Manju George, Scientific Director of PALTOWN Development Foundation, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“I’m home after a couple of days in NYC.
This trip has been soul-filling in ways more than one..
- I got to meet someone very special: the loved one of a dear friend from Colontown who passed away from early onset colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet my friend in-person. He used to talk a lot about his loved one and it was a bit surreal meeting her. I don’t know what it is, even though she was a stranger to me, it didn’t feel that way. Cancer brings a closeness that’s hard to explain. Thank you for taking the time to meet me, S!
- I got to meet an old friend and his wife who work at MSK. He was diagnosed a year after me with a rare cancer, and after a clinical trial has been doing well. Though I only got a few minutes with them, it was so good to see them after about 15 years.
- I was in NYC because I’m the Patient Advocate Lead for the REWIRE CAN, a Cancer Grand Challenges project focused on colorectal cancer. This project is close to my heart for a variety of reasons. Though the last time I was in a lab doing biomedical research was more than a decade ago, I don’t think my love for it will ever go away.
One of the perks of patient advocacy for me is exposure to the top minds in the field of CRC. It has been a fantastic experience working with the REWIRE CAN group. Thanks to Karuna Ganesh, for inviting me to be part of the team a few months ago. It was such a pleasure to finally meet in-person, Bart Vanhaesebroeck, the REWIRE CAN lead, and the rest of the amazing team and spend time with them as we prepared for the CGC interview.
Thanks to Cancer Grand Challenges, for the opportunity to work with these brilliant folks as they devise ways to tackle colorectal cancer.
We need more funding for basic research, not less.
Basic research is essential to figure out how normal cells do what they do, what all changes when they become cancerous, to then exploit these to devise novel treatments. Thanks to funding mechanisms like the Cancer Grand Challenges through Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research for bringing together interdisciplinary teams from multiple countries to tackle the big challenge of cancer.
My work in Colontown as a survivor, with thousands of CRC patients and caregivers in the last 8 years has put me up close and personal with the many challenges CRC patients and caregivers face on their cancer journey. In the REWIRE CAN project, sharing unique patient perspectives along with me is my dear Colontown friend, Vincent from the Netherlands. This project is dedicated to everyone I have known with CRC.
I know that the REWIRE CAN team is competing with other equally wonderful teams tackling important challenges in cancer.
May the odds be in our favor.”
More posts featuring Manju George.