I am listening to a story on CBS news right now about a study that they did following women who drank alcohol that is stating that the highest risk was for breast cancer occurrence. I am going to start searching the web for the stream of this but they barely mentioned oral cancer and not as oral cancer, but as esophogas cancer, throat cancer etc. and only associated it with alcohol and smoking. I am not real pleased with what I just heard.

Dr. Nancy Snyderman (NBC's medical expert) was interviewed about this study on MSNBC this afternoon. She is a head and neck cancer surgeon by training (and noted that on-air) so talked a bit about cancers of the mouth and throat and their link to alcohol.

Here are a Washington Post story about the study and a posting on the website of Cancer Research UK, which sponsored the study and is the UK's leading funder of cancer research. Both note that the link between increased mouth/throat cancers and alcohol was found in women who also smoked. (I see that the Oral Cancer in the News section of the main OCF site has reports from the BBC and the Associated Press on this study.)

I'm not quite sure what you are "not real pleased" about -- if it's that there has been no discussion of other contributory factors for oral cancers (e.g. HPV) in these news reports, the study was about alcohol -- so it's not surprising that other causes aren't being raised.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article...53390&in_page_id=34&in_a_source=

I read this in the free Metro newspaper yesterday. It's about a genetic "master switch", or a trigger that activates a gene that stops cancer cells. Now that is good news. I know we are neither fruit flies or rats but maybe this genetic breakthrough can help finally find a new perhaps better way to stop cancer.

I am an esophageal Barretts sufferer. Believe me it is different than OC by a long way. Yes, I have had surgery on my esophagus too. This was done in 1996 and it still lets you know you have the Barretts. This last anneurysm surgery has it hurting like it did before surgery of the esophagus. No Fun for sure.

Leslie

I was not pleased by the way that CBS glossed over the oral cancers and focused on breast cancer.

Patty

Understood.

Breast cancer got a lot more press than other cancers -- How many cancers have a colored ribbon? It also got tied up in politics because of women's studies, etc.

Also, in this particular study, the increase in mouth/throat cancers among women who drank alcohol was seen only in women who also smoked. That second contributory factor may have led the reporter to "downplay" the alcohol connection for oral cancers.

As Pete notes, thanks to savvy marketing and many well-known women who have gone public with their diagnoses, breast cancer has a far higher public profile than other cancers. In addition, the fact that this study was only of women could have led to the focus on breast cancer in that CBS report.

I think if we had a ribbon of our choosing, sold them and let people know what Cancer they were for, we might go further and faster in the public eye. It seems all of the cancers but OC have a colored ribbon but ours.

RE:Ribbons and responses to aritcles, reports and programs
Brian has addressed the color/ribbon/pin/bracelet/pin, etc. ideas in other threads. I agree with him: Who knows what all those colors stand for? There are many non-official, for profit knockoffs.
The original point of the ribbons and bracelets was to raise awareness. There are many ways we can do this for OC. We can write letters and send email in response to published information, support and promote OC events, participate on the local level contact Susan Lauria [[email protected]] , purchase and use items from the OCF store, speak to people about our experiences, etc. Remember, many a victory has been won by a small force making alot of noise.

OC in the uk uses powder blue and i have a braclet that never leaves my wrist.I have an OCF sticker on my rear car windscreen,and a silver OCF pin/button on my handbag,anything that makes people ask"what is that for" is worth showing.

liz

I have the sticker on my rear window where you have to see it if you walk by and the pins on 2 of my jackets. My Dr is the guy that likes the pins big time. My Oncologist that is.

While at my Prost. office the other day I gave the girls pins and took them some brochures for their office. They were extremely excited about it. The DR was ranting a little about the amount of awareness for breast cancer and that "his patients" needed help also. He really seemed to care about the people that he cares for.

I wear a pin and people do ask about it.

Patty

Where can you get pins, magnets etc.?

OCF shop.Go to the home page of the site and click on shop

sorry !!!!!in american i think thats store.

LOL Cookey, that was so true. Now where can i get the powder blue wrist band? My yellow one broke. I could buy a couple or so of the powder blue for my offspring. LOL almost said kids but I look like the kid beside them. I'm 6ft so that has to say something.

