A recent review from the United States Preventative Services Task Force compounds the already heated argument on prostate cancer testing and treatment. The Task Force – composed of primary health care providers – addresses the way in which men are screened. Its recommendations are challenging the medical world to consider the implications of current prostate cancer screening procedures.

Most men are screened for prostate cancer using the PSA blood test. PSA stands for Prostate Specific Antigen. This antigen is a protein secreted by cells in the prostate gland. PSA is normally present in the blood of men with a healthy prostate. The PSA level can be elevated in the presence of prostate cancer. Thus, a higher level of PSA may indicate a man has prostate cancer.

However, PSA levels can be deceiving. They can be elevated in men who have non-cancerous prostate disorders such as prostate inflammation or infection and benign prostatic enlargement. The levels are higher after male ejaculation as well. In addition, prostate cancer can be present in the absence of an elevated PSA level. Thus, PSA blood tests can be elevated when there is no cancer, and might not be elevated when there is cancer. Such outcomes make the PSA test a suboptimal screening test for prostate cancer. However, at the present time that is all that is currently available. For these reasons, the Task Force set off a debate among doctors after recently recommending the PSA test no longer be used as a prostate cancer screening tool in otherwise healthy men.

Cancer survivor Don Clower strongly disagrees with the Task Force recommendations. He says, “There are no symptoms for prostate cancer … I couldn’t believe I had cancer.” Clower took the PSA test two years ago and today is cancer free. He credits the PSA test for essentially saving his life and feels that if he had not been screened, he would probably be dead. According to Clower, the test is simple and “only takes two minutes.”

Despite false positive results, Dr. Todd Waldman says over 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. Waldman believes PSA screening does save lives. Before it was used about 40,000 men died of prostate cancer annually in the US. For about the past 15 years, the number of deaths has been decreasing. Such observations have led both patients and doctors to wonder how anyone could recommend the PSA test not be used as a screening tool.

Understanding the aim of cancer screening will help answer this question. Earlier treatment is more likely to result in a cancer cure. For screening programs to be deemed effective, they must reduce cancer deaths and must not produce harmful effects. Some cancers cause death in 10 to 15 years; some are slow growing; and some are not diagnosed until after death from another cause. Since prostate cancer behaves in an unpredictable manner, it is difficult for medical professionals to agree on exactly what screening is best.

The Task Force is essentially opposed to PSA screening. It cited several studies that found no decrease in prostate cancer related deaths based on PSA testing and also concluded that more harm than good was done when men were screened for prostate cancer using the blood tests. This conclusion was drawn because slow growing cancers that would not have caused a problem were detected and treated, frequently resulting in unacceptable morbidity, including damage to the bowels, urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

Prostate cancer continues to kill over 20,000 men each year. It is evident that a prostate cancer screening test is needed that will distinguish between aggressive cancers and those that are “benign,” thus allowing them to be safely followed rather than being treated urgently and aggressively with potentially devastating side effects of the treatment. The ongoing debate over the role of PSA testing will continue to generate controversy but, hopefully, it will encourage men to hold more meaningful conversations with their doctors, allowing them to make the best possible decision.

For additional information please listen to Dr. McCleary’s commentary about the PSA prostate cancer screening controversy on Brain Body Breakthroughs.

Health Tip of the Week

Eat Purple for Good Health

Scientists believe that eating purple fruit may help ward off age-related diseases such as Alzheimer’s, heart problems and cancer. The chances of getting multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease may also be reduced by consuming blueberries, blackberries, black currants or plums as one or two of your daily portions of fruits.

Deep brain stimulation, or DBS, which has historically been used for treating Parkinson’s disease, utilizes a surgically implanted neurostimulator. Thin electrodes are placed within the region of the brain that is to be stimulated and are hooked up to a battery that is implanted beneath the skin near the collarbone. This neurostimulator allows doctors to electrically stimulate targeted areas of the brain. When used to treat Parkinson’s disease, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) notes that DBS has been effective and “many patients experience considerable reduction of their PD symptoms and are able to greatly reduce their medications.”

