Like many in her situation, Jolie opted to have a double mastectomy to help decrease her chance of ever developing breast cancer. This procedure was followed by breast reconstruction. As you may know, her mother fought a decade long battle with ovarian cancer and ultimately passed away from the disease in 2007.

I don’t think the cancer community could have asked for a better spokesperson for this issue. Many women are afraid to have their breasts or ovaries removed because they feel their femininity will be taken away. Now that one of the most beautiful women in the world has fearlessly chosen to undergo this procedure, her story has hopefully helped to calm the fears in other women struggling to make this decision.

Given her celebrity status, Ms. Jolie’s story has obviously brought a lot of attention to the topic of genetic mutations and preventive mastectomies. To help answer some questions that have been raised, we went straight to the source–our own genetic testing experts and breast cancer specialists. Yesterday, we held a Google+ Hangout featuring this panel of experts to help explain the decision Jolie made and what factors play a part in determining a woman’s genetic risk for breast cancer.

Leading the panel was Laura Panos, MS, CGC, a genetic counselor at the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. The panel also included Elizabeth Jekot, MD, a radiologist on the medical staff at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano; Rachel Zent, MD, a breast surgeon on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas; and Sanjay Oommen, MD, an oncologist on the medical staff at Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth. Rounding out the panel was Paola Gerber, a 35-year-old mother of two who recently underwent a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction after testing positive for the BRCA-1 genetic mutation as well.

The group discussed many topics surrounding this issue, but one of the most important takeaways was their advice to people who have cancer in their families–talk to your doctor about genetic testing. Even if the cancer (specifically prostate cancer) is on your father’s side of the family, it can still be passed onto his daughters in the form of breast or ovarian cancer. If any female in your immediate family has had breast or ovarian cancer or even extended family such as grandparents, aunts or cousins, you may be at an increased risk.

Among the many interesting facts we learned through this Hangout, one of the most surprising was that only 10-15 percent of all breast cancer cases are genetic. For the remaining 90 percent, the cause is unknown.

The moral of this story is to know your family history of cancer and get familiar with your body. If anything seems different or concerns you, call your doctor.

If you weren’t able to watch the Hangout live,  you can watch the recorded version below. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or send a direct message to our Sammons Says editorial team.

If you’re looking for more information about breast and ovarian cancer or genetic testing, visit BaylorHealth.com. You can also call 1.800.4BAYLOR.

Angelina Jolie’s Decision: BRCA Genetic Mutations and Preventive Mastectomies originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

At last months Annual Meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists in Los Angeles California, Dr. Rob Bristow presented research that proves the obvious.  They identified over 13,000 patients with ovarian cancer from the California Cancer Registry and determined how many patients were treated according to guidelines set by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).  These comprehensive guidelines are developed by highly regarded physicians from around the world and include recommendations for surgery and chemotherapy. In this study, only 37 percent of patients received the care recommended by the NCCN.   Patients with advanced ovarian cancer survived longer if they received the recommended care.

They also looked at the hospitals and physicians who performed the surgeries. They defined high volume hospitals as those who treated more than 20 ovarian cancer patients per year. High volume surgeons were those who performed more than 10 ovarian cancer surgeries per year. An unacceptable, 18 percent of patients were treated at high volume hospitals and 16 percent had their surgeries performed by high volume surgeons.  These patients were more likely to have treatment as recommended by the NCCN and survived longer.   Not surprisingly, patients receiving care at low volume hospitals or by low volume surgeons had an inferior survival.

It is crucial to improve survival for this deadly disease, that patients are referred to a board certified gynecologic oncologist as early in their treatment as possible.

This blog post was contributed by Noelle Gillette Cloven, MD, Gynecologic Oncologist, Baylor All Saints, Fort Worth, TX

Specialized Care for Ovarian Cancer Patients is Important, New Study Confirms originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

Last year around this time, I met a family who told their doctor that they would like to share their story to help others who might not know about the particular type of colon cancer that many of their family members have had. It is Lynch Syndrome colon cancer. In this particular family, a good number of relatives have had colon cancer.

