Then she went to the Philippines on a church mission and went through a life-changing experience. Today Todra is a hardworking advocate for non-toxic cosmetics and the small brands that make them. You can find great recommendations on her website, HealthyBeautySocial.com. We spoke with Todra to find out just what changed her mind about beauty products, and what she feels is important for women’s health today.

Changed by a Child

“I’m not a kid person,” Todra says, “but when I went on a mission to the Philippines with my church, I ended up working at the orphanage.” She laughs and says she tried to fix the mix-up, but there was nothing for it. The orphanage was to be her place of work for the 2-3 weeks she was there.

“I realized really quickly that these children were different,” she says. “I had brought some crackers with me from the airport, and this little girl just kept staring at me, so I gave them to her. Her face lit up and she was like, ‘Are you sure, ma’am?’ I told her of course, to enjoy them, so she got ready to eat them and it was like someone stopped the record. All the children in the courtyard turned and stared at her, like, ‘Look what she’s got!’ I mean, these kids eat rice and bananas every day. The little girl looked around at all their faces, and then she took that small package of crackers—they were like Nutter Butters or something—and broke them all into little pieces and held her hand out so all the other kids could have a taste. I was crying!”

That was just one of the many moving moments Todra experienced on her mission, and when she came back to the United States, she wasn’t the same person anymore. “I was miserable,” she said. “I started thinking about all the people that were really poor and going through so much, and I felt my life was really extravagant, frivolous and silly.”

A Spiritual Journey

Looking for something spiritual and grounding, Todra turned to yoga, and found that her practice gradually broadened her desire for a cleaner, healthier life. “I realized I was consumed with so many things that have very little relevance,” she says. “Bit by bit changes started happening.” Todra took the junk food and sweets out of her diet and started feeling more energy and vitality. “What other natural things can I do?” she asked herself. “What other things are more in line with who I’m becoming?”

Natural Works Just as Well

As a makeup artist, Todra often receives free products from various brands to try in her profession. “Someone sent me a mineral makeup,” she says, “and I remember thinking, ‘What’s the difference?’” Her thoughts turned to the thousands of dollars worth of makeup she had in her professional kits. What was in them? Slowly, she began to separate herself from the flashy marketing, the celebrity glitz, and the design of the products, and began to read the ingredient lists.

“At first I had no idea what I was reading,” she says, but over time she began to research each chemical, even calling cosmetic representatives and researchers. Her blog, which she originally used to update people on her makeup projects, soon became a place to tell readers about safer alternatives. “I found small companies making amazing products, but they were not featured in major magazines like Vogue. I tried them, and realized these were good products—they just weren’t as well known.”

A Better Alternative

Todra became friends with the representatives from the natural cosmetic brands, and soon it was inevitable that she would end up helping them get the word out. Her website, HealthyBeautySocial.com, does just that, providing a forum where women can talk to women—and direct to the manufacturers—about safer alternatives.

Todra and her team screen the brands before allowing them to create pages on the site. Once the brands have established their presence, site visitors may ask questions about products and ingredients, and sometimes even make requests for customized items.

“We wanted the members of Healthy Beauty Social to be able to talk directly to these brand owners,” Todra says. “I love it because I see the heart these manufacturers put into their products,” she says, “and I like their products!”

As for her own journey, Todra says there’s no looking back. Today she continues to be careful what she eats, to use beauty products “without junk” inside them, and to work toward a satisfying exercise program. “I really notice a difference in how I feel,” she says, “and I love it when I tell someone my age and they go, ‘No! Really?’ I think a big part of that is just taking care of myself.”

If you’d like more information on Todra’s recommended products, see her website HealthyBeautySocial.com.

Q: What is the O & N Collective?

A: O & N stands for “organic and natural,” which is just the type of products we provide on our site. When our customers shop from us, they can rest assured that what they’re buying is free of toxic ingredients like sulfates, parabens, and phthalates; is cruelty free and not tested on animals; and does not contain some by-product or other ingredient that’s not listed on the label. I do the work for our shoppers, researching these companies, requiring proof of the ingredients, checking for organic certification, looking to see if they’re aligned with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, and being sure they’re committed to sustainable business practices. We have only nine brands approved on our site so far, which shows you how stringent we are in our requirements.

Q: Why are you so passionate about safe products?

A: A few years ago I was diagnosed with colitis. I had to make changes in the way I was eating, and in my nutrition. I also have a sister and brother with auto-immune diseases, and together we began to realize how we all needed to do more to protect ourselves from chemicals and toxic environments. I spoke to a naturopath and she told me about reducing my exposure to gluten through personal care products. I had an “aha” moment and thought, “If there’s gluten in some of my personal care products, what else is there that may not be good for me?” I had already shifted to cleaner, safer, and more ‘”green” household and cleaning products. Personal care was the next step.

Q: Why did you start O & N?

A: I’ve always been a beauty junkie. I tried everything under the sun when I was younger. The minute I started doing my research to find out what was actually going into skin and personal care products, it’s like I went down a rabbit hole. I discovered there’s virtually no regulation on these products to make sure they’re safe. I realized I needed to launch a space where I could do the work for shoppers, so they could rest easy knowing someone was watching out for them. At the same time, they know that what they buy is going to work, and that it will be safe and okay to use. O & N started from there.

Q: Have you had any experience with cancer?

A: My cousin was diagnosed with colon cancer three years ago. I sent Britta’s new book (When Cancer Hits) to him and his wife and it helped them both a lot. I also had someone close to me diagnosed with breast cancer, and I was very involved as a caretaker. I shared everything I learned as I researched products for O & N, and in October a percentage of our sales went to the Breast Cancer Fund.

Q: What is your own personal balanced living philosophy?

A: The most important thing for me is to live in the “now.” So many of us struggle with living in the past or allowing past circumstances to mold our decision-making process or influence the way we live. We struggle between that dimension and the future—worrying so much about what’s going to happen or what’s going to be. We miss out on the beauty and the amazing moments happening right now, and we don’t get that back. When I find myself drifting away from the present, I use aromatherapy to calm and soothe, or I’ll just find a place to be silent. I think being silent is an incredibly powerful tool for bringing yourself back to earth. There’s so much noise and information in the world that just being silent and present is very grounding.

Q: What do you enjoy most about working with O & N?

A: In an industry where you’re promoting optimal health, you have a more intimate relationship with your customers. Our customers open up to me about their health issues or the trouble they’re having with their skin or other problems. It’s very unique and special. I believe you have to raise the bar on customer service when you’re dealing with people’s health. People trust me with their safety, and I’m passionate about making sure the brands we have are safe for them.

I invite you to check out Michelle’s site (the O & N Collective) and try out some of her products. Let me know what you think!

Susan comes from a family with three generations of breast cancer survivors, and went through a double mastectomy because she carries the cancer gene. A victim of a disease called “Alopecia Universalis,” she lost all her hair years ago, and has experienced first-hand the difficulty of dealing with the “stares and hurtful comments” she received.

“After my initial period of adjustment,” she says, “I began to explore the options for women who experience medical hair loss.” Susan went on to design the unique “BeauBeau” scarf and establish her own business. 4women.com now helps women and young girls to cope with the emotional upheaval of medical hair loss by providing appearance solutions and by advocating for greater awareness of the issue.