Led by neurosurgeon Dr. Andres Lozano, a research team at the University of Toronto ran a recent experiment with six individuals suffering from various stages of Alzheimer’s. DBS was applied to the fornix, which is a region of the limbic system of the brain connected to the hippocampus. It plays a key role in sending information to the hippocampus, which is the “memory hub” of the brain. In Alzheimer’s the hippocampus is one of the first areas of the brain to be afflicted leading to memory loss and disorientation. After 12 months the team’s results showed not only improvement in the two patients that had the mildest symptoms, but actually achieved reversal of some of their symptoms. The hippocampus in one patient had a 5% increase in size while the other experienced an 8% increase. Professor Lozano commented during an interview with the BBC, “How big a deal is 8%? It is huge. We’ve never seen the hippocampus enlarge in Alzheimer’s under any circumstances. It was an amazing finding for us.”

The team’s findings have yet to be published but were presented at the Society for Neuroscience this November, 2011 and other researchers and doctors find the research promising. Yet, Professor Lozano admits “a word of caution is appropriate” because they are in the very early stages of researching DBS’s effectiveness in treating mild Alzheimer’s with only a few individuals having been tested thus far. The team of researchers is now preparing to continue their research with a larger group of patients. They hope to enroll and place deep brain stimulators in approximately 50 individuals suffering from mild Alzheimer’s and to turn on only half of the stimulators in order to effectively compare the two groups – those with and those without DBS.

While the team’s results are currently inconclusive, their work carries a ray of hope for all those with a condition that the NINDS describes as a “non-reversible brain disorder.”

For additional information about Alzheimer’s and Deep Brain Stimulation please visit the NINDS Alzheimer’s Disease Information Page or the NINDS Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinson’s Disease Information Page. Information about Dr. Lozano and his publications can be found here.

When Christopher Gardner compared the low fat, high carb, calorically restricted diet endorsed by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the calorically restricted Ornish Extreme Low Fat Diet with a high fat, low carb, calorically unrestricted diet, he learned that just because you go on a diet that is low in fat does not necessarily mean that is the best way to lose fat. Rather, he found that low fat, high carb diets are less effective at producing weight loss. In a different way, I arrived at similar conclusions nearly 15 years earlier.

As a pediatric neurosurgeon, I initially became interested in the role diet and nutrition play in the neurological healing process. In an effort to help the children we worked with to recover more quickly and more completely, my colleagues and I developed a diet to specifically promote optimal brain health. Since the brain, which is ¾ fat tissue, requires a continuous supply of certain kinds of fats to make the synapses (the connections between brain cells) function properly, the diet we recommended was high in brain healthy fats.

Our new approach proved to have a beneficial impact on the children we worked with, and over time the parents of the children, who were also able to see a marked improvement, requested an adult version. Interestingly, the feedback we got from the parents wasn’t just that they had noticed cognitive benefits, but that they were also losing weight. After hearing this same response again and again, we hired a clinical outcomes researcher to investigate the impact a brain healthy diet has on waist lines.

The results of the 6-week clinical trial confirmed the feedback that we had received from the parents who had tried the diet. While the control group remained weight stable over the 6-week duration of the trial, the group that went on the brain healthy diet lost weight. Furthermore, the results showed that 92% of the weight lost was fat – not simply water. Therefore, the diet was not only healthy for the brain – promoting optimal cognitive function and aiding the healing process of sick brains – but it was effective for shedding pounds and improving overall health.

The Feed Your Brain Lose Your Belly Diet can be described rather simply. Approximately 60% of the calories in it are from fat – especially brain healthy fats which we explore in more detail below – about 20% are from protein and 20% are from healthy carbohydrates, including all of the colorful vegetables and salad greens like peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, chard and kale as well as some non-starchy fruits like berries. Herbs and spices are liberally used and provide low-calorie sources of potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds.

Brain healthy fats include three principle types of fats: omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats and medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Omega-3 polyunsaturated fats are found in cold water fish like salmon, trout, tuna, mackerel, herring, sardines and anchovies, as well as in plants like ground flax seed, flax oil, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, green leafy vegetables and wheat germ. Monounsaturated fats, which are also heart healthy fats, are commonly found in nuts, seeds, oily fruits like olives and avocados and cuts of meat. MCT’s are found in coconut oil and are easily used by the body. They are an excellent alternative to carbohydrates as a ready energy source.

