A young man battling cancer was granted a wish from his bucket list and that wish was to meet Bryan Cranston, star of “Breaking Bad.” Brad Joyner, 19, has a form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma. Though the survival rate for this type of cancer isn’t great, the Mebane, North Carolina teen hasn’t lost hope.

He recently said he knows the survival rate is low for his type of cancer but he has strong faith and is determined to live. Together with his mom, Aimee Pettigrew, he made a “living list” of things he wants to do in his lifetime.

One of those things was meeting Bryan Cranston. Joyner realized that wish last weekend when he spent 30 minutes on a Skype video chat with the star of “Breaking Bad.”

To top off the once-in-a-lifetime experience, Cranston ordered an ice cream truck in his name to visit Joyner’s neighborhood. Everyone got to indulge in the treats Cranston sent, according to Pettigrew’s Facebook page.

The meeting was a dream come true. Joyner said Cranston was awesome. He asked the actor if he had a living list. Joyner learned that Cranston is an adventure seeker who shares his joy of living.

The teen had been trying to finagle a meeting with actor for some time. Using social media and an ad campaign that included the catch phrase #BreakingBad designed to hopefully capture Cranston’s attention; Joyner got people to post pictures of themselves holding up signs of the hashtag. It definitely generated a buzz.

The online community took hold of the campaign and ran with it. Through friends of friends, the meeting was arranged by Pettigrew> when the meeting was set, she broke the news to her son.

Joyner has scratched off a couple of other items from the list including swimming with sharks and driving a 1967 Mustang. Neither compares with meeting Cranston.

The wonders of the 3-D printer are just beginning to populate the common consciousness and for one 12-year-old boy, the fantastical invention is changing his life.

Minghao of China learned about two months ago that he had Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer usually discovered in children. There was a tumor lodged on the second vertebra of his spine. The usual treatment for this is bine replacement using a titanium tube. Minghao’s doctors decided to try something different.

Using the research and technology developed by the 3-D printer, the doctors at Beijing’s Peking University Third Hospital fabricated an exact replica of Minghao’s vertebra. When it is implanted surgically, they will be able to forego the usual surgical screws or cement. This will allow the boy to recover more quickly. Better still is the fact that the procedure will leave him with a greater range of motion in his neck that the previously used type of procedure would have. This is accomplished because the piece of replacement bone is made from titanium powder and has tiny pores throughout its design that will allow the child’s future bone growth to bond with it.

Minghao underwent the 5-hour procedure in August. It makes him the first recipient of a vertebra created by a 3-D printer.

Others have been helped by the ever-expanding technology surrounding 3-D printers. An Ohio baby’s life was saved in 2013 when it received an airway printed on the device. The implant corrected a birth defect that caused the infant’s airway to collapse several times, cutting off his supply of oxygen and on occasion, stopping his heart.

Minghao is expected to make a full and speedy recovery, thanks to the new vertebra and the out-of-the-box thinking by his doctors.

Alison Miller enjoyed a passionate24-year marriage to Chuck Dearing. When he was suddenly taken from her by cancer last spring, her world came to an abrupt end. Honoring his last wishes, she has embarked on a journey to celebrate him and the love they shared.

In 2009, the couple decided to pack it all in and live out the rest of their lives on an adventure. They sold their New Jersey Home and all of their possessions to embark on the journey of a lifetime. They left the “rat race” behind and spent four years touring the country, staying only at inexpensive motels and military bases. Chuck’s status as a vet earned them that privilege. They nicknamed themselves as the “Happily Homeless.”
While on a stop in southern California on March 27, 2013, the couple learned that Chuck’s cancer, which he had been treated for back 2011, had returned. Chuck died from it just four weeks later.

Alison told her “Handsome Husband” before he died that she would honor his life by continuing their travels. He asked her to revisit some of the spots they had loved most and to scatter his ashes there. He also asked her not to wear the official mourning color of black. “It isn’t your color,” he’d said. Instead he asked her to wear pink. She agreed and promised to paint her car pink so he could always find her on the road. He promised he’d be watching for her.

She and two of her children drove to Arizona where she got a new car and had it painted pink. She drove it across country to New Jersey for Chuck’s memorial service. Along the way, the car did what Alison had hoped. It drew people to her, people who talked to her and kept her from feeling isolated.

