Breast Cancer Vaccine Has Eliminated Cancer In Its First Human Patient

By
Monica Pop
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Scientists and researchers have been trying to create a vaccine that fights against cancer for so long, and finally, some great news have been published recently as the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida announced that they have been working on a vaccine that can prevent ovarian and breast cancer from occurring. They also stated how it would help prevent this type of cancer from affecting those who already had the disease. 

The vaccine was said to work by harnessing the body’s immune system to detect cancer cells and kill them. 

Success has been marked with the first human patient who received the vaccine but it will take at least several years for the study to be completely finished and the medicine be available for patients other than those included in the trial. 

“It is reasonable to say that we could have a vaccine within eight years that may be available to patients through their pharmacy or their doctor,” said Keith L. Knutson, Ph.D., who is part of the Mayo Clinic.

Vials with medication and syringe on white methacrylate table with window background. Horizontal composition. Front view.

When a woman named Lee Mercker was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer, she was offered to take part in the clinical trial and she was more than eager to accept the opportunity. In her case, the cancer was diagnosed very early and its cells were confined to her milk ducts. 

“They always took your blood, you had a physical, they’d make your shot right there on the spot for you,” Mercker said. “It was three shots, all in a row, alternating arms, four shots, two weeks apart.”

Mammogram radio imaging Both side for breast cancer diagnosis

Releasing more information regarding the clinical trial, one of the doctors involved in the study, Dr. Saranya Chumsri said:

“It’s supposed to stimulate a patient’s own immune response so that the immune cells like t-cells would go in and attack the cancer.” 

Patient Mercker had to undergo a mastectomy as it was part of the trial. Using her breast tissue, researchers further examined the effects of the vaccine. 

“That is the only way we know that everything was removed properly,” Chumsri said.

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Great news came as it was determined that the vaccine did its part of the job and triggered the immune system to fight against the affected cells. As a result, the tumor was completely eliminated. 

Mercker was happy she gave this trial a chance as it helped her get rid of the awful disease. 

“I feel like I walked on the moon,” she said. “I worked in an industry with tons of women and I saw all kinds of stories, and it’d just be really nice to stamp this [breast cancer] out.”

3d illustration of cancer cells and lymphocytes

Mayo Clinic is constantly working on finding cure for cancer and they are happy this vaccine may save many lives. Compared to other vaccines, this one is very easy to administer.

“It’s supposed to be just off the shelf, kind of similar to when you get the flu shot or pneumonia shot,” Chumsri said.

Currently, they are trying the vaccine they developed on two other patients. We hope it will work for them as it did for Mercker as it will give hope to many. 

“We have seen early signals that our vaccines have a very positive impact on disease. We are building on that foundation,” Knutson said.

Terminally ill boy who loved firefighters meets his NYFD heroes

By
Monica Pop
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When he was just one year old, a boy named Trucker Dukes was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer known as neuroblastoma.

This brave little boy fought against the horrible disease for two long years, but sadly, his fragile body gave up and he passed away.

Everyone who knew him personally or got to hear his story says how he was truly a special little boy who never lost the ability to smile and make everyone around happy even during the roughest of times. During his short life, Trucker’s biggest wish of becoming friends with the firefighters that he admired so much came true. The members of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) made sweet Trucker’s days fun and memorable. Trucker was receiving his chemo treatments in New York and that was when he fell in love with what these people did. One time, he and his mom Shauna even witnessed the firefighters responding to an incident, and Trucker got even more fascinated with them than before. When he saw the firefighters rushing to answer the call for help, Trucker couldn’t help it but approach and say hello. “I see this little boy excitedly walking towards me with his eyes aglow. I opened my arms and he basically climbed up and hugged me around the neck. It was as if we’ve been friends/brothers for years,” FDNY Captain Jim Grismer told the Huffington Post. Trucker’s dad, Joshua Dukes, is a firefighter himself and he was the one who taught Trucker about the work of firefighters in the first place. He works in Maui, Hawaii, which is where the family is from.

May 31, 2016 was the most special day in the life of the Dukes’ family, because it was then that Trucker was sworn in as a FDNY Junior Firefighter, according to ABC News.

“He actually thinks he’s a firefighter in New York. We’ve had unbelievable support from firefighters all across the world, actually,” Shauna told ABC News. The family started the social media campaign #TruckerToughChallenge where they would post of the boy’s condition, but they eventually decided to stop with the treatments and try to treat him nutritionally. They also believed it was important for them to spend all their time around Trucker and make as many memories as they could.

Trucker left this world on March 3, 2017 in his mom’s arms.

