Cancer death rates are continuing to fall, dropping by 1.8 percent per year in men and 1.6 percent per year in women, according to the American Cancer Society's annual report on cancer statistics released on Wednesday.
112 million Americans will watch Mark Herzlich take the field tomorrow, a rookie linebacker and cancer survivor whose story has inspired Super Bowl fans across the country. Two years ago he was told he might never walk again.
What made the domino chain of 60 operations possible was the willingness of a Good Samaritan, Rick Ruzzamenti, to give an initial kidney after a flash of inspiration, expecting nothing in return. Its momentum was then fueled by a mix of selflessness and self-interest among donors who gave a kidney to a stranger after learning they could not donate to a loved one because of incompatible blood types or antibodies. Their loved ones, in turn, were offered compatible kidneys as part of the exchange.
Looks can be deceiving and even intimidating, especially when you are 125 pounds of fur and teeth. But to hundreds of his closest friends in Adams County, Kentucky, Leroy is a gentle giant whose mission is to help brighten the day of children and the elderly.
At 57 years old, Greg Thomas was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. They told my family to go ahead and start planning my funeral. Greg passed the hours walking his dog on a rural Minnesota road -- a road that led him to a beautiful, abandoned church. He decided to repaint the crumbling relic. Three years later, when he began work on a rotting interior, his own interior was healing too.
Researchers trying to find a way to treat multiple sclerosis think they've come up with an approach that could not only help patients with MS, but those with a range of so-called autoimmune diseases, from type-1 diabetes to psoriasis, and perhaps even food allergies. So far it's only worked in mice, but it has worked especially well.
Angelight Films is a non-profit production company that gives children with brain and spinal cord tumors the opportunity to express themselves by creating and even starring in their own short film. Inspired by her sister who died of a brain tumor at age 5, Stephanie Angel founded Angelight Films as a creative outlet that helps children heal and recognize their inner light.
A project that hangs small wind chimes with bells is becoming a healing remedy for grieving communities following mass shootings. An Arizona mom in mourning started Ben's Bells, which was embraced by the Tucson community following the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and 13 others. Hundreds of volunteers painted and hung the ceramic chimes from random branches throughout the city. Last week the project traveled to Newtown, Conn. with 1,000 bells to hang for a community similarly in need of smiles.
Surgery may soon be a thing of the past for breast cancer patients, thanks to a new technique that destroys tumors by freezing them. A supercooled needle tip is repeatedly inserted into the cancerous tissue to turn it into a ball of ice, before it is then defrosted, leaving the tumor damaged.
Nick Santillo's rare heart defect has kept him in and out of hospitals since he was an infant. The eight-year-old, who was born with only half the chambers in his heart, had his wish granted this morning when the TODAY show arranged for him to meet his hero, WWE champion wrestler John Cena.
Autism left 8-year-old Jonny Hickey closed off and isolated. Most of his social interactions resulted in painful awkwardness; unfamiliar situations can trigger terror or tantrums. Then, about two months ago, everything changed. Jonny forged a connection with a dog so unlikely that people familiar with it describe it as a miracle.
Training our immune systems to fight cancer has been an appealing prospect among scientists for decades. Stanford researchers are on track to begin human trials of a potentially potent new weapon against cancer that does exactly that.