The diet also recommends avoiding certain foods. It’s important to try and limit packaged goods as much as possible. They include junk food like cakes, cookies, fruit juices, cereals and crackers – essentially all the refined carbs and sugars (including high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)) we already know are not good for us. It’s also important to avoid trans fats. Trans fats are usually chemically or industrially modified fats which start off as vegetable oils that become partially hydrogenated after being put through a high temperature pressurized process. Trans fats include partially hydrogenated sunflower oil, partially hydrogenated corn oil and partially hydrogenated safflower oil and are generally listed as “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” on package labels. Finally, it’s best to avoid saturated fat in excess since it is easily stored in the body.

To find out more about this brain healthy diet listen to Brain-Body Breakthroughs – A New Approach to Weight Loss (Part 1), Brain-Body Breakthroughs – A New Approach to Weight Loss (Part 2) or pick up a copy of my book that explains this revolutionary approach to weight loss, Feed Your Brain Lose Your Belly.

Health Tip of the Week

 Always Hungry?

Ever wonder why you get hungry, especially not so long after you eat? Well, if you are not feeding your brain properly two things will happen. First, the brain will stop functioning optimally, essentially experiencing “brain starvation,” and second, you’ll get hungry. The appetite center of the brain monitors the nutrients in the blood stream, letting your brain and body know what is available to fuel them. When these neurons sense that less energy is available, they send a signal to the brain telling it that the body needs more fuel, thus triggering hunger. A diet that is high in brain healthy fats and low in refined carbohydrates and sugars can prevent this from happening by keeping the brain well fueled. It also prevents the storage of unwanted calories as fat.

1 – Make a Plan

Setting a goal to lose weight and get healthy by working out and making diet changes generally isn’t enough and can be hard to stick to. One of the best ways to achieve your goals is to map out how you are going to achieve them. Try scheduling your exercise times as appointments, and keeping them – the same way you would for work. For your diet, try creating a schedule of meals for the week and forming your grocery list around it. Finally, keep your resolutions manageable to avoid being overwhelmed by them. Start your plan off slowly and simply by making small adjustments to your daily exercise level, then increasing them over time.

2 – Balance Your Exercise Regimen and Dietary Changes

It’s important to think of your diet and your workout regimen as a single functional unit. When you exercise your heart, lungs and muscles, it is important to feed them appropriately to allow them to perform and recover properly. Likewise, if you choose to eat fewer calories, you may lose weight. But, without complementing your new diet with the right type of exercise, you might end up losing muscle tissue rather than fat. So, when making your New Year’s resolutions, for optimal health remember to integrate what you eat with how you exercise.

3 – Find a Partner for Your Plan

Research has shown that those who have a friend or co-worker to partner with are more successful at losing weight and sticking to the program than those who do it alone. Not only does it help to make your resolution or goals more concrete, it’s motivational to know there is someone else depending on you and working with you toward similar goals.

As we eat, some of the calories we consume are immediately used as energy and are burned up. The remaining calories from the meal are stored in fat cells so the body can use them as fuel when required in between meals (when we are burning calories, but are not eating). However, if your fat cells are “sticky,” they won’t always release their fat calories when needed. This produces a perceived energy shortage and triggers a hunger response in the appetite center of the brain. As we discussed in our last newsletter, fat cells become “sticky” when their biochemical fat storing switch is turned on, telling them to hold onto those left over calories (where they are stored as fat) and preventing them from being burned as a source of energy for the cells throughout the body. But what turns on this fat storage switch in the first place?

While many people realize that an under-active thyroid slows down metabolism and can lead to excessive weight gain, a sluggish thyroid is not the usual culprit responsible for it. Instead, the signal that stimulates fat storage is the multi-tasking hormone insulin. Yes, the same hormone that regulates blood sugar does that job and much more. One of the other “metabolic” hats it wears is the director of fat storage. “Flipping” the fat storing switch on the surface of fat cells to the “on” position for protracted periods of time causes them to become sticky – and this is what you must avoid to be successful at losing those unwanted pounds. High levels of insulin are your enemy and put you into the fat storing mode.

