Boy with inoperable brain cancer, 6, receives 15,000 birthday cards and gifts from strangers

[Omaha Steve]

Source: The Independent

NATASHA CULZAC

A young cancer sufferer whose mother made a simple request for a box of birthday cards has been left stunned after 15,000 of them, from strangers around the world, turned up.

Danny Nickerson, from Foxboro, Massachusetts, turned six on Friday – an important and poignant milestone following a diagnosis in October that revealed he has an inoperable brain tumour.

His mother, Carley, said that he gets lonely since having to stop going to kindergarten but loves to see his name on letters and packages.

He had previously received Easter cards from a charity called Magical Fairy Missions, which gives support to children fighting brain cancer.

FULL story at link. Previous GD post here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025289036



At one point the family needed 12 people to help unload the gifts



Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/boy-with-inoperable-brain-cancer-6-receives-15000-birthday-cards-and-gifts-from-strangers-9631268.html

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Just when you start to lose faith in humanity...

...you read such a story as this. Thank You Steve!!!!

[think]

2. +1.

Thank you for posting.

[Initech]

6. +2

[atreides1]

8. Unfortunately

This is only a small portion of humanity...the rest are still the same cruel, heartless, evil bastards that they always have been!

[wildbilln864]

3. so sad for the boy...

Reminds me of the Cash Hyde story. Would it help.

[DocwillCuNow]

4. Hopefully Johns Hopkins work in this are will pay off sooner rather than later, these

two articles give me hope that the elusive "cure" will be possible very soon and will use the body's own defenses. The Stanford article is literally mind blowing, didn't clip the best text for copyright reasons.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/centers_clinics/brain_tumor/research/immune_response.html
Furthermore, gliomas express a protein, FasL that, when in contact with immune cells, causes them to commit suicide. Recently, the Johns Hopkins Comprehensive Brain Tumor Center has shown that the expression of FasL by tumor cells is actually higher than in normal brain cells.

We hope that by inhibiting the expression of the FasL protein in brain tumors, it will be possible for the immune system to produce an adequate defense to eliminate the tumor.

Our lab is currently working towards developing methods to down regulate the expression of FasL in tumor cells and facilitate a more effective immune response towards these highly aggressive tumors. Through the incorporation of molecular techniques and animal cancer models we are developing viral based immuno-therapies that can be delivered directly to the site of tumor growth. By engineering retroviruses to deliver siRNA for FasL, it is possible to target tumor cells while leaving the normal cells of the brain unharmed. siRNA is a new technology that allows the highly specific inhibition of particular genes.


http://stemcell.stanford.edu/CD47/
(7/7/14) Update on the anti-CD47 cancer therapy clinical trials

The phase-1 clinical trial of the anti-CD47 antibody is expected to begin this summer or in the early fall. This first phase is designed to test the safety of the antibody and will begin with just one participant. Additional participants will be added slowly over several months, provided that safety is demonstrated.


Inclusion in this phase-1 trial will be based solely on physician referrals.The trial has not yet begun and it is currently closed to enrollments. If there are opening for participants when the trial begins, and if you meet certain requirements, information posted on this page will describe how your physician can submit a request to the clinical trials team to consider your participation.


Please know that this clinical trial is small and that the few available slots may be filled by current Stanford patients. If openings do occur, they may not be available for several months. Given the limited nature of this safety trial, we urge that patients not delay or forgo recommended treatments in hopes of participating in this research effort.

[iandhr]

5. thank you for restoring my faith in humanity

[passiveporcupine]

7. Before his birthday

there was a link on Reddit about him and a request (with address provided) to send cards. I thought that was really sweet. I wonder how many cards came from Redditers.

[mrsadm]

9. How wonderful to make him happy!

[LoisB]

10. He looks very happy. Hope he stays that way for as long as possible.

[DeSwiss]

11. K&R

ABSTRACT

Autophagy can promote cell survival or cell death, but the molecular basis underlying its dual role in cancer remains obscure. Here we demonstrate that ?9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active component of marijuana, induces human glioma cell death through stimulation of autophagy. Our data indicate that THC induced ceramide accumulation and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2? ( eIF2? ) phosphorylation and thereby activated an ER stress response that promoted autophagy via tribbles homolog 3–dependent (TRB3-dependent) inhibition of the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) axis. We also showed that autophagy is upstream of apoptosis in cannabinoid-induced human and mouse cancer cell death and that activation of this pathway was necessary for the antitumor action of cannabinoids in vivo. These findings describe a mechanism by which THC can promote the autophagic death of human and mouse cancer cells and provide evidence that cannabinoid administration may be an effective therapeutic strategy for targeting human cancers.

Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells

Friends of Charlie

[hamsterjill]

12. I am SO glad that so many people came through for this little guy!

I had his address from a website and meant to send a card, but never got it done!

I'm glad other people DID get it done, and I hope these cards provide some measure of happiness for the little guy.

Little children should not have to be sick.

[Skittles]

13. one was from me

yup