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Celebrating Cancer Hashtag Communities and a Moonshot

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This coming week, the online cancer hashtag communities will be celebrating. Why, you ask? We have two good reasons.

  1. The Cancer Moonshot Summit happens Wednesday, June 29, in DC and in satellite locations all over the US (see DC agenda at bottom of this post). While several of our members will be attending, we all have the opportunity to provide input to the Cancer Moonshot (deadline July 1).
  2. The 5th Anniversary of the beginning of Breast Cancer Social Media (#BCSM)—and the beginning of cancer hashtag communities on the web—happens July 4!

Our celebration will take the form of several coordinated chats open to everyone, regardless of cancer type.

Mon 6/27:
#BCSM Chat (use both #BCSM and #cancerchat hashtags) will host a cross-cancer chat at 9 PM Eastern Time about three of the Cancer Moonshot Working Group topics (check blog on #BCSM website for chat details):
–Expanding Clinical Trials
–Enhanced Data Sharing
–Precision Prevention and Early Detection
Ideas generated can be submitted online to the Cancer Moonshot.

Wed 6/29:
Cancer Moonshot events in DC and satellite locations (see agenda for DC Summit below)

Wed 6/29:
#Hcchat will conduct the official Moonshot chat (use both #Hcchat and #Moonshot hashtags) at noon Eastern Time on the topic “Will the Moonshot lead to the death of cancer?” This chat applies to all types of cancers. Special guest will be Vincent T. DeVita, Jr, MD, who was head of the NCI during Nixon’s Cancer Act and author of “The Death of Cancer.”

Thu 6/30:
#LCSM Chat (use both #LCSM and #cancerchat hashtags) will host a cross-cancer chat at 8 PM Eastern Time about the remaining four Cancer Moonshot Working Group topics (check blog on #LCSM Chat website for chat details):
–Cancer Immunology and Prevention
–Tumor Evolution and Progression
–Implementation Sciences
–Pediatric Cancer
Ideas generated can be submitted online to the Cancer Moonshot.

Thu 6/30:
Last day to submit Moonshot ideas at https://cancerresearchideas.cancer.gov/a/index

Sun 7/03:
#BTSM Chat (use both #BTSM and #cancerchat hashtags) will host a cross-cancer chat at 9 PM Eastern Time about our hopes and dreams for cancer research and treatment in the future.

Mon 7/04:
5th anniversary of #BCSM and cancer hashtag communities

Mon 7/04:
#BCSM anniversary celebration chat at 9 PM Eastern (use both #BCSM and #cancerchat hashtags)

The cancer hashtag communities hope you’ll join us for some (or ALL) of these special events and help us celebrate! To learn more about the cancer hashtag communities, visit http://www.symplur.com/healthcare-hashtags/ontology/cancer/

 AGENDA FOR THE CANCER MOONSHOT SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON, DC


Cancer Moonshot Summit Agenda 1 (CROPPED) Cancer Moonshot Summit Agenda 2 (CROPPED)

Advocacy and the Science of Cancer Research: the AACR Scientist↔Survivor Program

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The AACR Scientist↔Survivor Program lets cancer advocates network with scientists driving cancer research

This year I was among the cancer patient advocates who applied for and were selected to participate in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Scientist↔Survivor Program (SSP) .  As part of the program, I attended the AACR 2016 Annual Meeting held April 16-20 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The program consisted of an orientation day, including an excellent Cancer 101 briefing by Dr. Carolyn Compton; SSP-only sessions in which advocates met with top researchers to discuss specific topics such as immunotherapy and FDA policies; presenting an original poster during an AACR poster session; a group project in which a scientific advisor and an experienced SSP mentor helped us explore a major aspect of cancer research; evening networking events; and, of course, attending the Annual Meeting with cancer researchers.

Posters created by advocates talked about a variety of subjects–cancer journeys, advocacy organization outreach, even personal research projects. My poster discussed the benefits of the Lung Cancer Social Media (#LCSM) community on Twitter–thanks to my fellow #LCSM Chat Core Members for their valuable suggestions and feedback.

JFD with AACR poster

I didn’t understand every presentation in the actual AACR meeting — in at least one presentation I didn’t understand ANYTHING (gene editing is very technical) — but I did come away with a better understanding of the scope of cancer research, some of the issues impeding progress, and a list of topics I wanted to explore further.

I loved listening to researchers explain cutting edge work that … READ MORE

This article was first published 24-Jun-2016 on my Cure Today blog

My Upcoming Appearances: Westercon 69 (July 4 weekend)

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Over the 4th of July weekend I will be attending Westercon 69 in Portland, Oregon, where I will speak on three panels and conduct one Kaffeeklatsch. I will also be participating in a lung cancer meetup in Portland on Monday July 4 at 10 AM–please post in the comments if you want to be part of it.

