In 1997 Mitt Romney and his wife Ann, 48, knew that there was something seriously wrong with her.

She couldn’t feel pinpricks in her foot. She couldn’t keep her balance. She couldn’t touch her nose with her eyes closed.

When her youngest of five sons Craig, 17, found out his Mom’s diagnosis, he cried because he thought his Mom was going to die.  And Ann temporarily felt that she would rather die from cancer than be the way that she was. She treated her condition with yoga, Pilates, reflexology, acupuncture and diet. Her childhood love of horses was rekindled and riding both improved her mobility and boosted her spirits.

When Michelle Obama was just a little girl, she watched her father Fraser Robinson III struggle to get dressed in the morning and then walk to work at the City of Chicago water plant using two canes. Her Dad slowly became sicker and sicker and finally passed away in 1991 before he could see Michelle get married to a future President of the United States. In 2008, Mrs. Obama reflected back on her father’s struggles and said:

My Dad was our rock…our provider, our champion, our hero…if he was in pain, he never let on. He never stopped smiling and laughing — even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my Mom a kiss. He just woke up a little earlier, and worked a little harder.

Fraser Robinson and Ann Romney suffered from the same disease. Newt Gingrich’s second wife, Marianne, has this disease too. And so does Montel Williams who treats his symptoms with medical marijuana. One of the Real Housewives of D.C., Michaele Salahie, is also affected. Rock legend Captain Beefheart died from complications of this disease at the age of 69.

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system

The symptoms of MS, such as fatigue, numbness, tingling sensations, blurred vision and lack of coordination, are not specific to this disease often making it difficult to diagnose. Most patients experience their first symptoms of MS between the ages of 20 and 50, MS affects about 1 in 700 people and the disease is three times more common in women than in men. A poorly-understood combination of environmental and genetic factors lead to this disease. There is no way to prevent or cure MS but there are treatments that can slow the progression of the disease and relieve the symptoms.

Questions for the Candidates’ Debates

• Currently there are about two dozen clinical research trials studying the potential of stem cell transplantation to treat MS. Do you support this research?
• In 2012, the U.S. National Institutes of Health will spend $135 million on MS research. Is this too much money, not enough or just about the right amount of funding?
• Medical marijuana is proved effective in relieving some of the symptoms of MS and other neurological diseases, particularly in those patients who are not helped by other therapies. Should the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) reclassify marijuana as a Schedule II drug thus allowing doctors to prescribe it to treat MS, AIDS, side effects of chemotherapy and other diseases and conditions?

Additional sources for this article

Your Family History is Important to Your Health

Mitt Romney: An Inside Look at the Man and His Politics

The Real Romney

Fraser Robinson III ~ Michelle Obama’s Father

Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum had to leave the campaign trail when his 3 yr old daughter Isabella (Bella) had to be hospitalized. Bella has a serious genetic disorder called Trisomy 18, and was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with pneumonia in both lungs. According to Hogan Gidley, Santorum’s National Communications Director:

“Rick and his wife Karen are admitting their daughter Bella to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia this evening. The campaign will cancel Rick’s upcoming Sunday morning Florida campaign schedule.  However, Rick intends to return to Florida and resume the campaign schedule as soon as is possible.

Bella is the youngest of the seven Santorum children. It was noticed at birth that she was “different” and at five days of age, Santorum and his wife Karen were given the diagnosis of Trisomy 18, meaning that their baby had 3 copies of chromosome 18 rather than the normal 2 copies. They were also told that the life expectancy of children with Trisomy 18 was usually very short and that she would probably not live more than a year. Despite these predictions, the Santorums told doctors that “we were not going to concentrate on her dying, we’re going to concentrate on her living, and do everything we can to help her.” Despite frequently hospitalizations, especially during her first year of life, Santorum remains upbeat:

Some people describe people like Bellas as disabled children…I look at the joy, the simplicity and the love that she emits and its clear to me that we’re the disabled ones. Not her…she’s got it right.

Reports from later today indicate that Bella is “improving” and is not on a respirator.

We wish her a speedy recovery.

What is a Trisomy?

The nucleus is the control center of human cells. It contains the genetic material- DNA- which codes for who we are. The DNA is organized into units called chromosomes. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes (46 chromosomes in total). One set of each pair comes from your mother (egg), the other from your father (sperm).

