Christmas has come and gone so has 2012. For many this last year was a year of hardship and for others it was a year of tragedy. Fortunately my father was saved for us through the year although his cancer spread through his body. 2013 will be a year where the Drive planning must be completed and the execution will start. 
But during this year many will be diagnosed with some form of cancer. It is up to the individual to get tested and this will determine if we will celebrate you being a surviv...
Continue reading ...

Today is the 23rd of December 2012. It has now been 15 months since my father was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. It has been a difficult period in the lives of every family member since the news of the Prostate cancer. The doctors gave my father initially 3 months and last Christmas he showed no sign of deterioration. He kept on doing his thing and nobody that saw him would have said that he has terminal cancer.
That was a year ago, but unfortunately in the last couple of weeks, his ...
Continue reading ...

In many countries December is a time when the schools are finished for the year and it is holiday time. You and your family prepare to go away for the break and everything is being prepared. Dad takes the car in for a service, mom make sure the shopping is done, the children just attempt to get some rest in after a long year at school.
Once everything is packed in the car, clothes, toys, children, mom and dad, the journey can begin to a destination pre-planned.
Along the route to the destinatio...
Continue reading ...

Good day,
 Last night I received another rejection letter relating to the Drive. I was hoping that Toyota SA would be the sponsor for the support vehicles, but alas, it was not meant to be. After waiting weeks and even months for some sort of reply from the company's representative, the mail came as quite a disappointment.
The main problem now is the start of a new search for a sponsor for the support vehicles that would be able to cover the terrain and the temperature fluctuations that these v...
Continue reading ...

From personal experience, dealing with the patient can be at times easy and at times very difficult. In the beginning when we as a family were informed that my father was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer, it was quite a shock to us. As with any bad news, the family had to deal with it as a unit and not as individuals. The only person that had a harder time than the rest of the family was the patient as it is his life that is being cut short and it is him that will go through the pain and suffer...
Continue reading ...

Morning all, This is a part of a project that I hate the most, asking for money from strangers. But, what it comes down to is that without the strangers contribution to the project, there will be no success in the project as the Drive would take 10 to 20 times as long to complete than the planned 12 months. It is frustrating for me as I am not use to ask for money and don't really know how to do it. But, every day is a learning day for me through the project. 
I have learned so much about peop...
Continue reading ...

As you all know by now, the drive is about early detection of cancer in the body and that my father was diagnosed with cancer too late for the doctors to do anything for him.
It has been a difficult time this last year to see him getting so frail and the cancer consuming him bit by bit every day. It has affected the whole family and in a way the whole family is sick just like my father.
Just after being diagnosed with the fatal prostate cancer, the family did not know really how to deal with ...
Continue reading ...

The start of the drive is only 421 days away and the battle is being forged ahead. This weekend I spoke to an entertainer called Emo Adams and he is very keen to ensure that this awareness drive happens. Negotiations with other sponsors is ongoing but nothing is set in concrete yet. I have been having an uphill battle getting to the right people in most of the companies to ensure that the meetings do not need to be repeated a couple of times to ensure that the decision makers hear about the p...
Continue reading ...

Today, it might be my last birthday I spend with my father. I am hoping that the cancer will not take him out of our midst before the drive start in 2014, but the prognosis is a dire one.

I want to spend as much time with him as possible but it is not always possible. There is so much that we never had the chance to discuss, but due to the fact that I am aware that he is on his way, it actually gives us the opportunity to talk things out that have bothered us both for years that we avoid...

Continue reading ...

Twenty-two years old. I could run a 5K in 21 minutes, sometimes without breaking a sweat. My bench press approached 300 pounds, as the ladies loved the broad chest and thick shoulders. I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in Political Science and History. I was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, on my way to flying on the E-3 Sentry. It all came so easily. Nothing could stop me.

However, on July 18, 2006, exactly two months after college...
Continue reading ...

This past week up to this morning has been an interesting one. Two small milestones reached. Firstly 50 likes on the Face Book page. It has taken a while to reach this figure, but worth it, now just to reach another 999 950 likes to reach the goal of 1 million likes. I know I would like to make an impact on more than a million lives with the drive, but every journey starts with but a single step. Secondly, this morning I managed to complete a 75 page planning document that took months to rese...
Continue reading ...

