The head of the influential youth organization InterVarsity Christian Fellowship is having to step down from his position after being diagnosed with cancer.
Alec Hill, who has headed the group since 2001, announced that he has been diagnosed with myelodysplasia, a form of bone marrow cancer. The disease usually progresses into acute myelogenous leukemia with five year survival rates from 15-70% depending on treatment.
Hill will begin his treatment June 10th after a Board of Trustees meeting to appoint an interim president.
“Alec has played a key role in encouraging and shepherding us,” InterVarsity Board Chair Ron Williams said in a statement. “And we pray that he will experience God’s shepherding and grace as he faces the unexpected journey ahead.”
During the time Hill headed the organization, the group had a 10 percent increase in membership and a 23 percent increase in overall involvement in the organization. He also started a donor gift program that has raised over $70 million for the group’s worldwide ministry.
InterVarsity began in 1877 in Britain when a group of students gathered for Bible study and prayer at Cambridge University.
Scientists at Imperial College London have found what they call a “game-changer” for cancer treatment: a protein that will “turbo-charge” the immune system to fighting cancers and viruses.
“This is exciting because we have found a completely different way to use the immune system to fight cancer,” said Professor Philip Ashton-Rickardt, from the Section of Immunobiology in the Department of Medicine at Imperial, who led the study.
“It could be a game-changer for treating a number of different cancers and viruses. This is a completely unknown protein. Nobody had ever seen it before or was even aware that it existed. It looks and acts like no other protein.”
When the body detects cancer, it will immediately flood the immune system with T-cells which fight the cancer. However, the body quickly reduces that output after the initial wave. The new protein creates T-cells in large enough numbers that cancer cannot fight them off.
The protein also creates “memory cells” in the immune system to recognize previously fought cancers and viruses to lessen the chances of their return.
“The discovery of a protein that could boost the immune response to not only cancer, but also to viruses, is a fascinating one,” Dr. Mike Turner of the Wellcome Trust, told the Daily Telegraph. “Further investigation in animal models is needed before human trials can commence, but there is potential for a new type of treatment that capitalizes on the immune system’s innate ability to detect and kill abnormal cells.”
The study has been published in the journal Science.
The lead singer of the Christian worship band Casting Crowns has been released from the hospital after emergency surgery to remove a kidney because of cancer.
Now, Mark Hall’s wife Melanie is revealing that the cancer in question has been called “extremely aggressive” by doctors and that it was a “miracle” it was found before it could spread to other parts of Mark’s body.
“Praise the Lord! We are heading home! Wahoo! Mark turned a corner yesterday and had a good night last night. We think we’ve figured out how to manage his pain at home. He had his first meal today since chips and salsa last Monday night. Time to head to the house,” wrote Melanie in a post shared on the band’s Facebook page on Monday.
“The pathology report confirms that the tumor was indeed kidney cancer but it was fully encased. The findings of the report confirm that the cancer had not spread to the kidney or anywhere else. Glory Hallelujah! It was found in the earliest stage possible. For those of you that are more familiar with these type reports, it was labeled stage T1a,” said Melanie.
Melanie went on to say that the cancer was at a “nuclear level 3 cell type” meaning that it was ready to spread in the body but because it was encased it couldn’t get out.
She says that it’s a pure move of God that put the pieces in place to save Mark’s life.
Mark Hall, the lead singer for the internationally known Christian band Casting Crowns reportedly has had successful cancer surgery.
“Mark is out of surgery. Everything went really well. Dr. says textbook operation. Just like we prayed for. I told the doctor that he might possibly be the most prayed for Dr. on the planet today. He will be in recovery for a while. Thank you so much for your prayers,” noted an update on the band’s Facebook page posted shortly before 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The singer’s wife Melanie took to social media to thank Christians around the world for their outpouring of support and prayer.
“I’m completely humbled by the number of people that have expressed their love for us and are interceding in prayer. There are no words to express the gratitude in this wife’s heart. Thank you for praying for us. We have had friends and strangers from all over the world tell us they are praying — an orphan school in Kenya, neighbors we just met, long lost high school friends, Christian music artists from their concerts, schools, offices, pastors in South Africa, chaplains in the Army, churches, radio DJs, fans, missionaries in Brazil, and countless others I couldn’t begin to name. Thank you. Your prayers are felt,” said Melanie in the post.
She said that she and Mark are asking people to pray how God can use this trial to allow them to witness to their friends as much as they pray for his recovery.
The leader of the internationally known Christian band Casting Crowns is asking for prayer after doctors scheduled emergency surgery to remove a kidney.
Mark Hall posted a note on the band’s website where he said doctors found a mass in his kidney that they are “90 percent sure” is cancerous.
“Doctors found a solid mass in my right kidney about a week ago. They are 90% sure it’s cancer and they are going to remove the entire kidney next Wednesday, March 11th. They believe the cancer is contained in the kidney, which is also a great hope. They will know more once it is out and Pathology can see it,” he continued.