Just how much can losing her hair affect a woman’s outlook? Studies have shown that feelings range from depression to embarrassment to a complete loss of self, with some of these effects lasting even after the hair grows back. I know that personally, my hair is part of who I am, and that it helps me feel confident and feminine. When I lost my hair during cancer treatments, it was extremely difficult for me, and to this day I baby it and care for it to be sure it sticks around!

Susan’s research appeared in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing (Volume 15, Number 3), which details the difficulties facing patients who have to cope with hair loss. More specifically, the article talks about the fear surrounding upcoming hair loss, and how that can be even worse than the actual hair loss itself. Learning coping techniques before the changes occur in one’s appearance—called “anticipatory coping”—can go a long way in helping a woman to take control of her life and her survival.

“Anticipatory coping,” the authors state, “defined as the process of anticipation and preparation for an altered appearance…may play a key role in helping women to not just cope, but to rise above the assault to their self-image and self-esteem posed by sudden hair loss.”

The article goes on to detail the results of Susan’s online survey of over 1,300 women who were cancer survivors, were currently going through cancer treatments, or who had just been diagnosed. Susan wanted to find out how these women coped, and what they found to be helpful. Over three hundred women responded, and what they revealed was that having a sense of control over their changing appearance was extremely important.

“We survive by not just feeling in control, but by actually being in control,” one respondent wrote. “There are many choices out there, every woman needs access to and to know all their choices so they can choose for themselves.”

“During this period of uncertainty and fear, being able to grasp even the smallest sense of control is very empowering,” another added.

Susan also discovered that many cancer survivors were not getting the support they needed from their nurses, doctors, or cancer centers. “My surgeon knew no resources and yelled at me for bothering him…” one respondent wrote. Others said their healthcare professionals did help provide additional assistance, but that there still seemed to be a “disconnect” between “those treating the disease and those focused on healing the patient.”

What I gather from my experience and from Susan’s research is this—we must take control of our own cancer journeys. We just can’t expect the doctors, nurses, or even our stylists to do it for us. One of the best questions that Susan asked in her survey was how respondents would advise other women to take control of their appearance changes. Here are some tips from them, along with a few from me.

• Get a short haircut before you start chemo.
• Shave your head (or make an appointment to have it done) once you start losing your hair. (It’s much easier than picking up clumps off your pillow every morning—trust me! Plus this way, you decide when it happens.)
• Take care of your scalp. You’ll find it’s probably very sensitive once the hair is gone. I give you several tips for scalp care here.
• Take time to find your own post-hair-loss style. I recommend you get a wig before you lose your hair, so you can most closely match style and color, but you may also want to consider scarves (like Susan’s beaubeau), hats, and even going bald, if you feel like it.
• Never feel badly about your emotions surrounding hair loss. Many women feel just like you do. Accept your feelings and do what you need to do to help yourself feel more confident, feminine, and in control of your life. No excuses, no apologies!

Have you experienced hair loss as a result of cancer treatments? Please share your tips for coping.

If you’ve just been diagnosed with breast cancer and you’re looking for answers, I’ve found a new place where you can go. It’s called “Talk About Health,” and it’s an excellent online resource for anyone touched by cancer.

The organization was founded by Murray Jones. Murray, curiously, has an engineering background, but after talking to him a little while, I could definitely understand why he started this project. In fact, our stories are quite similar, in that we both were caretakers for our fathers, and that experience changed our lives.

Caring for a Father Changes a Son

“My father is a melanoma survivor and I was a caregiver for him,” Murray said. “He had to go through surgery and chemotherapy, and everyone in my family wanted to help, but we had no one to talk to. We had no idea what to do.”

Murray says the experience was one of the most difficult in his life. He tried to educate himself and to seek out helpful resources, but found the process often daunting and frustrating. “It took me years to educate myself on what the issues were, what the possibilities were, and what could be done, and I’m still learning.”

At high risk for melanoma himself because of his family history, Murray grew determined to change things. “I wanted to help,” he says. “I figured there had to be a better way for people to find information and to get personalized support.”

The Beginnings of Talk About Health

Talk About Health isn’t another “cancer forum” where people just talk about their experiences. Rather, it’s a question and answer community that pairs any question with the right person to answer it.

“It’s less about having a conversation and more about providing answers,” Murray says. “We’re creating a database of knowledge that will improve over time.”

Who provides the answers? Serious experts. We’re talking leading hospital surgeons, oncologists, and other medical professionals; university scientific researchers; financial advisors; legal professionals; career and employment experts; psychiatrists; masters of public health; real cancer survivors; yoga experts; and many more—all volunteering their expertise for online members.

“We give people several different perspectives so they can understand,” Murray says. For example, if you ask a question on breast cancer surgery, Talk About Health may pair you up with a surgeon, a counselor, and a survivor who’s been through that surgery. Information from all three is likely to help you understand the issue from various points of view. Staff members continually organize and moderate the content so that other visitors may also benefit.

A Growing Service 

In the next five years, Murray hopes to see Talk About Health expand. Right now the site focuses on breast cancer, but he says an ovarian cancer sister site is already in the works.

“I hope to empower people to decide how they would like to be communicated with, who they’d like to meet, and the timing of each step,” Murray said.

Best of all? It’s free. All you have to do is sign up with your email, name, password, and status (patient, survivor, or caregiver). The organization also gives regular online workshops where guests take questions from members. I’m actually going to be giving one of these workshops on Friday November 4, 2011.

In the meantime, if you’d like to try Talk About Health, click on their website below, sign up, and ask your question. Or, you may find an answer is already there.

“No one else out there is combining physician and patient input and organizing it in a way that’s easy to find,” Murray said. “We’re doing that. We’re providing real answers. We don’t want you to feel alone.”

If you’d like to ask your question at Talk About Health, click here, and let me know what you think!

Here’s just a sampling of what you’ll find on the new site:

New Cinco Vidas Blog: Same great information, new look!

New CV Media Page: Read about my new book, as well as Cinco Vidas e-books teleseminars, webinars, and upcoming live events.

New Toxic Truth Page: Find out what ingredients are potentially dangerous not only in your personal care products, but in food, your home, and the environment.

New Video Page: I’m excited to be producing regular videos on topics such as safe personal care products, making difficult transitions on the cancer journey, and keeping yourself healthy. Check back regularly for new videos.

New Skin Care Clinic: Are you suffering with a skin condition like eczema, psoriasis, or chemo skin? Check out this new page—I have all sorts of great information and resources to help you.

New “Share Your Story” Page: If you read my new About Page, you’ll see that I’ve shared more of my life story with you. I’m hoping you’ll return the favor and share your challenges and triumphs!

New Resources: If you need to find a reputable wig salon or oncology esthetician near you, check out my new directories for listings. We also have a list of alternative therapy clinics and organic spas.

I really want to hear what you all think of the new site, so please, take a moment when you can and look it over, then respond to this post with your comments. We built this site for you, and we want your feedback!

Check out my new site by navigating the top menu, and let me know what you think!

My good friend and colleague Morag Currin recently told me about a wonderful program in Colorado. I couldn’t wait to share it with Cinco Vidas readers.

