Each year, nearly 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer typically affecting the lining of the lungs. The asbestos-caused cancer is highly aggressive and is resistant to many cancer treatments, leading researchers throughout the world to spend countless hours searching for a new, effective treatment. There is no cure for the disease.
AACR proclaims that ' Cancer research saves lives,' and is using this statement as the focus for the month. Sadly, 28 people die of cancer every 2 minutes in the U.S. Finding new treatment options for mesothelioma and all cancers is dependent on continued research and successful clinical trials focused on testing the newly developed treatment approaches. However, in 2012 although there were 1000 cancer drugs in the pipeline, just 16 were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to AACR.
Completing a clinical trial and getting approval for an anti-cancer treatment can take more than seven years and over $1 billion, according to AACR. With these startling statistics, it is critical that all Americans do their part in the fight against cancer during the month.
The AACR asks the American public to:
Call on Congress to make cancer research a top national priority. Donate to the AACR Foundation for the prevention and cure of cancer or to another organization of your choice. Participate in a clinical trial as a cancer patient or as a healthy participant to help researchers obtain data. Get informed about the causes of preventable cancer to help decrease the number of cancer diagnoses in the country.
Many hospitals, including mesothelioma specialty centers such as The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center, acknowledge the importance of cancer research and use the month of May as a time to educate the public about the importance of funding cancer research.
The Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center of Seattle, held a lantern lighting ceremony on April 30 to honor loved ones and support lifesaving cancer research to kick off the month.
'Research is the necessary path to ending cancer,' said Dr. Larry Corey, president and director of Fred Hutchison in a press release announcing the importance of the May's research.'
'If we don't all step up and support cancer research we're going to keep losing friends, family and sadly, future generations to this disease,' added Amy Lavin, Obliteride's executive director. Obliteride is a bike ride fundraiser for Fred Hutchison to be held August 10.
Because mesothelioma is rarer than other cancers, there is typically less money devoted specifically to mesothelioma research, prevention and treatment. Every dollar makes a difference for mesothelioma research. To help the fight against mesothelioma, consider making a donation to the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation in honor of Don Smitley who lost his life to mesothelioma in October. Contributions can be made in Don's memory at http://ift.tt/1k7gNvG.
The Meso Foundation is a national non-profit dedicated to ending the suffering caused by mesothelioma by focusing its efforts on funding mesothelioma research. Each year the Meso Foundation awards grants to the 'best and most promising' mesothelioma research projects.
Like National Cancer Research Month on Facebook and follow #NCRM14 on Twitter to show your support.
For more information about National Cancer Research Month see AACR.org.
Nancy Meredith is a blog and web content writer with more than 20 years of professional experience in the Information Technology industry. She has been writing about Mesothelioma for 4 years. Follow Nancy on Google+
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