Butterfly

Health NewsLet’s Help Our Kids Fight Cancer

A group of doctors, professionals, and social workers joining hands together to help children affected with

cancer.

WE PROVIDE » Financial support for pediatric cancer

patients. » Expert medical advice for diagnosis &

treatment. » Educational fellowship for the students

from cancer affected families. » Cancer awareness programs, conferences &

medical camps.

WHAT YOU CAN DO » Please join in this noble effort by becoming

a Member / Expert Panel /Doctor /coordinator MEMBERSHIP ADVANTAGES

» Free Medical advice from expert doctors on cancer related issues.

» Facilitating expert oncologist consultation in various hospitals.

» Regular free newsletter about cancer and healthy life style.

» Active participation in Butterfly events. » Elite and Platinum Members will be ac-

knowledged in our website and events. » Best butterfly Member/Doctor/ Sponsor/

Coordinator Awards.

Ray of Hope News

Editorial

Cancer immunotherapy Won the Nobel Prize !!!

In 2018, Prof James Allison and Prof Tasuku Hon-jo were awarded with the Nobel Prize in Medi-cine for their discovery of treating cancer with

patients own immune cells. This was not the first time that a cancer therapy was being awarded the Nobel Prize. The previous discoveries include hormone treatment for prostate cancer (Huggins, 1966), chemotherapy (Elion and Hitchings, 1988), and bone marrow transplantation for leukemia (Thomas 1990). In 1990’s, James P Allison stud-ied a protein expressed on our white-blood cells (T cells) that act as a brake on their capacity to at-tack cancer cells. He proposed that if this protein can be masked using an antibody, then WBCs can re-gain its capacity to attack cancer. Prof Honjo also identified another potential break on WBCs. Both these scientists independently demonstrat-ed that if these breaks can be masked, patients own immune cells can destroy cancer and they can live for a long-time. This new therapy is now available in all major hospitals in India. However, the cost of treatment is too high for common man. One month treatment may cost nearly 2 lakhs. If we can develop such drugs in India itself, the cost can be reduced significantly and make such drugs available to our common man.

Dear Friends,

We are happy to bring the fourth issue of Butterfly

health newsletter. Main aim of this newsletter is to provide latest scientific

news about the advancement in cancer therapy and diagnosis. In addition, we also attempt to pro-vide more accurate information about some of the controversial and often incorrect news about can-cer. In this issue, we discuss about the emerging cancer therapy treatment; Cancer Immunotherapy and Nobel prize award to Prof James Allison and

Prof Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of treating cancer with patients own immune cells.

In the “myth and facts” session, we address the myths on i) injuries can cause can-cer, ii) Women with breast cancer have a family history of the disease, iii) Can stress causes can-cer? and lastly iv) Will hair dye use increase the risk of cancer. In the last section Dr. Suma Balan a well-known professor at Rheumatology from Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences has written a detailed write-up on chronic diseases in children. Besides this, the newsletter has also updated about all the activities/programs conducted by Butterfly Foundation in 2018.

Dr. Anjana Ramkumar, Editor

Issue 4April 2019

WBC (T cells), in pink colour attacking cancer cell (Green colour), Madhuri Dey, Penn State University

This concept states that Bumps, Bruises or other injuries causes cancer is ridiculous since there is little chance for somebody de-

veloping cancer as a result of an injury.

There are occasions that somebody visit a health care provider for what’s thought to be an injury and cancer is found at that time. For example, a bone that is weak from a cancerous tumor is more likely to break – and treating the broken bone could lead to the discovery of the cancer. In this case the injury did not cause the cancer; the cancer was already there which was diagnosed late.

In very rare cases, long-standing and/or severe injuries can increase cancer risk, but these account for a small fraction of cancer cas-es. For example, skin cancer risk is somewhat increased in scars caused by thermal or chemical burns, and chemical burns caused by swallowing caustic liquids are a risk factor for cancer of the esophagus. Such rare exceptions may have given credibility to this myth.