If you happen to be planning a wedding and your life has been touched by breast cancer, you could win the wedding of your dreams, completely free of charge! Cheryl Ungar, professional wedding photographer and founder of the non-profit organization “Cheryl Ungar Gives,” was diagnosed with breast cancer as a young woman. Today, 20 years a survivor, she has devised a way to give back to the cancer community that meant so much to her—by donating a dream wedding to one special couple a year.

She started it all in 2010, gathering vendors willing to donate their services and opening the door to submissions. In August, Melissa and Jeff were chosen as the winners, Melissa having recently survived breast cancer herself with Jeff’s enduring support. Eight months later, the couple enjoyed a gorgeous $30,000 wedding in Vail, Colorado, complete with wedding planner, venue, wedding cake, flowers, music, and everything else you’d expect—at absolutely no cost to them.

“The Wedding Pink is a wedding givaway,” wrote Melissa following the event, “but it has proven to be so much more than that. As Jeff and I started meeting Cheryl and the other vendors, we quickly realized that the people involved were our angels. Absolutely everyone we met was so caring and willing to help, out of the goodness of their hearts. I believe Jeff and I have made lifelong friends from this event.”

After enduring chemotherapy and grueling surgeries, Melissa felt particularly blessed to win The Wedding Pink. It took the financial burden off her and Jeff’s shoulders, freeing them and their families to just enjoy the experience. “Cancer takes a toll on the patient, but it is also a huge burden for the friends and family members involved,” Melissa wrote. “The Wedding Pink was really a gift to everyone who knows me.”

Cheryl loved the experience as well, and told Channel 7, KMGH-TV in Denver that Jeff and Melissa’s wedding “is as much of a gift to me as it is a gift to them.” She took many pictures, posted several on her website, and now is excited about the second wedding giveaway already underway. Severel vendors have already signed on, and plans are for the 2012 event to be held in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

“If you happen to know an engaged or soon-to-be engaged couple whose lives have been recently touched by breast cancer,” Cheryl says on her site, “please forward the information along.”

Submissions are open between July 1–August 15, 2011. Simply go to Cheryl’s submissions page for more information on how to enter. And remember—though the bride-to-be may be the one touched by cancer, submissions are also open for those couples where the groom or the extended family were the ones who experienced it. As Cheryl says, the wedding giveaways are meant to do something nice for those who have experienced a difficult time with this disease in their lives.

“Next year’s wedding will not disappoint,” Cheryl writes. “We are in the process of securing an amazing team of vendors.”

Will you try to win the Wedding Pink? If you enter, keep us posted! See Cheryl’s website at Cheryl Ungar Gives.

Photo courtesy Cheryl Ungar Gives.

When you’re going through cancer treatments, cleaning the house is the last thing you want to do. Not only do you lack the energy, but the fumes from common household cleansers may make you nauseated, say nothing of the potential harm from some of the toxic ingredients. One study showed that women who used typical cleaning products were up to 110 more likely to develop breast cancer than those who rarely used them!

On the other hand, having a clean house while you’re going through treatments is critical. After all, your immune system is down and you’ve probably never been more at risk from germs.

Friends and family may be willing to help, but most likely they’ll want to clean their way, which may mean using products you’re not comfortable with. What’s the solution?

Well, you could ask them to use non-toxic cleansers and they might oblige, but if you live in New Jersey, you may have a better option—an organization called CanswerLink that provides free monthly non-toxic house cleaning to all cancer patients.

Doesn’t matter if you’re a man, woman, or child, or if you are going through chemotherapy, radiation, recovering from surgery, or coming home for hospice due to cancer, CanswerLink will come in and take care of the cleaning. “When a patient is diagnosed with cancer and the priorities shift,” says their website, “housecleaning can often be the last thing on the mind. We believe that a clean home has an emotional affect that lifts the patient’s spirits and renews the patient’s mental health, crucial steps in total mind and body recovery.”

Founded by Vici Prodromitis and Donna Sandvig—both of whom have had people close to them hit by cancer—CanswerLink currently operates in several counties in New Jersey, including Warren, Hunterdon, Somerset, Mercer, Union, Morris, Middlesex, Monmouth, Essex, Sussex, and Bergen. The vision is for the organization to continue to expand until its services are available in every state in the nation, and the invitation is out for other cleaning organizations and even individuals to start CanswerLink chapters in their hometowns.

I was so excited to hear about this organization. It’s such a great idea, and can be of such help to so many individuals and their families. What’s extra fantastic is that they believe in using non-toxic cleaning products, to avoid introducing any additional damaging chemicals into the home environments of people who are especially susceptible to them.

“CanswerLink believes that only non-toxic cleaning products should be used in everyone’s homes,” says their website. “By using only non-toxic products we can help to protect other family members from being exposed to toxins that may contribute to the development of certain cancers.”

If you believe like I do that an organization like this deserves your support, please take a moment right now to make a donation to their cause. If you want to go further and start a chapter in your area, you’ll find instructions at the same link. And if you know someone in the Jersey area that could use their help, don’t hesitate to contact them!

Have you had an experience with CanswerLink? Please share your story.

Photo courtesy CanswerLink.org.

Morag Currin, author of Oncoloy Esthetics, Practioner's Guide

If you’re going through cancer treatments, you’re probably craving a massage, a light facial, or some other restoring spa treatment. Something to help you relax and de-stress, right? But you know you need to find a therapist experienced with cancer patients, and sometimes that’s easier said than done.

One woman has set out to change that.

“It’s very important to have specific training in oncology esthetics if you’re going to work with cancer fighters and survivors,” says Morag Currin, La, CMLT, and pioneer of the Clinical Oncology Esthetics (COE) certification for licensed estheticians. “Why would you work on someone if you don’t know what the disease is about? Even if you’re intent is good, you may touch them or massage them in the wrong way. You might not know what a port is, or how to respond to hair loss. You must know what you’re doing from a safety perspective.”

We’ve spoken about the benefits of massage in former posts. Though many cancer centers and wellness spas now provide massages, facials, reflexology, and other spa treatments to help relieve pain and calm anxiety, many still lack therapists who are truly knowledgeable.

“In countries like South Africa and Australia,” says Morag, “estheticians go to school for two-to-four years. In North America, esthetic education is very poor. But the industry is growing in a number of different ways. We have new medical spas these days, and we have studies showing the benefits of spa treatments for cancer patients. Demand is rising, and there is a very real interest in additional education from a liability aspect.”

Indeed, if an esthetician performs a procedure on a cancer patient and causes harm, he could be at risk of a law suit. Further, as more and more people with cancer and other medical conditions seek alternative treatments, estheticians are finding themselves unprepared. Most of all, however, Morag says that many therapists out there have a great desire to help, and want to know how to do it right.

“I’ve had an amazing response,” she says, regarding her oncology esthetics awareness training. “People write to me and tell me that they’ve been looking for this type of training for a long time. These are people who are called to the healing path, and have a deep desire to touch and to restore. Some are nurses working in hospitals or medical spas, who want to move from working just with equipment to direct contact with patients. There’s a compassion driving them, as it drives me.”

