Angela Mutangagavi-Makuvire: Walk the path to life.

Forty-year-old Muropa says many women are “not even aware” of the common symptoms of cancer. others are “clueless” about where to find medical help.

She was one of the lucky ones. She had support from family and friends and was able to cover her medical expenses. But she warns that treatment can also entail hidden costs, because “sometimes you are required to bring double scans and x-rays”.

Muropa is quick to challenge the myth that radiation treatment is painful. “You are not burnt, and you do not even feel any heat. It’s just that your skin gets darker,” she explains.

She is grateful for the “level of professionalism” she experienced from doctors, and for the support she received from the Cancer Centre, where “you are assured of motivation to soldier on”.

The centre’s knowledge manager, Tafadzwa Chigariro, says cancer is on the rise in Zimbabwe, and “the existing health delivery system is not coping”. although government is trying to improve accessibility to treatment facilities, “the situation remains dire,” he adds.

The cost of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy is beyond the reach of most Zimbabweans. Radiation is offered at only two institutions: Parirenyatwa hospital in Harare, and Mpilo in Bulawayo.

Chigariro said the Cancer Centre acts as an “information bridge”, while lobbying government for policy change.

He agrees that education is the best form of prevention, and adds that “counselling and complementary therapy is offered to patients and survivors, because the disease is an emotionally daunting experience”.

In special circumstances the centre offers cancer patients free medication, though lack of resources limits such initiatives.

But women living with cancer remain determined to beat the disease – and to support those who are still battling it.

Angela Mutangagavi-Makuvire has survived ovarian cancer but has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Like Muropa she is eager to speak out about her experiences.

“I want everyone who reads this story to emulate me, and walk the path I have walked. to life!” she says. Mutangagavi-Makuvire is adamant that women “should not be intimidated by cancer because, when detected early, it can be cured”.

But she laments that “if you are not financially stable, you fight a losing battle” when it comes to accessing quality treatment.

Dr Anna Nyakabawo, an oncologist at the Parirenyatwa group of hospitals, agrees. She feels that rural women are particularly affected because “their lives are shrouded with competing priorities” and they often lack access to information, early diagnosis and treatment.

Nyakabawo believes it is vital to “up-scale political commitment” so that pap smears are available to every woman. She points out that 30% of cancer-related deaths are due to cervical cancer, and there are more than 600 000 deaths worldwide every year. Research shows that 60% of cancer-related illnesses are also HIV-related, she said.

Increasingly, medical practitioners like Nyakabawo are calling for the establishment of more cancer detection centres. Such centres, they say, would ultimately save the government money. “it costs between $300 – $400 to remove a breast lump, but it costs at least $5000 to remove a breast,” Nyakabawo explains.

One in eight women develops breast cancer during their lifetime, but a proper examination helps detect 90% of all breast lumps.

If Sheila Muropa was minister of health she knows exactly what she would do to help cover cancer-related costs. “Government should introduce a cancer levy,” she says, “just like they did for HIV & Aids.”

Have your say:

Frank Dalziel has been healthy since 2005 Popular Today By Lenny Holland  Posted: 2:00 AM May 12, 2012

On a September Saturday in 2004, Frank Dalziel sat in a cold, white, windowless hospital room and was told he had colon cancer.

After a year of being seriously ill and having done extensive research about his symptoms, Dalziel had come to the same conclusion, even before five hours of testing at Providence Medford Medical Center.

What: third annual Friends of Frank Benefit, with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society

When: Noon to 11 p.m. Sunday, May 13

Where: Alex’s Plaza Restaurant in Ashland

Musical acts: Bluesman James Harman, The Rhythm Kings, the Robbie DaCosta Trio and Frankie Hernandez

Admission: Donation of $10 requested at the door

The news came to the then 34-year-old Dalziel five years after he lost his mother to ovarian cancer, and he was determined to fight.

“I remember thinking, you beat my mom but you won’t beat me,” said Dalziel. “I’ve never had one of those ‘woe is me’ moments.”

