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closeGH invited to participate in nationwide cancer research
Relay for Life offers opportunity for locals to join the battle
Susan Schell
of the Gateway
Gig Harbor residents will have a unique opportunity to participate in cancer research for the benefit of science and those who suffer from cancer.
The American Cancer Society, in conjunction with the Relay for Life, has chosen the Maritime City to look for participants in the study which will have a direct impact on valuable research, called the Cancer Prevention Study, CPS-3. Those who choose to participate can sign up at a booth at the relay, which begins June 19 at Goodman Middle School.
“This is Gig Harbor’s only chance to be a part of this study,” said Annette Bannon, a volunteer co-chair for the project along with her husband, Frank. “Every day, they’re finding genetic markers that identify one’s risk for cancer. They’re finding genetic dispositions that they didn’t know about a few years ago. There are at least nine research studies being funded by the American Cancer Society right now.”
The study calls for participants between the ages of 30 and 65 who have never been diagnosed with cancer and would be willing to make a long-term commitment.
“They want people in that age group because they tend to be less mobile,” Bannon said. “People under 30 are statistically more mobile and might lose contact with the American Cancer Society. The goal is to have a population they can watch for 30 years.”
Bannon said she has personally been a part of a similar study of nurses for the past 20 years. Those who decide to enroll will fill out a brief questionnaire at the relay asking questions like what types of vitamins they take, whether or not they walk regularly or how often they watch TV.
“At the relay, they’ll just get a baseline survey which will take about 15 minutes to fill out,” she said. “Then they’ll get a more in-depth study to leisurely fill out at home and mail in. They can also fill in the form online.”
The participants also will be required to submit a blood sample, but it and all other information the person submits will be confidential.
Liz Lamb-Ferro, communications manager for the great western division of ACS, said the Pacific Northwest is a bit of a statistical anomaly because, across the board, it has a higher cancer rate than the rest of the United States.
“In Washington, one in five people will be diagnosed with cancer sometime during their lifetime,” she said. “But they don’t know if that’s because people in the Northwest tend to be more aware of their health and get checked more often.”
“We grew up with the smelter here in Tacoma,” Bannon said. “Now we have an opportunity for us as a community to be watched, and we didn’t have that in the past. The unique aspect (of the study) is that, at the outset, these people have not been diagnosed with cancer, so there’s an opportunity to study a large population to see if there is something in their lifestyle that predisposes them.”
The CPS-3 study will be the third in a series of studies the ACS has been conducting since the 1950s. The first study, which confirmed the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, showed that obesity increases the risk of cancer and linked aspirin use to a lower death rate from colon cancer.
The second study started in 1982 and is still ongoing. Information gleaned from it helped implement the Clean Air Act.
“This is the third big study,” Lamb-Ferro said. “It’s incredibly important to have a large cohort of people who have a vested interest in this. They can sign up at the relay and help make the studies more accurate.
“Even someone that shows up and doesn’t have a team can get involved and have a personal experience with fighting cancer.”