Challenged with a hearing disability, Morag admits to being “in tune” with others suffering from disabilities and disease, and understands their fight to overcome and get on with life. “In my trainings, I’ve had survivors tell their stories, and they get very emotional. I stand behind them, stroke them, and tell them to wait, to refrain from talking for a moment, and I move on to the next person. When they’re ready, they speak, and then they know they’ve been heard.”

If you feel you’ve been called to work in this field, or if you are an esthetician wishing to increase your knowledge of oncology massage and other treatments, you owe it to yourself to register for Morag’s training course. You’ll gain an understanding of cancer, cancer therapies, and the lymphatic system, and receive invaluable instruction in oncology massage, infection control, product choices, treatments and equipment safe for cancer patients and much more. You’ll emerge with a certification that will give you a greater sense of confidence in your abilities, and your customers a greater sense of trust in you.

“Something inside them is saying, ‘I want to touch and I want to heal,’” says Morag. Will you heed that call?

To register for Morag’s course or for more information, please visit her website.

“We would finish a landscape project for someone,” Nathan says, “and we’d be cleaning up when they would come home and see the pond or the fountain or whatever we had done for them, and nine times out of ten they’d drop everything to focus on this new space and just be with their families and with nature. Instantly, all their cares were gone.”

Curious, Nathan researched the effect of water and nature on healing, and found “there’s an actual link to the sights and sounds of water and the release of chemicals in the body that act as stress relievers.” He dug into the subject a little more and found that medical communities have started incorporating water into their environments, from artwork on building walls to peace-promoting landscaping around treatment areas. However, he found that most of these spaces weren’t maximizing the potential benefits. “It was more about aesthetics and not enough about how it could really help people to relax.”

Meanwhile, Nathan’s good friend, Bill, was going through cancer. Diagnosed with leukemia only three weeks after losing his 24-year-old son to brain cancer, Bill was fighting hard, and experiencing the usual ups and downs of treatment. “He needed something to take his mind off what he was going through,” Nathan says. Why not a pond in his own back yard? “I wanted to give him a spot where he could just go and be.”

After Bill’s enthusiastic response to the completed project, Nathan started thinking about other cancer patients. “I felt I was being called to find a way to provide this for other people,” he said. A few handwritten notes and a couple meetings later, Nathan had started a foundation called River of Hope. “We had a 30-minute TV show produced and aired on the four-year anniversary of Bill’s diagnosis. From there we started working on ways to keep building.”

Unfortunately, while River of Hope continued to grow, Bill contracted a serious infection, from which he never recovered. A few weeks before passing away, he encouraged Nathan to hang onto his dream. “He told me—‘You have to keep doing this. It’s the only thing that gave me peace in my last few weeks.’”

Bill’s words encouraged Nathan to work even harder providing natural retreats for cancer patients. So far, he’s planning six new projects in his hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and hopes to eventually expand from residential areas to community parks that incorporate nature, water, and other forms of integrative medicine. “We want to raise awareness about this disease,” Nathan says, “and how it affects not just patients, but everyone in their lives—families, friends, and communities.”

Nathan says he’s found it particularly rewarding how, even after a cancer patient has passed away, the family still gathers around the ponds and fountains to share memories and quiet moments. “I would go over to see how things were going and they would just be sitting out there talking about memories, using it as a gathering place for their own healing. It’s just so powerful. It goes beyond what I ever thought it could be. For the patients, it’s a way to escape and reflect on what they’re going through. For the families, it’s a way to connect.”

If you have someone you think would benefit from one of Nathan’s landscape retreats, please visit his website and submit a nomination. There is no charge to the patient as the landscaping is supported through Nathan’s fundraising efforts and from corporate and personal donations and partnerships. You can also donate through his website here.

“My ultimate goal is to encourage more people to go out and find ways to help support quality of life for those who are going through cancer. There are so many ways people can help others in their communities.”

Have you found water and nature to be helpful in your cancer journey? Please share your story.

Written by Rick Smith and Bruce Lourie, two environmental advocates from Canada, the book chronicles the authors’ experiences when they took matters into their own hands and exposed themselves to products we all use on a daily basis. Choosing themselves for guinea pigs, they spent a week in a condo, surrounded with typical sources of contaminants like personal-care products, canned foods, and stain-resistant clothing and furniture. Then they conducted blood and urine tests to find out the effects on their bodies.

At the April 6 webinar, Rick Smith (also Executive Director of Environmental Defense in Canada) will read from the book and discuss with Campaign for Safe Cosmetics representatives the chemicals found in products like hand soap, toothpastes, deodorants, and of course, rubber ducks. He’ll go over the findings from his and Bruce’s experiments, and will offer tips for how you can protect yourself, your family, and the environment.

If you have a phone and a computer with Internet access and want to learn more about this topic from someone who’s truly experienced it, go to this site and sign up. You’ll receive the call-in info and URL via an e-mail message.

“Using a variety of test methods,” says Colleen Mondor of The Booklist, “the authors determined individual ‘body burdens,’ or the toxic chemical load we carry. The legacy of our chemically addicted society is not just all around us, but also inside us and it is killing us.”

If you attend this webinar, please write in and let us know what you think!

According to the F.A.C.T. website, four of these people had been diagnosed with cancer, and the fifth with a severe case of Lyme disease. All have outlived their diseases, between 15 and nearly 40 years so far. They are part of a group of survivors who sought guidance from Ruth Sackman, past-president of F.A.C.T., and her book, Rethinking Cancer, published in 2003.

Amazon reviewer Gordon Ledford says of that book, “Traditional medicine offers three choices: Surgery (I had 57 “places” removed before I said, ‘Enough is enough!’); Chemotherapy (who really benefits from a destroyed immune system?); and Radiation (which actually CAUSES cancer). I highly recommend this book plus The China Study by Collin Campbell. These two books have changed my life for the better. I am healthy once again, I have more energy than when I was in my 30′s, I sleep better (the body heals, primarily, during restful sleep), and I enjoy life with no fear of cancer any longer.”

Another reviewer from Maryland agrees: “Ruth Sackman is among this century’s most diligent and authentic health pioneers swimming against the tide to get the word out that cancer is a degenerative disease at whose root is a sick immune system that just said, ‘OK, I quit.’”

Sackman doesn’t strive to go against the advice of physicians. In fact, she advises readers to work with a qualified doctor to manage their illness, but to include nutritional and immune-boosting therapies. The new documentary takes alternative therapies a step further, examining the lives of those who sought out other ways of dealing with their illnesses, some after conventional therapies failed, and some after surgery or diagnosis. It includes an interview with Sackman, as well as disscussions with two physicians (one an oncologist) about the results experienced by the people documented. Types of cancer covered include renal cell carcinoma, breast cancer, and bone and lymph cancer.

What is F.A.C.T.? According to their site, a non-profit organization that supports non-toxic, biologically sound approaches to cancer prevention and treatment. “F.A.C.T.’s goal is to educate practitioners and patients about a different concept of cancer and other chronic degenerative disease in the hope that the public will gain an understanding of all viable medical options.” Sackman co-founded the organization after watching her daughter suffer through chemotherapy and eventually succumb to leukemia, and spent nearly 40 years of her life helping cancer patients return to healthy lives. F.A.C.T. advocates a balanced diet of whole, preferably organic foods, detoxification, hormonal balance, stress management, and optimal functioning of all body organs and glands.

