Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog

     My last blog was entitled, "My Annual Donation Request."  To date, that blog posting has received the fewest number of hits since I began blogging in December of 2012.  It's no surprise.  The title gave me away, letting readers know that I was asking for money.  I understand.  I'm not sure I would read some sob story which knowingly would end with a link for me to make a donation.  Regardless, I shamelessly let everyone know that my family and I were, again, participating in the Cycle for Survival fund raiser this past Saturday.        Look at this room jammed with 100 spin cycles!  Each cycle had a rider on it for four hours straight.  The music was loud and the instructors, (on the elevated cycles to the left,) were energizing.      Scanning the room as I rode, I was brought to tears.  Most riders were there because a loved one died of cancer or is currently battling the dise...

On Saturday, February 21st, my family and I will again be participating in Cycle for Survival , a fund raising event for research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This fund raiser was started by a woman, Jennifer Linn, and her husband, David.  Jennifer was diagnosed with a rare type of sarcoma in 2004 and died in 2011.  She was an avid spin cycler and together with David they created an incredible fund raiser to support research for rare cancers at MSKCC.   My family and I came to learn about this fund raiser because David is a relative of my sister-in-law, Debbie, and my brother-in-law, Bob, is a close friend of David's uncle.  (It's a family thing...)  In any case, Bob rallied our family to participate in this fund raiser shortly after I was found to have metastatic lung cancer.   This event raises money for research into rare cancers.  Lung cancer is the most common cancer.  However, cancer researchers and scientists now s...

I need your help. There are newly proposed FDA regulations requiring approval for "lab developed tests", (LDTs).   Although these regulations will apply to all LDTs,  I'm particularly concerned because these regulations could have significant consequences for cancer patients.  Approval of LDTs can take years. I fear that those of us with advanced cancer will die waiting for the approval of tests that have already been validated; proven to be accurate, sensitive and specific. These regulations will put the brakes on breakthrough testing which leads to new treatments and potential cures.  I am alive only because of new science and the testing and treatments that have followed.  These regulations would be a huge step BACKWARDS.  I know , one day, my medication will stop working and I will need testing  to guide my doctors in a new treatment direction.  I will need this testing  quickly and, potentially, would not be able to get ...