What was terry fox diagnosed with

In , 1, Canadians were diagnosed with soft-tissue sarcoma; about died of the disease in , according to the Canadian Cancer Society, citing the most recent years for which statistics are available. The cause of sarcoma is unknown, although genetics may make some people more susceptible to the cancer. Various research groups around the world are investigating whether aberrant stem cells might give rise to these tumours, but that still to be determined.

Much of the research focus is on finding new drugs to treat various types of sarcomas, and there has been modest progress in that area. For instance, a once "uniformly fatal" abdominal sarcoma called GIST, is now being treated with a molecular drug that specifically targets a genetic mutation found in these tumours, leading to "an overnight change in outcome," says Wunder.

Albiruni Razak, says before the drug's discovery, GIST patients had an average life expectancy of nine months; survival for some patients now is measured in years, and for some it can be as long as 15 years. Drug development is a key goal of the sarcoma research team at Mount Sinai, which includes genetic studies using samples of patients' cancerous tissues that are frozen and stored in the hospital's tumour bank — a collection of innocuous-looking metal containers.

Cell lines grown in the lab from tumour samples are used to look for potentially effective drugs. Tiny quantities of the cells are put in "dishes," then mixed with candidate drugs by robotic equipment in a so-called high-throughput lab at the hospital. The technology can test thousands of compounds at one time.

For cancer especially, it's amazing how often people are finding new, potentially active drugs through that. Razak says chemotherapy has for many years been given using a "blunderbuss approach," trying different combinations in the hope of killing a patient's cancer.

That's increasingly giving way to a more focused strategy, called personalized medicine, in which oncologists hope to match particular drugs to an individual, based on their genetic profile or that of their tumour. Lambert attributes his survival to Fox, and the scientific advances spurred by the millions of dollars raised by his marathon and the annual events run in his name. I'm walking now. Our researchers, our staff and our thousands of volunteers are determined to reach that goal.

Our Mission. History of The Terry Fox Foundation. What sets us apart: Our research, our values, our determination, and you. The Terry Fox Foundation operates independently. He started at am in the morning, and often did not finish his last mile until 7pm at night. Sometimes Terry and Doug, his best friend and driver, would sleep in the van because they could not afford a place to stay. Some days hundreds of people cheered him on; other days he was alone on the road, and no money was raised.

But Terry never gave up hope that Canadians would respond to his story, to his effort…and he was right. Terry entered Ontario on June 28th the whole country was cheering him on and donating to cancer research. On September 1st, after days and 5, kilometres 3, miles , Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario. The only thing that could have stopped him did: cancer had appeared in his lungs.

Terry died on June 28, at the age This bold and courageous Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning. Terry's Story.