The choices these people made may not be for everyone, but they do get you thinking. “Our goal is really to educate the public about alternative cancer treatments,” said F.A.C.T. vice president Jim Oakar. “We want to be a hub of information for people seeking other methods.”

“I’m not anti-medicine,” adds Dr. Sheryl Leventhal, a former New York oncologist featured on the film. “I try to get to the roots of problems and fix the roots.”

If you’re interested in watching this film, you can get it at Food Matters TV.

Have you seen this film? What did you think?

For Meaghan Edelstein, the answers are “keep fighting” and “reach out to help others.” Diagnosed with stage 3B cervical cancer in February 2007, she wasn’t given much hope for survival. For two months prior, doctors insisted her symptoms were caused by stress. When they finally realized what was going on, they thought it was too late.

“After dragging herself to the emergency room and having a CT scan performed,” says Meaghan’s boyfriend, Bryan Power, “they basically told her, ‘Call your friends and family. You have cervical cancer.’ They didn’t expect her to survive.”

Fortunately, Meaghan was accepted into the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. “They saved her life,” Bryan says. “You could see they actually cared.”

After a grueling period of treatment and surgeries, Meaghan is recovering. According to Bryan and many of her friends and family, it’s a miracle. “She seems almost normal now, physically,” Bryan says. “They can’t claim she’s cancer free yet, but she has come a long way.”

Despite her long battle, Meaghan finished law school and passed the bar exam. After treatment, however, she no longer wanted to be a lawyer. She blogged about her experience and began connecting with other cancer fighters and survivors. She realized many needed help they weren’t getting, so she created a new organization called “Spirit Jump.” The mission? Raise the spirits of men, women, and children battling cancer.

“This is a program that connects those in need to those who want to help,” Bryan says. “If someone has cancer or some other debilitating disease, they can go to our website and sign up as a ‘jumpee.’ If someone wants to help, they can sign up as a ‘jumper.’ There are no mandatory requirements. We simply give people a way to help other people, and the response has been fantastic!”

Spirit Jump sends out regular e-mails detailing the stories of registered jumpees. Jumpers respond as they wish. Most send cards, and some even create homemade gifts. The point is to let fighters know that someone cares.

“When I was going through treatment,” Meaghan says, “the things that got me through were the cards, flowers, and little gifts people would send. Cancer can be a really lonely experience. I was lucky in that I had family and friends to support me, but many people don’t have that. I wanted to change that.”

To increase it’s outreach, Spirit Jump started a new program called “Cards 4 Cancer” day, scheduled to occur on April 10th.

Meaghan and Bryan

“People are collecting uplifting cards and will deliver them to cancer centers around the world,” Bryan says. “We thought it would be a great way to reach out on a bigger scale.”

Bryan was right. Already over 800 have signed up for the day. Many are putting teams together and having card-making parties, with several planning on delivering hundreds of cards! Participants in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland, England, Brazil, and more are planning to help, with many schools getting in on the act. (You can see pictures of some of the cards on Facebook.) Bryan says he and Meaghan never expected such a large response, but they’re excited and plan to continue the event in the future.

“The magic of this is that people can put the time into it, then really see the impact of their efforts,” Bryan says. “We’re not just tossing money into some unseen pot.”

Meaghan agrees. “My experience gave me a gift, really,” she says. “I’m now able to relate to and touch a lot of other people because of it. I want to inspire others to fight, and to never give up. So many doctors wouldn’t listen to me when I was having symptoms, and when they finally diagnosed me they gave me little hope. Through Spirit Jump and Cards 4 Cancer day, we want to tell people—don’t give up. People care. We care.”

If you want to participate in Cards 4 Cancer day on April 10, please go to Cards4Cancer.org.

Heidi Floyd, breast-cancer survivor, and her son, Noah.

Breast cancer was in her family. Her mother had passed away when she was only in her 40s. So she knew she was at risk—but she never expected to be diagnosed while she was pregnant.

Her name is Heidi Floyd, and today she serves as Breast Cancer Development Ambassador for the Very Bradley Foundation, traveling the nation raising money for breast cancer research. But when she was diagnosed, she was working in IT sales, and didn’t know where to turn. “The first oncologist I spoke to didn’t know how to treat a pregnant patient,” she says. “He told me my options were to terminate the pregnancy, or carry the baby to term while not addressing the cancer.”

Heidi’s cancer was aggressive, and growing fast. An “estrogen-fed” tumor, it was actually thriving in the estrogen-rich environment of her pregnant body. To not treat it would leave her with low odds of survival—and potentially leave her unborn baby (and three beautiful daughters) without a mother. Fortunately, Heidi was working for a company who had just made a large donation to the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center, where researchers study the latest in breast cancer treatment. Heidi’s boss recommended she get in touch with the center.

“My other doctors had been in tears talking to me, as they didn’t know what to do,” Heidi says. “This oncologist was calm. He had treated dozens of pregnant women before. He reassured me that while treatment would be difficult for me, it would not be as difficult for my baby. He showed me other children he had helped take care of. They were healthy. They were fine. I had hope!”

Heidi started treatment, with a baby growing in her belly. As the doctor said, it was difficult. She couldn’t take anti-nausea medications, or drugs to help stabilize her white blood count, as these would be harmful to the fetus. “I would always get chemo on Friday, and then Monday I would go in for an ultrasound. They checked my baby constantly.”

Meanwhile, Heidi worked full time for Vera Bradley. “The women there were with me during my whole treatment. They sat with me, held my hand, made meals for my family. It’s a very rare company. They don’t just say they care, they really do.”

Noah, Heidi’s son, was taken by C-section a month premature. Heidi desperately needed radiation, and no kind of radiation is safe for the fetus. Fortunately, the baby was fine. “His immune system was compromised, because mine was compromised,” Heidi says, “so I wasn’t able to be with him for the first few days. It seemed far too long!” After the birth, Heidi went through additional surgeries, including a partial mastectomy. When asked how she made it through it all, she credits her son, and her faith. “I had something really worth fighting for in my mind—my unborn baby. Plus, my faith kept me going. I’m a Christian person, and I realized I, personally, could do nothing about this situation. I had to turn it over to God, and to the doctors, whom I trusted, and let it ride.”

For other women facing similar challenges, Heidi emphasizes the importance of finding a doctor with whom you can feel comfortable. “You’re basically handing this person your life,” she says, “and asking them to fix it. You have to be positive and strong as you fight through this—so you have to have someone you feel has your back. I met a woman in California who had to go through 4 doctors before she found one who would treat her while she was pregnant. Not all doctors are on the same level. You have to feel comfortable and trust your instincts. Everything depends on it.”

Today, Noah is a happy and healthy 4-year-old little boy. In August of 2010, Heidi will have reached her 5-year mark. She no longer works in the IT sales department, but at the request of her boss, is one of three people who promotes the Vera Bradley Foundation for breast cancer research. “Our money goes to research, period,” she says. “The Vera Bradley Corporation supports services for breast cancer patients, but the foundation strictly supports research.”

