as Dr. Garon and his colleagues are developing effective personal lung cancer treatments designed to extend and, ultimately, save lives. As a member of the 14-hospital Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium, the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center is on the cutting-edge of this revolutionary treatment approach—an approach that is already starting to yield results. For example, the Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium has already developed targeted drugs aimed at two of the mutations known to cause lung cancer. These drugs are extending the lives of some patients by as much as 10 months.

Echoing, a message we have being hearing from lung cancer researchers, treating physicians, and advocates across the country, Dr. Garon noted that the key to making even greater strides is funding. Team Draft, is committed to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding by changing the face of lung cancer. But it takes a team to tackle cancer, and we need your help. Respond and Donate

Team Draft kicked off the West Coast leg of its national campaign to change the face of lung cancer with a stop at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer (CFCC) at UC Irvine.  Team Draft visited CFCC to learn about an exciting new weapon in the cancer treatment arsenal:  music.

Music therapists at the CFCC’s infusion center are using music to treat pain, anxiety, and nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy.  After just one 30 minute music therapy session, patients report a 45% decrease in pain and a 65% decrease in both anxiety and nausea.

“Music must take rank as the highest of the fine arts—as the one which, more than any other, ministers to human welfare.”  -  Herbert Spencer

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Music Therapy at the UC Irvine Chao Family Cancer Center from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the country.  It kills more people than breast, prostate, colon, liver, kidney, and melanoma  cancer combined.  While these facts may be disheartening, there is hope.  Team Draft took a trip to Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center to meet with Dr. Pierre Massion, Ingram Associate Professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology, to learn how advancements in early detection and treatment are saving extending lives.

Thanks to the dedication and commitment of researchers and treating physicians like Dr. Massion and his colleagues at Vanderbilt-Ingram, we now have a mechanism to detect  lung cancer early, which dramatically increases the survival rate for lung cancer patients.  By submitting high-risk patients to regular spiral CT scans and CAT scans, doctors have decreased the mortality rate by 20%.

Vanderbilt-Ingram and the other members of the 14-hospital Lung Cancer Mutation Consortium (LCMC) are also revolutionizing the way lung cancer is treated by promoting molecular tumor mutation testing for lung cancer patients.  It is through such testing performed at Vanderbilt-Ingram that Keasha’s particular mutation was identified.  Molecular testing is one of the keys to developing effective personalized lung cancer treatments.  As a result of these efforts, the LCMC has already developed targeted drugs aimed at two of the mutations known to cause lung cancer.  These drugs are extending the lives of some patients by as much as 10 months.

Although there has been significant progress over the last decade, more funding is necessary to maintain the momentum.  Team Draft is dedicated to raising lung cancer awareness and increasing badly needed research funding by changing the face of lung cancer, but it takes a team to tackle cancer, and we need your help.  Respond and Donate

Dr. Pierre Massion, Vanderbilt University from TEAM DRAFT on Vimeo.

Mark G. Kris, MD, Thoracic Oncology Service from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center describes the use of genetic testing in lung cancer.

Dr. Kris says doctors have long known that despite a person having a diagnosis of a certain cancer, what happens to that person and their response to therapy varies quite a bit, and there has never been a good explanation as to why. In the last ten years, doctors have learned that, at least in lung cancer, the cancer cells are driven by genetic changes and mutations. When a specific mutation is discovered, it defines different groups of patients and gives the physician an idea of what therapy might be best.
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