The most vocal of this family is Leana, a married mother of three children who found out that she had colon cancer 13 years ago. Her father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had all been diagnosed with the disease with her father thankfully surviving it. Given that, she is particularly interested in increasing awareness. That’s because colon cancer, unlike so many other afflictions, is nearly 100% preventable if caught early. And on top of that, colon cancer early detection is as easy as having a colonoscopy done.

Since Leana survived cancer and tested positive for the genetic mutation that causes Lynch Syndrome, she now has a colonoscopy every year. This past year, she let our Sammons Says cameras follow her into the procedure. You can watch the video we made about it here. (There’s nothing graphic in the video … don’t worry.)

It wasn’t long after her colonoscopy that she went with her youngest son, Dillon, for his first colonoscopy. Dillon tested positive for Lynch Syndrome, and because he knows about his genetic situation at his young age, he’ll be able to practice vigilance and he’ll likely never even develop colon cancer. He’ll be a “previvor” – a survivor of a predisposition to cancer. Leana, being the champion for the cause of Lynch Syndrome awareness that she is, asked her son if it would be ok to write about her feelings during his first colonoscopy. Dillon said yes, and Leana’s write up is also on our blog.

There is more to know about Lynch Syndrome. In addition to colon cancer, those with Lynch Syndrome are also predisposed to other cancers. According to the National Institutes of Health, “People with Lynch syndrome have an increased risk of cancers of the stomach, small intestine, liver, gallbladder ducts, upper urinary tract, brain, skin, and prostate. Women with this disorder also have a high risk of cancer of the endometrium (lining of the uterus) and ovaries.”

March was Colon Cancer Awareness month, and Baylor Health Care System’s research and treatment of Lynch Syndrome continues to be an important part of the effort to discover more about this disease.

This post was contributed by Julie Smith, Senior Marketing/Public Relations Consultant, Baylor Health Care System.

Mother and Son Share the Same Lynch Syndrome Diagnosis originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

It is not unusual for patients to approach Dr. C. Richard Boland, a gastroenterologist on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas with concerns that they may have a hereditary form of colorectal cancer. New strategiest are starting to help Dr. Boland and others identify hereditary cancer and fight it.

The patients are evaluated clinically, a careful family history is taken including a pedigree (or “family tree”) that is drawn up using the information and inputed into a special computer program. The person in the family most likely to provide the critical information is selected for genetic testing for the disease in question. The most common conditions encountered are familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and Lynch Syndrome. These are relatively easy to distinguish and testing is only done for the appropriate condition.

When Dr. Boland does the testing, he might get three different types of results.

One is a definite mutation that is the cause of the disease. Other times, he gets an ambiguous result, and the reference laboratory is not sure whether this sequence variation in DNA is the cause of the disease in question. Finally, he might get a negative result.

“We invite people from all three categories to become ‘research subjects’ and join the Familial Colorectal Cancer Registry,” Dr. Boland said.

“If the person agrees, we draw a tube of blood for extraction of DNA. In the case of those people who have a definite diagnosis, the DNA is used to look for other genetic variations that modify the clinical expression of that disease.”

Specifically, when there is one mutation in a family some of the affected family members get a cancer of the colon and other relatives might develop cancer elsewhere. Family members can also get hereditary cancer when they are very young while others might not have issue until they are older.

“We are interested in understanding what modifies disease expression in those carrying the mutation.” Dr. Boland said.

In the second instance, researchers can often do additional tests to make the ambiguous test more certain. Sometimes they can do testing on the tumor tissue itself, and that can help clarify the nature of the mutation (the reference laboratory only uses the genetic test and the presence or absence of certain tumors in developing their interpretation, so they have an advantage in formulating an interpretation).