If the chromosome pairs fail to separate properly during cell division the egg or sperm may have a second copy of one of the chromosomes.  If this egg or sperm results is fertilized and becomes an embryo, the embryo may also have an entire copy of the extra chromosome. This is called a trisomy, as the individual has 47 chromosomes.

Trisomies can occur with any chromosome, but often result in miscarriage. For example, Trisomy 16 is the most common trisomy in humans, occurring in more than 1% of pregnancies. This condition, however, usually results in spontaneous miscarriage in the first trimester.

Of those trisomies that survive until birth, the most common is Trisomy 21 or Downs Syndrome. Trisomy 18 is also known as Edwards Syndrome is the next frequent, followed by Trisomy 13 or Patau Syndrome.

What is Trisomy 18?

Trisomy 18 is a relatively common genetic disease, occurring in 1 out of every 5000 live births. It is three times more common in girls than boys.

Most cases of trisomy 18 are not inherited, but occur as random events during the formation of eggs and sperm. This means that parents have done nothing before or during pregnancy to cause this disorder in their child.

The material in the extra chromosome interferes with normal development. These developmental issues are also associated with medical complications that are  potentially life-threatening in the early months and years of life. 50% of babies who are carried to term will be stillborn. Only 10% of children with Trisomy 18 survive to their first birthday.

What are the features of Trisomy 18?

The features of Trisomy 18 include:

• Clenched hands
• Crossed legs (preferred position)
• Feet with a rounded bottom (rocker-bottom feet)
• Low birth weight
• Low-set ears
• Mental deficiency
• Small head (microcephaly)
• Small jaw (micrognathia)
• Underdeveloped fingernails
• Undescended testicle
• Unusual shaped chest (pectus carinatum)

Other signs include eye abnormalities, umbilical or inguinal hernia, and a separation of the muscle that run down the center of the abdomen (diastasis recti).

There are often signs of congenital heart disease, such as a hole between the upper chambers (atrial septal defect) or lower chambers (ventricular septal defect) of the heart, or a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA).
Tests may also show kidney problems, including:

• Horseshoe kidney
• Hydronephrosis (swollen, water filled kidney)
• Polycystic kidney

According to the Trisomy 18 Foundation, “although less than 10 percent survive to their first birthdays, some children with Trisomy 18 can enjoy many years of life with their families, reaching milestones and being involved with their community.  A small number of adults (usually girls) with Trisomy 18 have and are living into their twenties and thirties, although with significant developmental delays that do not allow them to live independantly without assisted caregiving.”

There’s a new twist in the criminal trial of former Vice-Presidential candidate John Edwards.

Federal Judge Catherine C. Eagles has delayed the much anticipated trial until the end of March. Edwards, 58, must undergo a procedure in February to correct a “life-threatening heart condition.”

Cardiologists (heart physicians) have told Edwards that he should not drive or travel until the condition is treated.

Although a specific diagnosis was not disclosed,  NBC News reporter Andrea Mitchell says that her sources say that Edwards is suffering from some kind of heart arrhythmia. This is consistent with People magazine’s report that Edwards wears a 24/7 heart monitor.

If Edwards does have an arrhythmia, it may be treatable with the placement of a pacemaker.

What is an arrhythmia?

An arrhythmia is a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. During an arrhythmia, the heart can beat too fast, too slow, or with an irregular rhythm.

A heartbeat that is too fast is called tachycardia. A heartbeat that is too slow is called bradycardia.

Most arrhythmias are harmless, but some can be serious or even life threatening. When the heart rate is too fast, too slow, or irregular, the heart may not be able to pump enough blood to the body. Lack of blood flow can damage the brain, heart, and other organs.

To understand arrhythmias, it is important to understand the electrical activity of the heart. The heart’s electrical system controls all the events that occur when the heart pumps blood. The electrical system also is called the cardiac conduction system. If you’ve ever seen the heart test called an EKG (electrocardiogram), you’ve seen a graphical picture of the heart’s electrical activity.

The heart’s electrical system is made up of three main parts:

• The sinoatrial (SA) node, located in the right atrium of your heart
• The atrioventricular (AV) node, located on the interatrial septum close to the tricuspid valve
• The His-Purkinje system, located along the walls of your heart’s ventricles

This is a short video about how these main components of the electrical system come together:

The main types of arrhythmia are:

Extra Beats

Premature (extra) beats- Premature beats are the most common type of arrhythmia. Most of the time they are harmless and often don’t cause any symptoms. If symptoms do occur, they may feel like fluttering in the chest or a feeling of a skipped beat. Most of the time, premature beats need no treatment, especially in healthy people.