“Trucker’s passing has been the hardest experience you can imagine. Now we get to celebrate his extraordinary life,” his mother Shauna said in a statement to ABC News. The passing of Trucker broke the hearts of his fellow firefighters and his entire family who are now doing their best to raise awareness about paediatric cancer. “I don’t know what the future looks like for us, but I’ll never stop raising awareness. Hopefully, one day there’s something less toxic and not as harsh for someone else’s baby,” Shauna told The Maui News.

The headstone of the little fighter speaks of his love for firefighters and his courage and bravery.

“It’s so strange because I’m somehow comforted that your headstone is installed now and honors you and your legendary life, but heartbroken because no matter how many times I visit your grave I know you’re not here with us. “I miss you so much kiddo. It feels like I have a hole ripped in my heart,” the dad’s post read.

Please share Trucker’s story so that everyone knows how sweet and brave he was.

We pray for every child out there who is fighting against cancer and we wish they all end up winners.

Man Calls The Bank After They Keep Charging His Dead Aunt

By
Maryane
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Customer service of big corporations can be hard to deal with at times. This guy’s aunt died but the bank kept billing her so he decided to take matters into his own hands. How he dealt with the bank will leave you in stitches.

My Aunt died this past January. CitiBank billed her for February and March for their monthly service charge on her credit card, and then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge… (the balance had been $0.00… now was somewhere around $60.00)

I placed the following phone call to CitiBank:

Me: “I am calling to tell you that she died in January.”

CitiBank: “The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.”

Me: “Maybe, you should turn it over to collections…”

CitiBank: “Since it is 2 months past due, it already has been.”

Me: “So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?”

CitiBank: “Either report her account to the frauds division, or report her to the credit bureau… maybe both!”

Me: “Do you think God will be mad at her?”

CitiBank: “… excuse me …?”

Me: “Did you just get what I was telling you… the part about her being dead?”

CitiBank: “Sir, you’ll have to speak to my supervisor!”

(Supervisor gets on the phone)

Me: ”I’m calling to tell you, she died in January.”

CitiBank: “The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.”

Me: “You mean you want to collect from her estate?”

CitiBank: “… (stammer)” … “Are you her lawyer?”

Me: “No, I’m her great nephew.” (Lawyer info given… )

CitiBank: “Could you fax us a certificate of death?”

Me: “Sure.” ( Fax number is given )

( After they get the fax. )

CitiBank: “Our system just isn’t setup for death… ”

Me: “Oh…”

CitiBank: “I don’t know what more I can do to help…”

Me: “Well… if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her… I suppose… don’t really think she will care…”

CitiBank: “Well… the late fees and charges do still apply.”

Me: “Would you like her new billing address?”

CitiBank: “That might help.”

Me: ” (Odessa Memorial Cemetery #### Hwy 129 and plot number given.)

CitiBank: “Sir, that’s a cemetery!”

Me: “What do you do with dead people on your planet?!!”

Please share this post with your friends and family if you get laugh. 

Peace and Love

Bored Daddy

 

‘Parents Expert’ insists Grandparents should seek permission before hugging or kissing their grandchildren

By
Monica Pop
-

Grandparents have been an important part of the lives of their grandchildren for as long as we remember. They teach the little ones responsibility and shower them with endless love and a bunch of gifts. They tell them stories and take care of them whenever the parents are not around.

But according to a parenting expert named Deborah Gilboa, the elderly must ask the grandchildren for consent whenever they want to hug them and kiss them. 

According to her, if children get kissed or hugged without being asked if they wanted that or not, they will feel like they have no control of their bodies.

Speaking to TODAY, she says how most kids are taught not to let be touched in any way unless they are fine with that, and their grandmas and grandpas kissing them whenever they please sends confusing messages. 

“It’s super confusing,” Gilboa insisted on TODAY, claiming that telling kids that their bodies are their own and then allowing older relatives to kiss them without asking permission sends “mixed messages.”

But as it turns out, Deborah isn’t the only person who believes this. Another expert, Jane Evans from Australia, shared a similar idea on This Morning. She says that if grandparents and parents don’t ask the kids for permission before they hug them or kiss them, they would assume it’s okay for other people to do it too. 

Most of the people who came across the ideas of Gilboa and Evans agreed how what they say is absolute nonsense. One Twitter user said how “contact is a huge part of forming relationship” and asking for consent to hug your own child or grandchild is the stupidest idea.  

Other people, however, believe that these experts’ thinking is the right one because that way children learn that their consent is important and they get to decide whether to be hugged or not. 