Finally, when the tests come back negative, they can test for other genes that could produce the same family history, or look for (and occasionally find) alterations in the gene that are not detectable by the reference laboratory.

“We can also perform tests in the future, when research progress alerts us to new ways that a gene can be altered to cause disease,” Dr. Boland said. “As a result, those who volunteer to be research subjects can help others who may be affected by a mutation that is difficult to interpret, and help with medical progress. On occasion, we can even solve the mystery in a family and help the research volunteers who may be affected by a familial predisposition to cancer.”

Dr. Boland provides some specifics about the registry:

Q. Is there an official title to the cancer registry?

A. It is our Familial Colorectal Cancer Registry, aka Registry for the Hereditary Colorectal Cancer Risk Program

Q. Once an individual is registered in the cancer registry, are they in it forever? Does the information stay there to be utilized for other members of the family if they choose to come in for genetic testing?

A. Essentially, they are. (However long forever might be.) We keep testing since there are continuous advances, and we keep testing each person’s DNA when there is some chance that we might find something useful. We are always testing and looking for another type of mutation in a gene that has been newly linked to one form of cancer or another. There are about 21,000 genes, and some of them are linked to cancer in a non-obvious way. We usually don’t find any mutations, but when we do, it’s an opportunity to help a family. Also, when other researchers want information on familial cancer, we de-identify the information (i.e., make it impossible to trace back to the individuals involved) and share either the pedigrees (i.e, the information about which family members had what cancers, at what age, and with what outcomes), or we literally share a portion of the DNA (again, totally de-identified, to protect privacy). We also obtain informed consent from subjects to send de-identified samples outside of Baylor through any collaborative research endeavors. A fully-executed Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is completed prior to providing any de-identified pedigrees or DNA samples.

Q. How is the information in the cancer registry utilized? In different ongoing studies to help find treatments, etc.?

A. At this time, we are only using this to look for alterations in DNA that might help us understand why someone got a cancer and to help determine if that information might be useful to family members.

Q. Does understanding the type of mutation you have help people to know how vigilant they should be in getting screenings, etc. That some mutations are more aggressive than others. Is this correct?

A. In some instances, we take one look at the genetic test results and know that we have an answer to the question about what caused that person’s cancer, and this translates into useful guidance for the rest of the family. In other instances, it is not obvious, and that requires more work for the proper interpretation. Some have remained a mystery for 10 years. We keep looking and testing.

Q. When did you first start the registry and what is the number up to now?

A. We have about 750 people now. The more we get, the more powerful the registry becomes. For example, if we have only one person or family with a given disease entity or family history, it can be hard to know for sure if an alteration in DNA is the source of the problem. However, if we have 10 people with an unexplained problem, and five to 10 have the same DNA alteration, and none of hundreds of unaffected “controls” have the sequence variation, then we think that we might be on to something important. We have IRB approval to consent approximately 200 individuals annually for the research registry.

Q. Is this registry unique to Baylor?

A. Other research-oriented medical centers may have similar registries, but there are actually only a few hereditary CRC registries like ours. We recently shared data with an international registry focused on a specific problem, and I noted that Baylor had one of the largest registries that was developed by a single researcher. Of course, places like the Mayo Clinic who have had many researchers working on this for many years (or decades), had the most. Our registry has been operational since the fall of 2003, and has been developed by one physician and one research nurse, but we have been very effective in getting people into the registry, and we have had some excellent successes at solving several types of challenging clinical problems.

This blog post was contributed by Kristine Hughes, Research Communications Coordinator, Baylor Health Care System.

Combatting Hereditary Forms of Colon Cancer with the Familial Cancer Registry originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

It’s Monday October 8, 2012. My 20 year old son is going for his first colonoscopy as a Lynch Syndrome Previvor. A previvor by definition is a word used describe those who have a higher risk for cancer due to close family history or due to certain genetic mutations (like Lynch Syndrome), but do not have a cancer diagnosis.