Heidi finds great satisfaction in her work now, as she can offer women hope. “So many times, when fundraising, we’re talking about loss. How someone lost their mother, their grandmother, their daughter. I’m able to offer a different perspective, as my battle resulted not only in my life being saved, but the life of my son. This little boy is here because of the research we have supported. He is the outcome.”

What would Heidi tell other moms diagnosed with cancer? “You’re stronger than you think you are. Don’t be afraid. This is the best time in your life to prove that someone else is more important than you are. If you’re fighting for the baby, great. If you’re fighting for someone in the family, great. Fight for someone, and don’t stop.”

To learn more about the Vera Bradley Foundation, go to their website. To learn more about Heidi, her family, and her fight against breast cancer, see “On the Road with the Vera Bradley Foundation.”

“There’s a lot of time with nothing to do,” said Yolanda Toth, adult recreation center director at Sloan Kettering. “After you’ve counted all the holes in the ceiling of your room…and watched enough television, you’re pretty bored. And then you start thinking—what’s going to happen to me?”

Fortunately, Sloan Kettering has a place “where everybody knows your name,” so to speak, but there’s no alcohol involved. Called the “Cancer Lounge,” or recreation center, it’s where cancer patients can go to enjoy themselves for awhile, and forget about everything they’re going through. Pool, poker, pottery, and several other leisure-time activities go on here, all to give patients a place where they can talk to each other and feel at home.

“It’s enjoyable here,” said Mr. Gugliotta, a chemical engineer from Long Island. “And it’s where you can talk about what’s inside you, because it’s inside everyone here.”

The idea is catching on, though probably slower than most cancer patients would like. It’s called “recreational therapy,” and basically means that activities such as games, arts and crafts, music, social interactions, humor, even learning new things can all help a cancer patient feel more in control of his/her life situation. “By giving patients opportunities to create, laugh, and play,” says dukehealth.org, “the program puts a sense of choice and control back in their hands.” A study by the National Cancer Institute, in fact, is currently examining how well animal-assisted therapy and recreational therapy works in relieving distress in cancer patients undergoing treatment for pain.

The NIH Clinical Center also offers recreational therapy, including programs on relaxation, personal fitness, animal-assisted therapy, healthy cooking, arts and crafts, yoga and meditation, and skin care and makeup. But unfortunately, not enough medical centers have comparable areas where cancer patients can go to just relax and be themselves. Many researchers and recreational therapists are trying to change that.

“Recreational therapists are in a position to capitalize on the free and expressive nature of leisure-based interventions to facilitate spiritual growth and development that may aid in recovery from illness,” says Dr. Diane Groff, Assistant Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In Dr. Groff’s research with breast cancer patients, she writes, “Many women spoke of how having opportunities to be creative during recreation therapy was an important step in beginning a new healthy life.”

If you find yourself enduring long hospital stays as part of your cancer treatment, consider taking part in whatever recreational therapies the facility offers. Ask your doctors, nurses, and oncologists for recommendations. If there is no current recreational therapy program at your medical center, consider changing to another medical center, or engaging in a recreational plan of your own. Ask friends and family to bring in materials for crafts you may be interested in, take lessons with a teacher to learn a new musical instrument or creative skill, or request a deck of cards or video game. Even when you’re in the hospital, if you can find a way to enjoy some of the time spent there, you’re more likely to get better, faster.

Does your medical center have a robust recreational therapy program? Let us know.

Photo courtesy meddygarnet via Flickr.com.

In addition to some of the other brands we’ve mentioned in this post (including Burt’s Bees, Jason Natural Products, and Avalon Organics), we’ve come upon a new player in the game with a healthy hand of good sense.

“I’ve always had a bad feeling about putting something on my face that contained synthetic fragrances, lots of alcohols or a compound that there is no explanation for,” says Michael Lamb, co-founder of jeune d’âge organics. “We put this company together so we could offer a better solution to people concerned about chemicals.”

“When I turned 50,” says Michael’s business partner, Daniel DeLave, “I knew I wasn’t going to get any younger, and I started looking for antioxidants in a skin care product. When I found some halfway decent products, they were going to cost me more than I was willing to spend. A guy is not going to spend over $200 a month.”

Finding a gap in the market for affordable, natural skin care that would have real anti-aging effects, Mike and Daniel started researching ingredients. “We wanted antioxidants,” Daniel says, “but we wanted organic and natural ingredients, not these chemicals we couldn’t even pronounce. So we narrowed down our ingredient list and went to a lab and said, ‘This is what we want.’”

“I have suffered from minor skin irritations for years,” says Mike, “I didn’t want alcohols in the formulas, I didn’t want parabens, and I didn’t want artificial fragrances.” When his dad started battling skin cancer, Mike was even more determined that his skin-care line would contain no potentially damaging ingredients.

Launched earlier this year, jeune d’âge (young of age) boasts a complete line of natural/organic skin care (with ingredients transparently listed and explained on their web site), including a cleanser with rooibos tea and jojoba oil; toner with tea tree oil and sea kelp; face and body lotion with shea butter and green tea; and the flagship product, the Anti Aging Serum, which comes in single-dose application packs to protect the delicate ingredients from oxidation. “The antioxidants have to be protected from the light, heat, and air,” Daniel says. “It makes no sense to put these delicate ingredients in a formula, then open the jar and expose them to the elements, oxidizing the very ingredients that are suppose to neutralize the free radicals on your skin.”

“By using individual packets,” Mike says, “we don’t worry about the anti-oxidants oxidizing, and the product remains fresh without synthetic preservatives. We just couldn’t find a reliable airless pump.”

“The best part?” says Gouldylox Reviews, a fan of jeune d’âge. “It comes in stable, single-use packages that are incredibly generous. The product is also vegan-friendly and comes in a nifty box that can be planted to produce wildflowers.”

Daniel and Mike have also reached their goal of producing a natural product that’s affordable. Unlike competitor products that run $100 or more, jeune d’âge’s Anti-Aging Serum is only $39.95, with refills for $10 less. “The market expects a higher price for a better product,” Mike says, “but we’ve taken out the distribution, and we sell through product representatives and directly, online, so we can keep costs down. We’ve received attractive offers to sell out to distributors, but that would defeat the purpose. We want to get natural, organic skin-care products out there to more people who need them.”

Though young, jeune d’âge is already getting involved in charitable organizations, and will be donating to the National Afterschool Association, and to cancer-awareness campaigns. “We didn’t originally intend to team up with cancer-awareness,” Mike says, “but as we built the brand, we realized it was a natural fit.” As Mike’s mom was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer, the issue has become even more important to him. “Lately, we’ve been sending products to organizations for free, and they’ve used them to raise money for pancreatic, ovarian, and breast cancer,” Mike says. “In some small way, we want to help out.”

If you want to try jeune d’âge Organics, please see their website at www.tobetterskin.com.

Would you be surprised to learn that such a treatment—that does all these things—is out there, available today, with thousands of clinical trials behind it, and yet we don’t have it here in the United States?

It’s called “heavy-ion cancer therapy,” first proposed in the 1950s by scientists at U.C. Berkley. Unfortunately, the tides of medical research turned and the method was forgotten until the 1990s, when researchers in Japan and Germany picked it up again and started perfecting it for treating cancerous tumors. They’re currently treating and curing people with survival rates at or above our current rates—but without the extensive side effects. Right now. Today. It’s happening.