In most cases, premature beats occur naturally and are not due to any heart disease. Although certain heart diseases can cause premature beats, they also can happen because of stress, too much exercise, or too much caffeine or nicotine.

Too Fast

Supraventricular arrhythmias are tachycardias (fast heart rates) that start in the atria or the atrioventricular (AV) node. Types of supraventricular arrhythmias include atrial fibrillation (AF), atrial flutter, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT), and Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.

AF is the most common type of serious arrhythmia. It’s a very fast and irregular contraction of the atria.

In AF, the heart’s electrical signal doesn’t begin in the SA node. Instead, the signal begins in another part of the atria and doesn’t travel through the normal pathways and it spreads throughout the atria in a fast and disorganized manner. This causes the walls of the atria to quiver very fast (fibrillate) instead of beating normally. As a result, the atria aren’t able to pump blood into the ventricles the way they should.

Ventricular arrhythmias start in the ventricles. They can be very dangerous and usually need medical attention right away.

Ventricular arrhythmias include ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation (v-fib). Coronary heart disease, heart attack, weakened heart muscle, and other problems can cause ventricular arrhythmias.

Ventricular tachycardia is a fast, regular beating of the ventricles that may last for only a few seconds or for much longer.
V-fib occurs when disorganized electrical signals make the ventricles quiver instead of pump normally. Without the ventricles pumping blood out to the body, a person will lose consciousness within seconds and die within minutes if not treated.

To prevent death, the condition must be treated right away with an electric shock to the heart called defibrillation.

Too Slow

Bradyarrhythmias are arrhythmias in which the heart rate is slower than normal. If the heart rate is too slow, not enough blood reaches the brain. This can cause you to lose consciousness.

In adults, a heart rate slower than 60 beats per minute is considered a bradyarrhythmia. Some people normally have slow heart rates, especially people who are very physically fit. For them, a heartbeat slower than 60 beats per minute isn’t dangerous and doesn’t cause symptoms. But in other people, bradyarrhythmia can be due to a serious disease or other condition.

Bradyarrhythmias can be caused by:

• Heart attack
• Conditions that harm or change the heart’s electrical activity, such as an underactive thyroid gland or aging
• An imbalance of chemicals or other substances, such as potassium, in the blood
• Some medicines, such as beta blockers

Bradyarrhythmias also can happen as a result of severe bundle branch block. Bundle branch block is a condition in which an electrical signal traveling down either or both of the bundle branches is delayed or blocked.

When this happens, the ventricles don’t contract at exactly the same time, as they should. As a result, the heart has to work harder to pump blood to the body. The cause of bundle branch block often is an existing heart condition.

For more information about arrhythmias, click here to go to the Resounding Health Casebook on the topic.

Just as royal-watchers were getting ready to clamor about Kate’s first Christmas as a royal, a health scare for  Prince Philip threatened to put a damper on the festivities.

The 90-year old was hospitalized yesterday after complaining of chest pain. He was taken by helicopter to the UK’s largest cardiothoracic hospital, Papworth Hospital in Cambridge.  There, he underwent a procedure called a coronary stent.

In a statement from Buckingham Palace, spokeswoman Ailsa Anderson said:

The Duke of Edinburgh had a good night and is in good spirits but he is eager to leave… Sunday’s church service is going ahead as planned and we don’t anticipate changes to the Royal Family’s Christmas celebrations.

The Duke has already been visited by Queen Elizabeth and their children Edward, Andrew and Anne.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common kind of heart disease. It is the leading cause of death in the United States.

It occurs when the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle itself (the coronary arteries) become narrowed by a build up of plaque. Plaque is made up of cholesterol, fat, calcium and other substances from the blood.

Narrowing of the arteries leads to a decrease in blood supply to the heart muscle. This can lead to the symptoms of chest pain (angina) or even heart attack if the narrowing is severe enough, or if part of the plaque breaks off and blocks a smaller part of the artery.

What is Coronary Angioplasty and Coronary Stent?

In a coronary artery bypass, surgeons connect a blood vessel (taken from elsewhere in the body) to either side of a blocked artery to allow blood to flow freely again.