“I have given you the seed for the harvest, and you have prepared the fields and sown the seeds. Now it is up to Me to show you that I will not give you work to do invaine. I will bring you rain and sunshine to make the seeds grow and bear fruit so that you can eat and share your harvest with all that is in need. You will still need to weed the fields to ensure that the weeds do not overwhelm the harvest. Believe in Me for I am the Lord your God that gave you the means to carry on. I wil...

Continue reading ...

Cancer is like a weed, if you catch it early and treat it, you can beat it. If allowed to seed, eventually the whole field would be covered with the weed. Cancer, if not treated in the early stages and treated, it would overrun your body and destroy any chances of eradicating it from your body. The main message of the pole2poleandback drive is to encourage the early detection of any possible cancers in the body.

Cancer stays localized in one place till enough of the one organ is infected,...

Continue reading ...

It's heartbreaking to report that Avalanna Routh, whose Facebook campaign allowed her to spend a day with her idol Justin Bieber last Valentine's Day, has died of brain cancer on Wednesday at just 6 years old.

When Bieber heard wind of the campaign that garnered over 12,000 supporters, the pop star invited Routh and her family to spend the day with him in Manhattan for a special Valentine's Day date.


The girl, who called herself "Mrs. Bieber" having held her own adorable wedding to the singer, ...
Continue reading ...

Good evening all,
 The planning has been progressing at a reasonable rate. Days are getting fewer to get everything in place for the drive. With the lack of commitment from more sponsors, things are getting a little tougher. I am still sending out a lot of letters to potential sponsors and sometimes I will get "read receipts" and sometimes just an auto-responder stipulating that "somebody will be in contact soon" but most of the time I do not get any reply.
 It is surprising that companies woul...
Continue reading ...

How is cancer diagnosed?

There is no single test that can accurately diagnose cancer. The complete evaluation of a patient usually requires a thorough history and physical examination along with diagnostic testing. Many tests are needed to determine whether a person has cancer, or if another condition (such as an infection) is mimicking the symptoms of cancer.

Effective diagnostic testing is used to confirm or eliminate the presence of disease, monitor the disease process, and to plan for and e...
Continue reading ...

Child Cancer Symptoms


Signs of Childhood Cancer

Continued, unexplained weight loss

Headaches, often with early morning vomiting

Increased swelling or persistent pain in bones, joints, back, or legs

Lump or mass, especially in the abdomen, neck, chest, pelvis, or armpits

Development of excessive bruising, bleeding, or rash

Constant infections

A whitish colour behind the pupil

Nausea which persists or vomiting without nausea

Constant tiredness or noticeable paleness

Eye or vision changes which occur sudde...
Continue reading ...

Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa and Nobel peace prize winner, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001 at the age of 83.

Mandela is most famous for his life-long work to end apartheid and bring about fully representative democracy in South Africa. He was held as a political prisoner for 27 years before his release in 1990.

Mandela underwent 7 weeks of radiation therapy in 2001 as the primary treatment for his prostate cancer. Since undergoing treatment, there have been no sub...
Continue reading ...

Recent studies
[edit]
Safety of cannabis

Various strains of medical marijuana in front of a vaporizer

Cannabis smoke contains thousands of organic and inorganic chemical compounds. This tar is chemically similar to that found in cigarette smoke and includes many of the same carcinogens.[53]

A statement from a source in the US Department of Justice in 1988 said, "Nearly all medicines have toxic, potentially lethal effects. But cannabis is not such a substance. There is no record in the extensive ...
Continue reading ...

This is a story that hit close to home when I read it and thought about all those patients that are kept alive for as long as possible by artificial means and costs.

What quality of life does the patient have?

Who makes the monies by keeping the patient alive?

Is it not the choice of the patient or the family when there is no more hope for recovery to be able to request that they are put out of their misery?

 

Her Euthanasia Pleas Ignored, Slum Girl Loses Battle to Cancer: “Blood ...

Continue reading ...

The last post
By Derek on May 4, 2011 7:51 AM | 148 Comments | No TrackBacks

Here it is. I'm dead, and this is my last post to my blog. In advance, I asked that once my body finally shut down from the punishments of my cancer, then my family and friends publish this prepared message I wrote—the first part of the process of turning this from an active website to an archive.