Here is my tentative schedule at Westercon:

How being an engaged patient can save your life (Hawthorne)
Friday Jul 1 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Patients around the world are changing the healthcare model by becoming partners in their own care. What is an engaged patient, how can you become engaged, and why should you care?
Ari Goldstein, Ellen Klowden, Frog Jones, Janet Freeman-Daily, Jennifer Willis

Recent Scientific Breakthroughs – What (Lincoln)
Saturday Jul 2 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Is it black holes, gravitational waves, global warming, a new species discovered, or something else? Which recent discoveries intrigue you most.
Dan Dubrick, Gregory Gadow, James Glass, Janet Freeman-Daily

Kaffeeklatsch (Multnomah)
Sun Jul 3 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Small group discussions with authors, artists, and other interesting personalities (referred to as “hosts”) Sessions are limited to the host and a small group of attendees.
Ctein, Daniel H. Wilson, Janet Freeman-Daily, Jeff Sturgeon, Manny Frishberg, Sara Stamey, Sue Bolich

Is Gibson Getting Out of Hand? (Hawthorne)
Sun Jul 3 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Is corporate control of research and the drive for short-term profit crippling scientific innovation and basic research? Do established companies always feel threatened by new technology and lobby for legislation to restrict it?
Bob Brown, Frank Hayes, Janet Freeman-Daily, Jim Doty

Cancer Survivorship: It Concerns Lung Cancer Patients Too

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For the next three days, I’ll be in The Other Washington (DC) for the 8th Biennial Cancer Survivorship Research Conference. It’s co-sponsored by the NCI, the CDC, American Cancer Society, and the LIVESTRONG Foundation. Time they knew that an increasing number of lung cancer patients have survivorship concerns too!

I’m especially interested in the presentations on economic value in cancer care, financial hardship, oral cancer agents (like mine!), and decision making in palliative care.

Thanks to the University of Colorado Lung Cancer SPORE for sending me (one of their patient advocates) to this meeting.

You can find the agenda and meetings marerials on this site:
http://m.cancer.org/subsites/survivorship2016/

A Plea

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People, please.

A terrible tragedy has been perpetrated by anger and hatred. Inflammatory rhetoric, speculation and intolerance will not make it better. Whether speaking to one person in private or to many in a public forum, compassion, reason and facts are sorely needed. Anger is never soothed by more anger.

Please, help reduce your neighbor’s pain and work towards building a sense of community. This is society’s only hope for survival.

Live Tweeting #ASCO16 with @LUNGevity

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ASCO twitter logo

This year I’ll be live tweeting the big American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting June 3-7 as a Patient Research Representative for LUNGevity Foundation. What does “live tweeting” mean? It means I will be using Twitter to share information from ASCO sessions and  perspectives on the meeting in near real time.

I’ll be tweeting from the @LUNGevity Twitter account (along with Dr. Upal Basu-Roy and Katie Brown) and my own account (@JFreemanDaily).  If you want to find me or other tweeps at ASCO, please come to the Official ASCO Tweetup June 4th at 5:45pm in the McCormick Convention Center Plate Room (South Building, Level 2.5 Food Court).  Hope to see you there!

My Next Speech: Bringing the Lung Cancer Patient to the Foreground at #ASCO16 CME

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peerview grace asco logo

I’m excited to announce that I have been asked to speak on June 5, 2016, at a dinner symposium titled “NSCLC Forum: Bringing the Patient to the Foreground of Evidence-Based Lung Cancer Care.” It’s sponsored by PeerView Press (a medical education provider) and GRACE (a web resource for cancer patients).

This is an evening event concurrent with ASCO 2016 Annual Meeting in Chicago, usually called just ASCO. ASCO (short for American Society for Clinical Oncology) is the world’s biggest cancer conference—just you and 35,000 of your closest friends.  Attendees hear about results for cancer clinical trials along with prevention, diagnosis, survivorship, policy, advocacy, and oncology career info, and explore a huge exhibit hall.  Last year I clocked five miles a day just walking between sessions!

I’ll be talking about using social media to improve outcomes for lung cancer patients.  The meat of the program includes case studies presented by four research oncologists (including, coincidentally, my Denver oncologist Dr. Ross Camidge), and panel discussions. PeerView tells me this may be the first time a patient has been the lead speaker at an ASCO CME (Continuing Medical Education) program. I’m honored that the sponsors and my fellow speakers believe I’m up to the challenge.

At my request, PeerView modified their registration form so patients and caregivers/advocates can register for this event. If you’d like to see me speak, you can register (no charge) to attend in person (and have a free dinner starting at 6:30 PM Central) or watch the live stream online (starting at 7 PM Central).  The recording will be available later on the web (I’ll share the link when it’s posted).  Several other evening events (including the ASCO President’s Reception, alas) will be competing for the attention of ASCO attendees at the same time, so please attend and help fill the seats. Hope to see you there!

 

Edit 8-Jun-2016:

The unedited, uncut version of the 2-hour webinar in which I spoke at ASCO 2016 is available here. You must register, but it’s free. My talk begins at about 2:40, and runs about 10 minutes.

https://tallen.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1104671

An edited version will be available soon.

New Survey Available for Patients with Any ROS1-Positive Cancer

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You might already know that my cancer is ROS1-positive. This means my tumor cells test positive for a rearrangement of the ROS1 gene in my DNA.

