Summary 1 – Cracking Cancer- The Nature of Things with David Suzuki (CBC) (Video)
The video, i.e., a documentary, reveals the clinical trial of enrolled patients. It summarizes the balanced perspective of challenges and hopes in the life of a cancer patient. The new cancer therapy proclaims genome medicine as a new horizon for cancer treatment under the supervision of Dr. Adrian Lee, Director of the Women’s Cancer Research Center. The success story of a patient, i.e. Zuri Scrivens, is depicted in the video who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. Being the mother of a toddler, the time puts all its miseries on her as cancer blowouts to the liver along with her lymph node. At the present time, she has fully recovered from cancer due to diabetes medicine instead of any newly emerged cancer drugs. As far as ‘Cracking Cancer’ is concerned, it is adorned with cancer patients at an incurable stage. The journey of this group is related to clinical trials on an experimental basis under the umbrella of Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG) at BC Cancer Agency.
However, the treatment trial deliberately encompasses the comparison of normal cells’ DNA with that of tumors to discover the genetic mutation responsible for cancer. In the case of Zuri, a mutation leading to high growth was the causative agent of her cancer. The researchers struggled hard to identify such a drug sufficient to cease growth factor. After immense hard work, the expert team zeroed in on diabetic medicine, and with five months of treatment, she recovered from cancer. In this context, POG has elaborated a new treatment for cancer concerning genetic mutation of the body. As a result, thousands of patients have joined this experimental program in the hope of a healthy life and also to help scientists crack mutation codes causing cancer in human beings.
Summary 2 – Article: Genome Research Gave Life Back to West Van Cancer Survivor
The article under discussion revolves around the described narrative of such patients who have a sudden diagnosis of cancer and undergo the respective treatment. The case of Woodworth is an exemplary account of someone who has crossed sixty-five years of age. At this mature phase of life, she was cherishing her first grandchild when she felt some uncomfortable statuses in her lower abdomen. Upon visiting her doctor, she was informed that she was suffering from ovarian cancer. The BC Cancer Agency reports revealing that about three hundred women are diagnosed with the same cancer type annually. It is also reported that one out of seventy has a strong chance to imbed of getting this disease. However, Dr. Anna Tinker referred Woodworth to the specialized team at Vancouver General Hospital. After the detailed checkup, Woodworth was diagnosed with stage 3 aggressive cancer type, and experts recommended surgery to remove the tumor. For this purpose, she had undergone eighteen chemotherapy rounds. She is obliged to her family and support team for this dreadful event of her life. After surgical removal, the tumor again returned after six months. This time, the expert enrolled her in the Personalized Onco–Genomic program under the supervision of BC Cancer Agency researchers. The program is aimed at observing genetic mutation concerning patients’ tumors. The researchers confirmed that her results matched with Olaparib Lynparza, an experimental drug.
Meanwhile, she was included as a “super responder,” a small group of patients due to her success story. The results of this experiment revealed that about 1136 patients, including children, have been enrolled in the program since 2012. The process was solely on an experimental basis, and the patients with matched treatments were provided free-of-cost medicines for trials. However, Woodworth is a contented woman spending her time with her family and grandchild. Her success story may encourage some other patients to live with hope after cancer diagnoses. In addition, the Canada Foundation for Innovation and BC Cancer Foundation has funded generously for this program to recover suffered humanity.
