By Michael G. Tenszen,

Cancer Cure

Just two words-typed into the "search" line on Google-will illicit an incredible nine million sources of "information." It's all there: Herbs can cure cancer. Meditation can cure cancer. Swimming can cure cancer. 

Michelle Arbuckle, patient education librarian at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital, displays one of her library’s award-winning “Oncology Interactive” presentations about breast cancer. The library is open to patients, their families, medical personnel, or anyone who visits.

There is really "no such thing" as cancer. Go to Mexico for help. Do this. Do that.
It is no surprise to Barbara Whylie that there is this global glut of information (and mis-information) on the Internet, and elsewhere, about the world's most insidious, deadly disease.
Doctor Whylie says the Internet has given us "tremendous access to wonderful resources-but also some not-so-good resources as well."

"Cancer is a very, very common condition. One in three Canadians will develop cancer in their lifetimes. It is also a very frightening condition." And, unfortunately, "it is highly unlikely that there ever will be a silver bullet (a single cure) that is going to be the answer to everything. It is highly unlikely. The reason is that cancer is just not one disease, it is many, many diseases, and even within the 200 odd breakdowns (types) we have for cancers we have right now, there are many different cellular mechanism involved. We are learning more and more about it. We are fast coming to the point where, for many people, cancer can be managed."

In a wide-ranging recent interview with Toronto Times, Dr. Whylie said there is still no "silver bullet" to shoot down the disease. "We have won many battles-we are still nowhere near able to declare victory in the war."

Dr. Whylie, a medical doctor, is one of Canada's leading advocates for cancer control. The native of northern Ireland, she was recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Cancer Society and also CEO of the society's research partner, the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

She readily admits that she was quite unaware-when she took over as one of Canada's top generals in the cancer war-"of the overwhelming nature of this disease. Its frequency. It is huge."
In Canada alone, there were about 145,500 new cases of cancer diagnosed in 2004, she said. (In the United States, there were 1,368,030 new cases in 2004, Jennifer Eaby, media relations official with the American Cancer Society, told the Toronto Times.)

In Canada, as in most counties-despite having won many battles, improving diagnosis, treatment and research-the fact of being faced with an aging population means that there will soon be an incredible growth in the number of cancer cases.

Dr. Whylie bluntly calls it "a freight train coming down the track."
(The head of the society and research institute was also refreshingly explicit and frank in her answers to key, written inquiries prepared by the Toronto Times. That question and answer exchange is a sidebar to this story and is printed here.)

In the interview with Dr. Whylie, she stated that there is a crying need in Canada for a National Strategy for Cancer Control. That strategy would be a "game plan to make sure that Canadians everywhere in the country have access to cancer services that take full advantage of what we know and learned through research over the years."

She pointed out that such a strategy would cost Canada only $50 million in each year of the next five years and would mean that "fewer Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer, fewer will die from cancer and those that have cancer will suffer less."

Dr. Whylie contends that-if a national strategy was implemented over the next 30 years-we would prevent 1.2 million Canadians from developing cancer; 423,000 Canadians from dying; save $39 billion in direct health-care costs; save $34 billion in tax revenues; and save $101 billion in wage productivity."

In the meantime, the top and most trusted Internet site for anyone dealing with cancer in Canada-those seeking tested information-would be www.cancer.ca. The phone number in the greater Toronto area is 1-888-939-333. In the United States, a good start is www.cancer.org. That's the American Cancer Society site.

Two of the front-line soldiers in Dr. Whylie's cancer war are individuals who are on duty over at Princess Margaret Hospital on University Avenue in Toronto.
One of them is Lea Jamnicky, a clinical urology nurse; the other is Michelle Arbuckle, the hospital's patient education librarian.

Jamnicky is directly involved with the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, two chilling words that make men cringe. About one in eight men in Canada will, at some time, be diagnosed with the disease, she said. Many men fear the "finger" test by a physician. So, they may neglect to take the simple test that could save their lives. "They are foolish and they are killing themselves," said Jamnicky in an interview. "If you have it (detection) early you do very well. It's a silent cancer…at lot of men don't have symptoms.

