Saturday, March 5, 2016

Week 8_3/5/16 Introduction


According to the News Medical website, the disease was first called cancer by Greek physician Hippocrates (460-379 BC). He is considered the “Father of Medicine”. Hippocrates used the terms “carcinos” and “carcinoma” to describe non-ulcer forming and ulcer-forming tumors. An “ulcer” can be defined as an open sore on an external or internal surface of the body, caused by a break in the skin. It is definitely significant that Hippocrates used this word “ulcer” to describe what a tumor is, a great juxtapose to allow one to interpret the monstrous disease inside one’s self.

            Throughout many years cancer has been the second most leading causes for death in the United States. On average about 584,881 people die each year due to Cancer. –NP. “Leading Causes Of Death”; cdc.gov; Sep. 30. 2015.  In Missouri alone approximately 29,695 residents are diagnosed each year with cancer, this amounted to more than three new cases of cancer diagnosed every hour of everyday in Missouri. The five leading invasive cancers in 2007 were lung and bronchus, prostate, female breast, colon, rectum and urinary bladder, according to the Missouri Cancer Registry (MCR).  With a rate that high, hospitals are constantly on the edge of dealing with such a crisis when it comes to treating patience. But not many could afford to do so, and a great amount of Missouri residents can’t even afford health insurance. “Up to 25% of mid-Missouri women lack insurance, and Missouri’s median income is less than the national average.” –NP; “Give Someone Else A Tomorrow”; Ellisfischelhelpgiving.org. ND.  With over dozen-cancer research facilities here in Missouri including, Saint Louis, Springfield, Columbia and Kansas, They all have one main priority and that is to fight to find a cure for a disease that has drastically increased throughout the years. A problem arises though when the lack of funds stands in the way of saving someone’s life and if they are to receive treatment then they walk away with one hell of a bill that has a price so high it makes them wish they were never treated.  My goal here is to fund institutes to increase research in finding the cure for cancer and at the same time help people without insurance to be able to receive treatment. One institute in specific that I will be talking a lot about due to it’s significant amounts of patients it has healed and devotedness in the research of cancer is the Ellis Fischell Cancer Research Center located in Columbia Missouri. The Ellis Fischel Research Facility is a non- profit organization full of many researches that have the potential and courage to helping people and treating them. It undergoes one main problem, and that is the lack of funds it receives that hold everything back from finding the cure for cancer as well as helping to save hundreds of Missourian lives. To be clear, my target is to fund this facility by large private owned universities. The reason for this is due to lack of government support and attention this is receiving as well as universities interest when it comes to medicine. Universities such as Saint Louis Universities and Washington University are amongst the top universities here in the State of Missouri. With both a great interest, competitive and outstanding schools in medicine, I believe convincing these Universities to fund the Ellis Fischel program will not only benefit them in greatening their reputation, but it will strengthen their core in medicine to help find the cure for cancer and help treat patience who cannot afford to be treated. This can be done in many ways. One proposal I suggest is to bring research to these Universities and build hospitals on campuses. This will not only strengthen the school, but will provide medical students with the ability to shadow and learn first hand what is like to be in the shoes of a doctor. It will be much simpler and convenient for people in the Saint Louis area to find treatment near them instead of driving to two hours to be treated. It will also benefit Saint Louis in bringing in many outsiders for treatment if all goes well with finding the cure for cancer. My point is to fund the Ellis Fischel Research Facility will not be a regretful decision, yet it will be one of the greatest accomplishments and achievements of all time to hopefully finding the cure for a disease that has been the cause for many innocent deaths.

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