With an angioplasty, a catheter is inserted into the large artery in the groin, and is threaded up into the coronary arteries. The catheter has a small balloon on its tip. The balloon is inflated at the blockage site in the artery to flatten the plaque against the artery wall. After treatment, the guide wire, catheter, and balloon are removed. The hospital stay and recovery time for angioplasty is shorter than that of bypass. But about 35% of patients are at risk for more blockages in the treated area.

A stent procedure is frequently used along with balloon angioplasty. This involves placing a mesh-like metal device into an artery at a site narrowed by plaque. The stent is mounted onto the balloon-tipped catheter, threaded through an artery, and positioned at the blockage.

When the balloon is  inflated, stent is opened. Then, the catheter and deflated balloon are removed, leaving the stent in place. The opened stent keeps the vessel open and stops the artery from collapsing.

Here’s a great video showing how the procedure is done:

Here’s hoping for a quick recovery for the Duke.

And Happy, Healthy Holidays to all!

English-American author and journalist Christopher Hitchens died today from cancer of the esophagus. He was diagnosed with this tumor about 17 months ago.

What did Christopher Hitchens and Steve Jobs have in common?

Both men used DNA to try to discover and treat the gene mutations that were driving their cancers.

Jobs had his DNA analyzed twice, once when his tumor was first discovered in 2004 and again in 2009 after the cancer had come back. Mr. Hitchens had his tumor DNA “decoded” after NIH Director and evangelical christian Dr. Francis Collins suggested that this experimental diagnostic procedure might benefit him. Hitchens treatment was altered as a result.

Quiz time. Quick, name a celebrity who’s a vegan.

That’s getting pretty easy to do these, as the list of celebrities choosing the vegan lifestyle seems to be increasing by the minute.
Take these, for instance:

Some, like Ellen Degeneres and wife Portia DeRossi, who will be partnering with rocker Chrissie Hynde, and producer Steve Bing to open up their very own vegan restaurant, became vegans for ethical reasons.

I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just couldn’t disconnect myself from it any longer. I read books like “Diet for a New America” and saw documentaries like “Earthlings” and “Meet your Meat,” and it became an easy choice for me

Others, like President Bill Clinton, did so for health reasons, after having a heart attack and bypass surgery. In an interview with CNN, Clinton says:

I essentially concluded that I had played Russian roulette,because even though I had changed my diet some and cut down on the caloric total of my ingestion and cut back on much of the cholesterol in the food I was eating, I still — without any scientific basis to support what I did — was taking in a lot of extra cholesterol without knowing if my body would produce enough of the enzyme to support it, and clearly it didn’t or I wouldn’t have had that blockage. So that’s when I made a decision to really change.

According to his recent biography by Isaacson, Steve Jobs also considered himself to be vegan and was quite sanctimonious about it. He wasn’t even really a vegetarian because he loved large quantities of unagi sushi – cooked eel (Issacson, p. 260). For more information, see Ask Mary RD‘s personal nutrition blog.

What’s the difference between vegetarianism and veganism?

A vegetarian diet is a meal plan that contains mostly plants, such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, seeds, and nuts, with little or no animal products. Lacto-vegetarians will eat some or all dairy products and lacto-ovovegetarian will also eat eggs.
Vegans only eat plant based food.Some limit this restriction to what they eat, while others extend this prohibition to the use of animal products and by-products such as leather, fur, silk, wool, cosmetics, and soaps derived from animal products.

How many vegetarians are there?

According to The Vegetarian Resource Group, a nonprofit education and advocacy group, its latest figures show that about 5 percent of American adults are vegetarians and that half of these vegetarians are also vegan.

The group also says that there’s been a marked increase over the last decade in veganism in America and that it’s currently either remaining steady or, more likely, slowly rising.

What are the potential health benefits of veganism?

Vegetarian diets most often lead to healthier outcomes:

•  Lower levels of obesity
• Reduced risk for heart disease
• Lower blood pressure

Compared to non-vegetarians, vegetarians usually eat:

• Fewer calories from fat (especially saturated fat)
• Fewer overall calories
• More fiber, potassium, and vitamin C

Are Vegan Diets Nutritionally Sound?

According to the USDA, vegetarian diets can meet all the recommendations for nutrients. The key is to consume a variety of foods and the right amount of foods to meet your calorie needs.Nutrients that vegetarians may need to focus on include protein, iron, calcium, zinc, and vitamin B12.

