It is a scary illness, and the mere mention of the word can cause us great concern. What many of us overlook are the hard-working and dedicated research scientists, physicians, nurses and support staff that are constantly working to extend and improve the lives of those given that terrible diagnosis.

Stanford University Medical Center is just one of the fine treatment and research centers in the United States, for all kinds of illnesses.

Aside from the amazing advances in treatment we are also seeing real breakthroughs in the field of medications designed to treat this family of illnesses.

A recent article in the Associated Press stated, “a very early test of an experimental drug [seems] to slow the spread of advanced deadly skin cancer in a small study,” according to Synta Pharmaceuticals, the drug’s manufacturer.

The treatment is given as a pill, and is so new that it does not yet have a name, (there being a shortage of words that begin with the letters X or Z). Seriously though, even given the fact that it’s a small study and has yet to have a proven track record, this is very good news for the thousands of Americans diagnosed with skin cancer every year.

The drug still needs to be tested across a wider field of patients, and its efficacy must be studied over time before we can pop the cork on the champagne.

This drug is one of a new branch of pharmaceutical treatments for cancer that employs a new strategy – destroying tumor cells by “overloading them with oxygen.” These drugs have no effect on non-cancerous, healthy cells because they can adjust to higher levels of oxygen.

Cancer cells cannot, making them vulnerable to this form of attack.

In other positive news, Merck Pharmaceuticals announced it would donate enough doses of its cervical cancer vaccine to treat one million women in resource-poor countries. The company plans to release three million doses of Gardasil over the next six months. (The vaccine is given in a series of three shots over a six-month period).

Gardasil is a major advancement in the fight against cervical cancer. The good news about its release was tainted by the radical religious right, whose male leaders stated that giving the vaccine to teenage girls would “increase promiscuity.”

The amount of damage done by these people is hard to gauge because doctors don’t track girls whose parents refuse the vaccination based upon “religious grounds.”

Most doctors surveyed at the time were horrified at the prospect of risking the health of young women based upon such a tenuous argument. Gardasil prevents cervical cancer.

To keep it out of the hands of helpless young women who need it is an abomination in the eyes of many in the health care community, the author of this article included.

But aside from those setbacks, it has been a good year for those Americans afflicted and affected by cancer. It is a terrible diagnosis that no one should have to bear, yet we can start to envision a world where that diagnosis is no longer life-threatening. And that is the best news of all.

Phillip Alden is a freelance journalist, health educator and novelist living in Redwood Shores. He’s currently preparing his first fantasy novel for publication. He can be reached at phillip@smdailyjournal.com.