I got mine from the Mouth Cancer Foundation

http://rdoc.org.uk/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/541103626/m/667105337

Well, there you go, I didn't even know OC had a color, even if it's in the UK!

I was talking with my daughter today about my Bialetti Mukka Express cappucchino pot -- They come in chrome "cow" and breast cancer pink:

http://www.bialettishop.com/MukkaPinkMain.htm

Almost everything comes in Breast Cancer Pink now and while I realize that it is also a horrible disease, I think that more focus should be put on the terrible disease that we have all had to deal with. Of course I feel that way because I had OC.

I did not know that we had a color either - I always thought that we were under the red & white umbrella of head and neck cancers. I look forward to the day when OC has the same recognition as breast cancer and the same support in research etc.

Patty

I couldn't agree with you more Patty.

The devastation that OC can have on our lives and in its aftermath is life changing and a difficult challenge we have to face every single day. For many of us the simple things in life like no longer speaking clearly and eating a normal meal have now become something we have to struggle with daily, and in some cases now only a dream.

And for those who have had OC and have had to have a trache to breath with know only to well how painful this disease is.

Whatever impact OC has had on us, greater awareness of this beast is overdue.

Karen

I persoanlly love the OC bracelet idea. I get Malka and Brian's point. However, I want people to say "what is that for?" Susan Lauria and I both have one from SPOHNC it stands for Support People with Oral, Head, Neck Cancer. It is maroon and cream. I just bought them because I wanted one. Susan told me about hers when we were discussing bracelets.

The only way we will get it recognized is to just keep telling enough people and letting them see what we go thru. I put brochures and phamplets in Hospital waiting rooms, Dr offices and anywhere I can think of. I have to get more of them from Brian because I am hitting 2 different Hospitals for this anneurysm work.

Please just email Brittany at the OCF office and she will see that you get anything that you need. mcginley at oralcancerfoundation.org

While I believe that the red creme red ribbon may make some of you feel good, no one has a clue what it means. there are over 2700 registered ribbon colors.... who is going to remember more than pink and red ( breast and AIDS)? Remember also that there are so few of us, as our incidence rate is low, and our death rate is high. 300 million people in the US and a few thousand wear an oral cancer ribbon... NOT going to change the world. Malka is right there are better ways to do this. You you want to wear something to attract attention, the button that I wear always gets questions as does my t shirt. Anyone who would like an OCF medallion button (not in the store but that we give to donors) just ask. That one works when I wear my suit for getting attention, but the ones with sayings on them get more questions, which is of course what they were deg]signed to do, since the saying is open ended. I have worm my LiveSTRONG bracelet ever since Lance gave it to me at a cancer conference in 2002. It means something to ALL cancer survivors. It is a statement about how you should approach each day. When I am not feeling good, or positive about where things are going, the message is a readily available and meaningful reminder to me to take the most away from each day, each opportunity, each encounter. We have had the opportunity to do the bracelets since Lance gave me the Chinese manufacturer info. But its a me too thing. There are zillions out the green for our troops purple for prostate, other rainbow ones for gay pride, etc... the list is limitless, and at the end of the day they (except for the yellow one), don't get lots of attention. A ribbon color out of several thousand options does also not bring much attention, and it doesn't go with my daily jeans and t shirt that well. It's a lapel kinda thing. There are better things to do if you are motivated.

I wear my bracelet for ME and for Robin.I carry my fight in the dog bag everywhere i go and my pin is on my bag all the time.My car carries a hospice sticker,and an ocf sticker,and a macmillan sticker.Like them or not ,feel they are useful or not,i believe in them and to me thats all that matters.

And your right. If it matters to you, you should be doing it. My post was not an observation on what others are doing, but a comment on why OCF is not investing any donated money into pursuing this. Cookey, creates awareness and spreads information everywhere she goes, with or without stickers and goodies. She's that kind of lady.

Central IL is getting a big dose of pamphlets, brochures and information also Jim. We will have the midwest covered. LOL

Everyone is very receptive to the information, but most have said that they did not know of the Foundation or the website. I intend to change that.

Patty

Liz...that is a good point. Well spoken as always. You always have great words of wisdom:)