Oct 12, 2001

In This Issue:
Life Expectancy Increases, New Class of Drugs, National Efforts, Medical Errors, Courage Award Winners, and ACOR.org After Sept 11

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THE LATEST NEWS

Congressional Overhaul Of National Cancer Effort Recommended

Americans Enjoy New Record Life Expectancies

New Class of Drugs Kills Colon Cancer Cells

cancerpage updates the news throughout the day, Monday through Friday, and adds late-breaking stories on holidays and weekends.

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COURAGE AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The Oncology Nursing Society, the Cancer Care organization, InTouch magazine and the biotechnology company Amgen created The Courage Awards to recognize the hope of cancer patients. A committee of cancer leaders selected 12 people whose stories are published by InTouch magazine throughout 2001 --and we show their stories here:

http://cancerpage.matria.com/CourageAwards/default.htm

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KEY CANCER GROUP HAS URGENT NEED IN NEW YORK

Last week, this newsletter reported on the ASSOCIATION OF CANCER ONLINE RESOURCES --ACOR. The organization serves 70,211 cancer patients and caregivers who subscribe to 100 cancer-specific email groups. The founder of the nonprofit organization, Gilles Frydman and his family live 5 blocks south of the World Trade Center and when he and his wife saw the second plane hit the tower, they ran for their lives, leaving everything turned on. They got to safety, but before they were allowed to return home, the key computers housing the ACOR system suffered electrical failure as well as lots of dust after the September 11th attack. This nonprofit organization has not had any real fund-raising effort in 8 years of operation, because Gilles and his wife donated what funds were needed over time. ACOR has operated through the energy of over 100 volunteers and does not have paid staff, yet they process over 1.8 million emails a week directing critical info throughout the cancer world. Suddenly the organization needs funds to replace most of their computers. Gilles told cancerpage today that it will cost about $44,000 to replace all the computers damaged by the September 11 incident. For further information, you can write to them at ACOR; 173 Duane St; Suite 3A; New York, NY 10013-3334. To join one of their cancer email lists, see www.acor.org.

If you choose to help ACOR, you may want to check out their federal IRS forms through Guidestar, which also processes online donations without a handling charge.

http://www.guidestar.org/helping/donate.adp?ein=13-3918116.

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THE RIBBON PROJECT AND BREAST CANCER

The Ribbon Project was begun by cancerpage last year for the benefit of everyone touched by breast cancer. It is our hope that, by bringing people together in this project, that hope and comfort are shared by all. Since it began, over 5,000 people have "signed" the online ribbon.

http://cancerpage.matria.com/Ribbon/default.asp