I continue to find reasons to be hopeful that one day, though probably not within my lifetime, medical researchers will overcome the challenges that thwart efforts to cure or at least contain most cancers, especially the more common ones…

Janet Battaile, 63, now in her 10th year with multiple myeloma, said her retirement-age oncologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Dr. Philip R. Greipp, told her, “I can’t bring myself to retire because it’s too exciting.”…

In its updated review of management strategies, published in The Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the team noted that “during the past decade, considerable progress has been made in our understanding of the disease process and factors that influence outcome, along with development of new drugs that are highly effective in controlling the disease and prolonging survival without compromising quality of life.”

NY Times, by Jane Brody, 4/13/2010

Also in the NY Times Consults Blog

Tags: Cancer, Cancer, Dr. Philip R. Greipp, multiple myeloma