But not in America.

We do have something similar. At five locations throughout the U.S., doctors are using FDA-approved focused proton energy to radiate cancer tumors. However, heavy-ion therapies are able to treat cancers that proton therapy cannot, because of their unique makeup and interaction in the body. Yet these therapies are not approved by the FDA, for lack of American research. (The FDA won’t accept Japanese or European-based research as part of their approval process, even though the studies are numerous and overwhelmingly successful.)

That means that thousands of American cancer patients who could be getting this promising treatment without suffering typical side effects will not have access to these therapies unless they go overseas.

One man is trying to change that.

His name is Jeff Chancellor, and he’s a very accomplished individual. He was Senior Research Engineer at Lockheed Martin, contributing to the success of three space-shuttle missions; he’s trained the crew and flight surgeons in space weather and medical physics; and he’s been a research scientist for the University of Houston, focusing on condensed matter and nuclear physics—to name a few of his achievements. But Jeff has a new passion today, one he hopes will do away with what he calls the sometimes “archaic” methods of cancer treatment: to bring the more humane, effective method of heavy-ion therapy to Americans.

“It should not be accepted that treatment of cancerous tumors may kill a person before the cancer does,” Jeff says. Yet that’s exactly what happened to one of his very close friends. Rick Cruz was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which soon spread to his lungs and spine. He had a gloomy outlook for recovery. Still, after a hard bout with chemotherapy, tests demonstrated substantial improvement—the cancer was showing signs of retracting. Jeff thought his friend was on his way to being disease free. Then he got a call from Rick’s brother. Rick had gone into heart and lung failure. It was over. He was dead.

“He went from showing signs of recovery,” Jeff says, “to his body and organs shutting down from the abuse of chemotherapy. It wasn’t the cancer that killed him. It was the chemo.”

Stunned by the reality of today’s available cancer treatments, Jeff went into action. He learned about the research on heavy-ion radiation therapy, and made it his mission to bring those therapies to America. His goal—along with his new organization, the “Cancer Warriors Coalition”—is to raise enough money to establish a new center that would not only provide therapies to patients during the day, but would serve as a charged-particle research facility at night, where scientists would focus on finding new treatment methods (involving ion particles), discovering new ways to detect cancer at early stages, developing new devices for diagnostics and therapeutics, and testing of all the above.

“There’s no facility in America like this right now,” Jeff says. “We want to build a particle accelerator that will be used for treatments in the daytime, and for research at night. That way we can gather all the best doctors, scientists, and researchers under the same roof, and put any profits gained back into the machine and into research for cancer.”

We were a little confused about how this new therapy works, so we asked Jeff to explain it. “It’s similar to today’s x-ray radiation treatments,” he says, “except today’s radiation tends to dump all its energy at the surface of the skin and the surrounding tissues, before it gets to the tumor, significantly damaging all those tissues and potentially some internal organs. With carbon and other ions, the dose is very low, and it increases at a certain range, say at 14 cm below the skin’s surface. The energy and angle of the beam is dumped at the tumor site—with minimal damage to the skin or the surrounding tissues. Depending on the ion used, we can determine the energy level, how it will break down, and what the residual damage will be. Ideally, we can focus in on the tumor alone, and leave the rest of the body undamaged.”

Jeff says his center will be unique in experimenting with different types of ions for different types of cancers. Similar centers currently operating in Germany and Japan use only carbon ions, but he suspects other ions may prove more effective at treating various types of tumors. “You want something that’s precise, that will kill the tumor and localize the damage,” he says.

Jeff hopes for a Houston location for his center, but that’s hasn’t been determined yet. In the meantime, he’s asking for anyone who is able to donate: “The more we can raise privately through donations and grants, the less we have to rely on venture capitalist, and the purer we can keep our research goals.” FDA approval of heavy-ion therapy has been slow because of a lack of American research, and American research has been scarce because of a lack of funds to build such a particle accelerator as the one Jeff is proposing. However, with the help of organizations, philanthropists, government grants, donor programs, and especially, from concerned individuals, these treatments may soon come to light.

“We want people to realize there are options,” Jeff says. “We want cancer patients to be able to come to us and get treated without having to go through the horrible side effects of chemotherapy, radiation, or dangerous surgeries. We’re supposed to be the number-one country as far as medical treatment is concerned, yet other countries are offering better treatment because they’re focused on doing research that can be put to good use. There is a way to make a difference. We just have to get people excited about it.”

To donate to Cancer Warriors today, please visit their website (www.cancerwarriorcoalition.com) and click on the “donate” button.

You need to be more careful than you may think. According to the organization Think Before You Pink, there have been a few instances where either a product used to raise money for breast cancer contained ingredients linked with breast cancer (what’s called “pinkwashing,”) or a company marketed pink-ribbon sales, but little-to-no money ever went to breast cancer.

For example, last year, Yoplait was raising money for the fight against cancer, but the product itself was made with the hormone rBGH, which has been linked with breast cancer. (Fortunately, after being asked to stop the hypocrisy, parent company General Mills announced it was going rBGH-free.) Another example: a pink Chapstick costs $2.99, but only 20 cents goes to research—not the best bang for your charity buck.

“If a company is donating 5 cents on a $10 purchase,” says “Bangor Daily News” writer Kristen Andersen, “that’s not exactly reason to go out of your way to buy its BCA [Breast Cancer Awareness] products.”

Think Before You Pink suggests you ask more questions to find out more about how much of your money is going to breast cancer. Robbie Finke, director of marketing for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), says, “We often come across companies that just say, ‘A percentage of this product is going to breast cancer research,’ without specifying the amount or which organization will benefit.” Pink Knot wine is one of those. It costs $10 a bottle, but it doesn’t say how much of that will go to breast cancer.

“It must be really good for business because so many businesses are picking up on the pink-ribbon thing,” said Kasha Ho, program director of California-based Breast Cancer Action, “but not making a huge difference in the breast-cancer world.”

Another thing to think about: the caps. Many companies will place a cap on the amount they will donate, say $10,000. After that amount has been earned, they are no longer under any obligation to donate money from your purchase, but that doesn’t mean they won’t still sell you the product with the pink ribbon on it. According to the “New York Times” (Oct 16, 2002), “Breast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns, as companies try to boost their image and their profits by connecting themselves to a good cause.”

Fortunately, there are a lot of companies and organizations doing great things during the month of October. Suke Pure is donating 100 percent of sale proceeds of two of their best-selling products to the Think Before You Pink campaign. Target is selling pink pens, t-shirts, and more, with all of the proceeds going to charity. Pick up something from one of these companies, or donate directly to the charity of your choice.

Do you have a favorite safe, top-donating pink product? Let us know!

Photo courtesy Sweet-Vanilla via Flickr.com.

September is Pediatric Cancer Month. Each year, nearly 13,000 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer. The Pediatric Cancer Foundation continues to work to raise money to battle this devastating disease, and this month, you can help, just by baking some cookies!