Despite his fighting attitude, there was one thing he dreaded doing that day — a thing that proved to be the most difficult of all.

“Calling my Dad was the hardest thing, because I had to say, ‘Oh, here we go again,’ ” recalls Dalziel, looking away for a moment, unable to speak. “That was so tough.”

He soon began six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, followed by surgery in December. One week later he began four and a half more months of chemotherapy.

His last treatment was May 5, 2005, and he has been cancer-free ever since.

But his road has not been easy. not by a long shot.

Hoping for $10,000 this year

It’s Thursday evening, and Dalziel is looking healthy and energetic, pacing back and forth and talking into his phone.

He is calling local businesses and artists, seeking donations for his upcoming annual benefit for the American Cancer Society on Sunday.

The event, the third annual Friends of Frank Benefit, will be from noon to 11 p.m. at Alex’s Plaza Restaurant in Ashland. it is a run-up to the Relay for Life, held the following Saturday at Southern Oregon University’s Raider Stadium.

Last year’s event at Alex’s raised $8,000, up from the previous year’s $5,000. That was 2010 — Dalziel’s five-year anniversary of being cancer-free.

“We’re hoping for $10,000 this year,” he says with a smile. “And I know we can do it.”

Musical acts this year include bluesman James Harman, The Rhythm Kings, the Robbie DaCosta Trio and Frankie Hernandez. Raffles are held throughout the day and a donation of $10 is requested at the door.

Though he admits preparation for the benefit is hectic, he revels in the fact that he is making a difference.

“My father was diagnosed with esophageal and prostate cancer, and has been battling both for the last two years,” says Dalziel.

“He’s 80 and doing great. For me, that’s why I do this benefit: this money goes to research and coming up with solutions”… and it helps a community that was there for me.”

Help from a stranger

Five years before he organized the first benefit, Dalziel was having a hard time managing his own medical expenses.

“I didn’t have insurance,” he explains. “There were jars all over town with my face on them for donations.”

He eventually qualified for VOLPAC, a Jackson County program that allows for the admission and treatment of qualified patients who wouldn’t normally be able to afford their medical bills.

Under this program, and with help from the community, Dalziel began his treatment — the second round of which he admits was the worst.

“I lost all my hair, couldn’t eat, dropped 45 pounds and weighed less than I did when I graduated high school,” Dalziel says grimly.

During this difficult time he went to a friend’s wedding in Florida. he was sitting in the hotel, when a stranger approached him and began talking to him about cancer.

“Later that night I suffered an attack,” says Dalziel, his voice shaking. “I was in a hallway, very sick, and here comes this stranger again.

“So this guy said, ‘I was at home, and I just knew you needed me, so I came,’ ” Dalziel says slowly, fighting tears. “It was a miracle.”

After surgery, two rounds of chemotherapy, four colonoscopies and endless check-ups, Dalziel came out on the other side, cancer-free and determined to make a difference.

He says that the prognosis for cancer patients these days is much better than it was five or 10 years ago, but the fight needs to continue toward furthering research.

Five years ago, a friend’s sister died from colon cancer after being cancer-free for seven years. That makes this year an especially tough one for Dalziel.

“There’s not a day I don’t think about it returning,” he says. “Any cancer survivor always has that in the back of their head.”

Lenny Holland is an associate editor/entertainment editor for The Siskiyou and a senior in journalism at SOU.

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Susan Gubar is a professor emeritus of English at Indiana University, Bloomington, and co-editor of The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women.

Feminist literary scholar Susan Gubar was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in November 2008. she then began her emigration “from the world of the healthy to the domain of the ill,” she writes in her book, Memoir of a Debulked Woman.

Ovarian cancer often goes undetected until it has spread throughout the abdomen, and is typically fatal. To slow the spread of the disease, Gubar underwent a procedure known as the mother of all surgeries – a radical debulking operation in which her ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, appendix and parts of her intestine were removed.

