Zach's School Photo

Here is Zach's school photo from his class at Seton Ridge Children's Center. His teachers are Miss Paulette and Miss Kavita. (Zach is in the GAP sweatshirt)

Mia's Baptism

What a wonderful day! Nano and Pops along with Mia's Godparents Linda and Frank Blews were here to celebrate a very special day for Mia!

Emory cancer center earns national honor

Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Urvaksh Karkaria Staff Writer

Gov. Sonny Perdue told a standing-room only crowd at Emory Winship Cancer Institute Monday the center's freshly minted designation as a national cancer center is like the "Good Housekeeping seal of approval."

Emory Winship Cancer Institute's freshly minted designation as a national cancer center is like the "Good Housekeeping seal of approval," Gov. Sonny Perdue told a standing-room only crowd Monday.

"This is not a declaration or a distinction that's given lightly," Perdue said. "This marks an important milestone in our fight against cancer. This designation now means that Emory joins the ranks of the most elite cancer centers in the country."

Winship Cancer Institute received the coveted national cancer center designation after two decades of trying, Atlanta Business Chronicle first reported April 10.

Winship is the first in Georgia to get the gold-plated certification, which will open the spigot to millions of dollars in research funding and lure high-profile clinical trials and talent to the state.

Georgia has lagged behind many other Southeastern states by not having a designated cancer center. With the announcement, Emory joins an elite group of about 25 NCI national cancer centers nationwide. Several Southern states, including Alabama, Florida and South Carolina, have NCI cancer centers.

"Georgia's greatest infrastructure defect is now corrected," Bill Todd, CEO of the Georgia Cancer Coalition, said referring to designation.

With the national cancer center title under its belt, Emory plans to apply for NCI’s Comprehensive Cancer Center status in two years, a source said.

The national cancer center designation designation will bring $4.2 million in grant funding to Winship for the next three years. Perdue said.

The additional money will add to NIH cancer funding at Emory. which has more than tripled over the past six years, Emory University President James Wagner noted.

Emory would also be eligible for a larger pool of funding from federal and private sources, such as the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Department of Defense.

The cancer center designation will make Winship a talent magnet, too — attracting top researchers and oncologists.

Winship unsuccessfully applied for the designation in the mid-1990s.

It failed because the NCI did not feel the cancer center had enough basic science research capability at the time. Winship has since invested in expanding the research program, both in scope and manpower.

The NCI questioned Emory’s commitment for a cancer center because it did not have a stand-alone cancer facility. The agency noted Emory’s leadership, at the time, did not fully support the need for a NCI Cancer Center designation.

Since then, Emory has invested millions of dollars in the Winship Institute.

Tarceva

Here is the link to some information about the drug Tarceva that Pops will start taking soon.

Update-April 2009

Here's the latest update from Pops...

"It’s been a long day… but I am thankful Margaret joined me at the Dr’s today to get the outcome of my blood work and the CT Scan. It was a bad day/good day/bad day for our visit. The good news first… I will not be taking chemotherapy for my cancer nodules. The bad news is several of the nodules have doubled in size over the past 4 months. The largest nodules now are 1.7cm in size. The largest is close to my wind pipe and the Dr wants to start on a program of Oral Chemotherapy Drug medicine.

The Chemotherapy drug is called “Tarceva” and is one of the newest and best drugs for treating my type of cancer since 2004. This drug has several side effects which I should be able to get through without many problems. This treatment with Oral Tarceva is much better for me than regular Chemotherapy treatment which beats your body up so badly. There are only 2 food items that I cannot eat/drink and those are grapefruit and green tea! Strange combination but I can live with that. I start taking Tarceva in 2 weeks after my Dr does some additional research on my body makeup to make sure my body and drug will work well together.

Taking Tarceva will hopefully slow the growth of the cancer. With the growth at 100% over the past 4 months is not the direction my Dr was looking for. At this point we can only slow the progress of this cancer. I will willingly take experimental drugs and treatment if any become available. Time will tell.

As they say… thank God for Insurance. My pharmacist told me the monthly cost for Tarceva was $4500!! Yes, that’s correct. Wow!! I don’t know how folks do this without insurance.

Margaret and I and our beautiful family want to thank you all for your wonderful support over the past several months. Your prayers have been instrumental for me keeping me strong through all of this. We send our love to you all.

Gene and Margaret"