LoweringCancer RiskWithAspirin
Aspirinhasbeenhailedasa wonderdrugformorethan
100 years,firstforpainrelief,thenforloweringheart
attackrisk,andmorerecentlyforreducingtheriskof
pancreaticandcoloncancers.Thelatest:dailyaspirin
cutstheriskoflivercancerbyasmuchas 49 percent,
saysresearchpublishedinJAMAOncologyinOctober,
2018.Thebenefitswereseeninpeoplewhoregularlytook
atleast487.5mgperweekforfiveyears.Anotherstudy,
publishedinthesameissue,foundthatlow-doseaspirin
useappearedtoreduce the risk of ovarian cancer.
HSCTFORMULTIPLESCLEROSIS
Inmultiplesclerosis(MS),theimmunesystem,designedto
protectusfromoutsidethreats,getsconfusedandinstead
attacksitscentralnervoussystem.Untilrecentlythe
prognosisforpeoplewithsevereMSwasnotpromising.
But an experimentaltreatmentcalledHaematopoietic
temCellTransplantation(HSCT)ishelping
omepeoplefightagainstthediseaseand
ventoreverseitseffects.
RoyPalmer,50,wasdiagnosedwithMSin
003 andthediseaseprogressedaggressively
ntilin 2008 hewasconfinedtoa wheelchair.
n 2016helearnedthatHSCTtreatmentmight
elphimwalkagain.Butit wasrisky– it involved
estroyinghisimmunesystem.Roydecided
t wasworththechance,andstartedthe
reatmentinOctober2017.
DoctorsfirstharvestedRoy’sownstemcells.
Theythenusedchemotherapytowipeouthismalfunctioningimmunesystem.
Next,theyreintroducedhisstoredstemcellsintohisbodywhere,if allwentwell,
thecellswouldreboottheimmunesystem,buildingit moreorlessfromscratch.
ByChristmas 2017 RoyPalmerwaswalkingwiththehelpofa frame.Hekept
improvingandtodayhe’sevendancing.“What’smostamazingofalliswalking
sidebysidewithmywife,sonanddaughter,”hesays.HSCThasbeenusedtotreat
a verysmallpercentageofpeoplewithMSinAustralia,Malaysiaand Singapore
and internationally. It is currently not available in New Zealand.TRUE
STORYPHOTO: COURTESY OF ROY PALMER44 Augus t 2019
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