Protein has many important functions in the body and is essential for growth and maintenance. Protein needs can easily be met by eating a variety of plant-based foods. Combining different protein sources in the same meal is not necessary. Sources of protein for vegetarians include beans, nuts, nut butters, peas, and soy products (tofu, tempeh, veggie burgers). Milk products and eggs are also good protein sources for lacto-ovo vegetarians.

Iron functions primarily as a carrier of oxygen in the blood. Iron sources for vegetarians include iron-fortified breakfast cereals, spinach, kidney beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, turnip greens, molasses, whole wheat breads, peas, and some dried fruits (dried apricots, prunes, raisins).

Calcium is used for building bones and teeth and in maintaining bone strength. Sources of calcium for vegetarians include calcium-fortified soymilk, calcium-fortified breakfast cereals and orange juice, tofu made with calcium sulfate, and some dark-green leafy vegetables (collard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, mustard greens). The amount of calcium that can be absorbed from these foods varies. Consuming enough plant foods to meet calcium needs may be unrealistic for many. Milk products are excellent calcium sources for lacto vegetarians. Calcium supplements are another potential source.

Zinc is necessary for many biochemical reactions and also helps the immune system function properly. Sources of zinc for vegetarians include many types of beans (white beans, kidney beans, and chickpeas), zinc-fortified breakfast cereals, wheat germ, and pumpkin seeds. Milk products are a zinc source for lacto vegetarians.

Vitamin B12 is found in animal products and some fortified foods. Sources of vitamin B12 for vegetarians include milk products, eggs, and foods that have been fortified with vitamin B12. These include breakfast cereals, soymilk, veggie burgers, and nutritional yeast.

Have you tried a vegan/vegetarian diet? What were your reasons?

I’ve always been struck by brain’s capacity for musical memory.

When you recall songs that were popular when you were young, don’t you remember every lyric? Every nuance of the rhythm? Even the little peculiarities of the way the singer sang each word?

All this, when you can hardly remember what you ate for dinner two days ago.

If you watched the ABC News special, Gabby and Mark: Courage and Hope, you got a glimpse of how powerful a force music can be.

As you all no doubt know, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords suffered a gunshot wound to the head in an assassination attempt in January. She spent 5 months in the hospital recovering from her traumatic brain injury. She continues to receive 2 hours of vigorous physical and speech therapy each day at home.

Diane Sawyer’s report began with photos and videos of Giffords at various stages of her recovery, and ended with an interview of Gabby and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly. Mark and Gabby tell the story of her recovery  in the new book Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.

Language and the Brain

As we reported in a guest blog by music therapist Shanna Clark, some of Gabby’s remarkable progress has been aided by music therapists.

Photo Credit: How Stuff Works

The main language centers are located on the left side of the brain. There are two main language centers in the brain, called Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.

Broca’s area is associated with the production of speech. It controls the flow of words from brain to mouth. Wernicke’s area is associated with the interpretation and understanding of speech.

Aphasia is an impairment of language ability. It can range from having difficulty remembering words to being completely unable to speak, read, or write. As a result of her brain injury, Gabby Giffords suffers from aphasia- the language pathways in her brain have been damaged.

Music in the Brain

However, research has shown that music stimulates multiple areas in the brain. And tapping into those pathways can be a way to reteach brain injury victims to speak.

Giffords’music therapist, Meaghan Morrow compares the process to a freeway detour. :

Music is that other road to get back to language.  You aren’t able to go forward on that pathway anymore, you can exit and go around, and get to where you need to go.

Additionally, music therapy can also help victims of traumatic brain injury who have lost  motor abilities.  Techniques which rely on the brain’s connections between rhythm and motor coordination use tempo to stimulate and regulate movement.

Giffords’ injury to the left side of her brain caused weakness on the right side of her body. Morrow played the guitar during her physical therapy sessions to help steady her steps.

Watching  Gabby and Mark: Courage and Hope really brought these concepts to life for me:

Behold the power of music!

“Frankly, I cannot stand it. I have to stay sitting or lying most of the time, cannot smoke or drink wine. I cannot wait for it to end.”

This comment to French magazine, La Parisien, is from French First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy about her current pregnancy. The 43-year-old former model is due at the beginning of October.

Say it ain’t so Carla! You want to go back to smoking???