“I’ll be in recovery for a month or a little longer because of the surgery. Please pray for healing and for God’s peace for my family. Praising Him in This Storm,” Hall ended the appeal in a nod to one of his band’s more popular songs “Praise You In This Storm”.
The band, consisting of seven youth pastors, has been touring and releasing songs since 1999. They have won a Grammy award and 15 Dove awards.
A Christian woman who is dying of cancer is writing a pro-life plea to counter the massive amount of publicity being given to the woman in Oregon who announced the day of her death by suicide.
Brittany Maynard has been gaining attention on major news networks because she plans to kill herself rather than live through the final stages of brain cancer. Many right-to-die media outlets have been airing her story, calling for assisted suicide to be allowed across the nation.
However Kara Tippetts, a Christian woman who is dying from cancer, is challenging Maynard’s claims and calling on her to realize the value of her life even if she has a terminal disease.
“Brittany, I love you, and I’m sorry you are dying. I am sorry that we are both being asked to walk a road that feels simply impossible to walk,” Tippetts wrote. “[But] in your choosing your own death, you are robbing those that love you with the such tenderness, the opportunity of meeting you in your last moments and extending you love in your last breaths. … That last kiss, that last warm touch, that last breath, matters—but it was never intended for us to decide when that last breath is breathed.”
Tippetts pleads with Maynard not to take an overdose of drugs on November 1st.
“Knowing Jesus, knowing that He understands my hard goodbye, He walks with me in my dying,” she explains. “My heart longs for you to know Him in your dying. Because in His dying, He protected my living. My living beyond this place.”
Carman is celebrating a miracle by heading back on the road with his first extensive tour since 2001.
Just over one year ago, Carman announced on his Facebook that he had been diagnosed with Myeloma cancer and was given 3 to 4 years to live. He said that the cancer is incurable and that he would undergoing chemotherapy to prolong his life.
Carman now says that every test run by doctors show the same thing: He is completely cancer free!
He is celebrating God’s providential healing by releasing a new album, No Plan B, on May 29th. He will also hit the road the same day for the No Plan B Tour. Carman says the album and tour name come from his faith that God always has the best plan ahead of us.
“I never had any other options or plans if things in the ministry didn’t work out,” Carman said.
Carman said he has no plans beyond the tour but knows that when this season is over, God has a plan for what’s next.
The World Health Organization has released a report showing a dramatic increase in cancer is likely over the next 20 years and that most of the cancer cases will strike in the emerging world.
The World Cancer Report shows a jump in new cancer cases of 1.4 million in the four years between 2008 and 2012. Of the 14.1 million new cases in 2012, 58% of the patients died from their disease.
However, the most shocking part of the report is that the WHO predicts cancer rates will increase as much as 70% in the next 20 years reaching an expected level of 25 million a year. Using the 58% mortality rate from 2012, that would mean 14.5 million cancer deaths in 2032.
The biggest growth in cancer rates will not be in the countries that currently face the most cases and have the strongest medical systems. The WHO reports says emerging nations with poor economies will see surges from cancers triggered by infections like cervical cancer and from tobacco, alcohol and processed food use.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for men while breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death for women.
A new Loyola University study says that cancer patients who exercise can cut their risk of death in half.
The study of men who beat cancer and who burned more than 12,600 calories a week in some kind of exercise program showed a death rate half of those who did not exercise.
The study was conducted of over 1,000 men with an average age of 71.
The study also confirmed a previous study that showed cancer survivors who stayed physically active had a 38% less chance of death if the cancer were to return. They were also 48% less likely to die of cardiovascular disease after their cancer treatments.
“Physical activity should be actively promoted to such individuals to enhance longevity,” Dr. Kathlee Wolin said in the study.
Soldiers from the USS Ronald Reagan quickly jumped in to help the victims of the 2011 tsunami that devastated Japan.
The troops were simply fulfilling their long held mission of helping the poor and unfortunate throughout the world.
Now, months later, some of the troops involved in the rescue are finding themselves being diagnosed with cancers that could be connected to radiation exposure. At least 51 Navy sailors have been found to have diseases likely connected to radiation.
Two soldiers are speaking out about the situation.
Quartermaster Maurice Enis said that a few months after their deployment to the coastline a few miles from the stricken Fukushima Nuclear Plant, he found strange lumps on his body. He was diagnosed with radiation poisoning and told his illness would get worse. His fiancée, Jamie Plym, said she suffered gynecological symptoms and hemorrhaging so bad she needed to be hospitalized.
The soldiers are now suing Tokyo Electric Power Company claiming the company did not warn the Navy that the tsunami caused a nuclear meltdown and sent huge amounts of contaminated water into the sea. The troops ended up within two miles of the plant while the company ordered an evacuation of towns as far as 12 miles from the plant for safety reasons.
The soldiers say they don’t blame the Navy which acted in good faith.
