22 THE QUEENS COURIER • HEALTH • MARCH 4, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
health
New blood test poised to change how cancer is found
Rare is the person who hasn’t been
impacted by cancer in some way. Maybe
it’s your parent fi ghting for their life.
Perhaps it’s a friend going through a diffi
cult treatment. It could be a neighbor or
colleague who was recently diagnosed and
who now faces complex decisions.
It also might be you.
One in three people in the United States
will receive a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime,
according to the American Cancer
Society. Whether it impacts you directly
or indirectly, cancer is a diffi cult journey.
Despite the signifi cant advances made in cancer
care, the deadly disease is soon expected
to become the No. 1 killer worldwide.
Cancer kills nearly
1,700 people daily
In January 1971, President Nixon
declared war on cancer at his State of the
Union address and signed the National
Cancer Act into law later that year. Fift y
years later, the nation observes World
Cancer Day annually. Of course this
growing health problem deserves attention
year-round.
In 2020 alone, Americans lost some
of the most talented and iconic fi gures
in the 20th century from cancer, from
civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis to gender
equality champion Supreme Court
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Just a few
additional celebrities who died included
game show host Alex Trebek and actor
Chadwick Boseman.
“Each day in the U.S., nearly 1,700
people will die from cancer and three
times that number will learn they have
it. Additionally, an estimated $201 billion
was spent on cancer care last year,” says
Josh Ofman, M.D., MSHS, and chief medical
offi cer and head of external aff airs at
GRAIL, a healthcare company whose mission
is to detect cancer early, when it can
be cured. “Currently in the U.S. there are
recommended screening tests for only fi ve
types of cancers out of the more than 100
known to exist. Fortunately, new technologies
are expected to expand screening
options in 2021 and beyond.”
New advances in early
cancer detection
Experts agree that the most crucial factor
of cancer survival lies in early detection.
Th e sooner you learn you have cancer
the sooner it can be treated, ideally
before it spreads and advances into later
stages. Early detection can help cancer
treatments to be more eff ective and can
increase survival rates.
“Unfortunately, many cancers are currently
diagnosed aft er the cancer has
already spread,” says Andrew Hudnut,
M.D., at Sutter Medical Foundation,
Family Medicine. “Only 20% of people
with late-stage diagnosis will survive fi ve
years. While cancer screenings exist for
some cancers, for others the cancer diagnoses
simply arrive too late.”
Th anks to emerging technology that is
capable of identifying cancer signals in
the blood, early detection is a possibility
now more than ever. In clinical studies,
Galleri, GRAIL’s investigational multicancer
early detection blood test, demonstrated
the ability to detect more than 50
types of cancers and identifi ed where in
the body the cancer was located with high
accuracy, all with a low false-positive rate
of less than 1%.
“Th is new cancer screening option has
the potential to be an important addition
to our current screening paradigms,
such as for breast and colon,” says Charles
McDonnell, M.D., FACR, a radiologist at
Sutter Health. “With early detection being
so critical, a simple screening such as
Galleri could save or extend many lives.”
— Courtesy of BPT
A free way to save money on prescriptions and help kids with critical illnesses
Audrey is a 12-year-old girl from
Arizona with a passion for fashion. She
spends her free time fl ipping through
style magazines and listening to her favorite
songs. She dreams of having her photo
professionally taken in a long, whimsical
dress that covers the leg braces that help
her stay steady.
While Audrey’s interests are not uncommon
for girls her age, her life is very different
due to a nervous system disorder.
She is not a stranger to hospitals and is
homeschooled by her family. Although
her childhood has been challenging, she
tries to do many of the things typical preteens
like to do, including craft ing, reading
and dressing up in her favorite clothing.
Audrey’s wish comes true
For Audrey, being a model is the ultimate
dream. She imagined getting her
hair and makeup done by professionals,
dressing up in a lengthy blue gown
inspired by her favorite princess, and having
her picture taken by photographers,
just like the models in the fashion magazines
she loves so much.
Th at’s why Audrey was overwhelmed
with excitement
when she learned she
would be able to experience
all of this in real
life. In celebration of
BuzzRx’s 500th wish
with Make-A-Wish®
America, the company
partnered with Make-
A-Wish® Arizona to
grant Audrey’s wish
to have a magazinelike
fashion shoot in
her hometown
of Scottsdale,
Arizona.
“The BuzzRx
team feels lucky
to be able to
grant this wish,”
says Shane
Power, BuzzRx®
chief revenue
and impact offi cer.
“Wishes are not just nice,
they’re necessary. Wishes have
proven to give a child hope,
joy and strength to fi ght
against their illness.”
For her photo shoot,
Audrey wore three different
outfi ts including
a beautiful, poufy blue
gown, had her hair and
makeup done by a
team of professionals
and had photos
taken by a professional
photographer.
Save on
prescriptions
and
support
Make-
A-Wish
Au d re y ’s
wish was possible
thanks
to generous
support from
BuzzRx, an organization that off ers a free,
ready-to-use Prescription Discount Card
for anyone to use at more than 60,000
pharmacies nationwide, including those
who have health insurance. Every time a
cardholder saves with the card, the company
donates $1 to Make-A-Wish. Th is is
at no cost to the cardholder and has no
eff ect on discounted prescription prices.
To date, the company has donated $5
million to Make-A-Wish, helping to grant
500 life-changing wishes for children with
critical illnesses. To get a card, visit www.
buzzrx.com/wish, text WISH to phone
number 95577, or download the free
mobile app. Th e card can be used to save
up to 80% on both generic and brandname
prescriptions.
When you fi ll a prescription and present
the card, you can feel good about saving
money and helping make more wishes
come true for kids like Audrey. Her
wish experience, along with the stunning
photographs from her high-fashion photo
shoot, will provide joy and hope for her
and her family for many years to come.
— Courtesy of BPT
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/wish
/wish
/wish