The 'digital rectal" exam is "routine," she notes. It causes less discomfort than drawing blood, which is the (ancillary) test for the disease in the prostate. "When you think about having a digital rectal and saving your life, it's a very small consequence," Ms. Jamnicky told Toronto Times. "It's the same relation as women having a mammogram. That's not exactly comfortable either. But, again, it yields results."

The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that's just below the bladder. It produces fluid that nourishes sperm. A simple cell misfires and the gland goes cancerous and enlarges. (It also enlarges with age.)
Her suggestion is that men get their prostate tested every year. "Absolutely." She adds that when men hit the age of 40-and have some history of prostate cancer in the family-they'd be foolish not to be tested. (Fifty is the key age for the yearly tests to start if there's no history.)
But the clinical nurse said it doesn't hurt to be tested at any age.

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of Canadian men dying of cancer, Ms. Jamnicky points out. "It's the number one diagnosed, and the number two in deaths. That hasn't changed."
Jamnicky is the co-author, along with Toronto urologist, Dr. Robert Nam, of the brisk-selling book, "So You Are Having Prostate Surgery?" It retails for $22.95 in soft cover and is written in lay person's terms.

"Princess Margaret Hospital." To some people, these words-like the word cancer-also can also be chilling. But the downtown Toronto facility is a bright, modern, upbeat and lively place where there are as many smiles as frowns. Perhap more.  And, the hospital has many dedicated people. Folks like Michelle Arbuckle, the hospital's librarian in charge of patient education. Besides the tons of printed materials, Arbuckle's library offers an incredible array of computer "interactive" materials, including the award-winning cancer education software called "Oncology Interactive." The titles are: bladder, BMT, brain, breast, cervical, colorectal, Hodgkin's, hypopharynx, larynx, leukemia, lip and mouth, lung, melanoma, nasopharynx, non-Hodgkin's, oropharynx, ovarian, pancreatic, paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity, prostate, salivary glands, sarcoma and thyroid.

Arbuckle said the hospital also offers 15 patient and family resource centres that are strategically located in the clinic waiting areas throughout the hospital. "We point people in the right direction," she said. Princess Margaret calls itself "Canada's premier cancer care centre," and is mainly an outpatient facility with only just over 100 beds for patients. It deals in chemotherapy, radiation and research.
The main misconception about cancer, harboured by many anguished people coming to Princess Margaret Hospital, "is that they are going to die," revealed Arbuckle.
Huh? Aren't they? "No,'' Arbuckle explains. "A whole area of cancer right now is survivorship. Survivors are becoming more and more prevalent among the patient base. People think that it is the end of the world. We have more and more people beating the disease; being cured, or just living longer with it."

Another misconception of many people whose lives are touched by the killer disease "is that all answers are on the internet," noted Arbuckle in a recent interview. "Google is great but it can't do everything. It can not be used as a be all and end all." "Alternative medicine" is another area of concern that this librarian must deal with. "People want you to say that vitamin C will cure them," she said. "We point them toward Web sites that talk about vitamin C. We can also refer them to a dietician in the area or in the hospital."

At a troubling time with cancer patients and their families may be searching for answers-or may not wish to accept the answers they are given-Princess Margaret's library is aware of those in the fraudulent treatment or "cure" business.

"There a number of Web sites out there that keep track of what they call 'quacks'. It's a 'quack watch' type of thing. Some of them sound really legitimate. You just have to do a little bit of digging. Anyone with a computer can make their own Web site now. They can make you believe anything."
One thing that everyone in Canada can, and must, believe about cancer, said Dr. Barbara Whylie, is that this nation is the verge of a "cancer epidemic" because of our aging population. "Cancer is poised to strike the large baby-boom generation."

In repeating her demand for a coast-to-coast-to-coast cancer action plan, she concluded that "we must act now to prevent a national disgrace."