If you’re skeptical about the role insulin plays in fat storage, consider the fact that almost all diabetics gain weight after starting insulin injections. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2008 showed that type II diabetics who started regular insulin injections to control their blood sugar levels gained an average of 8 lbs over 3.5 years and that one in three participants gained more than 20 lbs in the same period. Because of this fat storing action of insulin, doctors typically encourage diabetics to vary the areas on their bodies where they inject insulin to avoid developing large collections of fat that grow disproportionately in areas where insulin is repeatedly injected.

Insulin levels in non-diabetics are determined by the amount and type of carbohydrates in the diet. By making the correct dietary carbohydrate choices we can effectively control our insulin level, which determines whether we are in a fat burning or a fat storing state. For example, a diet that is high in rapidly digested carbohydrates causes a spike in insulin levels and leads to increased fat storage. Conversely, a diet that avoids fattening carbohydrates, like those in cakes, cookies, fruit juices, beer, cereals and crackers, helps keep insulin levels low and prevents excess fat storage. So, a diet that is low in refined and starchy carbs can not only help to prevent you from gaining weight in the first place, but can also significantly impact your ability to lose weight.

Yet, most diets today, especially those that follow the low fat paradigm, promote consumption of high levels of carbohydrates. To most effectively control insulin levels I recommend a diet high in healthy fats – one that includes olives, avocados, nuts and seeds – and other nutritious, slowly digested, high fiber carbohydrates such as those found in salads, berries and brightly colored, non-starchy veggies.

Long time vegetarian Christopher Gardner, Ph. D., of the Stanford Prevention Research Center was interested in the health impact of a higher fat diet. He was concerned that a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates would cause weight gain and have an adverse impact on cardiac risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol. In his “A to Z” study Gardner compared three diets with varying amounts of fat and carbohydrate content. The first diet was high in fat, low in carbohydrate and carried no calorie restrictions. The second diet, which is the diet currently endorsed by the American Heart Association (AHA), contained 30% or less fat, 50-60% carbohydrates, was calorically restricted and encouraged regular exercise. The third diet, known as the Ornish Extreme Low Fat Diet (developed by Dean Ornish, M. D.), restricted fat consumption to less than 10%, strictly regulated what foods could and could not be eaten and recommended meditation and exercise.

Gardner published his findings in 2007 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Being a devout vegetarian, he admitted the results were “a bitter pill to swallow.” He found that weight loss on the high fat diet was double that of the AHA and Ornish diets. Likewise, blood pressure on the high fat diet fell twice the amount seen in the other diets. He also found that triglycerides, HDL (“good”) cholesterol and measures of insulin resistance were more favorable with the high fat diet. And, the lower fat diets resulted in smaller LDL (“bad” cholesterol) particles, which increase the risk for heart disease.

As the obesity epidemic has shown, the current popular dietary recommendations don’t work. In our next Brain-Body Insights newsletter we’ll examine an alternative to this approach — my Feed Your Brain Lose Your Belly diet that is high in brain healthy fats, low in carbs and carries significant health benefits that go well beyond your waist line.

To learn more about this subject, listen to Brain-Body Breakthroughs – A New Approach to Weight Loss (Part 2).

Health Tip of the Week

Avoiding Diet Stress

Making the decision to lose weight should not be taken lightly. One reason why, which is commonly over looked is that dieting is not only difficult, but it can be stressful. And stress can be a hidden diet-breaker. To avoid diet-induced stress and increase your probability of success, it’s important to prepare yourself mentally before starting a weight loss program. Begin by charting attainable benchmarks. Be prepared for curveballs along the way. For example, instead of losing weight each week you might find that you actually gain a pound from time to time. If you anticipate such occurrences, they are much less likely to derail your efforts. Other external factors may also cause stress in your life, making you feel like abandoning your diet plan. Understanding that you will encounter mental and physical hardships en route to your goal along the way will help you to achieve success in the long run.

Most cooking oils, like butter and olive oil, contain fatty acids that are primarily composed of long-chain triglycerides (LCTs), which are stored in fat tissue throughout the body. Conversely, most of the fats in coconut oil are medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs). Instead of being stored in fat tissue, MCTs go directly to the liver where they are converted into a readily available energy source effectively “turning up the temperature of your metabolic furnace.”