As a 12 year colon cancer survivor and a Lynch Syndrome patient, I am a little anxious to get his surveillance screening done – as I’m the one who has passed this gene to our son after I inherited it from my dad. My husband and I accompany him to the procedure. Having had colon cancer at the age of 36, I would rather see our son go through the dreaded clean out for an annual colonoscopy than to be diagnosed with colon cancer. I have NO doubt we have made the right decision in following through with the suggested surveillance screenings. “Knowing is Knowledge.”

I’ve accompanied my husband for his regular screening in the past, but it is different when you know your son could have a polyp and possibly even cancer already at the age of 20 due to his Lynch diagnosis. A polyp left in the colon would surely turn to cancer. But, knowing his family history and having the genetic testing that revealed his “inheritance” gives us the upper hand.

I’m positive, upbeat, “cheerleader” mom – cheering my son on. I try to tell him what to expect before, during and after. I reassure him that starting at such a young age gives him a greater likelihood of never getting colon cancer. “Knowing is Knowledge”- if they find a polyp they snip it out. No polyp, no colon cancer. I’m not worried at this point because I know we have followed the guidelines set. It’s very reassuring to his family that by following these guidelines we can keep Dillon, regardless of his age, cancer free of any Lynch related cancers.

His words “Failure is not an option.” How can you fail if you have studied and learned all you can about preventing colon cancer and having Lynch Syndrome? “Knowing is Knowledge!”

Dillon’s scope was a success. He’s such a trooper. No polyps and he was so very thankful to everyone that he came in contact with during his procedure all the way to the young man who wheeled him to the car and a few strangers in passing!

My desire would be that everyone knows their family medical history so that they could feel as powerful as we do. It’s a Family Matter! Lynch – it’s in our blood.

This blog post was submitted by Leana Dabney.

Cancer Previvor goes for his First Colonoscopy with Mom at His Side originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

Breakfast eaters are healthier. They are more likely to meet the nutritional recommendations for their age groups, especially for vitamins A, C, Riboflavin, calcium, zinc, iron, and fiber.

Did you skip breakfast this morning? If so, you’re not alone. Between 10-30% of people head out the door in the morning with a low tank of gas, because they haven’t eaten. This habit gets worse with age and is more prevalent in females.

At a recent healthy cooking demo presented by  Baylor’s Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center, dietitian Whitney Hight explained why eating that first meal of the day is so important for your health and shared some great ideas to jump start your breakfast routine.

To top it off, Chef Zoe showed us how to make two delicious breakfast options that you can prepare in advance – perfect for a grab-and-go meal that can fit into any busy lifestyle! Check out all of the great tips and recipes below.

Breakfast: Jumpstart to Your Day

Helping the Mind

Breakfast may make you have better cognitive function and focus. Research shows that individuals who eat breakfast have greater attention spans, improved concentration, and perfom better on spatial and cognitive tests. On the contrary, breakfast skippers are more likely to get stomach pains and headaches caused by hunger, which could make learning and test-taking challenging.

Helping the Body

Breakfast eaters are healthier. They are more likely to meet the nutritional recommendations for their age groups, especially for vitamins A, C, Riboflavin, calcium, zinc, iron, and fiber. Breakfast skippers have higher cholesterol levels, which can increase their risk for heart disease.

Breakfast skippers tend to snack more on high-fat, low nutrition foods and are more likely to overeat at lunch because of excessive hunger. This is possibly why breakfast skippers are more prone to be overweight then breakfast eaters. According to the National Wight Control Registry, 78% of people who lose weight and keep it off eat breakfast every day.

Making Breakfast Part of Your Routine

A healthy breakfast should include foods from a variety of food groups, such as whole grains, fruit, and dairy, to ensure that you get a good mix of both nutrients and fiber. If eating breakfast is new to you, give your body a couple of weeks to get adjusted.

The key to fitting in a healthy breakfast is to plan ahead. For starters, try these two recipes below. They should last in the fridge up to four days, or you can freeze them to last even longer.