MYTHSFACTS

VSButterfly

Health NewsWill hair dye use increase the risk of cancer?

If your hair is going gray, you may be one of the estimated one-third of women–and one-tenth of men–who decide to cover it up with chemical

color. The treatments range from an occasional set of reverse highlights that put darker color back into hair, all the way to coloring roots to eliminate gray every three weeks.

How safe are these coloring products?Permanent hair dyes produced before

1980 contained ingredients that are now known to cause cancer. These were eliminated from dyes produced in the United States in 1979, when in-dustry-wide changes in the formulation of hair

dyes were instituted.Although many research is going on, as

of now there is no convincing scientific evidence that personal hair dye use increases the risk of cancer. Most studies of people exposed to hair dyes at work, such as hairdressers and barbers, have found a small but fairly consistent increased risk of bladder cancer. However, studies looking at people who have their hair dyed have not found a consistent increase in bladder cancer risk. A re-port from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that some of the chemicals these workers are exposed to occupa-tionally are “probably carcinogenic to humans”.

Myth: Injuries can cause cancer

Myth: Breast Cancer is hereditary

Myth: Stress causes cancer

Some risk factors for breast cancer are things you cannot change, such as being a woman, getting older, and having certain gene chang-

es. These make your risk of breast cancer higher.

Being a woman: Simply being a wom-an is the main risk factor for breast cancer.

Men can get breast cancer, too, but this disease is about 100 times more common in women than in men.

Getting Older: As you get older, your risk of breast cancer goes up. Most breast cancers are found in women age 55 and older. Gene Chang-es: About 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary, meaning that they re-sult directly from gene defects (called mutations) passed on from a parent. For example, mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to increase a person’s chance of developing cancer. If you are holding a pure ‘The cancer away’ fami-ly history, still there are chances that you will be hunted down by cancer.

Stress is primarily a physical response. When stressed, the body thinks it is under attack and switches to ‘fight or flight’ mode, releas-

ing a complex mix of hormones and chemicals to prepare the body for physical action. This causes a number of reactions, from blood being diverted to muscles to shutting down unnecessary bodily functions such as digestion.

Researchers have done many studies to see if there’s a link between personality, at-titude, stress, and cancer. No scientific evidence has shown that a person’s personality, outlook or stress levels affects their cancer risk. Although stress can cause a number of physical health problems, the evidence that it can cause cancer is weak. Apparent links between psychological stress and cancer could arise in several ways. For example, people under stress may develop certain behaviors, such as smoking, overeating, or drink-ing alcohol, which increase a person’s risk for cancer. Or someone who has a relative with can-cer may have a higher risk for cancer because of a shared inherited risk factor, not because of the stress induced by the family member’s diagnosis.

Butterfly

Health NewsEXPERT OPINION

Dr. Suma BalanProfessor at Department of Rheumatology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi

Chronic diseases in childhood

Robin Uthappa had epilepsy as a child. Ste-phen Redgrave, the 9 times Olympic Gold rower has Diabetes that started at 8 years

of age. Fawad Khan, the movie star has Diabetes after being involved in an accident as a child that destroyed his pancreas Selena Gomez , the singer has SLE and required a kidney transplant

Children also get chronic diseases- mean-ing illnesses that involve long term medications, even lifelong. This is something that isn’t very well recognised by the lay public, perhaps even by Doctors who do not routinely work in specialties that involve children. This write up is to sensitize the layman to chronic diseases in childhood and a few tips for coping for their families.

There is a very large spectrum of chronic disease in children. Asthma and eczema could be the most common, but disorders like cerebral palsy, epilepsy, Childhood Diabetes, Juvenile Idio-pathic arthritis, Cystic fibrosis, various types of cancer, different forms of anemia, various heart disorders, behavioural disorders like Autism and ADHD( Attention Deficit disorder with Hyperactiv-ity) etc etc.