Now we ROS1-positive patients can help researchers learn more about our cancer by taking a survey.  If you’re already sold, click on the link at the bottom of this page.  For more info, read on!

All human cells have the ROS1 gene, but in adult humans the ROS1 gene isn’t very active. However, sometimes the ROS1 gene fuses with another gene and becomes “rearranged.”  Cells that have certain ROS1 rearrangements become cancerous.  ROS1 cancer is rare – about 1% of non-small cell lung cancers – and is found in several types of cancer such as brain cancer (glioblastomas), angiosarcoma, and melanoma.  ROS1 cancer can be very aggressive, but many patients respond amazingly well to a drug called crizotinib, which is FDA approved for ROS1-positive lung cancer.  You can learn more about ROS1 cancer, some of the patients who have it, and available treatments and clinical trials on the ROS1 portal .

Over 100 patients who have ROS1-positive cancer of any type (regardless of where the cancer started) have joined a Facebook group called “ROS1 Positive (ROS1+) Cancer.” We hail from a dozen different countries. We discuss how to handle side effects of treatment, explore the treatments and clinical trials available to us, and post new research findings. And we share concerns about our futures, because … well, those of us with metastatic ROS1-positive cancer are not curable.

I’ve had no evidence of disease (meaning we can’t detect any cancer) on crizotinib since January 2013. I wish I could say I’m cancer free, but I can’t.  For most everyone who takes crizotinib, the cancer eventually develops resistance to the drug, and tumors start growing again.

We ROS1ers need researchers to learn more about our cancer, and find more effective treatments. Now we can do something to help.

PatientDrivenResearch_Final_April 13, 2016

The Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation has partnered with ROS1ers to inform more people about our disease and develop patient-driven research that will hopefully find more effective treatments for us.  Although the ALCF focuses on lung cancer, this effort is addressing ROS1-positive cancer regardless of where in the body the cancer began.

The first step is an online survey that aims to discover what we ROS1ers might have in common and hopefully identify some causes for this rare cancer (the majority of the patients are young, fit never smokers). To our knowledge, this is the first-ever research into the possible causes of a genomically-driven cancer across cancer types.

Please complete your survey ASAP! While the survey will remain open for a long time, the first round of data analysis will commence on July 15, 2016, with a goal of announcing preliminary findings at the World Conference on Lung Cancer in December 2016.

If you have ROS1-positive cancer, please complete this survey.
If someone you know has it, please encourage them to complete this survey.
CLICK HERE FOR ROS1 PATIENT SURVEY

#LCSM Chat 5/5: Know Before You Go—Conference Prep 101

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convention

image by Microsoft Office

Lung cancer patients and advocates are increasingly joining healthcare, pharma, government agency and biotech industry representatives at cancer-related medical conferences such as the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in April and the American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June.

Planning ahead for these meetings is essential for getting the most out of your time. The events, which can last several days, often have many sessions happening at the same time in different rooms. In addition to scheduling considerations, the terminology, graphics, and scientific concepts discussed in the sessions can be overwhelming even for seasoned attendees.

Because no one can possibly attend every conference, attendees share the conference experience by posting tweets while at the conference (called “live tweeting”) about significant happenings and new findings. Often, these conferences have specific hashtags–for instance, those attending the ASCO Annual Meeting this year will include #ASCO16 in their tweets. However, live tweeting from sessions presents some challenges, like condensing new concepts into less than 140 characters, and continuing to follow slides while composing tweets.

In our Thursday May 5 #LCSM Chat at 8 PM Eastern Daylight Time (5 PM Pacific), we will share ideas how attendees might prepare in advance to get the most from a medical conference and share their conference experience with others in real time on Twitter. Janet Freeman-Daily will moderate our discussion using the following questions:

  • T1: What tips do you have for getting the most out of a medical conference? How do you prepare?
  • T2: What concepts would be most helpful for patients/advocates to know before attending cancer conferences? Where can they learn these?
  • T3: What tips do you have for live tweeting a medical conference? What kind of live tweets do you value most?

We hope you’ll join #LCSM Chat on Thursday May 5 at 8 PM EDT. If you’re new to tweetchats, please read this primer on how to participate in #LCSM Chats.

Reblogged with permission from the LCSM Chat website.

Opportunity to honor Dr D Ross Camidge

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Camidge and daughters

Dr. D Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, at the University of Colorado (CU) Cancer Center has provided me and many other lung cancer patients and caregivers with hope, support, effective clinical trials, remote second opinions and excellent cancer care. On April 5, Dr. Camidge’s work will be honored as he formally accepts the newly-created Joyce Zeff Endowed Chair in Lung Cancer Research.
   
A patient speaker (not me) will be talking at the event about Dr. Camidge’s impact on patients. We have a unique opportunity to show Dr Camidge–as well as the donor Ms. Zeff and CU–how many people he has helped in lung cancer patient communities .
   
If you are willing to have your Camidge experiences and kudos shared from the stage at the recognition ceremony, please post them below. I’ll make sure they get to the patient who will be speaking. If you want your name (real or online) associated with the quote, please say so in your post.
   
Thanks in advance for your contributions!
   
Janet Freeman-Daily (AKA Squanch)