In her memoir, she details – with graphic honesty – the physical and emotional pain, the surgery, chemotherapy, “intestinal disasters” and psychological changes that followed.

When she first received her diagnosis, she tells NPR’s Neal Conan, she was relieved. she had seen “how debilitating old age is” in her mother, and cancer, she figured, she could deal with. “I felt strongly then that I wanted to do what I could to sort of save the preciousness of life,” she says. “But I felt I would not go beyond that. I did not want to extend life at the expense of the quality of life.”

But that resolution proved difficult to keep. “I found myself changing,” she says. “As my end grew closer, it seemed more distant. I felt that I did have to keep on taking chemotherapy to try to beat the disease, although I believe it is unbeatable given the current protocols of medicine.”

Gubar talks with Conan about her continued struggles with the cancer that will likely kill her, and the memoir that became key to her sanity.

Interview Highlights

On ovarian cancer, known as “the silent killer”

“With ovarian cancer, the signs are very subtle. They’re very muted, and they’re easily misunderstood, not only by doctors but by the patient herself, because many women experience fatigue or bloating or indigestion, and these are just symptoms you put up with. You feel you don’t want to whine about them. and they’re often misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome or possibly as menopausal or depression or hernia.

“So I think it is easy to sort of not register these signs … to hear them as the noise of the midlife body and not to really understand what they signify. But, yes, in my case I think I simply repressed it. … I was convinced that if I did a lot of stretching and yoga and breathing, and I ate the proper foods and enough fiber and some prune juice maybe, all would be well and all manner of things would be well.”

On debulking

“Debulking, which tries to take out as much cancerous material and all the organs that have been affected by it as possible, often leaves visible and invisible seeds of cancer in the body. most debulking operations in America actually are called suboptimal, which means that there is some visible evidence of cancer left in the body, and that means it will recur. So this is a devastating diagnosis. …

“And it’s really not malevolence on the part of the surgeons. I mean, they don’t know. The tests don’t tell them what’s happened inside the body, and … even CT scans sometimes are completely inaccurate in terms of what’s going on inside the body. So until they slit the body open – excuse my explicit language – from the belly button to the pubic bone, they don’t really know what they’re going to find and what they’re going to have to do … which means that the woman has no volition or agency and no decision-making role in this. She’s anesthetized at that point.”

On the psychological consequences of her chemotherapy

“Everybody has a different reaction to … the toxic chemicals they’re given, and everybody is given a different kind of ‘cocktail,’ we should not call it.

“I found that with the first chemo that I discuss in the book that the symptoms that were most difficult for me were psychological rather than physical. … I felt as if my subjectivity had been evacuated. I had no self. I wasn’t me. I wasn’t Susan. I wasn’t, you know, the kind of partner I feel I want to be, the kind of mother I want to be, the kind of teacher, the kind of mentor or friend.

“I just felt like a kind of zombie. and those were psychological consequences that not everybody suffers but that I did encounter.”

On how her life as an educator has helped her endure cancer

“I dealt with this the way I’ve been trained to deal as a scholar with anything that happens in my life, and I started reading, and I started finding out how little first-person accounts there were, how few memoirs there were and how difficult it was to understand the scientific work that was being published.

“And it became a project. and … writing the book was a kind of lifeline for me. Working on sentences and paragraphs and thinking about the poems that came to my mind that helped me to express what I was feeling, or the paintings by Frida Kahlo … I don’t think I could have survived without writing the book.”

Weymouth beauty therapist nails cancer fundraising campaign

3:00pm Friday 16th March 2012 in News by Emma Walker

Kaleigh Harler, left, is supporting Teal Tips, a campaign to raise awareness and vital funds for ovarian cancer suffererers, like her aunt Gill Harler, right

A BEAUTY therapist is raising awareness and money for sufferers of ovarian cancer.

Kaleigh Harler, who works at Zen Hair & Beauty Centre in Weymouth, is supporting Teal Tips, a campaign to get women to paint their nails in teal-coloured polish during March.

