The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-03-26, Page 471
HOPE 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
Take Care of My Body l been repaired naturally; after 10 to 15
Who Me? years, your.lungs will be as good as new. In -
I'm As Health As a Horse. cidentally, the cigarette smoker who has the
Yes. You. Even if your lifestyle is a habit of inhaling is unlikely to decrease his
healthy one, things can go wrong. Scorning risk by switching to cigars or a pipe; the in -
regular medical check-ups or failing to seek haling habit is too strong. Lung cancer has.
advice about even small irregularities in also been associated with other factors in
your body, does not prove you re a Super- the . workplace. Employees exposed to against cancer, we should most certainly
man: it could be fatal. It needn't be so. asbestos, chrome salts, nickel refining, coal have lost that war."
Many types of cancer can be prevented, and tar products and radio -active uranium have On June 13, 1943, The Act to establish the
you should also be able to recognize the ear- been found to have an above average risk of Otnario Cancer Treatment and Research
ly warning signs that cancer may be pre- developing the disease, especially so if they Foundation had been passed in the Ontario
sent. In most cases, if the disease is detected are smokers. Legislature but it was not until the war was mm W. Ham, Associate Professor of
COLORECTAL CANCER: Anatomy at the University of Toronto who
in its early stages, it can be cured. It really over that the Foundation really set about its
is up to you. The term "colorectal" refers to two parts work. .later became the distinguished Head of the
Th 1 the lower looked er the
Ontario Foundation...
• from page 1'5
ings on Ontario's treatment and research
facilities. The commission produced just
eight recommendations. but their effects
were far reaching and, 12 years later, they
provided the basis for a 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 i n cancer treatment.
The commission called for research
laboratories, the creation of a cancer in-
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 fighting the 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
cancer.
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
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 to the
Provincial Department of Health until this
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 them
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 $48,300 paid that year to
research workers, one grant went to Pro-
fessor E.F. Burton of the University of •
Toronto to advance his work using the
world's first electron microscope, which he.
had built at the university. This microscope
allowed researchers to get their first look at
genes and to explore suspected connections
between viruses and cancer.
Another grant went to Dr. Raymond C.
Parker and Marian C. Chapman of Con-
naught Medical Research Laboratories of
the University of Toronto for a study of the
propagation of mouse tumors in eggs and in
tissue culture. While he was working on this
project, Dr. Parker developed the tissue
culture later used by Dr. Jonas Salk when he
developed the famous Salk vaccine, which
made a major contribution to the conquest
of poliomyelitis.
Another of the first grants went to Dr. Ar -
of the large intestine. The on is When the directors _ov
_.�___ WfIAT l$ CANCER. ..._._ . __-. . = visio�wr B:lological Research at the --On-_
Cancer is not one disease. it's a general., 3 -to o heenrntestine,na'1�`heY�vitd-
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 forma 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 Bread 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 first sign 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 sn-ioke, 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
Foundation's
resources ui tario Cancer Institute. Dr. Ham was stiirdy—
large bowel. The rectum is the last 5 to 6 in- the cupboard almost bare. They decided to ing the effects of hormones on cancer in
cher at the end of the colon, leading to the launch a three-year fund-raising drive and,
outside of the body. in its first year, the drive brought in one mice.
What You Can Do: The causes of this type million dollars to conduct, as the legislation Professor Charles H. Best and other
of cancer have not all been determined. But called for, "a program of diagnosis, treat- research workers received one of the first'
a balanced, low-fat diet is a recommended ment and research in cancer." grants for a study of physiological and phar-
sensible precaution. Eating adequate With money in the bank, the Foundation macological substances on the growth of
amounts of green and yellow vegetables hatched a novel plan for the . operation of tumors. Dr. Best; of course, was the co -
each day, especially cabbage, cauliflower, cancer clinics in hospitals across the pro- discoverer, with Dr. Frederick Banting, of
broccoli or Brussel sprouts, and lots of foods vince. Clinics were not a new idea: over the insulin-
broccoli
Vitamin C and E may help pro- In addition, one of the recipients of this
previous decade, seven regional early research funding was Dr. Ivan H.
feet you against cancer in this area. centres had been established in hospitals Smith of the University of Western Ontario.
Many signs of colorectal cancer, are and communities across Ontario. Three of Dr. Smith went on to become the director of
similar to those caused by other intestinal these clinics were called institutes of the Ontario Cancer Foundation London
conditions. For example, bleeding from the radiotherapy. even, though facilities and Clinic and treated the first cancer patient
rectum, persistent indigestion, a change in equipment in most were rudimentary. The with a cobalt -60 beam therapy unit, the
bowel habits (persistent constipation or : Foundation's idea would upgrade the clinics "cobalt bomb".
diarrhea), vague, dull, or annoying ab- to separate facilities and combine in them
dominal pains may or may not be due to all the services needed to fight cancer - The productivity of this first group of
cancer. Therefore, -it's common sense to diagnosis, treatment by radiation and Foundation grants would be repeated over
report any - of these signs promptly to your research. and over through the years. Grants from the
doctor. If you are over 50, you should have The Foundation's first clinic was a pilot Foundation supported critical research into
an annual digital exam, where the doctor project and a new experiment in medical the concept of staging, which was the key to
carefully examines your rectum with a glov- organization. Opened in Kingston in March the modern management of Hodgkin's
ed finger. C-- 1947, a new wing of the Kingston General disease - a form of cancer now coming in -
PROSTATE CANCER: Hospital, it was named the Ontario Cancer creasingly under control. These grants also
More than half the men over age 50 in Foundation Kingston Clinic and was equip- aided research into the use of nitrogen
North America develop a growth in the pro- ped and staffed by the Foundation. It mustard, the first chemotherapy agent and
state gland, Fortunately, in most cases, it is became the model for six other clinics, the testing of vinca alkaloids, which Ion-
a benign growth and not cancer. The first in- which exist today in Hamilton, London, Ot- tributed so much to the development of
dication of something wrong may be a pain tawa, Thunder Bay, Toronto, and Windsor. chemotherapy.
in your lower back. You may feel pain while Later, parts of this model were incorporated
in the design of the Ontario Cancer Institute ,
Turn to page 17 •
Turn to page 17 •
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