I am Gino Dettorre, and I will be a senior at Bishop Watterson High School this coming school year. Currently, I am interested in pursuing a major in biology with a minor in Spanish at either Washington University in Saint Louis, University of Pennsylvania, or Vanderbilt University. While participating in the Mechanisms of Human Health and Disease program at Children’s Hospital, I have gained a better understanding of the molecular bases of various diseases, and I am interested in applying this knowledge in a laboratory setting. I have chosen to research acute myeloid leukemia because I have known relatives and friends affected by blood cancers, and I am interested in better understanding the mechanisms of this disease.
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Amber says,”My diagnosis opened my eyes to just how much has been accomplished in the fight against cancer.” She continues saying that CML, before 2001, had no cure and led to death. The normal radiation and chemotherapy didn’t work, until they found a “miracle drug” imatinib. Now people diagnosed with CML have a 90% chance of living a normal life after being diagnosed. Amber’s “miracle drug” helped her live a normal life after only 10 months of cancer therapy. Amber has now gotten married, visited Europe, and helped non profit organizations. LLS is an organization that is funded to help find cures to blood cancers. Because LLS’s funding, they helped find Amber's “miracle drug” imatinib to help her live a normal life (Amber).
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a non-profit organization focused on finding a cure for blood cancer and providing their patients with the medical care available. For 65 years, the LLS has been an advocate for blood cancer patients, families, and survivors. In honor of September, Blood Cancer Awareness Month LLS has developed 30 “proof points”, one for each day of the month that displays the organizations success and impact towards finding a cure for blood cancer. With more than $1 billion invested in treatments and research, LLS hopes to reach their goal of $400,000 during Blood Cancer Awareness Month to continue their efforts in creating a world without blood cancer.
Leukemia is “a malignant progressive disease in which the bone marrow and other blood-forming organs produce increased numbers of immature or abnormal leukocytes. These suppress the production of normal blood cells, leading to anemia and other symptoms.”An estimated combined total of 162,020 people in the U.S. are expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, 60,192 people die, 14% live in remission and my father is just another statistic. When I was nine years old, my father was diagnosed with Leukemia, an illness that at the time I did not understand. This left my mother raising two kids and working two jobs to make ends meet. Throughout this time of never ending hospital visits, I experienced the kindness and care provided to us by my father’s doctors - something that until this day I will never forget.
There are 13,000 people diagnosed each year with Myelodysplastic syndrome in America. Robin Roberts is just one of those many people (American Cancer Society).
The nonprofit Leukemia and Lymphoma society came about from the sorrow of a couple whose son lost his life in 1944. His name was RobbieRobert Roesler de Villiers, part of a well-off family based in New York. Leukemia was the cause of his death at the early age of 16. Following their son’s death, his parents, Rudolph and Antoinette, began an organization in 1949 under his name. The product of their efforts was run out of a Wall Street office, consisting of a small team of devoted volunteers. During this time leukemia had a 100% fatality rate as of 1955, with most patients with the disease losing their lives within a period of three months. The de Villiers’ held a resounding work ethic and belief that blood cancers were curable, and so the Foundation saw consistent growth. When the year 1960 came about the organization was rebranded as The Leukemia Society of America in order to extend its horizons.
Objective: The purpose for the experiments discussed in this report was to further examine specific compounds for potential anti-cancer properties. The compounds that underwent further testing were chosen based on pervious MTT IC50 results. This report will focus on doxorubicin, camptothecin, and colchicine.
To travel from my home in Ocoee to the main campus of the University of Central Florida is about a thirty minute drive. Travelling to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa takes about an hour and a half or two hours max. The journey through the diagnoses, four chemo treatments, and being involved in a clinical trial that may or may cure Acute Myeloid Leukemia has taken one year, one month, and ten days and counting. I regard this past year as the building of true endurance and perseverance of hope and good spirits. It has been a truly humbling journey as well, experiencing first hand the sacrifice of supporting a loved one with leukemia.
After their successful work with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, St. Jude Children’s Hospital decided to expand their efforts outwards and focus on another type of leukemia that attacks the lives of children every year. Acute Myeloid Leukemia, a cancer that begins in bone marrow and quickly multiplies and spreads to white blood cells, makes up 20% of all childhood leukemia (Pui 51). The first AML study at St. Jude began in 1986. Before the start of this project, only one child out of every 58 children suffering from this illness survived for a time greater than five years; however, by the end of the first study completed in 1973, the rate of remission had increased to 66%. Although St. Jude was ecstatic that they had brought the rate of remission
Transition: Now that I have talked about the basics regarding Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, let’s talk about the new approaches we are taking to combat this disease.
Leukemia is something that we hear about a lot. I believe that people do not understand exactly what leukemia is and how dangerous it can be, I chose this topic to try to help them understand. In this paper I will explain what leukemia is and what treatments you can choose from to treat the cancer.
Childhood Leukemia is a rare type of cancer that accounts for about one in three cancers in kids. Though there is many types of leukemia that affects children, most are acute. Acute meaning fast growing. With two main types of acute leukemia being Acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). ALL affects about 3 out of childhood leukemias, forming from lymphocytes in the bone marrow of every case. AML however accounts for the remaining cases and forms from other white blood cells different from lymphocytes, red blood cells, or platelets. With very few kids dealing with both types of a hybrid form of leukemia. Chronic or slow growing leukemia are not so popular in children as they are more common in adults but are too
Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia is a scary disease. The term “acute” means the disease can quickly spread and progress quickly and can prove fatal in months if left untreated. “Lymphocytic” simply means that it develops from immature forms of lymphocytes. Also known as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or ALL for short, it is a type of cancer that starts from the early form of white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow. ALL is the most common form of cancer in children, though adults can get it as well. For children, treatment results in a good chance of a cure. Adults have a significantly smaller chance of a cure with ALL. ALL generally invades the blood very quickly and has the potential to spread to other body parts such as the spleen,
Chemotherapy is the main way of treating AML.It is divided into three phase, Induction chemotherapy, Post-remission chemotherapy and Consolidation chemotherapy.Alone a chemotherapy is not that much effective so a Stem cell transplantation or a Bone marrow Transplantation is recommended (only if the patients is able to tolerate a transplantation) in most of the times. Allogeneic (ALLO) stem cell transplantation (i.e. using donated stem cell)is done in case of patients suffering from AML[17]. This induction chemotherapy is given with (except in case of M3 subtype of AML) cytarabine (ara-C) and an anthracycline [18]. The induction Chemotherapy routine is also denoted by “7+3” because the cytarabine is given to the patients continuous IV infusions for 7 days consecutively and as
Thesis/argument statement OR main idea statement: Cancer affects children and their families in many ways.
Jack woke up one morning not feeling well. He felt very weak and could not get out of bed. His mother decided to take him to the doctors. The doctors took many tests to figure out what was making him feel that way. After about an hour or two the doctors got the results back from a blood test. Results that would change Jack’s childhood for the worse. Jack has been diagnosed with Leukemia, a blood cancer. Of course, Jack was not sure what that meant but, his parents became worried beyond belief with the long road ahead of them. Scientists and researchers were all involved in the discovery of Leukemia cancer, which increased knowledge of this cancer, decreased deaths and discovered treatments, and started charity groups to fund research.