For every £10 file and polish in teal she carries out £5 will go towards ovarian cancer charity Ovacome.

this fundraising effort is taking place throughout March which is the nationwide Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month.

she will be using the OPI Teal the Cows Come Home shade, with supplier Lena White agreeing to donate £1 to Ovacome for every £11 bottle sold during March.

Kaleigh said she was inspired by the campaign after her aunt Gill Harler, 62, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Kaleigh said: “With marine or mermaid colours hitting the fashion pages teal is a great on-trend colour to wear.

“Being so striking it is bound to get women to talk about the main symptoms of the disease, which still frighteningly few are aware of.”

she added that she came across the Teal Tips campaign while reading one of her aunt’s ovarian cancer advice magazines.

mrs Harler, who lives in Weymouth, said: “It is amazing what Kaleigh is doing, “I am just so proud of her.

“I think people aren’t aware of the symptoms so awareness is really important.

“Girls as young as 16 can get it and a lot of people need to know more about it.

“The campaign is a national one so it is vital local people get involved and help in any way.”

Tracy Ironside, who owns Zen Hair & Beauty Centre in Dorchester Road, was happy to support Kaleigh by letting her donate part of the profits.

Kaleigh added her thanks to everyone who supported her and encouraged anyone who can to support the campaign.

Ovacome research has found that 90 per cent of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer were unaware of its symptoms.

To purchase a bottle of OPI’s Teal the Cows Come Home varnish call 01923 240010.

Luke Sharrett / the new York Times / ReduxFrom left: Catholic Bishop William Lori, the Rev. Matthew Harrison, Dr. Ben Mitchell, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik and Craig Mitchell are sworn in during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Feb. 16, 2012. the hearing was called to discuss the Obama administration's contraceptive policy for employees at religious institutions.

All my adult life, I’ve been pretty sure I’m a sentient, even semi-competent human being. I have a job and an apartment; I know how to read and vote; I make regular, mostly autonomous decisions about what to eat for lunch and which cat videos I will watch whilst eating my lunch. But in the past couple of months, certain powerful figures in media and politics have cracked open that certitude.

You see, like most women, I was born with the chromosome abnormality known as “XX,” a deviation of the normative “XY” pattern. Symptoms of XX, which affects slightly more than half of the American population, include breasts, ovaries, a uterus, a menstrual cycle, and the potential to bear and nurse children. Now, many would argue even today that the lack of a Y chromosome should not affect my ability to make informed choices about what health care options and lunchtime cat videos are right for me. But others have posited, with increasing volume and intensity, that XX is a disability, even a roadblock on the evolutionary highway. This debate has reached critical mass, and leaves me uncertain of my legal and moral status. am I a person? an object? A ward of the state? A “prostitute”? (And if I’m the last of these, where do I drop off my W-2?)

(VIEWPOINT: What’s behind the ‘War on Women’?)

In the hopes of clarifying these and other issues, below I’ve recapped recent instances of powerful men from the fields of law, politics and literature tackling the question that has captured America’s imagination: Are Women People?

Case no. 1: U.S. District Judge Lynn HughesThe Recap: Following a 10-week maternity leave, a three-year employee of a Houston debt collection agency filed a sex discrimination suit, alleging she was fired for asking permission to bring a breast pump to work. Hughes sided with the company, but added that the truth of the plaintiff’s claim was irrelevant. “Lactation is not pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition,” he ruled in February, paraphrasing Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. “She gave birth on Dec. 11, 2009. After that day, she was no longer pregnant and her pregnancy-related conditions ended. Firing someone because of lactation or breast-pumping is not sex discrimination.”

What we Learned: Possession of naturally functioning secondary sex characteristics is a fireable offense; a woman with a fetus has more rights than a woman with a baby.

So, Are Women People? Only when they’re pregnant.