Mini Ham & Cheese Frittatas with Caramelized Onions

Servings: 8 (serving size = 3 frittatas)

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 2/3 cup chopped reduced-fat ham (about 2 ounces)
• 1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 large egg 

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add ham; sauté 3 minutes. Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes.
3. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Add ham mixture, stirring with a whisk. Spoon mixture into 24 miniature muffin cups coated with cooking spray.
4. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until set.

Variations: 

• 2/3 cup cooked Italian chicken sausage, 2 cups sautéed baby spinach, 2/3 cup sliced and drained artichoke quarters with 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese
• 2/3 cup sautéed mushrooms, 1/3 cup grated Swiss cheese, 1/2 tsp fresh thyme
• 2/3 cup drained and chopped sun-dried tomatoes with 1/4 cup pesto, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese 

Nutrition Facts: 
39 calories; 1.3g fat;  (0.5g saturated, 0.2g monounsaturated, 0.1g polyunsaturated); 4.4g protein; 2.3g carbohydrates; 32mg cholesterol; 0.2mg iron; 121mg sodium, 80mg calcium.

** Recipe adapted from (Cooking Light, December 2001)

Whole Wheat, Oatmeal, Cranberry and Apricot Muffins 

A healthy breakfast should include foods from a variety of food groups, such as whole grains, fruit, and dairy, to ensure that you get a good mix of both nutrients and fiber.

Servings: 12 (serving size = 1 medium-sized muffin)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour (about 4 3/4 ounces)
• ¼  cup honey or molasses
• ¼  cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons untoasted wheat germ
• 2 tablespoons wheat bran
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
• 1/3 cup chopped apricots
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1/4  cup canola oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in oats, apricots, raisins, and cranberries. Make a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in boiling water. Let batter stand 15 minutes.
3. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center. Remove muffins from pans immediately; place on a wire rack.

Nutrition Facts: 
204 calories; 6.4g fat (0.8g saturated, 3.2g monounsaturated, 1.8g polyunsaturated); 4.6g protein; 34.7g carbohydrates; 3.4g fiber; 19mg cholesterol; 1.4mg iro; 288mg sodium; 43mg calcium.

*Recipe adapted from (Cooking Light, January 2006)

——

Healthy Cooking Demo: Back to Breakfast originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

When I moved to Dallas four years ago, I was three years into what would eventually become a seven-year battle with leukemia. I knew a couple of other people in the area, but none of them had experienced cancer. As a result, my days consisted of going to work, then home, and doing what I could to take my mind off of the biggest struggle of my life.

I’m left to wonder how my circumstances could have been different if I had explored the opportunities to learn from and share my experiences with other young adult cancer survivors going through the same trials. Would my journey have been easier? Would I have had someone to identify with? Would I have felt less like an outsider in a world that isn’t intimately aware of the effects cancer can have on one’s life?

The incredible Young Adult Cancer Coalition at Baylor Health Care System is doing their best to answer these questions for people like me. On Saturday, April 20^th, they will be hosting a one day Young Adult Cancer Survivors’ Summit for newly diagnosed patients and seasoned survivors ages 20-40. Beyond providing the information and resources to help make our cancer experience work for us instead of against us, here are five additional reasons you should register today!

#1 – Free Food

If I’ve learned anything during my time on earth, it’s that free food is a love siren that summons us to extraordinary feats. Don’t believe me? Google Joey Chestnut (only if you have an insatiable love for hot dogs). For the rest of us non-competitive eaters, free food; a) always tastes better than the food we pay for, and b) has zero calories.

Okay, even if I’m wrong about either one of those, I’m absolutely right when I say that there will be a free continental breakfast and lunch at the YACS summit. Even if that were all that was provided, it would be more than worth the drive to Arlington! Even better news — that’s only reason number one to attend.

