Knowing what the signs of colorectal cancer are and talking to your doctor about them – no matter what your age – is one of the key messages that Fight Colorectal Cancer President Carlea Bauman conveyed in her recent interview with Comcast Newsmakers.

In the weeks leading up to March, Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, the Washington, DC, Comcast station is broadcasting this piece to make people aware of the disease, as well as the work that Fight Colorectal Cancer is doing locally and around the country.

Comcast Newsmakers is a unique news program that provides community leaders with a platform to discuss issues and ideas important to the communities they serve allowing them to better connect with their constituents and the community at large. Fight Colorectal Cancer thanks the station for airing this vital public service announcement.

The Food and Drug Adminstration and Genentech have reported that counterfeit Avastin is being distributed in the United States. The counterfeit medicine does not contain
bevacizumab, Avastin’s active ingredient.

The packaging is different from genuine Avastin marketed here by Genentech. It includes a Roche logo which isn’t on the real drug, along with different codes.

Avastin is not in shortage now, and there are adequate supplies to meet the need.

Patients being treated with Avastin are urged to let their doctors know immediately if they have unusual symptoms. Read the rest of this entry »

Fight Colorectal Cancer has posted a recording of its February webinar, Report from the 2012 GI Cancers Symposium, held in partnership with the Colon Cancer Alliance.

Each year, the best and brightest minds in gastrointestinal oncology meet to discuss the latest research into colorectal, pancreatic, esophageal and other GI cancers. The 2012 symposium offered major news for people living with colorectal cancer, and we were proud to be able to bring that information to you.

Listen in as Dr. Dan Sargent of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and Kim Ryan, Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Director of Patient Information Services, discuss what is on the horizon for patients living with colorectal cancer.

Pat Steer

We are glad to welcome advocate Pat Steer to the Fight Colorectal Cancer Research and Treatment News.  She’s been living with stage IV rectal cancer since 2004.  A writer, she’s blogs about her life with cancer, training her beloved dogs, and her passion for good food at Life Out Loud.

Since my cancer diagnosis in 2004, my life has been full of choice and decisions. Cancer forces you to prioritize. Some days, it has seemed like cancer and treatment were calling all the shots in my schedule, changing my plans, and forcing decisions I didn’t want to have to make.

But I’ve made a few choices in the last eight years where I didn’t let cancer force my hand. I train and show dogs, and that’s very important to me. Early on, I decided to make attending my favorite dog shows a priority. I kept up my now-25-year tradition of camping with friends at a local show circuit. I entered a special event dog show held on New Year’s weekend, 2005 – three shows in 48 hours that wore me out, but was so worth the effort.  I covered Westminster in 2008 through 2010 for my column.

All of those decisions meant that sometimes I prioritized dog shows in spite of my treatment schedule. My oncologist, who once told me “I want you to live your life,” carefully moved my treatments around to accommodate the things I really wanted to do. After all, what good is surviving cancer if you can’t do the things you love? Read the rest of this entry »

Difficulty managing the cost of their cancer care stressed three out of four patients, according to a study recently completed by the Cancer Support Community.  In addition two out of three said their health care team didn’t discuss financial aspects of care with them.

In an effort to help patients struggling with cancer expense, the Cancer Support Community has just released Frankly Speaking about Cancer: Coping with the Cost of Care.

You can order a free print copy of the book, read sections online or download it. Read the rest of this entry »