If you knew me at all in real life, you probably heard the news already from another source, but however you found out, ...
Continue reading ...

This morning I realized that I was bad and neglected to do a blog the past week. There was so much happening and time was not enough to get to everything. 
Now for an update on what is happening with the drive. 
I have been keeping the site up to date - except for the blog, my appologies, as well as the Face Book page. Twitter also saw very little of me this last couple of weeks. 
With two projects on the run at the same time, I had to devide my time, but needless to say, Endangered Cat Species ...
Continue reading ...

Cancer is often a disease that lasts a long time, and people may be treated for it for many years. Sometimes, people close to the patient who were very involved at first grow distant as the treatment continues over the course of months or years. It is understandable that you can become "burned out" when supporting a person with cancer. Still, people with cancer need emotional support throughout the entire course of the illness. Remember that the encouragement and support of those around them ...
Continue reading ...

Most of us know the many benefits of physical activity by now: improved cardiovascular endurance, lower blood pressure, reduced depression and anxiety, and improved self-esteem and body image, to name a few. But despite these benefits, working out or going for a brisk walk is often the last thing people coping with cancer want to do.

The initial shock of the diagnosis, in addition to coping with chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, can shatter cancer patients’ sense of control over their ow...
Continue reading ...

Over the past couple of months, I have used mostly FaceBook to spread the information about the planned drive. I have reached many people by using this format of interaction with people that I might get to meet along the way during the drive. 
It would seem that unless cancer directly affects a person, they are not interested in a cause or the intended message about cancer.
There are however a couple of support groups where people can make postings and hope to get an answer from another pe...

Continue reading ...

For decades, women have used hormone therapy to ease symptoms of menopause, such as hot flashes and sweating. This is called menopausal hormone therapy, and you may see it abbreviated as HT or MHT. You may also hear it described as hormone replacement therapy (HRT), postmenopausal hormone therapy (PHT), or postmenopausal hormones (PMH). 

In the past, many doctors and their patients believed HT had other health benefits besides helping menopause symptoms. But several well-conducted studies have...
Continue reading ...

It's National Cancer Week (31st July to 5th August 2012)
The question that you need to ask yourself, are you going to be one of the 12 million people that will be diagnosed with cancer this year?
The fact that there are so many cases of cancer being diagnosed per year is scary, but the fact that so many diagnoses will be to late for successful treatment is even more scary. The objective of the drive will be to ensure that the message of early detection is even more important so that the tr...

Continue reading ...

There are many useful articles and help sites on the Internet relating to cancer. There is information on health foods, self examination, information on the various cancers and many more. 

Then I came across that claim that they found the cure to cancer. But guess what? In order for them to share the information that they have on the so called cure, you need to buy an e-book.

These e-books claim many things and make assumptions that are very irresponsible. These individuals that sell th...

Continue reading ...

When I tell people the way that the message was given to me about the drive I get varied responses. Some are very positive and then there are those that just want to make fun of anothers faith. Some of these replies to an article that I posted about the drive are as follow:

Charles Dumbwin - July 17, 2012
 Is this for real? Who do you think was talking to you? 

Bergie - July 17, 2012 
 it was the vooooices. . . . . .woooo hooo hooooooooo 

zaatheist - July 17, 2012  
I this some scummy scam to pr...
Continue reading ...

Faith is one of the things that humans can not live without. It can be faith in any God that you ascribe to, but what happens when you receive the news that you are terminal with Cancer? 

In some cases, the person get so angry at their specific God that they start cursing that God for allowing this thing to happen to them. They break all ties with the religion for allowing this evil disease to happen to them. They start looking for answers in all the unlikeliest of places. Some turn to for...

Continue reading ...

It is widely believed that cancer only strike at the old and those with unhealthy lifestyles. The smokers, the unfit, the meat eaters and so on and on. But this is not true at all. Cancer can strike at anybody at any time. The fit, young, sporting individual can also get cancer or in some cases, children are born with cancer. Leukemia strike more children than adults.

Cancer does not know age or gender or color. It is a disease that all need to take note of, even the young. I do agree that th...
Continue reading ...