(MORE: Pregnant at Work? why Your Job could be at Risk)

Case no. 2: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and Alabama State Senator Clay ScofieldThe Recap: Both lawmakers pursued—and then backed off from—laws that would require any woman getting an abortion to submit to the invasive procedure known as a transvaginal ultrasound and, in McDonnell’s words, “view her child.” “This was about empowering women with more medical and legal information that previously they were not required to get in order to give informed consent,” McDonnell said on March 2.

What we Learned: Acquiring informed consent isn’t necessarily consensual; having an eight- to ten-inch wand inserted into your vagina against your will is “empowering”; because they lack vaginas, some male politicians seek empowerment in different ways.

So, Are Women People? I’m guessing no, but you should ask Virginia delegate Kathy Byron, the woman who introduced the bill in her state.

Case no. 3: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell IssaThe Recap: The California congressman convened an all-male panel of clergy to discuss the mandate that insurance companies include coverage of birth control pills. he declined to include Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, which oversees some 1200 Catholic health organizations across the U.S., or Georgetown law student and activist Sandra Fluke, whose health plan does not cover contraception. of the latter woman, Issa stated, “As the hearing is not about reproductive rights but instead about the [Obama] administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience, he believes that Ms. Fluke is not an appropriate witness.”

What we Learned: Freedom of conscience is not an appropriate topic for women to discuss; freedom from unplanned pregnancy, ovarian cysts, symptoms of endometriosis, irregular periods, migraines, and other health issues are not matters of public conscience; talking about icky body stuff is easier for dudes when ladies aren’t around.

So, Are Women People? If you look at photos of this hearing, you wouldn’t even know that women exist.

(MORE: Exclusive Interview: ‘I would do This Again’, Sandra Fluke Tells TIME)

Case no. 4: Sad Loud Man in a Small Room Rush LimbaughThe Recap: “Slut,” “prostitute,” “she wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex,” “we want you to post the videos online so we can all watch,” etc.

What we Learned: Taxpayers are billed across the board for private insurance plans; women who use birth control pills are not taxpayers; women whose insurance covers birth control pills are sluts and prostitutes; taxpayers enjoy watching movies about sluts and prostitutes.

So, Are Women People? They’re more like really expensive blow-up dolls.

(MORE: Men Have Sex Too)

Case no. 5: Novelist Jonathan FranzenThe Recap: His much-discussed recent new Yorker essay argued that novelist Edith Wharton is an unsympathetic figure due to her wealth, conservative political views and the fact that she “wasn’t pretty.” (She “might well be more congenial to us now if, alongside her other advantages, she’d looked like Grace Kelly or Jacqueline Kennedy.”) Her unprettiness, according to Franzen, contributed to the sexual dysfunction of her marriage, while her success as a writer caused her husband’s mental illness and underscored her antipathy toward her own sex—her friendships with writers of similar stature such as Henry James and André Gide, Franzen says, showed that “she wanted to be with the men and to talk about the things men talked about.”

What we Learned: Plain girls aren’t good in bed; female success is a brain-eating virus; a (female) writer forging relationships with other (male) writers is a form of penis envy; Jonathan Franzen might not think you’re pretty.

So, Are Women People? Not quite—they’re objects with certain people-like traits.

Case no. 6: Briefly Viable Republican Presidential Candidate Rick SantorumThe Recap: He calls his wife “the rock which I stand upon.”

What we Learned: That’s apparently a compliment.

So, Are Women People? no, they’re rocks! Finally, a definitive answer. thanks, Senator Santorum!

MORE: What got Lost in the Debate About Birth Control

MORE: Joel Stein on Body Politics

Jessica Winter is the arts editor at TIME. the views expressed are solely her own.

By Katherine Hobson

The government estimates that more than 15,000 women died last year from ovarian cancer.

But routine screening of women with no symptoms isn’t recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists or other professional groups, even for women at high risk for the disease. That’s because the benefits of the available tests — a transvaginal ultrasound and a blood test that detects an antigen called CA-125 — haven’t been shown to outweigh their risks (such as complications from unnecessary surgery), or to reduce the number of deaths.

