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Study A Chance To Help Fight Cancer

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By JOYCE McKENZIE

jmckenzie@tampatrib.com

Published: March 18, 2009

TEMPLE TERRACE - People who live in and around the city could be in on the cutting edge of a major breakthrough in finding a cure a to a disease that affects many families.

The Temple Terrace Relay for Life site at Greco High School has been selected as one of 14 locations in Florida earmarked to register volunteer participants in the American Cancer Society's third cancer-prevention study. They will be among 500,000 across the country and Puerto Rico to take part in the study.

The purpose of the initiative, led by the cancer society's Department of Epidemiology and Surveillance Research Department, is to help determine why some people are prone to contract the disease.

Researchers will look at variables including lifestyle, environment and genetic factors that could lead to cancer. What you eat, how much you exercise and what medications and vitamin supplements you take will be included on questionnaires periodically mailed to participants who agree to commit to the 20-year study.

To be eligible for the free, confidential study, you must be 30 to 65 and must never have been diagnosed with cancer, except basal and squamous cell.

American Cancer Society data show that in 2008 about 1 in 3 people in the United States were diagnosed with cancer. The organization also revealed that more than a half-million deaths in the country last year were cancer-related.

"For those who have ever suffered along with a loved one battling cancer and felt that helpless feeling, wishing with all their heart there was something they could do to make things better, this is their chance to fight back against this disease," said Temple Terrace study chairman David Long, a longtime supporter of the organization and two-time chairman of the Temple Terrace Relay for Life event.

"Sometimes people forget that we once had formidable diseases like smallpox and polio, but thanks to research, those diseases have been eliminated," he said. "We can do the same thing with cancer."

The signup process, Long said, is simple, and those who enroll do not need to participate in Relay for Life.

Each applicant will be asked to read and sign a consent form, complete a short written survey, provide a waist measurement and contribute a blood sample, drawn by a certified phlebotomist. Participants will be given a detailed questionnaire to complete at home.

Cindy Kocher, the 2009 Temple Terrace Relay for Life honorary chairwoman who underwent surgery for lung cancer six months ago, thinks the study could lead to significant breakthroughs down the road.

"Anything that we can do as individuals to further the research for cancer is of extraordinary value," Kocher said. "Our country has made great strides in diagnosing and treating cancer, but it's from studies like this that scientists and physicians find new discoveries that may ultimately lead to the treatment and cure of most, if not all, cancers."

Longtime Relay for Life participant Shelly Hollingsworth has watched from the sidelines as her father fought two bouts with cancer. Fortunately, he is a survivor.

"This is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of this significant study," said Hollingsworth, this year's Temple Terrace Relay for Life survivors and caregivers committee chairwoman. "There's only a one-time shot for people in this community to help find a cure for cancer."

CANCER-PREVENTION STUDY

WHAT: The American Cancer Society is seeking participants to take part in a 20-year study that could lead to finding a cure for cancer.

WHEN: 7 to 11 p.m. March 27 at the Temple Terrace Relay for Life

WHERE: Greco Middle School, 6925 E. Fowler Ave.

INFORMATION: Visit www.cancer.org/cps3 or call David Long at (813) 299-0106

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849.

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