Many years ago Hospice came to my attention because of an uncle of mine. He was a poor South African with Lung Cancer and could not afford proper care during the last couple of months of his life. Fortunately, he was admitted to the Hospice Palliative Care in Houghton, Johannesburg.

There his pain and needs was attended to with great care by staff and volunteers alike. They made his last days on this earth bearable and dignified without asking anything in return for it. We visited him several...
Continue reading ...

There has been a war that has been ongoing for centuries if not for eons. There have been many millions of victims over time that they have become so common that they are forgotten. Some around them did not even know that their fellow man was involved with the war.

Only in recent times, has it become clearer what the war was all about. A better understanding of the war and the respective battles have been developed and cultivated. The search for the best and most effective weapons goes on a da...
Continue reading ...

Why is it that men are so scared to visit doctors? Research based in the USA have shown the following:
While most men -- 85% -- said they seek medical treatment when they're sick, almost all -- 92% -- said they waited at least a few days to see if they felt better before seeking care.

Nearly 30% of the men push that strategy to the limits, saying they wait "as long as possible" to see if they get better before seeking medical care or advice.
"One of the biggest obstacles to improving the health ...
Continue reading ...

It is widely believed that cancer only strike at the old and those with unhealthy life styles. The smokers, the unfit, the meat eaters  and so on and on. But this is not true at all. Cancer can strike at anybody at any time. The fit, young, sporting individual can also get cancer or in some cases, children are born with cancer. Leukemia strike more children than adults.
Cancer does not know age or gender or color. It is a disease that all need to take note of, even the young. I do agree that t...
Continue reading ...

A lot of work has gone into the planning of the drive so far. The route has been planned, the first of the sponsors has been signed up and the requirement lists for the drive has been planned. Now we require donations and a lot more sponsors. And how do we intend getting the sponsors you may ask? Well, we will be traveling a lot over the next couple of months attending meetings with company heads in order to secure the required sponsorships to enable the drive to take place.
As for donations t...
Continue reading ...

Tonight I watched the Movie, "The Bucket List" again and it came to me that does not matter how much money or how little one have, Cancer can strike any person. The man with the average money, had the support of his whole family in his last days while the person with all the money in the world, had nobody. Money is not as important as family. While you as an individual spend most of your time making as much money as possible, you might drive away the people that you will need in your last day...
Continue reading ...

Who does the family turn to once the patient has passed away for comfort? In some cases the family turn to each other to share the pain of losing a loved one. In some cases the family members are so scattered in this modern era, that it is not always possible that they can spend some face time with their family members, so they turn to the medical fraternity, but a psychologist, although trained to deal with patients, does not always know from personal experience what the patient is experienc...
Continue reading ...

What happens to the rest of the Family while one member suffers from Cancer? Interesting question as all the focus is usually placed on the patient. The family live with the shock when first informed about the patients illness and then start dealing with the realization in their own way. It is one thing that a family need to live with the shock of cancer that can still be treated and it is a totally different issue that another family need to deal with when the patient is terminal. 
In my case...
Continue reading ...

It would seem that these days I hear of another funeral taking place for a loved one that passed away from cancer. This time it was a youngster in his late thirties that passed away from cancer due to the fact that he did not pay attention to what his body was telling him. Even when the signals were clear, he delayed to get medical assistance as his work was more important than his health.
Eventually, with the insistence from his family, he went to the doctor and got tested. The tests came bac...
Continue reading ...

What If, tomorrow one of the researchers find a cure for cancer, who will benefit by the new cure? That is a question that has been bothering me recently. The mere fact that a pharmaceutical company found the cure, they will benefit financially the most. Now, with all the funds being donated towards cancer research, is it not fair to make the new medication available at cost to the public that need it. Yet, when a new cure might be found is anyones guess, but just think about it a little bit....
Continue reading ...

Many individuals receive the message on a daily basis that they do not want to hear. "Mr./Mrs./Miss./Ms., it saddens me to inform you that the diagnoses is Cancer." The rest of the conversation with the medical practitioner is usually not even hear till the shock of the word Cancer sinks in.  Then the individual start to ask the question, "how long doctor?". The diagnoses of the progression of cancer differ in every case. They gave my father minimum 6 months, and that was in August last year....
Continue reading ...

