That World Without Breast Cancer of Which We Speak is Right Here at Home
Last month, Cancer Treatment Centers of America performed our first breast cancer surgery with Intraoperative Radiation Therapy (IORT) using a breakthrough technology called the Novac7. This procedure allows our team to deliver radiation treatment to the patient at the same time as her surgery, typically eliminating 6-1/2 weeks of outpatient radiation.
I wish all of you could have been there when we discharged our second IORT patient - leaving our hospital the day after she was admitted. I don't know who was more jubilant - the patient or our team. As much as we love our patients, it warmed our hearts to know we wouldn't be seeing this woman in the weeks ahead for the trials of radiation!
I relate this story not to tout this incredible new technology we have, but instead to share the joy of this experience with you - for it belongs to every one who has every embraced the Komen vision of a world without breast cancer.
As the Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure gets closer and closer... and billboards, ads and the media fill with our messages of "empowering a world without breast cancer"... I can't help but draw the beautiful connection between these messages and the first IORT procedures at CTCA. When we made the commitment to be your Celebration Sponsor of the milestone 20th annual Susan G. Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure, we had no idea the two events would coincide so closely. How perfect it turned out to be!
We talk of this "world without breast cancer," and I have no doubt it will become reality one day soon. I have no doubt of our community's conviction that they can help make it happen. But I know from interacting with many of you that it's a hard concept to grasp when we think of the magnitude of "the world" vs. the very close microcosm of "our own individual world." The question naturally tickles our mind: "Isn't it better to start at home first? Change our corner of the world and then focus on empowering the rest?"
What the recent IORT procedures at CTCA demonstrate to me - and I hope to you - is that it is not only possible to bring these two worlds together, but 1) it is necessary, and 2) they are coming together right here in our community. The IORT technology came to us from Italy... the patient came from Virginia Beach... the treatment occurred in Philadelphia.
Consider another example - the young mother born in Puerto Rico who settled in Camden, her life saved by the outreach services of Puerto Rican Unity for Progress, empowered by a grant from the Komen Philadelphia Affiliate. The grant was made possible by Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure fundraising that came from supporters from California to Chester County... Miami Beach to Cherry Hill. Moreover, the same woman received treatment thanks to the HealthyWoman program, which originates out in Harrisburg.
These examples, and the hundreds we could hear of every day, can't make it any clearer: the cures do not - and cannot - happen in a box or with boundaries. This is why we all choose to support Susan G. Komen for the Cure, because we know in doing so, we are bringing the cures for breast cancer to people at home and around the world. We are empowering that boundary-less free flow of science and support, education and knowledge, technology and awareness that bring us all closer and closer to an end to breast cancer forever.
So, this Mother's Day, I encourage us all to take these messages to heart and pursue with even greater ardor, as well as pride, our awareness-raising and fundraising roles. To embrace the idea that while we may physically be at Eakins Oval celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure, in actuality what we celebrate is the Komen WORLD Race for the Cure.
With appreciation, hope and celebration of 20 years,
John Goodchild
Director of Marketing
Cancer Treatment Centers of America
If you are interested in IORT, as with all treatments, please talk with your doctor to decide the course of treatment that is right for you.
To learn more about the viewpoint of Susan G. Komen for the Cure in regards to IORT, visit:
View a CBS 3 Eyewitness News medical report on IORT