HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News-Record, 1984-03-28, Page 40HOPE page 16
The office of the Huron County Unit of the Canadian Cancer
Society is located at 20 Isaac Street, Clinton.
Cancer facts for men
_T -else Care -of My Body t. _.___ _ _ _
Who Me?
I'm As Health As a Horse.
Yes. You. Even if your lifestyle is a
healthy one, things can go wrong. Scorning
regular medical check-ups or failing to seek
advice about even small irregularities in
your body, does not prove you're a Super-
man: it could be fatal. It needn't be so.
Many types of cancer can be prevented, and
you should also be able to recognize the ear-
ly warning signs that cancer may be pre-
sent. In most cases, if the disease is detected
in its early .stages, it can be cured. It really
as up to your -_ ..._ .._ _.__ .•..___ . LL
WHAT IS CANCER?
Cancer is not one disease. It's a general
term for a group of diseases in which some
cells of the body go out of control, growing
and increasing in number. When cells grow
out of control and form a mass, this is called
a tumor. Not all tumors however, are
cancerous; most are "benign" and do not
threaten life. Another important
characteristic of cancer cells is that they
can spread to other parts of the body.
Following are descriptions of common
cancers for men, how to spot a potential pro-
blem and, in some cases, how to avoid the
risk of developing a cancer, altogether.
LUNG CANCER:
This has the dubious distinction of being
the league leader in cancer deaths for men.
If trends continue, it will soon lead off for
women too.
Often the firstsign is a . chronic cough,
which may cause blood to appear in the
sputum. Increasing amounts of mucus may
develop. Fever, and occasionally Chest
pains, may be experienced also. Success in
treating lung cancer depends on the'type of
tumor and the stage at which it is first
detected. However, lung cancer is not easily
treated. Prevention should be the goal.
What You Can Do: In nine out of ten cases
of lung cancer, cigarette smoking is the
cause. If you smoke, the remedy is simple:
quit. Now! It's never too late. Research has
shown that after two or three years, most of
the damage to the ex -smoker's lungs has
been _.repaired.- .aturally.;._. after 10 to _ 15
years, your lungs will be as good as new. >„i --
cidentally, the cigarette smoker who has the
habit of inhaling is unlikely to decrease his
risk by switching to cigars or a pipe; the in-
haling habit is too strong. Lung cancer has,
also been associated with other factors in
the workplace. Employees exposed to
asbestos, chrome salts, nickel refining, coal
tar products and radio -active uranium have
been found to havean above average risk of
developing the disease, especially so if they
are smokers.
. COLORECTAL CANCER:
The -term "colorectal" -refers to -two -WAS..;
of the large intestine. The colon is the lower
5 to 6 feet of intestine, sometimes called the
large bowel. The rectum is the last 5 to 6 in-
ches at the end of the colon, leading to the
outside of the body.
What You Can Do: The causes of this type
of cancer have not all been determined. But
a balanced, low-fat diet is a recommended
sensible precaution. Eating adequate
amounts of green and yellow vegetables
each day, especially cabbage, cauliflower,
broccoli or brussel sprouts, and lots of foods
containing Vitamin C and E may help pro-
tect you against cancer in this area. -
Many signs of colorectal cancer are
similar to those caused by other intestinal
conditions. For example, bleeding from the
rectum, persistent indigestion, a change in
bowel habits • (persistent constipation or
diarrhea), vague, dull, or annoying ab-
dominal pains may or may not be due to
cancer. Therefore, it's common senseto
report any of these signs promptly to your
doctor. If you are over 50, you should have
an annual digital exam, where the doctor
carefully examines your rectum with a glov-
ed finger.
PROSTATE CANCER:
More than half the men over age 50 in
` 'North America develop a growth in the pro --
state gland. Fortunately, in most cases, it is
a benign growth and not cancer. The first in-
dication of something wrong may be a pain
in your lower back. You may feel pain while.
Ontario Foundati�n...
• from page 15
ings on Ontario's treatment and research
facilities. The commission produced just
eight recommendations 'brut their effects
were_ _furreaching--and� 12years later-, they
pr vded a basis,, fora system of cancer
`control developed under -the Ontario Cancer
Treatment and Research Foundation.
In short, the commission recommended
that the provincial government buy radium
and establish a plant to produce radon the
radioactive gas given off by radium, which
was an effective agent in cancer treatment.
The commission called for research
laboratories, -the creation of a cancer --iii-
stitute and the establishment of cancer
clinics in Ontario. It also called for the
education of the public in ways to prevent
cancer.
The government listened: soon they
reached a 10 -year agreement with the
hospitals throughout the province under
which they would . provide supplies of
radium and help them to establish cancer
clinics.