The benefits of coconut oil go well beyond stimulating your metabolism, weight loss and increasing your energy. They also:

• Improve heart health
• Boost the thyroid
• Support the immune system
• Decrease appetite
• Sharpen focus, memory and concentration

Additionally, coconut oil has been shown to have skin benefits when applied topically.

The bottom line is to add coconut oil to your diet for all of these reasons.

When the USDA made its general recommendation to eat less and exercise more, it specifically suggested that Americans banish most fats from their plates, and advised limiting fat consumption to only 30% of total calories. Since then, obesity rates have increased by nearly 250% in both adults and children. With this in mind one might reasonably assume that doctors, the government and the population alike could recognize that this low fat diet coupled with increased exercise has been an abysmal failure. Yet, even today most doctors continue to recommend cutting back on fats, eating less and exercising more as the preferred method to lose weight and improve health. It’s hard to blame them, though. A certain level of rationality supports this theory – if you eat less, you take in fewer calories; and if you exercise more, you are effectively burning more calories, which should lead to weight loss. It does sound logical. And when the diet and exercise don’t achieve the desired results, it then is believed to be a psychological issue rather than a fault of the plan or theory. For example, if an individual is told by a doctor that he is obese and needs to cut back on fats, eat less and start exercising more, but weight-loss doesn’t ensue, then it’s assumed that the person doesn’t have the will-power and discipline to see the diet and exercise regimen through properly. Rarely has the possibility been considered that this theory is simply wrong.

One of the principal problems of the “eat less, exercise more” weight loss approach is that food consumption and exercise are treated as independent variables. When you examine each part of the “eat less, exercise more” theory as independent variables, they might superficially appear to make sense – eating less will lower your calorie intake and exercising more will burn more calories.

However, the eat less and exercise more reasoning goes awry by not recognizing that food consumption and exercise are intrinsically linked, making them dependent upon one another. For example, if you eat less, you will inevitably have less energy to exercise and will become more inactive. By exercising more, you burn off your calories faster but also make yourself hungrier in the process.

By examining food consumption and exercise as dependent, rather than independent variables, we can start to break down why simply eating less and exercising more will rarely achieve the desired result of losing weight and improving overall health. In 2007, the dean of Harvard Medical School, Jeffery Flier, M.D., and his wife, Terri Maratos-Flier, M.D., published the article What Fuels Fat, which reviewed their study of the intimate link between appetite and energy expenditure. They found that,

“An animal whose food is suddenly restricted tends to reduce its energy expenditure both by being less active and by slowing its energy use in cells (its “metabolism”), thereby limiting weight loss. It also experiences increased hunger so that once dietary restriction ends it will eat more than its prior norm until its earlier weight is attained.”

Another reason the “eat less, exercise more” theory fails is because it doesn’t take into account the hormonal messages in the body that cause weight gain. For example, in the 1970′s researcher George Wade performed two experiments with female rats to observe the effects of ovary removal. In the first trial he removed the ovaries of the rats, then provided them with unlimited food. He observed that the rats actively overate and became obese. This suggested that overeating might be responsible for obesity.

However, in the second trial Wade’s results suggested something entirely different. Instead of allowing the post-op rats that had lost their ovaries to eat whatever they chose, Wade restricted their diet to the same number of daily calories they required to remain weight-stable before the surgery. What he found was that the rats got fat just as quickly as the rats in the first experiment, but that they were sedentary most of the time, typically only moving when food was provided for them to eat.

When considering both of the trials together, we see that overeating wasn’t the cause of the rats’ obesity, but rather that the removal of the ovaries led to hormonal alterations in how they stored fat (it increased fat storage and this, secondarily, increased appetite and decreased activity). In essence, the lack of estrogen produced by ovary removal made the fat storage process of the rats go into overdrive, causing the fat cells to become “sticky,” so to speak, and to hang onto fat.