Morning all. I know that I will be doing the drive all the way. Those that will be doing the whole drive with me will be cancer survivors as a requirement. One of the drivers might be one of the main sponsors, but that will still be discussed. This will be the tree main drivers, and there will hopefully be two relay teams per country.
The idea of the relay teams is that two persons from each country that are survivors will take over from the two drivers from the country that we leave. Example ...
Continue reading ...

Good day all, 
These pages is not intended to give medical advice as I am not a medical doctor. The web site is here to inform the public about the Cancer Awareness drive and to provide handy links that will give the newly diagnosed cancer sufferer  easier access to information from web sites that I have linked to the web site.
If you suspect that you might be suffering or showing any symptoms of possible cancer, please visit your local medical practitioner for a consultation.
I find it actually...
Continue reading ...

As soon as any person think that they might have any form of cancer before the internet, they struggled to get relevant information. Once they were diagnosed, they needed to find a person or group that have already gone through what they are going to experience, 
These days, as soon as you think or are diagnosed with cancer, one can find a lot of information specific to their condition. With the tapping of a couple of buttons, the relevant information is displayed and you can gather more infor...
Continue reading ...

During this week, I have been reminded again how fragile life is. Many years ago we had a Alsatian that was diagnosed with brain cancer and we did the mercifully thing and had him put out as soon as we noticed that he was in severe pain and did not want to eat anymore. It basically broke our hearts to see the way the cancer was slowly eating up our beloved pet. This week I was reminded of that episode again when a good friend of mine informed me that one of his pets was also diagnosed with a ...
Continue reading ...

Good day All
I went on a so called Vegan diet for a couple of weeks. The diet consisted of all fruit and vegetable products where no animal products are involved except honey. The diet went well and I started to feel better after a couple of days. Yet after a week of the diet, I started to crave some protein. Eventually I gave into my craving and had some fish. Yes, I know that fruit and veg contain some protein.
The decision was made that once a week, I will allow myself to have some type of f...
Continue reading ...

The Anti-Cancer Diet
Cancer Nutrition Tips and Cancer-Fighting Foods

Some foods actually increase your risk of cancer, while others support your body and strengthen your immune system. By making smart food choices, you can protect your health, feel better, and boost your ability fight off cancer and other disease.

Not all health problems are avoidable, but you have more control over your health than you may think. Research shows that a large percentage of cancer-related deaths—maybe even the ...
Continue reading ...

High-Impact Science: Chasing down the APC bowel cancer gene
Posted on November 29, 2011 by Kat Arney

Professor Walter Bodmer, along with his colleague Professor Elaine Solomon, helped to locate the APC gene in the 1980s

In this next post in our High-Impact Science series, we take a look at how our scientists in the late 80s laid the foundations for the discovery of an important bowel cancer gene called APC - now known to be faulty in around eight out of ten cases of the disease.

Publishing the...
Continue reading ...

Primary prevention is the first step any society can take to reduce the incidence of cancer, with positive effects on other noncommunicable diseases. Addressing certain lifestyle choices (tobacco cessation, decreased alcohol consumption, healthy diet and physical activity) has been shown to improve population health and reduce cancer deaths. Environmental and occupational risk factors should mainly be tackled by traditional health protection activities. At a policy level, population-based mas...
Continue reading ...

Individuals deal with the disease in their own way and every situation is different. Some break down when the family member announce the diagnoses, some goes quiet. The main thing that people need to realize is that it always help to talk about their feelings about the possibility of losing a family member.
The anger of the fact that this disease can hit a loved one is great as soon as the news is made public. The anger will soon set over to support for the sufferer. Most families are brought ...
Continue reading ...

A lot of attention is placed on the Cancer patient, but little focus is placed on the families of the patient with cancer. It is well known that the patient with cancer suffer, but the family of the patient lso suffer just as much if not more than the patient.
There are psycological impacts that the family need to deal with while the patient is suffering and then they need to suffer even more after the patient has passed away. There are deep psycologicalscars that are left after the patient p...
Continue reading ...