#2 – You Can Become a Celebrity

If you’ve always wanted to be a local celebrity, you’ll have a chance to make your mark. Bring your friends, family, caregiver, significant other, or anyone you’d like to see on your refrigerator because there will be a photo booth available for you to capture your special memories. You’ll be able to share pictures via your social media outlets and connect with other attendees who use the same Twitter hashtag. Bonus!

Have dreams of Hollywood? Good. Survivors will also have the opportunity to be featured in a Youtube video that will be produced at the summit. Of course, it’s strictly voluntary, so if you’re preparing for a separate audition, don’t worry, you still have so many other things to look forward to. Otherwise, put the popcorn down and find an agent, this just got real.

#3 – Giveaways

If number one and two aren’t worth ten times the price of admission, maybe you’d like to be put into a raffle just for walking in and taking advantage of a summit designed to benefit you. Skip the lottery for a weekend and find yourself in favorable odds to take home some incredibly valuable gifts home with you Saturday evening, April 20th.

Are you the type that never wins anything? Come to the conference and leave saying, “I’ve only won something once. It was at a Young Adult Cancer Survivors’ Summit!” Cross your fingers, wear your lucky socks, or wish upon a shooting star. Whatever you do, just come prepared to win!

#4 – Fellowship

Believe it or not, I spent the first five years of my diagnosis in isolation. I didn’t know anyone my age who had cancer and didn’t spend too much time researching organizations that could help me move forward with my diagnosis. I just did the best that I could with the resources I had.

This summit isn’t only about providing you with information and resources, it’s about making those things real and three-dimensional, connecting you to others with shared experiences. Survivors will inspire you to continue moving forward and will provide you with the encouragement you didn’t expect to receive. To be brought together by the common bond of cancer is a powerful thing. Even though we’ve all had different experiences, we share the same journey. There’s no greater reason to be a part of this event than to walk away knowing that you’re not alone.

#5 – Leading Experts on AYA Issues

If you had the opportunity to hear from experts in your particular field, you’d be particularly interested in attending, right? Despite all of the fun and engaging activities, that’s exactly what the YACS summit is all about.

Heidi Adams, author, president and CEO of Critical Mass, founder of Planet Cancer, and young adult cancer survivor will headline the summit. Karen Albritton, MD, researcher specializing in young adult cancers at Cook’s Children’s Medical Center will also present valuable information for the young adult community. In addition, there will be breakout sessions designed to provide education for survivors, caregivers, and those closely involved in your personal journey.

All of this for only $10? Yes. This summit was designed for you and those closest to you. As someone who has been through a seven-year roller coaster ride known as cancer, let me encourage walk-up registry tomorrow if you have not yet registered. I hope to see you there!

This blog post was submitted by Justin Ozuna.

5 Reasons to Attend the Young Adult Cancer Survivors’ Summit originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

At that time, I was seven months in remission after battling cancer for the second time and undergoing an autologous stem cell transplant. There was a reason I had the urge to turn on the television that day. I needed to hear those words. I didn’t take it lightly. I never ever wanted to be sitting in an infusion room again.

I dove into a life of exercise and taking care of myself. In just a few months’ time, I lost over ten pounds. I felt incredible physically and always looked forward to the next day when the sweat would hit the floor.

In July 2010 the cancer came back. My third time battling cancer and I was 24 years old (You can read more about my cancer journey in my first Sammons Says blog post). I didn’t understand. I thought I was doing everything right with my body. I was exercising and eating right. What more did my body need?

After much self-evaluation, I realized that stress had a gigantic hold on my life. I stressed about everything. I had a stressful job as a police dispatcher. I rarely rested and I let myself get upset too easily over trivial things. I lived a high stress life and once again, I had to make some changes.

I had an allogenic stem cell transplant from a non-related donor in October 2010. Since then, all of my CT/PET scans have been clear. I quit my high stress job as a police dispatcher and went back to school full-time. I continued my love affair with the gym and began eating healthier than I ever have.

I still remember it so clearly three years later, “The number one thing you can do to prevent cancer recurrence is to eat healthy and exercise.”