To understand this better, try to think of fat cells as little balloons that hold fat. Each balloon has a bio-chemical switch which, when turned on, allows fat to fill the balloon, or pass into the fat cell. When turned off, fat can leave the balloon or pass out of the cell. The lack of estrogen in the rats caused this switch to effectively be turned on and left on, leading the animals to overeat and become obese in the first experiment, or, in the second experiment (when they couldn’t overeat) to become inactive because of their lack of energy.

This suggests that the real reason we gain weight and “get fat” is because an altered hormonal message causes the fat cell storage switch to turn on, causing the cell to become “sticky” by preventing the fat from being released and used as fuel. The energy deficit created triggers an increased appetite, which eventually leads to overeating and excessive weight gain. This is just the opposite of what we’ve been told for the past 50 years – that we overeat and, because of it, become fat. We can now see that we overeat because we have stored too much fat (or become fat) in the first place. By understanding the relationship between appetite and energy expenditure, coupled with an understanding of how hunger is triggered and how fat is stored and used in the body, we can now move forward to examine the best ways to lose fat and maintain a healthy weight.

The next Brain-Body Insights newsletter will examine different types of diets and their effectiveness in not only promoting real weight loss, but in curbing hunger and improving overall health.

To learn more about this concept, listen to Brain-Body Breakthroughs – A New Approach to Weight Loss (Part 1) and be sure to read our next newsletter where we will discuss the Feed Your Brain Lose Your Belly diet specially formulated by Dr. Larry McCleary.

Health Tip of the Week

Why it’s important to know about Insulin and the Brain

Insulin is the hormone that helps to regulate blood sugar levels. It does this by transporting sugar in the blood (glucose) to the tissues throughout the body. However, when insulin levels are too high, glucose gets directed to muscle and fat cells and away from brain cells. This causes problems similar to those seen when diabetics inject too much insulin. Under these circumstances blood sugar levels fall and the brain literally “starves.” Common symptoms can include increased hunger, tremulousness, jitteriness, feelings of unreality and difficulty concentrating.

For people who don’t have diabetes, poor dietary choices are the primary triggers of insulin spikes. A diet high in sugars and foods that are easily broken down into glucose (including starchy foods such as potatoes or processed foods like candy, soda, cookies, sports drinks and fruit drinks) can lead to rapid increases in blood sugar, which then generate insulin spikes. Since insulin stays in the bloodstream longer than glucose, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) can develop and cause brain starvation as described above. A good example is the tired feeling you get after lunch that produces the desire to take a nap at work.

To keep your brain happy, select foods that produce low, stable glucose and insulin levels. This generally means choosing healthy fats (think cold-water fish, nuts, seeds, olives, and avocados), protein and colorful, non-starchy fruits and vegetables. For an added healthy touch, add an array of herbs and spices.

• Aloe vera juice is rich in both essential minerals like calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, copper and magnesium and essential vitamins such as vitamins A, B1, B2, B12, C and E as well as folic acid and niacin.

• The gastrointestinal and digestive benefits of Aloe vera juice are significant. It is known to improve the function of the digestive system and is used to treat several ailments associated with the stomach and digestive tract such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, gastritis and constipation.

• Drinking Aloe vera juice a few times a week has been shown to boost and strengthen the immune system due to the polysaccharides in it, which stimulate macrophages, the white blood cells that fight viruses.

• Aloe vera juice is an anti-inflammatory that aids in improving joint flexibility, strengthening joint muscles and reducing pain from inflammation.

• When aloe is applied topically, it carries several benefits for the skin. It contains nutrients that stimulate collagen and elastin repair, helping the skin to appear healthier and more youthful.

Aloe vera juice is also being researched as a possible treatment for HIV/AIDS since it contains acemannan, an immune stimulator that has been shown to be active against HIV in test tube studies. It is also being researched for its role in reducing the risk of developing lung cancer.

By incorporating approximately 4oz of Aloe vera juice into your daily diet, you can reap significant health benefits as well as feel better and improve your total well-being.