The “Cookies for Kids’ Cancer” organization was started when 2-year-old Liam was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, and his parents learned that little money was being spent on research. His mother, Gretchen, decided to have a bake sale with the goal of baking 96,000 cookies with friends and volunteers, to raise money. The event took in over $400,000 for pediatric cancer research, and the idea spread across the country.

This month, individuals, schools, churches, clubs, and businesses will hold bake sales under the banner “Cookies for Cancer” to help raise money for research. If you like the idea, check out the steps for holding your own bake sale, or simply log on and buy some cookies created by the organization. They’re made of all natural ingredients, with no preservatives or trans-fats, and hand baked fresh to order.

When you’re finished eating, clean up and throw your stuff away in a Glad bag. Glad is conducting a matching program this year with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. All funds raised through bake sales in November and December will be matched, up to $100,000. Shower off after baking with Philosophy Oatmeal Raisin shower gel, as proceeds from its sales will also go to the organization. Finally, if you want to get in a round of golf before the seasons change, Columbia University Medical Center is holding a tournament that will support research in stem and cellular therapies to combat cancer.

Keep your eyes and ears open, as many more events will be happening around the country to support Pediatric Cancer Month. We’ve seen a lot of progress in treatments and survival rates, but cancer is still the most common cause of death by disease for children and adolescents. If you’ve been touched by childhood cancer in some way—someone you know, your own child, or if you had cancer as a child—consider getting involved this month, any way you can. Buy a cookie, hold a bake sale, play some golf, take part in your community run or ride, or consider wearing the official ribbon of children with cancer worldwide, the gold ribbon. As a concerned citizen says on the tuscaloosanews.com forum, “I have participated in the ride [Camp Smile-A-Mile bicyclist ride] for six years….My hope is that one day there will be no reason for the ride because a cure has been found.”

Are you planning to get involved in raising money to fight pediatric cancer? Let us know!

Photo courtesy of wazari via Flickr.com.

Lynn Lane, founder of “Voices of Survivors,” shooting a documentary film in Southern West Virginia.

What does it really mean to be a “survivor?” The term is constantly used in the media and related cancer publications, but if you’ve actually experienced cancer in your life, what does survivorship really mean? That’s what Lynn Lane, founder/executive director of “Voices of Survivors,” has dedicated his life to find out.

“A lot of people don’t like the word ‘survivor,’” he says. “Does it mean you’re just barely hanging on, or you ‘just’ survived? We’re not just surviving. We’re living. We’re thriving.”

Diagnosed with prostate cancer when he was only 41, Lynn found the experience very isolating.

“There wasn’t anyone in my peer set that could relate,” he says. “I was way too young to have prostate cancer, or so I thought. I looked online for ways to connect with other people who were going through what I was. I found some great sites that really helped, like I’m Too Young for This and Planet Cancer, but coming from a film background, I longed to see something more visual; to put a face on survivorship.”

After his surgery, Lynn turned his attention to the project that’s now evolved into a nonprofit organization—Voices of Survivors—and began interviewing people from around the world, asking them to define what being a “survivor” meant to them. “Too often the only thing the public sees about cancer comes from a medical standpoint. Things like hospitals, doctors, people with no hair, children in a St. Jude commercial, and older people. But cancer effects all kinds of people. If you looked at me at any point prior to and after my diagnosis, for example, you’d have never known I had cancer. When you watch these videos [on the web site], you’ll see that these people look just like you and me.”

So what does being a survivor mean? Lynn keeps his definition to himself, to avoid influencing others—and because he finds his definition tends to change. “With each person that shares his/her voice, I learn more about myself and what my definition is—what it means to find inner strength and to know every day that no matter what you’re faced with, you can overcome it.” Over 50 videos and 40 ‘Written Word’ pieces are already available on Lynn’s site, each one allowing a single person to define what being a survivor means to him or her. Through sharing each other’s experiences and insights, survivors can find new hope and inspiration.

Chosen to be a delegate in the LiveSTRONG Global Cancer Summit in Dublin, Ireland in August of this year, Lynn has great plans for Voices of Survivors. The ongoing, online documentary is just the beginning. “It’s going to be a larger media organization, to reach out to more people,” he says. “I’m not trying to change the medical industry. I want to change people—give them hope and the opportunity to see other people surviving, so they can find their own definition of what being a survivor means.

“Most people, when they’re given a cancer diagnosis, initially think, ‘I’m going to die.’ Voices of Survivors helps people decide to live—and to examine how they’re going to live. Despite this diagnosis, whether yours is terminal or not, you are a survivor if you have cancer—the very moment you hear those three words, ‘You have cancer,’ and every one thereafter. I want to encourage people to take their power back. Don’t let cancer define your life. You define it. Be your own advocate, because it is your fight!”

If you’d like to share your voice on Voices of Survivors, Lynn invites you to contact him on his web site.

Have you defined what being a survivor means to you? Please share your story.

“I have to admit,” says investigative reporter Heather VanNest, “I almost missed that skin cancer appointment years ago. I thought I had too many other important things to do. It ended up becoming the most important thing I’ve ever done.” Diagnosed with melanoma when she was 29 years old, Heather’s life was saved because of early screening. “If you didn’t come in for a full body skin cancer exam and biopsy,” her doctor told her, “I doubt you would’ve lived to see your 35th birthday.”

Cancer of the skin is the most common of all cancers, hitting more than one million people a year in the U.S. alone. Basal cell and squamous cell rarely spread, and are less worrisome than melanoma, the most serious form. Melanoma accounts for only about 4% of cases, but causes more than 75% of skin-cancer deaths—mostly because it can get into the blood stream, where cancer cells can spread to the liver and lungs. Fortunately, it’s highly curable if caught early.

To protect yourself, check your skin regularly. Research shows enlisting the help of a partner improves early detection. For easy, illustrated steps on how to perform a self exam, check out the skin-self-exam site at the AAD. To find a free cancer screening close to your area, go to this page and type in your city and state, or call your local health department for more information.

The precise cause of skin cancer is unknown, but risk factors include skin color (people with light skin and eye colors are more susceptible), a history of sunburns, excessive tanning, moles, a suppressed immune system, and a personal or family history of melanoma. “Warning signs can include any one of the following symptoms,” says VanNest. “Itching, bleeding, asymmetrical edges, irregular borders, color changes larger than a pencil eraser.”

If you’ve already had skin cancer at one time in your life, be very diligent in your care. “Once a patient is diagnosed with melanoma,” says Dermatologist Jason K. Rivers, MD, “he or she should be checked by a dermatologist as often as every three months to once a year, depending on the individual’s prognosis.”

To help prevent skin cancer, Dermatologist Gary S. Rogers, MD, recommends you use sunblock with an SPF of at least 30. (Try Soleo Organics and California Baby brands.) When in direct sunlight, wear a wide-brimmed hat and long sleeves. Avoid tanning beds, and limit long periods of time outdoors between intense-sunlight hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Eat foods rich in antioxidants like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and flax seed; take recommended daily doses of antioxidant supplements; and see your dermatologist regularly.

“The most important factor in beating melanoma and improving survival rates,” says Rivers, “is increased public awareness, as this has been shown to save lives by identifying melanoma at an early, curable stage.”

Did you get your skin-cancer screening this month? Please share your story.

Photo courtesy of moonimage, via Flickr.com.