Do you agree with Gilbert and Evan’s idea? Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. 

 

Mom needs prayers after boyfriend ‘shows his love’ by leaving her daughter in coma

By
Monica Pop
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Sadly, even in the year of 2020, many people fall victims to domestic violence. This time, one heartbroken mother is sharing her daughter’s story and asks people to keep her in their prayers. By speaking out loud about this issue many face, we may raise awareness and encourage everyone who is quietly suffering to fight for themselves, turn their abusers to the authorities, and seek shelter. 

Cindy Martin-Wolfe wants everyone to know of the dangers of violence within the family. Speaking to Love What Matters, she shared how her daughter Jessica was strangled by her abusive boyfriend and after doctor’s tried to get her heart beat again many times, she was revived but couldn’t breath on her own.

The poor woman ended up in coma and fighting for her life. 

“I am at the San Francisco Trauma Hospital with my middle daughter, Jessica,” Cindy explained. “She is in intensive care on life support as a result of Domestic Violence.”

She then continued: “They will slowly warm her up while monitoring her brain. When possible, they will slowly wake her to see how much damage has been done. This is how her ‘boyfriend’, shows her he loves her.

“He is on the run; her children are in CPS custody. I will go to court to get them on Friday. Our family is devastated, waiting to see if we will have our beautiful lady back.“

“We all must do more together.

“We must stop this horror.“

And yes, that is exactly what every society has to do. 

“Please keep Jessica, and our family in prayers. Thank you all from my heart to yours,” Cindy finished. 

“I am sharing pictures of her to be shared with any girls who may be dealing with this or headed in this direction. She would want to show them what they are facing.

“Thank you.”

We honestly hope Jessica will recover completely and that she will be able to start her life all over. As for her abuser, and any other person who gives themselves the right to beat another human being, we hope you’ll get exactly what you deserve. 

15-year-old creates app that helps his grandmother with dementia

By
Monica Pop
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Dementia is an illness that not only affects the person suffering from it, but everyone else around them. These patients need constant care and many times it requires more people to be involved in the process of providing assistance.

Nannie, the grandma of 15-year-old boy named Logan Wells from Lexington, Massachusetts, has dementia and the whole family knows just how hard it is for everyone to be alerted of the granny’s needs at all times.

That is why, this smart young boy created an app that allows all of Nannie’s caregivers be on the same page which results in ultimate care for the loving lady. 

Hallie, Nannie’s daughter, spoke to Colonial Times Magazine and explained how her son came up with this brilliant idea of creating a special app that can now be used by caregivers from all over the country free of charge. “When we first started there were pieces of paper all over Nannie’s house: the chore chart on the fridge, the calendar on the kitchen counter, the medication check-off.”

As Nannie’s condition became even worse, the family had to hire more people to assist her, which made the coordination between them even more challenging. 

“It became really hard to stay on the same page, because we had to have multiple group chats,” Logan told Best Life.

Logan had some basic knowledge of coding that he decided to put into practice, and with the help of his dad Eric, the two ended up creating this useful app called CareZare. 

“I learned the coding and my dad helped me create the prototype, and then we contacted a father-son duo to help us with the development.”

The app, which took around two years to develop, has many useful features such as alerts, lists of doctors’ visits, a daily journal where each caregiver adds information regarding Nannie’s condition, and many more. 

“We started to think – we can build this so it’s useful to other people,” said dad, Eric. “We felt there were opportunities to really promote team-based care at the family level.”

The CareZare website reads: “CareZare allows caregivers to take a team-based approach to care-giving instead of going it alone. Involve other family, friends and outside professional services on a single platform for ease of communication and better care.”

Isn’t this brilliant idea and the result behind it worth sharing with everyone? 

Woman with cancer gets wedding proposal on her last day of treatment

By
Monica Pop
-

High school loves are hard to ever forget because they are innocent and always remind us of the carefree days of our youth. Some people, however, are lucky enough to be spending their whole life with that special person they meet during their teenage years. Jillian Hanson and Max Allegretti are one of them and this is their love story.

These two became inseparable from the moment they met, and just after three years of dating, Jillian was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. 

She knew that her battle against the disease would be a long and a hard one so she decided she should give Max an ‘out’ and spare him from the process of healing which involved many chemo treatments. 

Max, however, never even thought of leaving his girlfriend and was around her side every step of the way. On the last day of chemo, he found the perfect way to celebrate the fact that Jillian was cancer-free by asking her to marry him. 