MODERN CANCER
TREATMENT BEGINS
In the six years from 1939 to 1945, 41,992
Canadians died fightingthe Second World
War. In those same six years, 80,000 Cana-
dians died of cancer. While the nation was
spending $19 billion to fight that world war,
it was spending only $5 million to battle
....cancel:.._______
As Dr. Gordon Richards, head of the
Foundation, told an audience at Queen's
University after the war, "...had we carried
on our fight in the actual war in the same
haphazard and ineffectual manner as we
have done and continue °to do in the fight
against cancer, we should most certainly
have lost that war."
On June 13, 1943, The Act to establish the
Otnario Cancer Treatment and Research
Foundation had been passed in the Ontario
Legislature but it was not until the war was
over that the Foundation really set about its
work: :__ —
When the new directors looked over the
Foundation's resources in 1946, they found
the cupboard almost bare. They decided to
launch a three-year ,fund-raising drive and,
in its first year, the drive brought in one
million dollars to conduct, as the legislation
called for, "a program of diagnosis, treat-
ment and research in cancer."
With money in the, bank, the Foundation
hatched a novel plan' for the operation of
cancer clinics in hospitals across the pro-
vince. Clinics were not a new idea: over the
previous decade, seven regional treatment
centres had been established in hospitals
and communities across Ontario. Three of
these clinics were called institutes of
radiotherapy even though facilities and
equipment in most were ;rudimentary. The
Foundation's -idea would upgrade the clinics
to separate facilities and combine in them
all the services needed to fight cancer -
diagnosis, treatment by radiation and
research.
The Foundation's first clinic was a pilot
project and a new experiment in medical
organization. Opened in Kingston in March
1947, a. new wing of the Kingston General
Hospital, it was named the Ontario Cancer
Foundation Kingston Clinic and was equip-
ped and" staffed' by the Foundation. It
became the model for six other clinics,
which exist today in Hamilton, London, Ot-
tawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Windsor.
Later, parts of this model were incorporated
in the design of the Ontario Cancer Institute
Turn to page 17 •
in Toronto.
From the 1940s, the Foundation took
responsibility for all the aspects of cancer
control set out in the Act except the recor-
ding, reporting and statistical bookkeeping
of cancer records. That task was left vo'the
Provincial Ikpartrreat of -Health untilthis
function was transferred to the Foundation
in 1970. The Foundation always had close
ties with the Ontario Division of the Cana-
dian Cancer Society which carried out
public education programs. As well, it was
linked through its own professional training
programs to the universities -throughout the
_province._.. _ _
ONTARIO CONTRIBUTES
TO CANCER RESEARCH
At its inception, the Foundation asked the
University of Toronto, Queen's University
and the University of Western Ontario to br-
ing to its attention research projects with a
bearing on cancer. Later, these universities
were invited to apply for assistance and, in
1945, the first research grants were awarded
by the Foundation.
Out of a total of $448,300 paid that year to
research workers, one grant went to Pro-
fessor E.F. Burton of the University of
Toronto to advance his work using the
world's first electron microscope, which he
had built at the university. This microscope
allowed researchers to get their first look at
genes and to explore suspected connections
between viruses and cancer.
_Another -grant. went to -Dr: -Raymond --G: __.-.-
Parker and Marian C. Chapman of Con-
naught Medical Research Laboratories of.
the University of Toronto for a study of the
propagation of mouse tumors in eggs and in
tissue culture. While he was working on this
project, Dr. Parker developed the tissue
culture later used by Dr. Jonas Salk when he
developed the famous Salk vaccine, which
made a major contribution to the conquest
of poliomyelitis.
Another of the first grants went to Dr. Ar-
thur W. Ham, Associate Professor of
Anatomy a.theyUniversity of Toronto who
later became the listing fished Head -of the
Division of Biological Research at the On-
tario Cancer Institute. Dr. Ham was study-
ing the effects of hormones on cancer in
mice.
Professor Charles H. Best and other
research workers received one of the first
grants for a study of physiological and phar-
macological substances on the growth of
tumors. Dr. Best, of course, was the co -
discoverer, with Dr. Frederick Banting, of
insulin.
In addition, one of the recipients of this
early research funding was Dr. Ivan H.
Smith of the University of Western Ontario.
Dr. Smith went on to become the director of
the Ontario Cancer Foundation London
Clinic and treated the first cancer patient
with a cobalt -60 beam therapy unit, the
"cobalt bomb".
The productivity of this first group of
Foundation grants would be repeated over
and over through the years. Grants from the
Foundation supported critical research into
the concept of staging, which was the key, to
the modern management of Hodgkin's
disease - a form of cancer now coming in-
creasingly under control. These grants also
aided research into the use of nitrogen
mustard, the first cn'einotherapy agent and
the testing of vinca alkaloids, which con-
tributed so much to the development of
chemotherapy.
Turn to page 17 •
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