Grant funding for the unmet need of damages from radiation and chemotherapy to bladder, bowel, gynecological and sexual function.
Fund Amount: $50,000
More recently, our U Can-Cer Vive committee and board members set out to Beaumont hospital to meet with doctors and researchers within the Urology Research Facility of Beaumont Royal Oak.
Dr. Michael Chancellor, Dr. Laura Lamb, Dr. Bernadette Zwaans and researchers, Sarah Bartolone and Eli Ward, all welcomed our team to their lab.
They provided us with great insight as to what they do on a regular basis, the progress they have made within their recent research studies, and how the grant funding provided by U Can-Cer Vive will ultimately help advance their research studies and find a solution to the health issues that cancer survivors face; particularly a condition called radiation cystitis.
Radiation cystitis is a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder, in which the bladder becomes small and hard, resulting in frequent and painful bathroom visits. Radiation Cystitis occurs in 10-20% of patients that have had radiation treatment for a pelvic cancer, such as prostate, cervical, colorectal and ovarian cancer.
The Beaumont Urology Team’s overall goal is to identify protein biomarkers to aid in predicting radiation cystitis at an early stage and in possibly preventing this severely debilitating complication. With that, they have done extensive research in regard to the topic, leading them to becoming leaders, not only within the state of Michigan, but worldwide.
Shortly after our visit at Beaumont, Dr. Zwaans set out to present her work at the American Urologic Association (AUA) annual meeting. The AUA is known to be the most important international urological conference that is attended by over 15,000 urologists. With that, Dr. Zwaans was able to educate an international audience of medical experts who also have knowledge in the subject.
Our team of volunteers at U Can-Cer Vive have found that our involvement with Beaumont Hospital’s Urology Research team was truly an eye-opening experience. We were able to get a first look at the laboratory itself, meet the doctors and researchers behind it all and, with that, gained better insight on their purpose and progression with finding a solution to a serious matter.