In November 2012, right after reaching two years in remission, I joined The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training to run a marathon. Yes, 26.2 miles. The only event offered was Paris, France with a fundraising minimum of $5,900. Go big or go home, right?

Everyone on the team began with a two-mile run. I was convinced that this wasn’t for me. Running was not for me. But I stuck with it. I wanted to prove myself wrong and I was determined to finish. Two miles turned into four, and then six, and eight, and ten. Five days per week of running, I just ran 21 miles on Saturday, March 16.

Has it been hard? Absolutely!

Did the weather cause me to want to turn around and go back into my warm, relaxing house? You bet!

Have I looked at the time and tried to tell myself it was too late or too early? Many times!

But I fought through every negative temptation and every negative thought. Two minutes into my run, I always question why I even doubted myself or tried to make an excuse.

The hardest part is getting started. But once you get started the hardest part is stopping. The knowledge that I am doing everything in my power to prevent this awful disease from taking over my body again makes me feel unstoppable. I am unstoppable.

I ran 16 miles in the snow, 12 miles in rain and lightning and many miles below thirty-degree weather. “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”

Exercise improves your overall quality of life! My life before cancer lacked discipline, diet and exercise and filled with stress. Cancer helped me stop and look at life in a healing way.

My dream is to live a healthy life. A life without health is not a life worth living. I missed many things when I had cancer. Feelings of failure and heartbreak from missing things were devastating. There are still times when running big miles and exercising are scary and intimidating. However, one quote will always stick in my mind, “If your dreams don’t scare you they aren’t big enough.”

Marathon de Paris here I come!

Three-Time Cancer Survivor Now Running Marathons originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

Did you know that cancer is the number one disease killer of people under the age of 40? Or that the number of young adults diagnosed with cancer each year is seven times larger than the number diagnosed under the age of 15? These and other shocking statistics about this underserved group of cancer survivors can be found in the infographic.

Help raise awareness about young adult cancer survivors and share this post with your friends and social networks. To learn more about what young adults have to face, check out these past blog posts from Sammons Says.

Down with cancer, Up with Survival. That’s the theme of this year’s Young Adult Cancer Survivor’s Summit happening here in Dallas on April 20. If you are a young adult cancer survivor or a family member, you’re welcome to attend!

Visit our website to learn more and to register. The best part is that it only costs $10!

Cancer survivor Heidi Adams of Critical Mass will serve as the keynote speaker. She is an amazing and inspirational person that we were lucky to snag for this event.

At the conference, you’ll be able to participate in:

Please share the information about the summit and help us get the word out!

This blog post was contributed by Ashley Howland, social media manager for Baylor Health Care System.

Young Adult Cancer Survivors’ Summit Coming Up April 20 originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research

Now, just as a precaution, if you are taking any medication, please please please check with your doctor before making any change to your diet. And yes, even if you are trying to eat more healthy foods. I have two medications that would act differently if I were to eat grapefruit, or drink the juice. I would absolutely love to eat grapefruit, its great for blood sugar control, but it’s not worth the impact that it has. So check with your doctor or pharmacist before enjoying! No worries, I’ll remind you before each post about a specific food.

I hope to dedicate each of my future posts here on Sammons Says to a particular food (i.e. apples, or cucumbers) with cool facts, how it benefits your life, and (if we are lucky) a recipe that highlights it.

If you want to contact me, I am making a new email just for interactions with people. Reach me at cancerbrat89@yahoo.com

Or if you would like to read about my first stem-cell transplant, please feel free to check out my Caring Bridge page.

And join me at the Young Adult Cancer Survivor’s Summit in Dallas on April 20. Call 1-800-4BAYLOR or click here to register.

This blog post was submitted by Kathleen Melton. 

Young Adult Cancer Survivor Blogs About Healthy Eating originally appeared on Sammons Says - Baylor Health Care System on cancer prevention, treatment and research