Willie Heard is a man of faith. His faith stood strong even after he got tragic news in September 2013. Heard was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), a group of bone marrow cancers in which the bone marrow does not produce enough healthy blood cells. His cancer diagnosis came just months after retiring from his job at USAA and just shy of his 67th birthday. “I’m a religious person and a minister and, I think I remember telling the doctor, I said, ‘Doctor you do what you do, I’m gonna let God do what he does,’” said Heard, a resident of San Antonio, Texas. “[The cancer diagnosis] was a surprise to me, but I’ve always been a person that don’t really worry about stuff I can’t control, so I don’t let that bother me.”
Heard’s Decision to ...
Willie Heard es un hombre de fe. Su fe se mantuvo fuerte incluso después de recibir noticias trágicas en septiembre de 2013. Heard fue diagnosticado con síndrome mielodisplásico (SMD), un grupo de cánceres de médula ósea en los que la médula ósea no produce suficientes células sanguíneas sanas. Él recibió el diagnóstico de cáncer pocos meses después de retirarse de su trabajo en USAA y justo antes de cumplir 67 años de edad. "Soy una persona religiosa y un ministro y, creo que recuerdo haberle dicho al doctor, le dije: 'Doctor, haga lo que usted hace, y yo voy a dejar que Dios haga lo que Él hace'", dijo Heard, un residente de San Antonio, Texas. "[El diagnóstico de cáncer] fue una sorpresa para mí, pero siempre he sido una persona que realmente no se ...
Cancer health disparities. COVID-19. Climate change. These challenges require public health leaders to create programs and policy solutions that address a complex web of factors that influence health status, from biology to social determinants and systemic inequities. In a new book, Health Program Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation, public health education specialist Dr. Lawrence W. Green and his team of editors and chapter authors combine their expertise to offer a high-level guide to public health promotion and programming. The book has a chapter, "Applications in Community Settings," written by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez and Dr. Patricia Chalela of UT Health San Antonio. "Program and policy solutions to population health challenges require systematic planning, ...
Leonel Rodríguez recibió una noticia terrible en noviembre de 2019. Los médicos diagnosticaron a Rodríguez, un residente del sur de Texas, con linfoma de células del manto, una forma agresiva y rara de linfoma no Hodgkin. Los primeros medicamentos que tomó para tratar el cáncer en realidad empeoraron su condición. Pronto se enteró de un estudio clínico potencialmente beneficioso para pacientes con linfoma ofrecido por el Mays Cancer Center de UT Health San Antonio. Los estudios clínicos ayudan a los investigadores a aprender cómo reducir el progreso, manejar y tratar mejor enfermedades como el cáncer y el Alzheimer. "[Los estudios clínicos fueron] la mejor manera porque, usted sabe, ahora me siento bien con el tratamiento", dijo Rodríguez. "Ahora siento que me ...
Created in 2016 by President Joe Biden, the Cancer Moonshot initiative aims to accelerate the rate of progress against cancer. Since then, the government program has accomplished a lot, including more than 2,000 scientific publications and 49 clinical trials – all to better understand how to treat and prevent cancer. President Biden has now reignited the Cancer Moonshot program and set a new national goal: cutting the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years, and improving the experience of people and their families living with and surviving cancer. But how will the Cancer Moonshot impact Latinos?
The Latino Cancer Crisis
Cancer is the #1 cause of death in Latinos. Latino cancer cases are expected to rise 142% in coming years. There are higher rates ...
Latinas have lower cancer screening rates than their peers in South Texas and the nation. To find out why, we conducted a Zoom webinar — “Ladies, Why Should You Get Screened for Cancer?” — at 1 p.m. CT on Oct. 4, 2022. This webinar featured guest speakers and patient advocates to help health care professionals and the Latino public to help health care professionals and the Latino public understand the cultural and other barriers to cancer screening and demystify screening tests. Speakers also shared testimonials of their cancer journey and why they get screened. This is the sixth and final webinar of a series, “Let’s Address Health Equity Together.” The series is a collaboration of the Salud America! program at the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT ...
Stress is a grim reality for many Latinas after breast cancer. Survivors deal with health, fitness, finance, discrimination, and social challenges that reduce their quality of life and boost their risk of new or recurring cancers. That is why Drs. Amelie G. Ramirez, Daniel Carlos Hughes, and Patricia Chalela at UT Health San Antonio will conduct a holistic intervention to improve Latina breast cancer survivors' physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, thanks to a new, three-year, $600,000 grant from Susan G. Komen. Researchers will recruit 70 breast cancer survivors, half of them Latinas. Over six months, they will get: therapeutic yoga with meditation
optional tailored exercise and diet counseling
real-time psycho-social support based on survivors’ motivational ...
Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and causes about 17,100 deaths annually in the US. About 75% of bladder cancer cases are non-muscle invasive. This means that the cancer affects the tissue lining of the inner surface of the bladder, but not the bladder muscle. While this type of bladder cancer is treatable, one of the most effective treatments for this disease – a tuberculosis vaccine – causes intolerable side effects for up to 84% of patients, which can prevent treatment completion. When treatments fail, the bladder may have to be removed, reducing the patient’s quality of life. However, a modified tuberculosis vaccine developed by Jordi B. Torrelles, PhD, a professor at Texas Biomedical Research Institute in San Antonio, could help treat non-muscle ...
It’s that time of year again! Summer is ending and children are returning to school. Just as you prepare your child for the upcoming school year with school supplies, consider preparing them for a healthier life free from Human Papillomavirus (HPV)-related cancers with an HPV vaccine. Now is the perfect time to schedule your child’s annual wellness visit to receive the vaccine – before life gets hectic again.
What is HPV?
HPV is short for human papillomavirus. There are many types of HPVs, some of which can be sexually transmitted and cause cancer later in life, according to the American Cancer Society. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US. HPV is so common that almost every sexually active person will get HPV at some point in their lives if ...
