We at Miles for Hope are determined to find a brain cancer cure. Raising awareness of treatments for brain cancer is one way we do this.

Brain cancer is diagnosed in the young and the old and comes in many forms. In addition to presenting itself in a variety of ways, brain cancer seems to affect random people at random times.

Cancerous brain cells can grow in the central spinal canal as well as inside the skull. The immune system recognizes these abnormal cells and tries to destroy them. Howewver, one a body’s immune system ceases to work properly, the cancer cells grow out of control and become a tumor. This is unpreventable, in large part because the cause of the formation of the abnormal cells is not known.

What all brain cancer has in common is that at present, it is neither preventable nor curable. Treatment, by and large, simply means extending the life of a patient, or giving him what is referred to as ‘quality time’.

Surgery is one of the first lines of attack to treat brain cancer. Once that is complete, if you are lucky, the visible signs of the tumor will be gone. There may be, however, in advanced-stage tumors, tentacles that are remaining. They cannot be removed from the surface, they are like roots. So, if they remain, you will still have brain cancer and perhaps a new tumor.

In the U.S. other treatments can be used alone or in conjunction with surgery, namely chemotherapy and radiation. Severe side effects often result from these treatments. Nausea, vomiting, hair loss and weakness are the more common ailments. Additionally, the entire body is often weakened because both these treatments often suppress the immune system.

Although there have been gigantic strides made in other areas of medicine, there does not seem to be much of a glimmer of a solution for a cure to brain cancer. We seem to be moving at a snail’s pace in the U.S., and neither the government nor our health care institutions seem able to do anything about this.

Everything that can possibly be done to quicken the pace is being tried by Miles for Hope. It is critical that we devote as much time and money into this as possible, no matter where the cure comes from. There are clinical trials for a new vaccine that will help prevent recurrence and time-to-progression of brain tumors, and we are actively supporting this.

Tumor tissue banking is another area of research we are raising funds to assist. There is no mystery in what this is, it is what it sounds like. Pieces of patients’ tumors are sent to a specific location. Their genetic makeup is studied and categorized and various treatments are tried on them. It is time to ramp up the efforts for brain cancer – both breast cancer and prostate cancer have benefitted substantially from this type of research.

Using vaccines and tumor tissue banking will produce the individual treatments needed for individual cancers. Patients will then be able to have a targeted treatment regime. We can fight brain cancer best by understanding it more.

Author Bio: Bob Gibbs, co-founder of Miles For Hope, was diagnosed with a primary brain tumor on May 16, 2004. It is his intention that Miles for Hope and its supporters will not only find treatments but will someday find a cure for brain cancer. For more information, please visit Bob’s website at Miles For Hope.

Category: Cancer Survival
Keywords: brain cancer awareness,brain cancer treatment options,brain cancer treatments,brain cancer