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From Grammy-award winning artist Sheryl Crow discussing her breast cancer journey to a 4-year-old reconnecting with their favorite nurse, here’s what’s happening in the cancer space this week.
Sheryl Crow urges women to get screened for breast cancer.
Country musician and pop artist Sheryl Crow was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2006 at the age of 44. In a recent interview with CBS Los Angeles, she recalled her experience about how she received her diagnosis.
Moreover, Crow urged other women to get screened and to resume screening if they have skipped their recent yearly checkups because of COVID-19.
“My message to women is it can happen to anyone, 1 in 8 women now are being diagnosed with breast cancer and until we have a cure, early detection is our best weapon,” she said in the interview. “I’m happy to say that at least our technology is advancing, even though we don’t have a cure yet.”
Florida fire departments receive funding to reduce exposure to cancer-causing contaminants.
Florida has awarded $500,000 to fire departments across the state to purchase new equipment that better protects firefighters against cancer-causing chemicals that may be present on the job.
Firefighters, according to data from the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, are at a 9% greater risk of developing cancer than the general public. Additionally, those statistics show that firefighters are 14% more likely to die from their disease.
“What we’re finding in the fire service now is that the sooner we could get out of these contaminated clothes, get showered, get all this bad stuff off of us, the better we're going to be in the long run,” Wayne Bernoska, president of Florida Professional Firefighters, said in an interview with Tampa Bay TV station Fox 13.
BBC Radio host Deborah James, 40, reveals she is receiving hospice care.
James, who was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2016, recently announced on Instagram that she has stopped receiving active treatment and has started hospice care.
“The message I never wanted to write. We have tried everything, but my body simply isn’t playing ball,” she wrote. “My active care has stopped, and I am now moved to hospice at home care, with my incredible family all around me and the focus is on making sure I’m not in pain and spending time with them. Nobody knows how long I’ve got left but I’m not able to walk, I’m sleeping most of the days, and most things I took for granted are pipe dreams.”
In the same post, James announced that a fund was being established in her honor — the Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK — to raise money for clinical trials and research.
Rocco DiMaggio, 4, reunites with his ‘angel on Earth.’
DiMaggio was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that affects the nervous system, in May 2020.
Not even 3 years old at the time, DiMaggio received treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, which is where he met pediatric oncology nurse, Cassie DeMatteis.
“Sometimes I can’t even say her name without crying,” Rocco’s mom Gabrielle said in an interview with TODAY. “I say Cassie is our angel on Earth. She truly is. That’s what she is to us.”
Gabrielle noted that DeMatteis was by Rocco’s side throughout his treatment, and even held him when things were getting scary.
Recently, the two reunited during a segment on TODAY that was celebrating nurses for their work.
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