Vital Signs
SHOW #12 (airs Thurs 29th Oct)
Cancer Fighters
The crush of cancer is felt around the world. The statistics are staggering, but so too are efforts by individuals committed to its defeat. We highlight cancer fighters - in their home countries. Many are survivors of cancer themselves, and proof that hope is often there, when prevention and education are enlisted in the fight. Five faces in the battle against cancer, in this edition of "Vital Signs."
A RARITY IN SOUTH AFRICA
Molebatsi Pooe-Shongwe - Batsi as she likes to be called - is the embodiment of hope and vitality in the face of cancer. She's a vocal breast cancer survivor, a rarity in South Africa's black community, where breast disease is a taboo subject. Batsi says the stigma of cancer keeps women from getting care that could save their lives. Patients sometimes turn down chemotherapy for fear of being shunned by neighbors who mistake the treatment's side effects with AIDS. At the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, Batsi works to destigmatize breast cancer and give it what she calls a quote - "positive black face." She says she lived with breast cancer for 18 months without ever seeing a black woman who was prepared to speak openly about the disease.
PINTS FOR PROSTATES
Rick Lyke had no symptoms, and no family history of prostate cancer when he was diagnosed with the illness at 47-years-old. Lyke created the "Pints for Prostates" campaign to use the universal language of beer to reach men about the importance of screening in a fun and non-threatening way. The goal is to remove the stigma surrounding prostate cancer and empower men to feel comfortable talking with their friends about the disease.
PREVENTIVE CARE
Dr. Paul Farmer specializes in infectious disease; he's made it his life's mission to transform health care on a global scale, by focusing on the world's poorest and sickest communities. Farmer and his international medical group, "Partners in Health," are vaccinating thousands of girls against HPV - human papillomavirus - which can cause cervical cancer. P-I-H provides cancer treatment in impoverished areas in Haiti and Africa, where a diagnosis of cancer would otherwise be a death sentence.
HOUSE OF FRIENDSHIP
Casa de la Amistad, as its name translates, is a house of friendship to Mexico's youngest cancer patients. Tessie Picazo has volunteered here over fifteen years. Her shelter provides free housing and medicine to low-income children with cancer; most are from rural areas without access to cancer specialists. The children and their families are invited to stay at Friendship House free of charge, for as long as they need treatment at nearby Mexico City hospitals.
ASURVIVOR'S STORY
Doug Ulman is the president of one of the most visible cancer-fighting advocacies in the world, the Lance Armstrong Foundation, but his expertise is incredibly personal. He's a cancer survivor, three times over, at the young age of thirty-two. After overcoming bone cancer and malignant melanoma twice during college, Doug and his family founded the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. The nonprofit provides support and resources to young adults affected by cancer, a demographic that has not seen an increase in survival rates in over 30-years. As a young adult survivor, Doug knows first-hand the unique challenges faced by young adults diagnosed with cancer.
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