Despite that evidence, a new study finds that when presented with a scenario of a woman coming to her annual check-up, a significant percentage of physicians surveyed would screen for ovarian cancer.

Some 28.5% of the 1,088 primary-care docs? — OB/GYNs, family physicians and general internists — surveyed said they “sometimes” or “almost always” offered or ordered ovarian-cancer screening tests for low-risk women. when the vignette involved a woman at medium risk of the disease, that proportion jumped to 65.4% of physicians.

About a third of physicians reported believing that ultrasound or CA-125 blood testing is an effective screening test for ovarian cancer, the study found. It’s unclear why that is, and more research is needed to discover why, says Laura-Mae Baldwin, an author of the study and professor of family medicine at the University of Washington.

“We know that in medicine we have an enthusiasm for screening,” she says. “We want to find diseases before they can cause harm.”

The study also found that physicians were more likely to say they’d order screening for patients who requested it — even if the doctor herself didn’t believe screening was effective.

In that scenario, physicians may be trying to maintain a relationship with the patient, or they “may lack confidence in explaining why the test is more harmful than beneficial,” says Baldwin. she says there’s an important role for clinical tools that could accurately illustrate the level of risk faced by a particular woman and also illustrate the harms and benefits of the test.

The study is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

There are limitations to the research: doctors were reporting how they’d react to the scenarios presented to them, not discussing actual patients. and while there was a 62% response rate to the initial questionnaire sent to physicians, the results may not generalize to the doctors who didn’t respond, the authors write.

Shalom Life is proud to present our 2nd annual ”Top 20 under 40” list. This list encompasses 20 individuals of diverse occupations and backgrounds from businessmen and businesswomen and innovative entrepreneurs, to philanthropists, entertainers, doctors and more, the list places a spotlight on the myriad of talented, creative and passionate Jews, all under 40, who call Canada home.

Top 20 under 40 – Elana Waldman

Age: 38

There are those who talk the talk, others who walk the walk. Toronto’s Elana Waldman personifies the latter with her unique combination of strength, courage, compassion and inspiration.

Waldman, a 38-year-old native of Montreal, continues to show the leadership and commitment to her community – through volunteerism and generous philanthropy – that is a vital part of what makes Jewish Toronto one of the Diaspora’s most envied, and often emulated Jewish communities.

And, Waldman continues to make a difference in the lives of so many while she continues to stage a Herculean fight against ovarian cancer.

Married to Mark in 2002, and the mother of eight-year-old Sydney, Waldman, who earned her BA at McGill in Political Science and Law degree from Osgoode, practiced family law at McCarthy Tetrault until Feb 2007 when she was forced to take leave to undergo her first round of cancer treatment.

During her working days, Waldman became involved with the one Family Fund – an organization that provides direct financial, legal, and emotional assistance to victims of terrorism in Israel. she was the organization’s president for four years.

Along with volunteering her valuable time, Waldman continues to support a number of organizations financially as well.

Since her diagnosis, Waldman has used her unique skill set and uncommon commitment to helping others.

“While I was going through my first line of treatment I decided that I wanted to do something that would bring more awareness to the issue of ovarian cancer within the community at large. I reasoned that if someone who was relatively well informed about cancer and the BRCA mutations was so lacking in knowledge, most people probably knew even less.”

Shortly after that realization, Waldman, true to form, turned her words into actions after reading an article about an event that takes place in the Hamptons. Waldman decided to create a similar event in Toronto to benefit ovarian cancer research at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. and, with that, aWEARness was born.

“The first year of aWEARness was 2008,” says Waldman. “It was a huge success and I really believed that I had reached a large number of people who would otherwise not know about the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer. we also raised over $200,000 for research that year. we put the event on two more times. Unfortunately, with the turn in the economy and the continued health issues that I have, I had to make the decision not to do the event any longer.”

Not one to rest on her laurels, Waldman also became involved with an initiative called “It’s Time to Shout”.