Speaking of the time of the diagnosis, Max told HuffPost:

“Jillian told me that it was going to be hard and that she did not know what to expect with everything and if I couldn’t handle it, she wanted to know now. I completely disregarded everything she said.”

When Jillian lost her hair and felt weak from the treatments, Max was there to remind her how beautiful she was. 

The last day of chemo was on February 28, 2018. Jillian had no idea that her happiness would double that day. 

“I talked with Jill’s friends and family, and we decided how we could make her last day of chemo even better,” he said. “And then we planned everything out for the proposal with Memorial Sloan Kettering, the hospital where she was receiving treatment.”

Everyone she loved was there by her side and then Max popped the question: “Jillian Hanson, will you marry me?”

Jillian was in disbelief and after saying “What? Wait no, really?!” she gave him her resounding Yes. 

The couple was getting ready for their wedding which took place in October when they received a huge surprise. Learning of their life story and Jillian’s ordeal, the founder of the planning company LLG Events, Lauren Grech, organized their wedding free of charge. 

“We wanted to give her a celebration and give them a celebration of happiness,” Lauren said to Good Morning America.

The best part of all is that Lauren didn’t only plan the wedding but secured a venue, hair and makeup services, an enormous wedding cake, a photographer, and a videographer for free. 

Max, who always knew Jillian is the one for him despite her illness, advises every couple to be there for each other no matter the hardships life brings. “Be there as much as you can for the other person and keep in mind it’s temporary, and you will get back to who you were.” 

When she thinks of the day of the proposal and her amazing wedding day, Jillian says, “The one word I would use to describe it is magical.”

Take a look at the whole story in the video below. 

 

Mocked gay teen hailed a hero after standing up to homophobic bully

By
Maryane
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One would think that in the year of 2020 homophobia is an issue people don’t face any longer, but the sad reality is that no matter how much we try to fight against this prejudice many still choose to discriminate and humiliate those that are perceived ‘different’ by the society. 

Jordan Steffy is a gay teen from Indiana and he’s proud of himself, but the thing is that people around him, among which some of his classmates, make fun of him because of his sexual orientation. 

This time, this brave boy decided it was the time for him to finally stand for himself and face his bullies. His 25,000 Twitter followers and millions of other people hailed him a hero. Here is his story. 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
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Thinking about making a YouTube channel 💭…

 

A post shared by Jordan Steffy (@jordansteffy12) on

“It seemed like I was getting in more trouble for reporting it than I was if I didn’t say anything at all. It was doing me more harm than it was good,” Jordan said speaking to Insider. 

One day, however, one of his classmates shared a homophobic post about him on the social media and Jordan decided he wouldn’t put up with such insults any longer. 

“He made an anti-gay post with a picture of me on it saying how he hated gays and a bunch of throwing up emojis all over it.

“I walked up to him and said, ‘Why did you post this?’ He said ‘It was just a post.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s not just a post. It’s a post about me, saying how you dislike who I am, and I don’t appreciate that.’ He went on to say ‘Okay, but what are you going to do about it?’” Jordan told Insider.

He continued, “I said ‘I’m not going to deal with this, this is the last time I’m called anything.’ And then he said, ‘What are you going to do about it, fa***t?’ And that’s when I was like ‘No, I’m not doing this.’”

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
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Periodt

 

A post shared by Jordan Steffy (@jordansteffy12) on

Jordan then slapped the boy right in the face in front of the whole class. “I just got sick of it. It’s crazy the amount of hatred I received just for liking who I like and being me.” 

The video of the fight was posted on Twitter and Jordan received thousands of messages of support with one person writing, “Honestly sis, you slapped him for all of us. Keep letting them have it!” 

Jordan was very thankful for the support he received. “I really can’t believe people actually are around to tell me that it was ok to stick up for myself. I honestly can’t thank people enough for all the support.”

He then added: “I honestly was just looking for an apology, but he acted like it was no big deal and that has been the word to define me since 2nd grade… I don’t fight really… I wanted him and others to know I was done with the constant hating comments that were made towards me constantly.”

However, the school staff decided Jordan should be suspended for what he did. His mom wasn’t happy either so she decided to home-school him. 

“If I could take it back, personally, I would,” he said. “But I’m glad I stood up for myself. If you were in my shoes, you’d probably get sick of it and you’d want to stand up for yourself.”

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
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Ok I look so good in this picture what happened ???

 

A post shared by Jordan Steffy (@jordansteffy12) on

We are truly sad Jordan was punished by the school for defending himself because we believe he had all the right to stand against the bully who hurt his feelings. 

As for the bully, we are glad he learned his lesson the hard way. 

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