New cancer Breakthrough and a Story About my Uncle

Please be advised that this post has to do with cancer and the death of a loved one. If this may be triggering  to you at all, please do not read it. This is not about something that just happened to me or anything like that. If it has any possibility of upsetting you, please skip this post.

New research at Stanford University is promising that they have found a new cancer fighting weapon. They are manufacturing laboratory-engineered antibodies that look work to hunt down and destroy cancers in the body.

The new research is based on the way that our bodies naturally tend to reject organ transplants by identifying the organ as a foreign body and attacking it.

You can read more here. I hope that the governments will be helpful in financing this project. It is hard to say about these things. But here is the link, if you are interested.

A new study has suggested an antibody injection could ‘wipe out cancer’ by rooting out and eradicating both primary tumours and distant metastases, where the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.   Daily Mail.com

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3062418/New-injection-wipe-cancer-Antibodies-root-obliterate-tumours-say-scientists.html

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3062418/New-injection-wipe-cancer-Antibodies-root-obliterate-tumours-say-scientists.html#ixzz3ZKnWfSjX
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My uncle died of a brain tumor in his 40’s. It was the first death of a close person, that I experienced. In the midst of living in mentally abusive situations, divorces, and being drug from one house to another, my uncle was about the only stable family member that I had.

I was in my 20’s and in college at the time. I was devastated, when he died, even though we all knew it was coming. He originally found out he was sick, when he began having trouble with his vision

 I remember that he went to the eye doctor for blurred vision and the optometrist immediately told my aunt to take him right over to the neurologist. He must have suspected something wrong in his brain.

The neurologist did scans and told my aunt and uncle that my uncle had a malignant brain tumor. It was operable in a way, but the operation was going to cause damage to other parts of the brain,

They decided to do the operation and he ended up with walking and speech problems.  They gave him 6 months to live but he lived for a year and a half. I remember him speaking with me and it was so difficult for him to put his words together.

My grandmother told me that he must love me very much to make the effort to have a conversation with me. Apparently he had not been talking to anyone very much because it was too hard for him.  She was very surprised that he had kept struggling through to talk to me for about 15 minutes.

I remember struggling to keep the tears back as I watched him struggle for his words. The speech center of his brain had been damaged by the surgery.

I still miss him and often wonder what life would be like for me, if he were still around. He would have loved my kids and probably spoiled them. 

My aunt and uncle loved kids but they could not have any. They used to book the entire summer, when their nieces and nephews were off from school.  They had a different kid staying with them, for a couple weeks a piece, all summer. Their house always had a kid or 2 in it. My uncle liked it that way.

My visit was always special to my uncle. I remember him being excited for my visit. He would take my aunt and I to a play or a musical each summer. I saw the musical Damn Yankees with them. I still love that musical. The song “You’ve Gotta Have Heart” still reminds me of my uncle.

Below is the 1958 movie version of the musical Damn Yankees

He knew I loved that song. After the musical, I did nothing but sing that song all week. It was many years later, and my uncle was very sick with the cancer, but he remembered that I loved that song. He mailed me a cassette recording of the songs from Damn Yankees and copied  the lyrics to that particular song for me.

Sometimes when I am feeling discouraged, I still sing that song to myself. I know that it why my uncle sent it to me was his way of still being there for me, since he knew he would not be here.

I also loved the song “Whatever Lola Wants” from that musical. I always thought it was very sexy. I used to sing that one too. I imagine it was funny to my uncle to hear a 12 year old singing that song.

Below  is from the 1958 movie version. Whatever Lola Wants. In this scene Lola, who has been hired by the devil, is trying to lure the main character with her feminine wiles. But he is very devoted to his wife and she is not having any luck, even with her sexiest moves.

The one below is from a Bob Fosse interview about his choreography of the musical.

This cancer article made me think of my uncle. I still think of him from time to time, even though he died when I was about 23 and now I am 49.

I also still remember how exciting it was to see that musical. I had never seen a musical before and I have loved them ever since.

Here is one more great song from the musical.  This is called The Game. The players are discussing all of the things they have to give up during game season. It is a very funny song about how they have to give up women and drinking for the season.