Meghan, the eldest of four children, was a typical happy teenager. At 16, she had many friends, enjoyed school, danced competitively and seemed healthy. Things at home were going well. Then, in May of 2005 Meghan noticed some blood in her urine. But when she went to the doctor, nothing was found. She didn’t exhibit any further symptoms until later that summer when she again noticed blood in her urine just before going on a family trip. This time they went to see a urologist who recommended a CT scan but told Meghan and her family that it probably wasn’t anything serious – perhaps kidney stones – so the family proceeded with the trip. Upon arriving at their destination Meghan began having severe back pains and the blood in her urine appeared to be coming out in clots. Her parents immediately took her to the local hospital where a CT scan and other tests were performed. It was there that doctors informed them that their daughter had Wilm’s tumor – a rare form of kidney cancer that is generally only found in children under the age of 5. Devastated, Suzanne asked if Meghan would lose a kidney. She was told that would, in fact, be the case and that immediate surgery was required.

All of this came as a major shock to Suzanne and her husband, neither of whom had a history of cancer in their families. Confused and worried, they took Meghan and her siblings back home to Chicago. On their way they reached out for advice from a family friend who is a general surgeon. Looking back, Suzanne notes that it was one of the best things they did. The reason for this was two-fold. For one, they were able to ask him what kinds of questions they should ask the doctor and what information they needed to make the best decisions. Perhaps more important is that their friend recommended that they take Meghan to a children’s hospital. He explained that care for children is often different than care for adults and that a children’s hospital would be able to provide the proper specialists. They took Meghan to Children’s Memorial Hospital (CMH) in Chicago, which would not only be the place that she received treatment, but where she would eventually find herself working.

Initially Suzanne and her husband did not tell Meghan that the tumor was cancerous. Her doctor at CMH immediately recommended that they inform her and stressed that telling the truth not only to Meghan but also to her siblings was extremely important as well. Suzanne remembers that when they explained things to her, Meghan was scared, but “not as emotional as you might think.” Of course the stress level was very high, but they were hopeful that she would be okay after the doctors explained that they had found the tumor early; the cancer was in stage 2; and there was a 95% cure rate.

The Henry’s also told Meghan’s siblings what the situation was. Suzanne noted “how resilient kids can be when going through something like this,” and that when things got worse, she would ask her other children if they wanted all of the details or if they just wanted a synopsis. This allowed them to better handle the information about their sister and determine for themselves what they wanted or didn’t want to hear at any given time. The Henry’s encouraged all of their children to have open discussions with them and to participate in support groups throughout the process.

Following her surgery Meghan had her first of many chemotherapy treatments, which generally make you feel a lot worse before you get better. Suzanne notes that the first few months of Meghan’s chemo treatments were particularly difficult and caused her to experience nausea, fatigue and weight loss. Additionally, she would be “wiped out” for several days after chemo. Like most chemotherapy patients, Meghan was prescribed anti-nausea drugs. After a couple of months, when her side effects didn’t seem to be improving, Suzanne finally asked the nurse about it. She was given a crucial bit of advice – the nurse explained that there are numerous anti-nausea medications that help chemo patients feel better and that if your child is ever reacting badly to a particular treatment, or if nausea is still an issue, then it’s important to reach out to the nurses and doctors immediately to see if another medication might be more effective. And, indeed, after changing the anti-nausea medicine, Meghan and her family saw a significant improvement in how she felt.

Over the next several years, Meghan went in and out of remission. She lost her hair four different times and received regular testing even during her remission periods. She had a stem cell transplant after her first relapse in 2007 and went through radiation treatment as well. When she relapsed again in 2008, there was, as Suzanne explains, “no road map for her to follow in terms of treatment,” meaning that her situation was so complicated that her doctors were creating an individualized treatment program specifically for her. This was a very difficult time because the doctors ultimately did not know what to do – they offered several different options, but ultimately had to leave the decision of what treatment to follow up to Meghan and her family. This was terrifying for Suzanne and her husband because they were worried they would make the wrong decision for their daughter. They were forced to consider what kind of life they wanted for Meghan and what she wanted for herself, how much time she would spend in the hospital, what she would be able to do physically and the overall quality of her remaining life.

Throughout all of this, Meghan and her family stayed strong and steadfast. They tackled the cancer together as a family, and Meghan didn’t take any of it lying down. Suzanne recalls that when Meghan was first diagnosed there was a period of initial shock that was full of fear and uncertainty. But they responded by surrounding themselves with the love and support of their family, friends and neighbors and found this to be enormously beneficial even though it was sometimes difficult to ask for or accept help. Interestingly, even during this time Meghan did her best not to let her diagnosis affect her outlook.