I have been busy with raising awareness of the drive through the Internet as my main form of communication. I have done flyer's that have been distributed locally. There has been a couple of events that I went to to spread the word on the drive. The response from the people is positive in general and a couple called me crazy to attempt this drive. 
I usually do things for one purpose and one purpose only, Me. But this drive is not about me and I have shocked many people that know me when I ann...
Continue reading ...

Death rates from acute lymphoblastic leukemia dropped substantially, 15-year study finds

Monday, March 12, 2012

Related MedlinePlus Page
Childhood Leukemia

MONDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Children with the most common type of leukemia now have a dramatically better chance of survival, a new study shows.

The researchers found five-year survival rates among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) increased from about 84 percent to 90 percent from 1990 to 2005. Surviving for five year...
Continue reading ...

Most people, when they hear the diagnosis of cancer, they automatically hear death, Then they don't hear the rest of the information that the doctor has to share with them about their condition.
The fact is cancer is a scary diagnosis, that can not be argued. But if you are diagnosed early, the chances that you will go into remission is not good, but great. Early detection of any cancer will lead to the early treatment. The mere fact that you have been diagnosed with cancer does not mean that ...
Continue reading ...

How many people does it take to make a breakthrough in the field of Cancer? It takes one person to make the breakthrough, but it takes the support of millions of people to get to the stage where the breakthrough can be made. Thousands of people are busy with research into a cure for cancer, but it takes only one to identify a cure, then it takes a lot of people to verify the results of the one persons research.
The question that need to be asked. "are you assisting with the research that might...
Continue reading ...

Good day all, I just ordered the armbands and lapel pins for the fund raising campaign related to the drive. These pins and bands will be handed out at a fly-inn at the Parys Airfield on the 14th of April 2012. The people make donations towards the drive and we give them something in return as well as a small flier giving information about the drive as well as the web site address, the face book page and twitter information.
The important part is that all funds generated will go directly to th...
Continue reading ...

 As there will be 17 recreational vehicles used during this drive, 5 Snow mobiles, 5 Jet Skis and 7 Motorcycles/CanAm Roadsters depended on the sponsorships, we will also hope to get permission to have these vehicles as prizes at the end of the drive with all their sponsorship logos and markings.

Two of the vehicles will be put on public auction (permission Dependant) while the rest of the vehicles will be handed to individuals that donated to the drive. 

The idea is that for every $100 that ...

Continue reading ...

Yesterday I started with the planning for a Drive Fund raising stall at the local airfield on their Fly-inn day held on the 14th of April 2012. The stall will sell ribbon pins and other goodies to raise funds for the Drive. All profits will go directly into the Drives investment account. More and more events will be planned during the year to raise the awareness of the Drive. There will be a couple of Bingo evenings, Barbecue Challenges,  a ladies tea morning held at the various churches in t...
Continue reading ...

The small town of Parys in the Free State province of South Africa held their annual Relay for life. This relay is held to celebrate those that survived cancer through early detection and treatment, and remembered tose that lost their battle with some type of cancer. 
As usual, it was a memorable evening and because it hit so much closer to home for me this time around, this relay had greater meaning for me personally. I know that next year, there will be a candle burning around the course for...
Continue reading ...

When you suspect that there is something wrong or you found a lump that is growing, immediately consult your medical practitioner to make sure that it is nothing. If he/she advise a biopsy, go immediately. This action can save your life in the long run. 
Early detection is key to fighting cancer. My father felt that something was wrong with his body, but like most men, ignored the symptoms. When the pain and discomfort became to severe, he eventually went to the doctor and was diagnosed with p...
Continue reading ...

Good morning, 
During the last week we managed to secure our first sponsor for the drive as well as received our first donation towards the pole2poleandback drive. Any support will be appreciated be it in the form of sponsorship, funding, advice or moral support would be appreciated. 
This weekend, dating 3rd and 4th of March 2012, there will be opportunity to show your support by joining in shaving or coloring your hair to benefit the Shavathon awareness drive. I will be posting photos on the ...
Continue reading ...

My father was diagnosed with Prostate cancer in August of 2011. Since then, things has gone well but the medical professions can do very little for him. He get a hormone implant every 3 months and it seem to assist with his energy as he still get tired very easily and quickly. 
Continue reading ...