She couldn’t face traveling the way they had in the past, it was too painful a reminder of his loss. Instead, she bought a camper to tow behind her car and had it painted a matching shade of pink. It had been Chuck’s dream to travel in an RV but Alison had vetoed the idea. Now she felt she owed it to him and she set out on her journey, “The Pink Magic Odyssey of scattering her “Handsome Husband’s” cremains in our favorite spots around the country.”

She set out on December 1, accompanied for the first leg of the trip by her fireman son, Nick. In Key West, her first stop, she and Nick carried out a small ritual on a secluded stretch of beach. Each of the couple’s children will be accompanying her on different parts of the trip.

As the 1-year anniversary of Chuck’s death loomed, Alison continued to blog on “Happily Homeless” about her new existence without the man she loved. A touching celebration will take place on an Arizona mountain top on April 21, the anniversary of Chuck’s passing.

This week, 5 year old Claire Lankford from Texas saw her biggest dream come true thanks to support from her entire community. Lankford has a rare form of cancer that is difficult to treat and has a relatively survival rate, despite that she has a very positive and upbeat attitude according to doctors and her parents. Fortunately today she got another big boost to her attitude by becoming a princess for the day, and the entire community came out to support her.

Lankford was dressed in her favorite princess gown and the street was lined with boys and girls that came out to dress up as well. The entire community cheered and applauded for her as she rode through town on her very own horse drawn carriage. Lankford’s mother was overwhelmed with emotions and made it clear just how happy she was to see this kind of support for her daughter. This is definitely a very heartwarming story that shows just how much of an impact a small community can have when they get together to support one of their own. Lankford’s cancer treatment is still ongoing, but she is happy knowing that today she was very much a real princess.

 

Chemotherapy is currently the most commonly used cancer fighting medicine on the market. Unfortunately there are a number of side effects and problems that make it less than appealing but there isn’t much most doctors can do beside us it on their cancer patients. Fortunately this week a study shows that one very simple vitamin can have a significant impact on the effectiveness and can essentially reduce the length of treatment required.

The biggest problem with chemotherapy is that it can and does kill cells that are not cancerous, fortunately according to the study vitamin C helps the treatment specifically target bad cancer cells. Doctors are incredibly happy with the results showing that vitamin C treatments helped and are planning to begin using it as a standard part of the treatment in many cases. More studies are being conducted to determine exactly why vitamin C does what it does, they’re also working to determine whether or not any other vitamins could be just as effective.

As a whole this is great news and will likely revolutionize the cancer treatment industry. Multiple follow up studies are being conducted and will likely yield even more positive results.

 

Garth Callaghan has been battling cancer since 2011 He first learned he had prostate cancer in November of 2011. He was diagnosed with kidney cancer twice more after that. According to his oncologist, he is going to die from it. That hasn’t stopped him from trying to be the best father he can be.

The 44-year-old father will probably not live to see his daughter, Emma, graduate from high school. Hois prognosis is 90% that he will pass away within the next five years. In order to make sure Emma has a little piece of him in her life every day, he is on a mission to make 800 napkin notes for all her future lunches.
It’s something he has done for her every day since she was in second grade. The notes contains quotes, words of inspiration or messages of love. For example, one note reads, “Dear Emma, Sometimes when I need a miracle, I look in to your eyes and realize I’ve already created one. Love, Dad.”

Not wanting to end the practice and knowing what it will mean to her, Garth plans to make 826 such notes to cover the four and a half years’ worth of lunches she will eat between now and her graduation from high school. He wants them ready in case he can’t be around to do it on a daily basis.

He is hoping his efforts won’t go unnoticed with other parents too. He believes it is important to make a daily connection with your kids and this is such a simple and heartfelt way to do it. So far, Garth has 740 napkins done with only 86 left to write out. What a remarkable message of love.

A number of drugs that are currently used to treat diabetes has been going through studies and trials recently to determine if they have any additional medical value and according to a report released this week it looks like they might just be the next big thing in cancer treatment. The drugs are all very similar in the way they work and while they’re approved for use, the FDA keeps very tight restrictions on their usage for patients. Due to a number of preliminary studies many medical experts felt that these drugs could have an impact on cancer risk and now they’ve concluded that the drugs do in fact lower the risk of developing cancer in women.

