Just about all of our lives have been touched by cancer. Maybe you have a family member or friend who's been diagnosed, or even died. You no longer need to have that feeling of helplessness. Now there's something you can do to make a difference. You can take action now to hopefully prevent cancer in the future. The American Cancer Society wants people to sign up for a cancer prevention study. It's been dubbed Cancer Prevention Study-3, or CPS-3, because it's the third prevention study.
There are 33 enrollment sites across the U.S. and Puerto Rico for CPS-3. One of them is Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay. As of July 9th they had 167 signed up, with a goal of 288. But, there's no limit and the American Cancer Society says no one who qualifies for the study will be turned away. ACS says the only requirements are that you're between the ages of 30 and 65, you've never been diagnosed with cancer, except basal or squamous cell skin cancer, and, that you're willing to commit to long-term follow-up surveys for the next 20 to 30 years. They're interested in your lifestyle, where you work and your diet and exercise habits. If you have another condition like diabetes, they still want you.
"Because we want to see the differences in people and see how that makes a difference in whether or not someone's going to have cancer in the future," says Miki McClain, RN, BSN, OCN, Oncology Outreach and Clinical Services Manager at Blanchard Valley Hospital.
Jennifer DeBoo has already enrolled. She's a nurse at Marathon Petroleum Company. She says she heard about CPS-3 at work.
"I'm always willing to do studies, being in the health care field I think its just extremely important and I right away signed up and I'm good to go," says DeBoo.
Ginger O'Malley is also enrolled. She says cancer has touched her family for generations, and her husband had stage one colorectal cancer six years ago.
"This year we found a mass on his lung," says Ginger. "And it had metastasized so we went to the Cleveland Clinic and they took out his entire left lung, and then he started chemo 2 weeks ago."
"I've found a lot of people that were very interested based on the fact that they had a friend or a family member that has had cancer," says McClain. "And this is their way to feel that they're able to do something in their honor, just to give back."
Deborah Niese is with the American Cancer Society. She's the organization's staff partner for CPS-3. She says CPS-2 started in 1982 and so far has made the link between obesity, nutrition and lack of exercise with some cancers. CPS-1 was back in the 1970's and made the link between smoking and cancer.
"So it's almost, you know, common knowledge now but when you think about it, back in the 70's and back in the 60's people did not know that. So, very meaningful outcome from that study."
Enrollment appointments for CPS-3 are August 2nd and 3rd at Blanchard Valley Hospital. All they need from you is one blood draw, your waist measurement, a consent form and brief survey. You can pre-register for CPS-3 online at findlaycps3.org or call 888-604-5888. You can also just show up at the hospital on August 2nd or 3rd.
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