“Ovarian cancer is called the cancer that whispers and this is a campaign of empowerment for those whose lives have been touched by the disease, either directly or indirectly,” she explains. “The website, itstimetoshout.com is the brainchild of Leigh Himel, one of Mark’s high school friends. Essentially, it is a website where people can upload their stories so that we have a critical mass of people raising their voices. the goal is to raise awareness and money for research into an early detection tool.”

In addition to the website, Waldman has a video blog on chatelaine.com, also called Time to Shout.

“I post every week or so about my journey with cancer. My aim is to educate about ovarian cancer but also to show that you can live with cancer. while it is challenging, there are still many wonderful things to enjoy in life and cancer doesn’t have to take those away.”

An inspiration to all who know her – and countless others who have never met her – Waldman maintains a happy, positive outlook on life.

“I have generally always been a fairly happy person. My disposition is just naturally optimistic and while at times that optimism has been tested, it has helped me focus on the light at the end of the tunnel when things get hard. People tell me that I am very strong. I don’t believe that. I am a mother. I do what I have to do to be here for my family. I do what I can to enjoy the time I have. whether I die from cancer, get hit by a bus or live a long life – no one knows. I can choose to worry about that or I can choose to make the most of whatever the time is that I have. I choose the latter.”

Shalom Life is currently searching for the best and brightest Jews under 40 in new York who have gained recognition in business, entertainment, philanthropy, technology and more. please send suggestions to

(ThyBlackMan.com) I returned home after another long day anticipating a good meal and then a few hours of R & R in front of the TV. but when I opened the door, evidence to the contrary was obvious: a pink coat, a small, glittery shoe, and then a shriek of delight as my granddaughter sped to greet me. Suddenly I was rejuvenated.

After a lively dinner, we set off on one of our adventures. we watched ants, talked to cats, played in the park and watched the sunset spray the Colorado mountains orange and rose. as we walked back toward the house, she got  quiet, and I got philosophical. I thought, “what better way to spend the end of this day—or any day?” our lives as grandfathers can be noble, purposeful and even, I would say, vital.

TAKE PRIDE IN BEING A GRANDFATHER

Grandfathers bring some unique characteristics that children need. first, we can provide strength and stability at a time when our children are busy making adjustments and figuring out their new roles, and a time when our wives may be experiencing the hormonal chaos that often comes with that stage of life.

We are also models of a healthy, grown-up male (a child doesn’t always think of his or her father as male—he’s “Daddy“). Little boys need to see what a responsible, loving male acts like, and little girls need to learn that not all males are rowdy and rambunctious, and that they can relate with the opposite sex.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR PERSPECTIVE 

Compared to fathers, our personalities and egos are much less closely wrapped up in the child’s performance. while fathers are in the bleachers fighting the temptation to scream at the ump or chide the coach, we can say, “Hey, it’s just a ball game. I’m just glad you enjoy playing and that I got to see you play.” We’ve seen how kids overcome setbacks, and we’re less likely to blow things out of proportion. We’re free to express love unconditionally; grandchildren can fail and still save face.

FOSTER – DON’T FRUSTRATE – YOUNG PARENTS

One of our most challenging jobs is to let our children be their style of parent. we have to step back and trust that the knowledge or discernment that we modeled will be there, buried somewhere in their subconscious, when they need it. trying to “raise” them again as parents will only cause friction and resentment.

Showing them respect as parents will earn us opportunities to make suggestions when they realize they need them, but unless there is some developmental problem that they’re overlooking, it’s best to let young parents learn on their own. we weren’t A+ parents either, so if our kids are C to B+ parents and they’re not dysfunctional, we need to take a back seat and become cheerleaders, even if we don’t always agree with them.

MAINTAIN A SENSE OF FAMILY

I want my grandkids to know their aunts and uncles, to see that strong marriages run in the family, and to watch generations relating to each other. some grandfathers go too far and place guilt trips: “If you want to be part of this family, you get those kids here by Christmas Eve.” others, in an effort to avoid making demands, communicate apathy: “well, stop by when you can.”