Essentially according to doctors the drugs increase the body’s sensitivity to insulin which can reduce the risk for diabetes, since diabetes is often followed by cancer they believed this could have an impact on cancer development. After months of studies the reports concluded that the drugs did in fact have a measurable impact on cancer rates in women. Obviously it’ll be quite a while before anything like this could become a real, usable treatment, but many doctors are hopeful that this is a step in the right direction for cancer testing.

 

The Make-A-Wish Foundation and the citizens of San Francisco made 5-year-old cancer survivor, Miles’ wish come true – he got to be Batkid for a day and rescue slews of citizens from iconic Batman villains.
The northern Californian kid is in remission from leukemia and had the foundation if he could become Batman. He was expecting to receive a costume on Thursday evening. But when Friday morning arrived, he discovered his request had gone a bit farther.

Josh deBerge, the organization’s national communications manager and the people of the “City by the Bay” had transformed the city into a modern day Gotham City. Not only did he get a kid-sized costume but he was accompanied on a day long adventure of crime fighting by an actor in a Batman costume. The wish included ‘Batman’ driving the duo around in a sports car emblazoned with the Batman logo.

The first rescue was of a young lady sitting on a cable car track. Tied to her back was a green plastic canister. The setup had all the earmarks of the Joker. Batkid arrived, ran onto a springboard and landed on a cushioned landing pad before racing over to the woman and “defusing” the Joker’s device. As the woman hugged her hero in thanks, hundreds of spectators cheered.

Next, Batkid stopped the Riddler from robbing a bank. The San Francisco police were on hand to put the Riddler into the paddy wagon. This stunt was contributed to by U.S. Justice Department which issued a fake criminal indictment for the villain.

The finale came when a flash mob revealed that the Penguin had kidnapped Lou Seal, the San Francisco Giants’ baseball mascot. Batkid pursued and captured the Penguin at Giants’ ballpark. On the park’s Jumbotron, the city’s chief of police displayed a message inviting Batkid to accept the key to the city from the mayor.

Volunteers were requested to appear as jubilant citizens at the city hall ceremony and more 12,000 people turned out, sheering wildly when Miles arrived.
More than 12,000 people signed up to greet Batkid at City Hall, and the throng of fans cheered wildly when he arrived.

The event was followed around the global via Twitter where me3ssages poured in throughout the day. Celebrities including the Harlem Globetrotters, Michelle Malkin, Olympic champion Kristi Yamaguchi and even President Obama sent messages.

deBerge says Make-A-Wish gets 14,000 wish requests each year and the superhero one is very popular. Miles’ wish was made possible because of the outpouring of support they received with some volunteers travelling cross country to participate. He knew that Miles, whom he’d met prior to Friday’s wish, would be excited and saw it as wonderful way for his family to celebrate his remission.

This week the largest medical testing company in the United States officially announced that they are going to begin offering breast cancer testing to the public using a radical new gene analysis method. The test is not new or particularly complicated and it is already used in some fashion by a few other companies but by adding in another testing company many doctors believe that the cost of breast cancer testing will likely go down dramatically.

Essentially the test analysis multiple genes found in a person’s DNA in order to detect abnormalities or strange occurrences that could develop into breast cancer. Doctors are quick to note that this is not a definitive test but it does in fact show whether a person is high risk or not for developing breast cancer. The good news is that because multiple companies will now be offering this preliminary screening the cost of the actual test will likely go down dramatically due to competition. Regardless of the price this is absolutely great news because millions of Americans will be able to get at least a glimpse of their genetic stance when it comes to breast cancer. No matter the results doctors encourage regular checkups, but this is still a good way to determine a person’s risk for breast cancer.

 

Breast cancer is one of the leading killers in much of the world, it is also the cancer that generally received the most research funding and as such doctors are hopeful there will be a treatment available soon. Well an FDA announcement this week definitely shows that some very positive progress has been made in that regard. According to the FDA, multiple patients that have been given a new drug in a trial run have shown very promising results.

This is absolutely amazing news because it is really the only step towards a successful treatment in the recent future. The drug was designed to be used as a treatment prior to surgery, making it the least invasive option and the results according to doctors were phenomenal. In the multiple trial patients across the United States the new drug was used prior to any type of surgery and it was found that the drug reduced tumor size by a noticeable amount. This is a big accomplishment according to doctors because it greatly reduces to damage when surgery is needed, plus it helps the body recover faster.

At this point the drug is obviously still experimental but doctors are hopeful that this FDA study will lead to more treatments soon. Many doctors are hopeful that a larger study will be conducted sometime this year.