Lu and Gabe are the faces of the Chemo Duck cancer program

Provision employee uses her family’s cancer experience to help and inspire other patients

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To say the things Lu has done in her life are inspirational, might be an understatement. As a Care Coordinator at Provision CARES Proton Therapy, Lu is often the first person a cancer patient speaks to when they call our center. Her ability to put others at ease makes her a calming presence for people who are coping with stress and uncertainty as they seek out treatment options.

Her gifts come naturally, but they’re also amplified by her own life experience. Lu’s family has dealt with cancer on more than one occasion – her son was diagnosed as an infant; her husband got cancer more than a decade later. Not only did she find a way to channel that experience to help Provision patients, but she also used it as an opportunity to start the Chemo Duck program, helping thousands of pediatric patients cope with cancer treatment.

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Brain Cancer Awareness Month highlights benefits of proton therapy

Brain Tumor Awareness Month a chance to spotlight benefits of proton therapy treatment

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Brain Tumor Awareness Month happens every year in May. It’s a month dedicated to supporting the brain tumor community and raising awareness to help fund much needed cancer research. It’s also an opportunity to highlight the quality-of-life benefits proton therapy treatment can provide for patients with brain tumors. To help the spread the word, we’ve put together some key statistics, signs & symptoms, and helpful resources you can share with your networks to support the cause.

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Proton therapy cancer treatment significantly lowers the risk of second cancer compared to IMRT and 3DCRT

Proton Therapy significantly lowers risk of second cancer

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X-ray (also called photon) therapy has long been known to cause the development of potentially deadly new cancers in patients who undergo radiation therapy to treat their cancer. However, research shows that patients who choose proton therapy for cancer treatment have a significantly lower risk of developing a second cancer later in life.

In a comprehensive study published in Cancer, the prestigious, peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, researchers at Stanford University found that patients who were treated with x-ray therapy developed more than three times as many new cancers as patients treated with proton therapy.1

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Mason Strong: Teenage boy’s fight against pediatric brain cancer brings together an entire community.

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Published: May 8, 2019 at 09:49 AM EDT

No parent wants to hear that their child has cancer.  Unfortunately, those were the words Ginger and Richard Cobble, parents of son Mason Cobble, 16, heard on Tuesday, February 26, 2019.  Mason is a sophomore at Walker Valley High School in Cleveland, Tenn. and an overall healthy child.  On Friday morning, February 22nd of 2019, Mason had a seizure and was later diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme GBM, a rare pediatric brain cancer.  He immediately had surgery to remove the tumor followed by proton therapy.

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Protons offer promise for reirradiation

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For those with cancer who have already an initial course of radiation therapy, a recurrence of their disease can be an understandable cause for concern.

With conventional (X-ray) based radiation, we generally can only safely give one round of treatment to the primary site of disease. But with proton therapy, because of its ability to zero in on the cancer and spare healthy surrounding tissue, a second course of treatment could offer hope to patients with recurrent tumors. (more…)