There is a happy medium. let them know their presence is important and still be flexible: “We’d like to have everyone together during Christmas break. We’ll make the plans and cook the turkey, but let’s make sure and get together. When can you make it?” show the entire clan-including grandchildren-that in your family, togetherness is important.

SPEND INDIVIDUAL TIME WITH EACH GRANDCHILD

Just like with fathering, in-depth relationships are built during time alone with each child. Sometimes we have to trust that our values will be transmitted through the generations, but we also have opportunities to do it directly. When I’m alone with one of my granddaughters, that’s when she’s most “herself.” There’s no competition with her sister, and no consequences to worry about from her parents. that allows her to listen better and ask more thoughtful questions. When it’s just the two of us, she’s much more open to learn.

And, of course, individual time with grandchildren is rewarding in itself. A fool-proof method for resurrecting new hope in a discouraged, pessimistic heart is to allot special time to play with children. Little creatures who have their eyes fixed on tomorrow can make a gnarled veteran of life’s wars forget the pain of past failures and believe in the future again.

Written By Leland Griffin Share More Articles:

The potentially revolutionary cancer cell separation device being developed by ANGLE’s (LON:AGL) subsidiary Parsortix has separated cells in blood from a patient, the IP firm said today.

It is the first time the device has identified circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in blood taken from someone with cancer.

Previously the Parsortix device had identified cultured breast cancer cells, prostate cancer cells and lung cancer cells in “spiked blood”, where the cells had been added. 

ANGLE said the latest test results are significant because a sample of actual cancer patient blood would be expected to contain only a very small number of CTCs and it was not clear if the patient’s disease would adversely affect the device’s performance. 

ANGLE founder and chief executive, Andrew Newland said: “The successful capture of CTCs in cancer patient blood is a tremendous step forward towards our goal of establishing the Parsortix separation technology as a market-leading product, which is simple, effective and affordable.”

The results are the first from the recent research agreement with the University of Surrey’s oncology department. 

Using facilities at the university, Parsortix undertook a series of small volume separations of the blood of late stage prostate cancer patients.  

The blood passed successfully through the device and in a number of separations captured tumour cells were clearly identified and confirmed by the University of Surrey’s oncology team.  

The results compare favourably with the existing FDA approved antibody-based capture technology, ANGLE added. 

Professor Hardev Pandha at the University of Surrey Oncology Department added: “The University of Surrey is delighted to be working with ANGLE on this novel approach to CTC capture.  Effective monitoring of the level of CTCs in patients’ blood offers great potential for the improvement of cancer treatment.” 

Shares in ANGLE have nearly trebled since last September when it announced Parsortix had been successful in early trials to separate cancer cells using its device.

The group said today the next stages for development will include the validation of the separation device for other cancer types, particularly those where the existing antibody affinity capture technology is unable to capture CTCs, such as ovarian cancer.

ANGLE also said it wants to optimise of the device to allow its easy use in the laboratory and to increase the volume of blood that can be screened and the speed of blood flow.

It will also work to get validation of the performance of the Parsortix device by leading independent cancer research centres.

ANGLE believes the device will have huge ramifications for the way cancer is treated and monitored going forward.

As well as detecting CTCs at a very early stage, the device can also help identify if chemotherapy is working or not, which would mean a huge improvement in the way chemotherapy is administered.

The device also has the potential to monitor patients in remission and to pick up early signs of the return of the cancer ahead of the patient experiencing any symptoms.

A simple blood test using the Parsortix device could also provide routine screening of healthy people to check for early signs of cancer ahead of any symptoms, while it could be possible to use the captured CTCs for molecular profiling to help define tumour biology and risk of progression, ANGLE said.

To be sold for use in hospitals the device requires approval from the all powerful US Food & Drug Administration and a CE Mark here in Europe, but research facilities and laboratories do not need regulatory certification.

ANGLE estimates the potential in the clinical and research markets to be worth conservatively around US$4 billion annually in the United States alone

ANGLE owns 90 per cent of Parsortix.