What Carla (and You) Need to Know about Second Hand Smoke and Children

According to the Environmental Protection Agency and The National Cancer Institute:

1.  Among the more than 7,000 chemicals that have been identified in secondhand tobacco smoke, at least 250 are known to be harmful, for example, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and ammonia.

2.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. National Toxicology Program, the U.S. Surgeon General, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer have all classified secondhand smoke as a known human carcinogen (a cancer-causing agent). Second hand smoke can cause cancer!

3.  There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Even low levels of secondhand smoke can be harmful.

4.  Breathing secondhand smoke can be harmful to children’s health including asthma, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), bronchitis and pneumonia, and ear infections.

5.  Children’s exposure to secondhand smoke is responsible for:

•  increases in the number of asthma attacks and severity of symptoms in 200,000 to 1 million children with asthma;
• between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (for children under 18 months of age); and,
• respiratory tract infections resulting in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

The lungs of young children are more severely affected by exposure to secondhand smoke for several reasons:

• children are still developing physically
• have higher breathing rates than adults
• have little control over their indoor environments

Children receiving high doses of secondhand smoke, such as those with smoking mothers, run the greatest risk of damaging health effects.

So come on Carla, you’ve already stopped smoking. Why start now? You can still have a glass of wine…
Photo Source: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Some families seem to have more than their share of tragedy.

The Kennedys are one of those.

Friday night, Kara Kennedy Allen, the only daughter of the late Senator Ted Kennedy, died at the age of 51. The oldest of his three children suffered a heart attack after working out at a gym in Northwest Washington, D.C. Her sudden death shocked her friends and family because she appeared to be in such great shape, after recovering from what was thought to be inoperable lung cancer in 2002.

Following surgery, Kara began a rigorous exercise routine and healthy diet plan; her mother Joan Bennett Kennedy told the Boston Globe in 2007 that her daughter was completely cancer free and running five miles a day.

Despite her vastly improved health, the cancer treatment “took quite a toll on her and weakened her physically,” brother and former Congressman Patrick Kennedy said, “Her heart gave out.”

Cancer runs in Kara’s family. Her father Ted died of a malignant brain tumor and her brother Ted Jr. battled bone cancer and lost a leg to the disease when he was just 12.

Experts have known for years that high stress levels coupled with heightened anxiety can lead to various heart problems. A cancer diagnosis is a significant stressor in a person’s life. Studies in the past have shown that psychologically traumatic events, like losing a loved one or surviving a major disaster— can raise a survivor’s risk of a heart problem.

In addition to the psychological stress of having cancer, radiotherapy and chemotherapy drugs can have long term physical effects (See our story on Dorothy Hamill).  Although treatments are designed to destroy cancer cells,  healthy cells in the heart and other organs can also be damaged.

Heart problems, such as an enlarged, weakened heart (cardiomyopathy) and congestive heart failure, have been linked to the use of doxorubicin and epirubicin, two chemotherapy drugs.

The risk of heart problems is even greater when radiation therapy is aimed near the heart. Other research shows that cancer patients treated with chemotherapy face increased risk for blood clots, which can lead to strokes.

While thousands of healthy women like Kara die of cancer every year, heart disease and stroke kill 40% of women every year — that’s about twice the number of all the cancers combined!

Have you undergone treatment for cancer?

Has it left you with any other medical problems?

What kind of things are you doing to stay healthy after cancer treatment?

Partisan politics took a rest last night when an unexpected visit to the House floor by Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. As you are all aware, Congresswoman Giffords suffered  a gunshot wound to the head in an assassination attempt in January. Since that time, Giffords has many amazing strides in her rehabilitation, even attending the take-off of the Space Shuttle Endeavor, piloted by her husband Mark Kelly.

In a statement from the Congresswoman, she said:

“I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy.”

The Congresswoman received a 10-minute standing ovation from members on both sides of the aisle, with hugs and cheers and even a few joyful tears. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a good friend of Giffords, acknowledges that she still has a long way to go in her rehabilitation, but that the Democratic National Committee is helping Gifford to get ready for a re-election campaign if she decides she wants to run.

Celebrity Diagnosis has done a couple of stories about Representative Gifford’s rehabilitation, including one on her use of Music Therapy, and other about how her iPad is helping her and others with disabilities. Our best wishes go out to this brave, determined woman.

Photo credit: CBS News