Suzanne recalls that the day Meghan was released from the hospital following her surgery and first chemo treatment was the day of her school’s homecoming dance. When Meghan asked her mother if she could still go, Suzanne, who thought it wasn’t a great idea, “pushed it off onto the doctor,” who, to her surprise, told Meghan that if she felt up to it, she should go ahead and give it a try. What Suzanne learned that day was crucial to how she, Meghan and the entire family would approach the illness – to never let the disease hold her back and to never tell Meghan that she couldn’t do something because of her cancer.

In fact, Meghan never did let her cancer control her. Instead, she made up her mind early on that she would control her own life, thus making her battle against cancer a heroic and inspiring one. Despite her relapses and the unpleasant side effects of the treatments, Meghan always kept a positive attitude and hung on to hope which, her mother explains, was inspirational. Hope was something that continuously changed for Meghan and her family. Things such as looking forward to family vacations, dancing and skiing, maintaining academic goals and celebrating her achievements helped to keep Meghan going. Suzanne notes that even at the end Meghan still had hope, only then it was hope that she would find herself in heaven one day.

Despite the odds against her, Meghan completed high school, returned to competitive dancing – competing in the regional championship – and then entered nursing school, which she nearly completed. She led an active life while continuing her treatments during college. She was the head of the social committee for her dorm, joined the student nurses association, eventually becoming its president, and completed her clinical nursing work at several different hospitals, including the Children’s Memorial Hospital where she successfully obtained a student nursing position.

Looking back, Suzanne misses Meghan and all the time spent with her, but acknowledges that, although she lost her daughter, the experience left her and the entire family with positive, newfound knowledge and lessons. The experience, Suzanne explains, really opened their eyes about the value of life, regardless of health. “You cherish each day more, cherish your other children more and cherish your relationships more.”

I am honored to have had the privilege of knowing this very special young lady who lived her life to the fullest and was an inspiration to all who knew her.

To learn more about this subject listen to Brain-Body Breakthroughs – Relationships, Love and Healing: The lighter side of childhood cancer. An interview with Suzanne Henry.

Health Tip of the Week

Toast to Your Health

Enjoying a glass of red or white wine with your dinner can in fact be a great and enjoyable way to complement a healthy diet. Wine contains many healthy nutrients and antioxidants, and can even help boost your heart and brain health. Having said that, it’s important to recognize that overconsumption isn’t good for your brain, your heart or your waist.

Preparing for pregnancy by adjusting your diet pre-conception sets the stage for not only a healthy pregnancy, but also for a healthy baby. Continuing to ensure a healthy and nutritious diet during and after your pregnancy is just as important. The following nutritional guidelines will provide a solid foundation for both of you:

- Avoid harmful substances before and during your pregnancy, as well as while breastfeeding. These include alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine and drugs – illicit and prescribed.

- Avoid the consumption of raw meats, fish and eggs, unpasteurized milk and cheeses (soft cheeses), liver and pâtés.

- Try to limit your fish consumption to no more than 12 oz per week (about 2 servings), but take a high-quality fish oil supplement daily.

- Consider a prenatal vitamin supplement – you want to be sure to get enough folic acid, iron, calcium and vitamin D during your pregnancy. Avoid over consumption of vitamin A.

- During your first trimester you may not require additional calories. During your second, you will want to increase your daily calorie consumption by approximately 300 calories and in your third trimester by approximately 450 (over your pre-pregnancy consumption); assuming you weren’t eating excessively prior to becoming pregnant.

- Follow your doctor’s recommendations about how many daily servings of various food groups (fruit, vegetables, dairy, nuts, seeds and protein) you should be eating.

- Avoid trans-fats (partially hydrogenated vegetable oils).

- And be sure to talk to your doctor about how much and what kind of exercise to do during your pregnancy. Exercise is good for both you and your baby!

Be sure to consult your doctor for additional information and specific recommendations regarding your diet during your pregnancy.