Tomorrow, December 1st, is World Aids Day

Yes, tomorrow is World Aids Day. The first Aids patient was 30 years ago, but still this is a top health issue globally. The two themes of focus this year are universal access to treatment and human/civil rights of HIV positive persons.

But first, you may wonder why I'm writing about Aids in a cancer blog? Because people with Aids or HIV get cancer. The most common types are Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Other AIDS-related cancers include Hodgkin disease and cancers of the lung, mouth, cervix, and digestive system.

Universal Access to HIV/Aids Treatments: Many areas of Africa are rampant with the disease and have no way to get care. Similarly, poverty-striken people in many parts of the world cannot access medical treatments. In fact, this is a huge problem right here in the USA. Hopefully, this will change with the new univeral healthcare programs.

Human Rights of HIV Positive Persons: Even 30 years later, we need to safeguard the rights of HIV/Aids infected persons. They deserve the same human dignity, understanding and the respect any person does. There is a stigma against persons with HIV. They have been fired from their jobs or denied employment. They have been labeled "deviants" and received workplace discrimination, which makes them feel isolated and vulnerable. Today, there is need to federal legislation to protect these marginalized Americans.

You can help by contacting your congressmen or donating to HIV/Aids organizations.

A New Way of Looking at Good Health vs. Cancer

Returning from TEDMED, an astonishing meeting of exceptional minds from science, medicine, business and technology, Dr. Mark Hyman says: “we have been asking the wrong question about cancer. We have asked "what": What tumor do you have? What kind of chemotherapy, surgery or radiation is needed for that tumor? What is your prognosis? Instead, we need to be asking "why" and "how": Why did this cancer grow? How can you change the conditions that feed and support cancer-cell growth? How did the terrain of your garden become a host to such an invasive weed?”

I wasn’t aware of this man’s work before reading about him in the Huffington Post, but I am following him on Twitter now. He reminds us that “scientific literature is abundant with evidence that diet, exercise, thoughts, feelings and environmental toxins all influence the initiation, growth and progression of cancer. If a nutrient-poor diet full of sugar, lack of exercise, chronic stress, persistent pollutants and heavy metals can cause cancer, could it be that a nutrient-dense, plant-based diet, physical activity, changing thoughts and reactions to stress, and detoxification might treat the garden in which cancer grows? Treat the soil, not the plant. It is a foundational principle of sustainable agriculture, and of sustainable health.”

This is a manageable approach: enhance immune function through diet and lifestyle changes, nutrient or phytonutrient therapies. We can enhance our body's own detoxification system to promote the elimination of carcinogenic compounds. To improve hormone metabolism and reduce the carcinogenic effects of too much insulin, we can reduce our high sugar and refined carbohydrate diet as well as eliminate use of hormone-disrupting xenobiotics and petrochemicals.

Furthermore, Hyman believes we can alter our genes by changing the inputs that control their expression: diet, nutrients, phytonutrients, toxins, stress and other sources of inflammation. Finally, if we focus on less troublesome and more generative thoughts, we create more uplifting emotions. Hyman sums it up: “all good fertilizer for the soil in the garden of our body.”

Wow, this is what great healthcare can become! In the meantime, you can do this!

Tattoo Artist Helps Cancer Patients Reclaim Their Identity

I just found this article in the Syracuse Post Standard about a nurse-turned-tattoo artist who puts finishing touches on the reconstructed breasts of central New York cancer survivors. A local plastic surgeon came to her to tattoo areolas and nipples on their patients' breasts after reconstruction. Some women come to her to cover their scars and others as a way to celebrate the years after surgery. Whatever their reasons for wanting their tattoos, this strikes me as a wonderful way for a former nurse to continue caring: it helps to heal the women's psyche as it covers the scars.

The first cancer patient Kim Leach ever tattooed presented the biggest challenge: a woman who had serious complications that left her with no breasts and a heavily scarred chest. "She said, 'My chest is destroyed and I feel like I lost my womanhood to cancer,'" Leach recalled. "I said, 'I can give you something you are so proud of on your chest that it won't matter whether you have breasts or not.'" It took almost a year to complete the uniquely personal montage.

"I get these girls on a good day," Leach said. "Their cancer is gone and this is their last step to getting their body back. It's an act with deep meaning, about reclaiming their identity as a woman. I give them that last kick of empowerment over breast cancer."

Quite an amazing story and person!