In this issue
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VOICES photo and video contest!
Enter and win great prizes with your memorable Relay For Life photos and videos

Having cancer in college
Cancer survivor: Lindsay Ehrlich

Coaches vs. Cancer
Tom Izzo goes to Broadway while Indiana high school coaches try to beat fundraising records

Cancer research shows hope for the future
A recent study has shown a decrease in cancer incidence and mortality rates

Volunteer Q. & A.
Advocacy volunteer: Stacy Roznowski

Indiana Lobby Day
Volunteers talk with legislators to help laws get passed

Healthy weight: How important is it?
Take our quiz to find out
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Our very own GLD YouTube channel!
Showcase the best of your GLD Relay events on YouTube!

VOICES in the kitchen
On the menu: Made in Heaven Strawberry Mousse

25th hour video
What would you do with an extra hour in your day?

GLO Grads
Kim Williams
Community Representative
Central Indiana Staff

Cancer research shows hope for the future
A new report from the nation’s leading cancer organizations shows that, for the first time since the report was first issued in 1998, both incidence and death rates for all cancers combined are decreasing for both men and women.

Although cancer death rates have been dropping since the publication of the first Annual Report to the Nation 10 years ago, the latest edition marks the first time the report has documented a simultaneous decline in cancer incidence, the rate at which new cancers are diagnosed, for both men and women.

Based on the long-term incidence trend:

• rates for all cancers combined decreased 0.8 percent per year from 1999 through 2005 for both sexes combined;
• rates decreased 1.8 percent per year from 2001 through 2005 for men and 0.6 percent per year from 1998 through 2005 for women.

The decline in both incidence and death rates for all cancers combined is due in large part to declines in the three most common cancers among men (lung, colon/rectum, and prostate) and the two most common cancers among women (breast and colon/rectum), combined with a leveling off of lung cancer death rates among women.

“The drop in incidence seen in this year’s Annual Report is something we’ve been waiting to see for a long time,” said Otis W. Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society (ACS).

“However, we have to be somewhat cautious about how we interpret [the report], because changes in incidence can be caused not only by reductions in risk factors for cancer, but also by changes in screening practices. Regardless, the continuing drop in mortality is evidence once again of real progress made against cancer, reflecting real gains in prevention, early detection, and treatment.”

The study was conducted by scientists at the American Cancer Society, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Cancer Institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, and the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries.

The authors of the report conclude, “The observed decrease in the incidence and death rates from all cancers combined in men and women overall and in nearly all racial and ethnic groups is highly encouraging.”

“However, this must be seen as a starting point rather than a destination.” They say a dual effort, combining better application of existing knowledge with ongoing research to improve prevention, early detection, and treatment will be needed to sustain and extend this progress into the future.

For more information, or to view the full report, visit http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org.