While in adults most common chronic disorders are lifestyle related, it’s not the same case in childhood. Many disorders could be ge-netically prone or acquired during childhood due to a complex immune activation, biochemical/ neurochemical processes and other such causes. The spectrum of childhood heart diseases are ex-tremely different from adult disorders. Similarly Diabetes in children is usually Type 1 the cause of which is not lifestyle related unlike in adults who get mostly Type 2 Diabetes which is lifestyle related.

The diagnosis of chronic disease in a child is often a shock to the family. In addition to the reaction to illness, a suffering child etc, the extra impact factor comes from the reason that most people are unaware that children can have such issues. They often find it difficult to come to terms with the diagnosis, that it can be lifelong, that it might require treatment lifelong, regular visits to the Doctor, often with blood tests etc. It’s quite common for us physicians to hear parents say- “ I never knew such diseases were there!”

Coming to terms with the diagnosis, ac-

cepting it and the necessary issues that come packaged with it can therefore take time, and often immediate action is required which may not allow for the luxury of that time.

So, what does the lay public need to know about these conditions?

That chronic diseases of many many types do exist in children

They may not necessarily be preventable. Rather than try hard to find out why your child got it, it’s more important to focus on what can be done about it

1)Try to find an appropriately qualified specialist who is seeing such patients regularly to treat your child. A paediatric subspecialist is ideal but in our country Paediatric subspecialists may not be available everywhere

2)Don’t lose contact with your General Paediatrician. Your subspecialist deals more with the disease and related issues. The General Paedi-atrician deals with the inevitable minor intercur-rent illness like coughs and colds and keeping up with their vaccinations etc ( Let the subspecialist know before you give any vaccines to children on treatment for a chronic disease). He/ she can also be point of liaison with your specialist if specific issues arise

3) Most chronic illnesses are treated tak-ing into account the normal routines of children who go to school and like to play and take up hobbies and interests. As far as possible, try to maintain their regular routine and try not to over-protect/ overly pamper them. Try to involve them in small tasks around the house according to their ability. Let the school and the class teacher know. Speak to your Doctor and ask them if there are any specific alerts or advice for school teachers because of your child’s condition. Unless specifi-cally instructed by the Doctor, do not restrict their physical activity or extracurricular activities.

4)One of the biggest stresses that fami-lies face seems to be with describing the illness and nature of treatment to extended family members and others in their society - the curious neighbors and relatives. Most of them are as much lay people as they themselves are, yet they advice like a PhD holder in that area!!! Despite good inten-tions, the majority of the time, neighbors and well

wishes May Not Necessarily Be Right!5)Sometimes, suggested treatments can

be very expensive. As a society, we need to find ways to help those disadvantaged rather than expecting a cheap alternative for every scenario.

How to face the above?

Empower yourself with as much verified information about the disease. Your Doctor will give you answers if you ask them questions (ask-ing nicely is an advantage!). Don’t be afraid to ask your Doctor to explain the issues and perhaps point you in the direction of relevant literature online. Dr Google on your own can be misleading, so get your Doctor to recommend the right sights.

Encourage your child to participate in his/ her treatment. Know your medicines, doses, and what you need to be alert for. Teenagers especially have a tendency to stop and not take their medi-cines, so please keep a watch on them.

Please trust your physician. Chronic dis-eases do much better if there is trust in the Doc-tor- Patient- Family relationship. If you feel you cannot trust them, try to get a second opinion and make a change. Only that the chosen special-ist must be relevant to the field.

