The job description might read something like this: “Looking for someone 24/7 with the patience of a saint, the wisdom of the Dali Lama, the goodness of Mother Teresa, and the ability to find the humor in the most difficult of situations. Must be fluent in the language of love.” How many of us will…
PHOTOS: On April 14, 2019, Ruthie Zeidman, pictured above with father Ken, will host a community-wide program with Dr. Brian Druker on cancer. Right, On May 15, 2012, the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland and Mittleman Jewish Community Center presented “The End of Cancer is within Reach, An Evening with Dr. Brian Druker.” From left:…
“Your Jewish Genes,” a free program presenting information on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, will be presented on April 9 from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. Women of Ashkenazi (central or eastern European Jewish) descent have higher risks of developing many cancers due to a higher incidence of inherited…
Lynda Falkenstein: “Ignorance is definitely not bliss” In 2000 Dr. Lynda Falkenstein was diagnosed with breast cancer as her mother was dying of ovarian cancer 25 years after she survived breast cancer. Knowing that a long list of relatives had died from ovarian cancer, Falkenstein says she realized “my cancer could not be random ……
Before Becky Johnson developed thyroid cancer, she said she didn’t even know where her thyroid was. Doctors told her that her symptoms were the result of menopause after tests showed her thyroid hormone levels fell into the very broad “normal range.” But in 2009, 10 years after she first complained of symptoms, she finally persuaded…
Cancer patients frequently complain of overwhelming fatigue during treatment. For decades, the medical community recommended patients save their strength and rest during the course of treatment. But when personal trainer Laura Rosencrantz watched her active grandfather Leonard Schnitzer grow weaker each day as he succumbed to lung cancer, she started to question that conventional wisdom….
Dr. Brian Druker graduated medical school determined to find a better way. Despite debilitating chemotherapy and dangerous bone marrow transplants, life expectancy for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia patients remained three to five years. Everything changed when Druker pioneered the first targeted cancer treatment, a medicine called Gleevec. Now, a pill with minimal side effects gives most…