Don’t lose sleep over unknown fears, un-likely events. Enjoy your child growing up. Have pride in their achievements. Have reasonable ex-pectations

For all chronic diseases, getting the illness in control is important and maintaining disease control with medicines and other specialist advice like exercise etc is key. Many parents worry more about the drugs than the disease. Appropriately trained specialists know how to prescribe medica-tions safely and monitor them safely. Treatment regimes are devised after a lot of data is studied and by experts

Above all, children with chronic conditions need to be encouraged to have as normal a life as possible and grow to realise their full potential. Their medical professionals, their families and society have to support them to achieve this. If you know families with children with any chronic disease or if there is one in yours, please support them to accept it and seek the appropriate treat-ment would the right specialist

Butterfly

Health News

Hon: Cochin mayor and other guests at the inaugura-tion of “children’s free clinic

BCCF president Mr. C.P Nair represented us and felici-tated the gathering

Inaguration of Butterfly Children’s Free Clinic

Butterfly Children’s day celebrations

Our new initiative ‘Butterfly Children’s Free Clinics’ was inaugurated on 2nd June 2018, at IMA Hall, Kaloor, Cochin. Major objective of

this initiative is free cancer screening in children from financially backward families. These clinics will be opened at Kochi, Calicut and Trivandrum. Doctors in these clinics will coordinate with ex-pert oncologists from major cancer hospitals in each city and conduct the diagnosis and treat-ment for kids.

The event was honored by the presence of Smt Soumini Jain (Mayor, Cochin), Dr Moni Abra-ham Kuriakose (Director, Cochin Cancer Centre), Dr.A.k.k.Unni(Senior professor at Amrita), Shri. Gopinath Muthukad (UNICEF Celebrity Advocate), Smt Mallika Sukumaran (Actress), Shri Siddique (Actor), Baby Akshara Kishor (Child Artist).

In connection with children’s day, the pediat-ric department in Amrita Hospital along with Butterfly Cancer Care Foundation and Canserve,

came together and conducted an event to en-tertain and make our little butterflies happy. Our butterfly team actively participated by putting up photo booth, sticker stall and mehandi booth for the kids.

Brindavan Business Centre,Manimala Road,Behind St. George Church Edappally PO,Cochin, Kerala, India- 682024

Dr. Pavithran K, Dr. Manzoor Koyakutty, Dr. Neeraj Sidharthan, Dr. Manitha Nair, Dr.Sudhakar Muthy-ala, Dr. Girish C M, Dr. Anusha Ashokan, Dr. Vijay Harish, Dr Shaji Ayyilath, Dr. Hari Shankaran, Mr.C P Nair, Mr. Suresh Nair (Dubai) and Mr Girish Warier (Dubai). Concepts and Design Editor: Mr Gopikrishna

Dr. Manzoor K- Chairman, Mr. C.P.Nair- PresidentMr.Suresh Nair- Vice President, Dr. Manitha Nair- Secretary, Dr.Girish C.M- TreasurerDr.Anusha Ashokan, Dr.Vijay Harish S, Dr. Anjana Ramkumar, Mr.Girish Warier, Dr.Sudhakar MuthyalaDr.G.S.Gowd

Editorial Board

Governing Council

Contact

www.butterflycancercare.org | contact@butterflycancercare.org | butterflycancercare@gmail.com I Phone : +91 90723 08020

HDFC Bank Cochin, India Account no 50100036229330

IFSC code –HDFC0000717

DONATE Donations are eligible for tax deduction u/s. 80G(5), Income Tax Act, 1961

That will bring smile to many of our butterflies

BUTTERFLY CANCER CARE FOUNDATION

BUTTERFLY EDUCATONALFELLOWSHIPS

REHABILTATIONS AND WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

61 kidsRs 13, 37,776

Pl Join Butterfly. "Lets bring smiles and Dreams back to our children"

63 kidsRs 3,64,918

Flood-relief and women empowerment scheme

Rs 7, 75,150

Clinical, logistic and financial support for the treatment of

cancer affected kids

Support for the continued education of students from

Cancer affected families.

Recent flood devastated the life of many cancer affected families. In collaboration with Confident Builders Group, Kochi, Butterfly facilitated reconstruction of 11 houses and empowered house wives

in securing a lively hood:

BUTTERFLY ACTIVITIES 2018